Fire Olympiad opens Friday

In a small country like Belize where fires are a regular occurrence we often get to see our fire-fighters on the job albeit under stressful conditions. On Friday and Saturday, the public will be able to see our eighty-five fire-fighters engage in these same exercises, only this time for fun. Assistant Fire Chief Norris Fisher, co-ordinator for the eighth annual Fire Olympiad, says that while the circumstances may be artificial, the competition will be intense.

Norris Fisher, Co-ordinator, Fire Olympiad

“It is actually in areas they have been trained and in the area they do their daily fire fighting, which is the running of hoses, ladder rescues, pump operations, the regular daily stuff like that.”

Ann-Marie Williams

“Besides the testing of skills and the games, the camaraderie and the competition, is there something you’d like the public to know about the fire-fighters?”

Norris Fisher

“We invite the public to come out and see what these people can do because this is actually what the firemen are trained to do from day to day. It also gives us a time to assess them to see if they have learnt what we have been teaching to them.

We have an assessment of about eighty-five people and it is mostly with the voluntary element. Only Belize City will be having a team from the regulars to be competing with them.”

The games of the eighth Fire Olympiad open Friday morning at 9:00 at the M.C.C. Grounds and continue Saturday. Entrance is free.