Firefighters Without Borders Canada (www. fwbcanada.ca) is a registered charity in Vancou­ver BC. What began as a group of dedicated firefighters in 2008 as Engines for El Salvador, then became Firefighters Without Bor­ders BC and finally FWB Canada. The mission of the group is to collect outdated firefighting appa­ratus and equipment and donate it to countries where there is a need. Since 2008, the group has donated 13 fire trucks, over 1000 sets of turnout gear, over 400 breathing apparatus and over 20 tons of equipment valued at over $2 million to Belize, Cebu Philip­pines, The Congo, El Salvador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and Thai­land. Also in that time they have deployed on training missions to El Salvador- 5 times; Paraguay- 4 times; Peru- 3 times and once each to Panama and Thailand. The main emphasis on these deployments is to deliver training. Firefighters from all over B.C. have participated in the training, using their own vacation time and paying their own airfares to par­ticipate. FWB Canada and Rotary World Help Network began working together in 2008. FWB Canada made a total of 61 presentations from 2008-2010 to Rotary clubs from White Rock to Pemberton to showcase our work in El Salvador. These various Rotary clubs gener­ously donated over $55,000.00 to assist FWB Canada in purchasing used fire trucks and other equip­ment to send to El Salvador. These efforts have made a world of difference to the citizens and firefighters in El Salvador.

Elena Agala of the Richmond- Sunrise Rotary Club has been a vital part of these efforts from the start. In 2010 she approached FWB Canada with the wish of ob­taining a fire truck for the Filipi­no-Chinese Fire Brigade in Cebu. FWB Canada had previously sent two shipments of firefighting equipment to the Brigade after a prior request was received for assistance. Elena introduced Mr. Jun Tallo, a former Vancouver resident, and current member of Rotary in Cebu to Bob Dubbert, a Lieutenant with Vancouver Fire Rescue, and the Director of Ap­paratus & Equipment for FWB Canada. While in Vancouver in October 2011, Jun and Bob met and looked at several used trucks for sale. The City of White Rock had a recently retired pumper truck for sale, but the price was a little higher than the Rotary bud­get. Introductions were made and a selling price negotiated. With the support and assistance of White Rock Fire Chief Phil Lemire and the White Rock City council, a deal was struck to sell the truck to Cebu at a substantially re­duced price. The White Rock FD also included a long list of equip­ment with the truck including lad­ders, hose clamps, axes, tools, a generator set and hose that alone matched the price of the truck. The truck is a 1990 Freightliner/ Anderson with 1250 gallon per minute pump and 500 gallon tank. The truck is still in excellent condition, but its age required it to be retired due to Canadian regulations.

On November 25, 2011, the truck was picked up and trans­ferred to Lt. Dubbert’s driveway in Richmond. On December 1, 2011, the truck was driven to Canadian Cargo & Shipping on Annacis Island to prepare for its journey to the Philippines. Randy Dubbert, Bob’s brother, who is the Vice President of FWB Canada and also a member of Vancouver Fire Rescue drove the truck with Elena riding along in her first ride in a fire truck.
On December 6, 2011, the M.S. Andromeda Spirit departed Annacis Island on its way to Ma­nila. It arrived in Manila just be­fore New Year’s, and the truck was then transferred to another ship for it’s final trip to Cebu.
The truck arrived in Cebu in early February 2012 to the delight of the local firefighters from the Filipino-Chinese Brigade. It is hoped that this truck will see many more years service pro­tecting the citizens of the Cebu area.

This past week, Rotary and FWB Canada teamed up again to assist with the recovery efforts from the recent typhoon and flooding on the island of Mind­anao. Twenty two boxes of school binders were donated by FWB Canada and will soon be on their way to assist in the relief efforts.

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