W.Va. to South America
Canaan Valley VFD helps Bolivia firefighters
Submitted Photos A group of firefighters with the La Paz Fire Department in Bolivia stand outside a building after battling a structure fire. The Canaan Valley Volunteer Fire Department helped the South American fire department by sending them Self-Contained Breath Apparatus equipment.
A pair of firefighters in Bolivia stand inside a structure after battling a blaze. Both firemen are wearing equipment that was sent to them by the Canaan Valley Volunteer Fire Department.
Submitted Photos A group of firefighters with the La Paz Fire Department in Bolivia stand outside a building after battling a structure fire. The Canaan Valley Volunteer Fire Department helped the South American fire department by sending them Self-Contained Breath Apparatus equipment.
A pair of firefighters in Bolivia stand inside a structure after battling a blaze. Both firemen are wearing equipment that was sent to them by the Canaan Valley Volunteer Fire Department.
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ELKINS -- A Tucker County volunteer fire department has provided vital help and equipment to another group of firefighters - in South America.
Aimee Verdisco, a Canaan Valley Volunteer Fire Department member, lived in the country of Bolivia for five years, up until 2017. While there Verdisco and her husband, Christopher Clark, made many friends and kept in contact with them after they moved back to America.
During a conversation her husband was having with some of his friends back in Bolivia, Clark learned that the La Paz Fire Department was celebrating its 20th anniversary.
"One of our friends back in Bolivia was telling my husband that the morale was very low with the fire department and it would be awesome if the fire fighters in Canaan could make a congratulatory video to send to them," Verdisco told The Inter-Mountain. "So we did that. We took a bunch of photos of our fire engines and some of the calls that we ran and sent it to them."
Verdisco said during ongoing conversations, one of the fire department members in Bolivia told her they could really use a Self-Contained Breath Apparatus (SCBA). It was around the same time the Canaan Valley Fire Department learned it would receive a grant that would allow it to purchase new SCBAs.
"Company 30 at Canaan Valley decided to buy new SCBAs, and the stuff that we (already had) was in impeccable condition," said Verdisco. "It was 100 percent compliant and all that type of stuff. And this is equipment that fire departments have to have, so we decided to see what we could do."
Verdisco said she took the idea of sending Company 30's old SCBAs to her fellow firefighters, and they decided to help the Bolivia fire department, if it could pay for the shipping costs.
"The people at the U.S. Embassy in La Paz (Bolivia) put me in touch with a woman who runs a company in Miami and she was super helpful," Verdisco said. "She let us know what the best way was to send the equipment out and we were able to get it to them."
An SCBA is a device worn to provide an autonomous supply of breathable gas in an atmosphere that is immediately dangerous to life or health. They are typically used in firefighting and industry.
"Our stuff was still serviceable, but it really couldn't be sold," Canaan Valley VFD Chief Robert Metzger told The Inter-Mountain. "We thought it would be nice to give it to someone who needed it. Come to find out, the fire department in Bolivia only had one set of SCBAs in their whole department, which is really unfortunate."
Metzger said that since receiving the equipment, the La Paz Fire Department has used it to fight several fires in La Paz, which is the capital of Bolivia.
"They have kind of become our sister fire department," Metzger said. "We've sent videos back-and-forth with them and things like that. We compare how the mountains are here in West Virginia and in Bolivia all the time. It's really nice to have a relationship with those folks."
Metzger added that Verdisco, who is also an EMT in Canaan Valley, was fully responsible for getting the equipment to Bolivia.
"Aimee spearheaded the entire thing and was also the one that got the grant for us," Metzger said. "She did a great job and deserves a lot of credit. And of course she speaks their language and three other languages as well. I'm tickled to have her and her husband in the department, they're great people."
Verdisco lived in Bolivia for five years and was employed by the Inter-American Development Bank until her retirement.