Nebraskans help Iraqi firefighters with training, equipment

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10304363

Published Tuesday | April 8, 2008
Nebraskans help Iraqi firefighters with training, equipment
BY TIM ELFRINK
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER


Clad in soft cotton overalls and thin plastic hardhats, the Iraqi students in Tech Sgt. Duane Eivins' class were eager to learn — but woefully underdressed for the job.

Firefighters — whether at Eivins' home station in Omaha or in war-ravaged southern Iraq — depend on lifesaving gear to save the lives of others. Eivins quickly saw that his ragtag crew of students would be at great risk inside a blaze.


Tech. Sgt. Duane Eivins, who is a Nebraska Air National Guardsman and an Omaha firefighter, cheers on Staff Sgt. Aaron Wescott as he demonstrates a timed training course for Iraqis.


"Our safety is first when we're trying to help," Eivins, 42, said in an e-mail interview. "We can't help anyone if we can't protect ourselves."

So in January, soon after Eivins arrived at Ali Base in southern Iraq with 12 other Air National Guard firefighters from around Nebraska, he turned to his colleagues back home at the Omaha Fire Department.

"He said, 'Hey, do you have any extra equipment?'" said Fire Capt. Brad Hildebrandt.

"We did have a whole pile of outdated equipment that we had no use for. We had a surplus of that," Hildebrandt said.


FULL story at link.