Firefighters: Czech trip will lead to larger training trip this year

Firefighters, who traveled to visit the Czech Republic last week, said plans are in the works to send a larger group back there later this year, to learn specific firefighting techniques.

The firefighters traveled to the city of Olomouc as part of exchange through Owensboro Sister Cities and Regions. Olomouc is one of Owensboro’s sister cities, and covered some of the costs for the trip, such as some hotel nights and food.

The goal of last week’s trip was to determine what firefighting techniques Olomouc fire departments uses that could benefit local departments.

Daviess County Fire Chief Jeremy Smith said the local delegation observed demonstrations in various firefighter practices and tools used by firefighters in the Olomouc region.

“They have different tools they utilize that we don’t have,” Smith said.

The region is home to more than 650,000 people and has 13 fire departments and 42 volunteer fire departments.

Eric Coleman, an assistant fire chief for the Daviess County Fire Department, said local officials want to work with Olomouc firefighters who are trained to specifically respond to rail emergencies.

“They have their own department that specializes in railroads,” Coleman said. “That’s their whole job.”

Coleman said the local departments could learn valuable skills from the firefighters in Olomouc.

“There might be more efficient ways to do things, if we open our eyes,” Coleman said.

“It was a very worthwhile trip,” Coleman said.

Katherine Zboril, a member of the Sister Cities board, said the organization’s hope is to send about 15 to 20 firefighters to the Czech Republic for training in late September or October if funding is available.

Ted Johnston, a firefighter with Owensboro Fire Department, said the departments the group visited in Olomouc had a particular focus on preventing cancers in firefighters, and said they possessed gear cleaning equipment not seen in local firehouses.

“They were very well put-together, and they seem to have their program running very smoothy. Some of the things (the Czech departments do) would be very beneficial to us.

City Fire Chief James Howard said the city and county first sent fire officials to Olomouc in 1997.

Last week’s trip was a chance to “reinvigorate that relationship” between the departments and plan future training trips.

“We are really looking forward to hosting them at the same caliber they did for us,” Howard said.

While local firefighters plan to travel to the Czech Republic for training this fall, a date for Olomouc firefighters to visit Owensboro has not yet been set, Howard said.