Society for Assistance to International Firefighters

07/01/2015

07/12/2014

We were at Elf Day at Sharon Public School yesterday selling our Guatemalan bracelets for SAIF 🎄🎅

15/11/2014

We are selling gorgeous Guatemalan bracelets at the Mt Albert Super Shopping Saturday! All profits go toward shipping Fire gear to Guatemala 😃👍

30/10/2014

Meeting with the Bomberos in Panajachel

29/10/2014

Darrell Reid and Trevor Doyle are visiting the local Bomberos in Mayan villages around Lake Atitlan, Guatemala.

29/10/2014

SAIF member Trevor Doyle from Australia and Commandante Lanzas and Capitane Sherman from Villa Bomberos, Granada, Nicaragua.

27/10/2014

Heads up boys! Hanna is heading your way...

22/10/2014

Trevor, our Aussie friend, has arrived safe and sound in Managua, Nicaragua. Darrell will be joining him on Friday :D

13/10/2014

We founded the Society for Assistance to International Firefighters (SAIF) in 2013. SAIF is a registered Canadian non-profit corporation, with a Board of Directors representing various sectors in Canada and Australia. In the past year we have obtained enough donations of high quality fire and EMS gear to outfit hundreds of firefighters and many fire and EMS departments in Nicaragua and Guatemala. We need one more thing....funds to ship the gear to Central America. Long story short....$20,000 will allow an estimated $2 million of "donations in kind" to be delivered to our fire/EMS brothers and sisters. Over 90% of your donation will go directly to shipping, and none of it goes to any individual at SAIF or anywhere else. Every member of SAIF pays for all of their own costs. Check us out on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMqKpI-c5Q0

This video is about SOCIETY FOR ASSISTANCE TO INTERNATIONAL FIREFIGHTERS (SAIF). SAIF has obtained enough donated fire and EMS gear to outfit over 500 firefi...

13/10/2014

Donate at http://www.gofundme.com/SAIFirefighters

WE HAVE ALREADY HAD OVER $2 MILLION WORTH OF FIRE AND EMS GEAR DONATED FOR OUR CAUSE IN AUSTRALIA AND CANADA. WE NEED $20 THOUSAND TO SHIP IT TO GUATEMALA AND NICARAGUA! Firefighters in Guatemala and Nicaragua face the same risks and demands for service as their brothers and sisters in North Ame...

13/10/2014

Why has SAIF chosen to support fire departments in Nicaragua and Guatemala? Some of the reasons include the following:
1.Both countries have highly trained, integrated fire and EMS first responders, with a committed combination of professionals (“permanante”) and volunteers (“voluntarios”). The departments chosen by SAIF are integrated fire/EMS departments, and have call volumes similar to mid-sized cities in Canada. Their staff are highly engaged in the profession and welcome training and new resources. They have become very good trouble-shooters, and can achieve amazing things with very little.
2.Both countries rank among the poorest in the western hemisphere (Nicaragua 2nd, ahead of only Haiti, and Guatemala 4th). Full-time firefighters in Nicaragua make about $54 a month, working as many as six days a week. Full-time firefighters in Guatemala work 24 on 24 off shifts and currently make between $80 and $300 per month. They are expected to buy their own uniforms, which cost about $60.
3.The organizations SAIF is supporting receive no government or tax-funded support. If travelling in these cities, you will see firefighters every day standing on street corners or jumping on buses to ask for donations. In some cases firefighters raise animals such as ducks in the fire station to help feed themselves.
4.Most of the gear and equipment utilized by these firefighters, from trucks to gloves, is donated. One department SAIF visited had three lengths of hose and one pair of fire boots for 18 staff. Another had two donated trucks but no batteries, and had not had a front-line engine for many months in a service area with over 100 thousand citizens. In another department, ropes used nearly 20 times in the past year for slope rescue on volcanoes (usually of tourists) were over 15 years old.

In other words, these “bomberos” are dedicated, respected in their communities, well trained, busy….and have almost no personal protective gear, equipment, or continuing education opportunities.

11/10/2014

Our girls have met the firefighters in Guatemala and Nicaragua that we are trying to assist through SAIF. They have Rainbow Loomed many hours in an effort to raise funds... Great job girls!