TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Tucson Fire Department is hosting a delegation of ten firefighters and EMTs from Belgium and the Netherlands starting this week.
WELCOME FELLOW FIREFIGHTERS! 👩🚒 #TucsonFire and @cityoftucson are proud to host 10 firefighters and EMT’s from Belgium and the Netherlands this week! From a group in Europe called Fire Observers International, these men and women are touring Tucson’s public safety facilities… pic.twitter.com/q7S2SYKfiJ
— Tucson Fire Department (@TucsonFireDept) September 12, 2022
Fire Observers is a non-profit organization based out of Europe, whose mission is to build relationships between Belgium, The Netherlands and North American firefighting agencies. The organization got its start in 1995, when a group of firefighters from Zaventem, Belgium spent a week running calls with the Kern County Fire Department in Bakersfield, Calif. The trip inspired a second delegation to San Diego a year later and eventually led to the establishment of the non-profit in 1996.
By 2011, Fire Observers was organizing four international trips per year, bringing firefighters from Belgium and The Netherlands to cities such as Phoenix, Dallas, New Orleans, and many more cities, with the mission of exchanging "ideas, experiences, procedures, knowledge, training and much more" between colleagues an ocean apart.
In 2020, a delegation of firefighters was scheduled to visit the Tucson Fire Department. That trip, along with all the other planned exchange programs, was canceled due to COVID-19. It would be two years before the programs would resume.
Fast-forward to 2022: The Fire Observers were able to resume their programs, offering three international trips for visiting firefighters and EMTs.
Tucson Fire Department is one of the host organizations this year. Two additional trips are taking place in Sacramento and Orlando.
According to the Fire Observer's website, "a mixture of training and tourism seems to be the key to success and the ideal formula to make and keep our members engaged." In Tucson, TFD shared that trying out the local food will be a big part of that mission.
Follow along with Tucson Fire Department's social media this week for more on the Fire Observers' stay.
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