Hearts in Motion Brings Ecuadorian Firefighters to Waukesha

Firefighting captains Roger Sanchez Barzola and Rogers Sanchez Briones don’t have the luxuries that American fire departments have in terms of training, standards and governmental support.

But through a non-profit organization, the two Ecuadorian firefighters were able to receive training at the on Tuesday to take back to the South American country. Touring Fire Station No. 1, the two firefighters kept close to translator Walter Merida, from the Chicago Fire Department, as they learned more about firefighting and paramedic rescue from our community fire department’s Deputy Fire Chief Kevin Johnson, who leads the training and emergency medical services in Waukesha.

Eagle Firefighter Dennis Sudbrink, a 28-year veteran, sponsored the two firefighters during their trip through Hearts in Motion.

“The mission of Hearts In Motion is to provide care and medical treatment for children, families, and communities through its programs and sponsorships in the U.S., and Central and South America,” its website states. “An additional goal is to provide opportunities for individuals to participate in short-term mission experiences.

“The impact of the trip experience on each team member is at least as great as the impact on the lives of the people we touch. Many lives are changed.”

Hearts in Motion sends groups down to other countries – mainly Guatemala – twice a year for firefighter training during February and July. Firefighters from other countries come to the U.S. in May and October, explained Sudbrink.

“My part up here, I coordinate when they come up in May and October to get fire departments to sponsor them for a day and do training with them,” Sudbrink said. “What we are trying to accomplish is to train the trainers, so when these guys go down there, we are expecting them to train their people.”

The differences throughout the fire departments across the world are glaring. In Ecuador, the two firefighters explained through their translator, firefighters opted to work 48-hour shifts in order to receive two days off in a row. Waukesha firefighters typically work 24-hour shifts.

But even more different is the attitude that firefighters receive. In Guatemala, firefighters are “under ground,” Sudbrink said, because they were not politically recognized. But Ecuador is worse, he said, and brought up a recent bus accident as a serious example.

“People were looting the people who were hurt because there was no law enforcement, and they held the fire department back from helping them,” Sudbrink said.

While standards for firefighting equipment are strict in the U.S. and at times makes supplies owned by area departments outdated. That outdated equipment is cherished in the South American countries, so firefighters like Sudbrink collect and ship supplies overseas four times a year.

“We are working very hard with them to bring their standards up,” Sudbrink said.

Hearts in Motion has been now been recognized by the Guatemala government as the organization has used volunteers over the years to train firefighters that the organization has been asked to lead the coordination and training of firefighters throughout the entire country, “which is a very big task for volunteers,” Sudbrink said.

“We are slowly working on it,” he said.

Hearts in Motion has concentrated its firefighter training in one area of Guatemala. It has also helped build several firehouses and nutrition centers.

“We have found that we have brought that area up considerably due to the fact that we keep going back to that same place,” Sudbrink said. “We are not going some place, putting a little Band-Aid on it and then not going back there. We can keep working on something.”