Photo By Staff Sgt. Kirstin Spanu | Lieutenant Col. Maisie Wong (front right) and Sgt. Luis Velazquez (back right), civil...... read more read more
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TRUJILLO, Honduras - Beyond an iron gate in the middle of Trujillo, Honduras sits a giant crimson truck sporting a golden title that reads “Bomberos de Honduras”. The small group of visitors that entered the fire station for a tour on Aug. 26, 2015, knows those colors well, because they match the colors of their own organization: the United States Marine Corps.
The groups of Honduran firefighters and civil affairs Marines noticed that they had even more in common after speaking to one another about the nature of their work. Both are involved in a humanitarian assistance mission taking place in Trujillo.
These fire fighters are not only responsible for battling burning buildings, but also helping out during special events by providing assistance with crowd control and escorting those who need help, which they will be doing during Operation Continuing Promise.
Operation Continuing Promise is a mission in which the United States military works with host nations to provide humanitarian assistance and execute civil-military operations alongside various partner nations within the Caribbean and Central and South America. The major mission during CP is to provide free, quality health care.
“I’m excited to help with the event,” said Fernando Dubon, 14, and a volunteer at the Trujillo fire station. “It will be a great experience.”
The civil affairs Marines finalized the details of the firefighters’ roles in CP and made sure everything would run according to plan once the ship arrives. They also noted some of the important details about the station to keep on record, like how many permanent personnel work there and what kinds of vehicles are used, just in case the U.S. is called back to Honduras for additional humanitarian assistance or disaster relief missions.
“Part of the civil affairs mission is to assess host nation capabilities and we assess buildings like police stations, fire stations and hospitals,” said Lt. Col. Maisie Wong, civil affairs officer, 4th Civil Affairs Group. “We also need to establish relationships and create partnerships, so if we come to assist we already know their capabilities and personnel. Everything is easier to coordinate when we know each other.”
From Aug. 28 until Sept. 5, both countries will work together to ensure the success of Continuing Promise and to build an everlasting friendship all the while.
| Date Taken: | 08.26.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 08.28.2015 12:15 |
| Story ID: | 174509 |
| Location: | TRUJILLO, HN |
| Web Views: | 132 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, US Marines, Hondurans always ready to fight fire, by SSgt Kirstin Spanu, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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