Defying Danger

Trafford Publishing

Contents

History of the formation of the Fire Brigade...........................1New York firefighters Visit Cuba.......................................6The fires..............................................................11The ships and planes...................................................15Fires with chemical products...........................................29Schools and day care centers...........................................47Official buildings.....................................................53At the electric company sites..........................................60Stores.................................................................63Military unit..........................................................68Storehouses............................................................70Theater................................................................74Press..................................................................75Carpentries............................................................98Hotel..................................................................102On vehicles............................................................105Factories..............................................................110Apartments.............................................................113Rescues................................................................115Collapses..............................................................123Cyclones and sea penetrations..........................................125Accounts with mental patients..........................................136A letter to Che........................................................150Prevention Against fires...............................................153The command during catastrophes and fires..............................156The extinction means...................................................159Fires at forests and sugarcane fields..................................168The Zoo chimpanzee.....................................................173Firefighters National School...........................................182List of the combat means and the types of services.....................184

Chapter One

If fire, when discovered, became a blessing, with the pass of time, has been a devastating element in some cities. To fight it come up in some countries the first fire brigades, but these did not have the adequate techniques or tools to control fires of big magnitude. In some occasions they could not but watch how the fire consumed big buildings and everything at its reach.

The first specialized machines that appeared on the XVII century were simple buckets on rollers or wheels. The water was taken to the fire by means of containers handed by hand to hand.

The invention in Holland, in the year 1672, of the hide pipe hand sewn allowed firefighters to get closer to the fire without endangering their equipment and allowed them more precision in the direction of the water flow. At the same time pumping systems were developed that allowed to draw water from rivers and ponds.

At the beginning of the XIX century copper rivets substituted the seams in the pipes, which could reach up to 15 meters long and were joined by bronze adaptors.

In 1870 started to be built a rubber pipe covered with cotton. The steam pumping machine was used in big cities in between 1850 and 1860. With the introduction of the internal combustion engine at the beginning of the XX century, the firefighters got motorized. The first car with a single engine for the pump and propulsion was built in the United States in 1907. In 1925 the motorcars had totally replaced steam cars. The pumps evolved into the centrifuges used nowadays in almost all the big cities.

In Cuba this activity goes back to November 13th 1696, when in the present day municipality of Santa Clara, in the center of the country, the first group of this kind was founded. Some others, like the one in the town of Batabanó, come up afterwards but for a short time and so were not officially acknowledge. On and on they start being organized in the rest of the localities until the first firefighters appear in Pinar Del Río.

During the colony, the authorities issued edicts and ordinances with the objective of taking measures to avoid the surging and spreading of fires, so as to provide themselves with the necessary extinction means.

The XIX century sets the appearing of the fire brigades as official entities, due to the increase of fires, their proportions and the human and material losses. On January 14th 1831 was created in Santiago de Cuba the Brigade of Truthful Firefighters, whose organization and structure was recognized by the colonial authorities on July 3rd 1838. It was established in Santa Clara on June 1832, made official in 1856 by the General Captainship. That of Havana was created on December 12th 1835 by decision of the General Captain, Don Miguel Tacón. Its regulations were approved by Royal Order on May 10th 1838.

The Brigade of Truthful Workers and Firefighters of Havana opened its first quarter on Obrapía Street and it was called San Felipe, with four pumps pulled by horses: the Virgin of the Unprotected, the Spain, the Gamiz and the Zencowiech, in addition to a stair car and an auxiliary one.

By then the commercial capital had reached great development in the country, and the insurance companies determined, for their own benefit, to create a Voluntary Fire Brigade, made up of commerce young people. Their quarter was inaugurated on September 19th 1873 and was established at number 19 of San Ignacio Street. They rendered their services with the pumps: Colón, Cervantes and Havana; in addition, they had a sanitation department with four doctors, a pharmacist and 21 sanitarians.

The rivalry between both brigades was incessant; they even disputed the water intake when arriving at the fires, making harder the extinction works.

On the night of May 17th 1890 happened the biggest catastrophe of those times: the fire at the hardware store of Juan Isasi, on the corners of Mercaderes and Lamparilla Streets, at the Old Havana. Municipal and commerce firefighters turned up at the fire.

The sneaking of merchandises and chemical and flammable products caused an explosion in which 38 people died, among them firefighters, police agents and spectators. There also were numerous wounded and mutilated.

The incident impacted so much the public opinion that even humorous magazines dedicated condolence notes and the most important literary personalities offered up chronicles, articles and poems to the event. The funeral of the victims constituted one of the biggest mourning demonstrations remembered in that period. When summing so many names to the firefighting martyrdom, the popular emotion went from admiration to the most fervent idolatry. As homage to remember these "Soldiers of Humankind", a monument was built at Colón Cemetery, where every May 17th firefighters keep guard of honor.

The fire brigades of the neocolonial republic did not have a good situation and their expenses were covered, partially, by the government at each instance and mainly by public collect. Same as in colonial times, the voluntary character of its affiliates was of military structure and organization. In 1935 they were nationally instituted, under the name of National Fire Brigade, which comprised the by then six provinces, eight Havana municipalities and only 16 municipalities corresponding to other regions of the country. This phase was characterized by a weak development of the preventive activity, which was separated from the extinction work. Several negotiations were made with the Executive Power and the Congress to improve the support of this brigade, their techniques against fires and prevention works, but the period governments paid no attention to those needs. The general bases were being lost, and although there were honest citizens that kept with honor such a humanitarian work, some other unscrupulous people got into it, dedicated to loot every valuable thing they found in their path. Also, some participated in the reprisal of students and workers demonstrations.

The few resources intended for the brigade by the Ministry of Government, were used by politicians to install friends and families in positions they never engaged.

The need to keep nationally united the Fire Brigade is only accomplished with the Revolutionary Triumph of 1959, when the state takes over its direction and makes changes that revolutionize the functioning, organization and general objectives of the work, and of course, the development of the technique used for the extinguishing is not alien to it. Measures begin to be taken meant to preserve the goods of the society and the firefighting occupies an important place in them.

Till the final months of the year 1962, the Fire Brigade was subordinated to the municipal commissions and their governing body. The intensification of class struggle, encouraged by the yankee imperialism, materializes in the form of incendiary sabotages, which forces the Revolutionary Government to incorporate the Fire Brigade to the Ministry of the Interior (MININT), as a body meant, because of its functions, to defend the revolutionary conquests.

As a consequence of terrorists acts, on May 12th 1968 lose their lives two courageous combatants of this brigade, Elías Moya Téllez and Ivan Lugo Machado. Later, the National School of Fire Protection takes the name of Martyrs of Patria Street as homage to these revolutionary youth.

The preventive work, pillar of this activity, is based in the laws that instrument and demand the fulfillment of prevention measures by the population and economical objectives. An important aspect, which has highly contributed to the education of our people in this task, has been the yearly celebration of the National Week of Fire Prevention, initiated on November 1966 and that nowadays still remains, with the goal of establishing a direct link with the population and divulge the main objectives of this campaign.

The article "Nowadays commandos" is a publication barrowed with the authorization of the newspaper Guerrillero from Pinar Del Río province, written by journalist Idalma Menéndez Febles and with pictures of comrade Daniel Mijans. The organization of the work, the units, the clothing and the equipment generally here described, are very similar in all the national territory.

The first warning arrives; immediately the authenticity of the call is verified and the alarm (the siren) is rang announcing the departure of the equipment and the group gets ready to go. With the speed that characterize the firefighters they slide down, and during the journey they finish getting dressed; they use special suits and helmets that protect them against collapses and the intense heat, they also carry oxygen bottles to guard themselves from the smoke and possible poisonous gases, depending on the situation.

First departs the fire engine (M) and behind it the cistern car (C), in charge of delivering water to the former one when it runs out. In a fire, the team, besides controlling and extinguishing the fire, performs rescue operations, protects close by areas and commands the salvaging work. The salvaging and rescue car (R) has the necessary tools for the activity, like stretchers, life savers, compressors, motor saws, extinguishers, so as to other complementary means. The whole attire of a single firefighter costs more than 1000 dollars. The fire hose alone is 20 meters long and costs between 15 to 17 dollars. There is the technical classroom, where the young people from the General Military Service (SMG) who arrive for the first time to the Brigade are trained before going out to face the danger.

Jesús Orestes Arteaga, current chief of the Fire Protection Command at Pinar del Río, rings the alarm and before 45 seconds a group of brave men get on the way, all set to face the flames. The hard and dangerous work begins, their mission: save lives¡, no matter where.

Chapter Two

COMMAND 4 AND SICKO

Bienvenido Rafoso Bartolomé

On August 7th 2007, Cuban firefighters felt great joy and satisfaction, for being able to receive a group of outstanding and valuable firefighters of New York City, direct partakers on the events of September 11th 2001. They arrived to our country accompanied by filmmaker Michael Moore, who directed the documentary Sicko, where he refers to the bad management of North American public health and leaves graphic evidence of the historical moment that took place at Command 4, at Santa Catalina Avenue, in our capital city, in which the North American heroes embrace the Cuban firefighters and together they pay homage to those fallen at the September 11th attack, share anecdotes, experiences and they hug each other like brothers. "If this is what happens between two supposed enemies, if an enemy can stretch your hand and cure you too what would not be possible then", asks himself the director of Sicko.

Moore, talking about the health insurance companies said: "The government lets them do whatever they want", more than 40 million North American citizens do not have a health insurance and of the 250 millions supposed to have it, many are abandoned by the health service for which they have paid during decades. When they visited the Command 4, Michael Moore and his companions were interested for the medical attention received by our firefighters.

José Gilberto Gregorich

The day the North American firefighters came here was very important because we had the opportunity to exchange experiences with these colleagues who worked at the disaster of the Twin Towers.

They were very impressed with the system of medical attention our firefighters receive either before or after an accident as in the everyday life.

They asked what resources were destined to attend to a firefighter who were hurt after a service and the attention they would receive if were impaired because of an accident and they were impressed with the answer we gave them when we explained how they were taken care of without having to pay for any treatment or operation and how the rest of his comrades cared for him and supported him in anything.

They were very hurt for the treatment they had received in their country where the government had abandoned them and they had not been given the medical treatment required for rehabilitating and recover their health.

All of them received medical attention here at the Hermanos Ameijeiras hospital and they were very grateful for the treatment they got. When their treatments finished they asked a Cuban doctor how much they had to pay and the doctor answered: Write for me in this piece of paper THANK YOU.

They had traumas because of all the human suffering they had to face by not even being able to give back to the families the bodies of those trapped under the rubbles. They also referred how the chemicals they breathed produced in them disorders in the central nervous system and respiratory tract.

Michael Moore asked about the meaning of a poster at the entrance of the unit "Country is humanity". We explained him that for us it means to help anybody who needs it, regardless of the country, ideology, religion, or the language or distances, wherever we can assist any human being who needs it we will be there to cooperate and give our solidarity.

We told them that our government offered help right after the Twin Towers disaster and that the Cuban Fire Department was anxious to be there to cooperate, but the United States government refused our offer.

They were here for 40 minutes and did not want to go and promised to come back to Cuba and visit Command 4 again.

Luis Ernesto de la Paz Aria

When the chief of the Cuban Fire Brigade Colonel Rafoso gave to those who came with Michael Moore some gifts, firefighters pins and other items of our organization they were moved and some of them started crying, we were living the emotion of entwining, the Cuban and North American firefighters because we feel we are like a big family. They had worked at the rescue tasks of the Twin Towers disaster and because of that they still have sequelae, but in their country they had not received the medical attention or the social security they deserved, however, a country like Cuba of which they had always heard was the enemy, welcomed them and gave them for nothing the necessary medical care. Then one of them said that: "If the enemy they had been pictured was Cuba, they preferred to be friends of those enemies and not of other kind of government".

They arrive by sea to Cuban shores, and start yelling to a sentry of the United States Naval Base at Guantánamo that they needed to enter for being able to give medical assistance to some North Americans that were firefighters and that had participated at the Twin Towers disaster, and a siren was heard and then total silence. Then they had to land on the Cuban side and found some people playing dominoes and asked them where the pharmacy was, and one of them guided them to the closest one.

Once at the pharmacy when one of the North Americans asks the pharmacist that she needed to buy a device for asthma, when asking the price was astonished because there it was 15 cents of a dollar, when converted to Cuban pesos, it were three pesos, and in the United States that same atomizer for asthma costs 120 dollars, that moves her and makes her cry.

Dagmaris Núñez

There was a firefighter that worked at the Twin Towers and from his mission there, he had an arm that could not move but then in his country he had not received the medical care necessary for him to reestablish from this sequela.

However, in their faces it could be appreciated that they were happy with the treatment they had received in Cuba and they were excited for sharing this encounter with the Cuban firefighters, their colleagues, who do the same work they do, but they could see that these have a medical care that guarantees them that, at any time, if they have a medical problem, they can go to a hospital and get attended without any impediment and every necessary thing is done to guarantee their lives and total recuperation.

This was very touching for them that feel they were abandoned by their government, the one that did not guarantee their rehabilitation because their life insurances did not cover all the treatment they required, not even to pay the high prices of the medications they needed to continue the medical attention until full recovery. They saw the difference of how in Cuba they received all the necessary attention just like any other Cuban citizen and they were taking with them the prescribed medicines.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Defying Dangerby Roberto Valdes Martinez Copyright © 2012 by Roberto Valdes Martinez. Excerpted by permission of Trafford Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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