Twenty four participants from the Jamaica Fire Brigade which included 3 women and one person from the Airport Authourty Firefighting Dept. participated in two week technical rescue course which was held from sept 11-22 2006, at the Jamaica fire brigade training dept.
The participants were instructed by Patrick Mcdermott, Pedro Vega , Billy Latham, Arnold Godwin and Carlos Bishop from the International Fire Training Force based in Chicago, USA, a non profit organisation (501 (C)3 ). The training included ropes and ladder rescue, search and rescue in a confined area, and smoke appreciation.
The CEO of the International Fire Training Force Patrick Mcdermott, a Jamaican who is also an instructor at the Chicago Fire Academy, has been with the Chicago fire dept for 13 years.
The graduation ceremony held on Friday 22 September 2006 was attended by the acting commissioner of the fire brigade Frederick Whyte, deputy chiefs military liaison officers R. W. Whittingham, John P. Merli and Keenon Skipper of the United States embassy. This course was funded by the United States Southern Command humanitarian assistance program.
This is another training program to prepare members of the fire brigade for upcoming cricket world cup which is slated for March 2007.