Camp Bondsteel Fire Dept. donates ‘game changing’ hoses to local community

Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Tawny Kruse | A rainbow apppears as members of the Ferizaj/Urosevac Fire Department test out a hose in Kosovo on June 3, 2021. Working through the Kilo 21 Liaison Monitoring Team assigned to Regional Command-East, Kosovo Force, the Camp Bondsteel Fire Department donated 140 sections of hoses to the municipality’s only firefighting team. The CBS team showed the local station how to properly deploy, attach, use and store the hoses. Nozzles were also donated, which will give the station a larger range of spray options for different types of fires. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Tawny Schmit)  

CAMP BONDSTEEL, KOSOVO

06.04.2021

Story by Staff Sgt. Tawny Kruse 

KFOR Regional Command East

1st Lt. Jacob Bruggeman has spent the last eight months building relationships with the people who live and work in the Ferizaj/Urosevac municipality in Kosovo. Bruggeman serves as the officer in charge of the Kilo 21 Liaison Monitoring Team, one of several LMTs that support the peacekeeping mission assigned to Regional Command-East, Kosovo Force.

One relationship with the local Fire Department holds a special place in his heart. The partnership blossomed in January, when Bruggeman exchanged T-shirts and uniform patches from his father’s fire station in Templeton, Iowa, with the municipality’s deputy fire chief. The swap was a display of mutual respect and understanding for the hard job of a firefighter.

Now, Bruggeman and his team are wrapping up their KFOR rotation – but he grasped one last opportunity to strengthen the partnership with the Ferizaj/Urosevac Fire Department before returning home. Knowing that the station grapples with insufficient funds and understaffing, Bruggeman reached out to the Camp Bondsteel Fire Department and coordinated a donation of 140 sections of hoses that could no longer be used on base, along with truck adaptors and nozzles.

“This is the first [donation] that we’ve done,” said Matthew Williams, fire chief of the Camp Bondsteel Fire Department. “This opens up a lot of doors for us because we found out how to do it. There was no road map, but there’s a road map now.”

Williams, who has been firefighting for over three decades, worked with Bruggeman over the last month to navigate the often complicated approval process that comes with donating U.S. government property. On June 3, the pair saw the fruits of their labor as they arrived at the Ferizaj/Urosevac station with a giant crate of hoses.

“Knowing this is the only fire department in a population of about 90,000 to 100,000 people?” said Williams “Being able to help them makes you feel good.”

The Director of Public Services and Emergencies, Arben Halili, was there to witness the donation and express his gratitude to Bruggeman and the CBS Fire Department. Halili said their cooperation with the LMT was a positive and professional experience that will have a direct impact on the station’s ability to carry out its mission.

Williams and another CBS Fire Department employee showed the local station how to properly store and use the hoses. The adaptors allow the workers to use the U.S. hoses on their European vehicles. As the local firefighters tested them out – smiling widely as they cycled through different settings on the nozzles – it was clear how much more power the new hoses would be able to pack, which means less effort and time needed to put out fires.

“If they were to supply the pressure that we were training with, with their old hoses, they told us they would have busted,” said Williams. “So, this is like a game changer for them.”

• Date Taken: 06.04.2021
• Date Posted: 06.04.2021 11:19
• Story ID: 398155
• Location: CAMP BONDSTEEL, ZZ
• Hometown: TEMPLETON, IA, US