Ten firefighters from local fire stations got a hands-on learning experience in the Czech Republic’s fire practices after a weeklong trip to Owensboro’s Sister City, Olomouc.
Daviess County Fire Department Chief Jeremy Smith said that seeing how another country operates during fire emergencies opened his eyes to systems they could implement in Owensboro-Daviess County. For starters, he was impressed by the cancer-preventing precautions they have.
“They’re being more advantageous and moving forward with how they’re trying to lessen the odds of their firefighters getting cancer. So I think that is one of the biggest things I took away from there because our overall goal is to protect our people,” Smith said.
Some of the equipment he mentioned included a decontamination washer for the breathing apparatuses, extractors, and a hose-specific washer that recoils the firehose after it has been washed.
Owensboro Fire Department Chief James Howard noted several takeaways from the trip, but he said they can’t practically implement all the methods upon returning to Owensboro. Still, Howard said that improving the cancer-preventing equipment is a priority for the agency. They have a new outlook on approaching their renovations when they continue Operation: Firehouse.
“What it will do is spur some further research to provide us with some opportunities for when it comes time to budget or the next project to get to that stage or design on our next two stations,” Howard said.
Another useful practice for Howard was the Czech Republic’s regional standard for all fire agencies. This standard is set in place by the federal government, and all agencies have identical policies and vehicles, allowing for cross-collaboration. While it would be a significant undertaking to transition all the equipment to a similar standard, some local fire staff found it would be beneficial.
DCFD Assistant Chief Eric Coleman said standardization could be a goal for the DCFD and the volunteer stations.
“In Daviess County, we respond with volunteer stations, and that would be very beneficial for us. It would be quite an undertaking for all of our trucks, but anything’s possible. I think it would help make things a little more streamlined and a little safer in the long run,” Coleman said.
While this was some of the firefighters’ first time out of the country, it actually a return trip home for firefighter/paramedic Pavel Zboril. Zboril was a firefighter in his home country of the Czech Republic before joining DCFD.
Zboril is confident there is benefit in both agencies learning from each other — especially with the partnership through Sister Cities.
“It’s really, really beneficial for any city in the United States and all over the world because that’s giving you the opportunity to go outside of your state and experience cultural differences and see a lot of human lives on the other side of the world,” Zboril said.
Smith and Howard noted that the plan is for a second group to return to Olomouc for more training by the end of the year, with the hope that representatives from Olomouc can visit by the end of 2025.
