In November of 2019, Gulf Coast Diplomacy hosted a group of firefighters and search & rescue professionals from Russia through the Open World Leadership Program. During their stay, Leigh & Kent DeSantis, Marcia Edwards, Vivian Faircloth, Megan & Jerry Pratt, Faye & Robert Robinson, and Jeannine van Reeth volunteered as homestay hosts.
After a brief orientation, the group enjoyed a Saturday afternoon of arts and music while attending the Great Gulf Coast Arts Festival in Seville Square. The antique fire truck outside of Seville Quarter provided a great photo op which you may have already seen on our social media.
The group’s five days of meetings, appointments, and site visits included a wide range of disaster and emergency preparedness and recovery agencies such as the Pensacola Fire Department, the Pensacola Police Department, the American Red Cross, and the District Office of Congressman Matt Gaetz. A memorable event on their first day was an exchange of fire station helmets between the Russian firefighters and the Pensacola fire chief.
The group’s second day began at the Escambia County Division of Emergency Management, where in addition to touring the emergency command center and the 911-dispatch center, they explored the fleet of ambulances and had some hands-on time with much of the equipment. At Escambia County Search and Rescue, the visitors met with the heads of the K9, marine, drone, and tracking departments. In addition to the discussions, they climbed aboard their search boat, and entered their mobile command center. The last appointment of the day was at Santa Rosa Emergency Management, where they observed a landing of a medical evacuation helicopter and discussed CERT training.
On Wednesday, the hands-on exploration continued as the group walked through the decontamination tent at West Florida Hospital. The discussion included how and when the decontamination tent is used, plus all the ways that area hospitals are equipped for disasters and emergencies. Later in the day, a visit to George Stone Technical College highlighted the course offered there for training and certifying firefighters, police, and emergency medical technicians. The day ended with a meeting with Be Ready Alliance Coordinating for Emergencies (BRACE), where the participants received an overview on how the agency promotes home hardening and citizen preparedness.
Other meetings included time with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to highlight the various biological and chemical hazards they respond to and the types of personal protection, containment, and transport equipment they use; time with INWeekly to focus on its reporting of the BP oil spill; and time at Pensacola City Hall where they received honorary citizenship certificates to the city.
Another aspect of the project was to focus on volunteerism in the United States. To approach this topic, the group meet with and volunteered with Serving the Hungry at First United Methodist Church in downtown Pensacola. They also volunteered in the community by offering a community presentation on their work as fire fighters and search and rescue personnel and spent many days accompanied by volunteer facilitator Linda Thompson who helped make their time in the area rewarding.
