Tucson Standard

Firefighters from across Europe traveled to Tucson to participate in training Sept. 15 under the Fire Explorer Program, which allows firefighters to visit with fire departments and colleagues in the United States.

A group traveled to the Regional Public Safety Training Academy in Tucson on Sept. 15 to learn about and identify fire behavior.

“What we want to do is give the firefighters the tools, the know-how and knowledge to prevent themselves from getting in a flashover. And a flashover is simply all of the contents in the room reach their ignition temperature and simultaneously ignite,” Mike Carsten, assistant chief of the Tucson Fire Department, said in a story by KGUN.

The TFD prepared drills to serve as examples to other firefighters. Pascal Massee, a fire captain from Castricum, Netherlands, said the information provides a helpful contrast since the environments are so different.

“The structures are different, the federal laws are different. Our roads are quite different,” he said. “We wouldn’t be able to ride these big trucks over where I’m from.”

Vital Theys of Belgium, however, didn’t see as many differences.

“This stuff we do here, we already do it in Belgium,” Theys said in the story.

The key is communication and fellowship with colleagues, both for support and learning, the firefighters said. Theys said the Tucson firefighters were “very nice. The firefighters are very kind. They try new stuff, ‘we got to try this, we got to try that.’”

Carsten said it was as important for the Americans as the Europeans, despite cultural differences.

“It’s just as important for us to sit down and talk with them to learn how they do things,” he said.