The Valley, Anguilla, February 3, 2008 (Department of Disaster Management) - The Essential Services Sub-Committee of the National Disaster Management Committee has been working through the Department of Disaster Management over the past year to conduct a series of courses designed to enhance the search and rescue capabilities of first responders in Anguilla.

As the recent earthquake in Haiti has shown it is important not only to be prepared but to also have a good working relationship between agencies and neighboring countries. To this end the outcome of the final phase of this capacity development programme will be two teams of 6 firefighters and team leaders who will be certified to the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group standard for Level 1 Urban Search and Rescue. Each team will be further inclusive of a fire fighter and a team leader from the Dutch Overseas Territory of Sint Maarten.

Although Anguilla Fire & Rescue Service and Fire Sint Maarten will be the main recipients of the training, a Hazardous Materials Awareness course will also be held for up to 100 Anguilla Fire & Rescue Service, Royal Anguilla Police Force, LIME, Sol, Delta Petroleum, Anglec, Caribbean Cable Communications, Fisheries, EMS, Customs, Department of Environment, Environmental Health and DDM personel.

The training is to occur over three weeks commencing 8th February and culminating with a joint graduation to be held in Anguilla 29th March 2010.
Courses to be included cover Incident Command Systems, Search & Rescue Techniques, Hazardous Materials, Over-The Side/High Angle Rescue, Rope Rescue, Cribbing & Shoring and other techniques.

The instructors for all the courses will be Ron Mobley and Dwayne Straun of Siren Consulting, based in the USVI.  This programme has been funded by a grant from the Foreign Commonwealth Office (FCO) under sponsorship from HE Governor.

Contact:
Department of Disaster Management
Tel: (264) 497-2926
E-mail: ddm@gov.ai