Strategies For Rebuilding Iraq’s Infrastructure And Fire Service Focus Of PennWell Conference

Iraqi government officials and international experts in areas related to agenda topics for the Iraq Reconstruction Conference and Exhibition presented and discussed strategies for rebuilding the country’s infrastructure. The event, organized by PennWell Corporation and held under the patronage of His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, Prime Minister of Bahrain, was held at the Bahrain Exhibition Centre in Manama (capital of the Persian Gulf’s island kingdom) from September 13-15, 2004.

Dr. Alì Saeed Sadoon, director general of the Iraqi Civil Defense Directorate, and Chief Robert Triozzi (Ret.), a 28-year veteran of the U.S. fire service and founder and head of the Fire Rescue Development Program (FRDP),¹ were principal presenters and facilitators. The Iraqi ambassador to Bahrain, the Iraqi Minister of Energy, and HRH Prince Michael of Kent, Great Britain, were among the attendees.

The focus of the conference was to identify the existing problems and propose strategies and solutions for reconstructing Iraq’s petroleum sector, water system, telecommunications capacity, power generation industry, and Civil Defense Directorate (Iraqi Fire Service), one of the primary areas of discussion at the conference.

The Civil Defense Directorate/Iraqi Fire Service
Dr. Ali presented a summary of the evolution and responsibilities of the Iraq Civil Defense Directorate/Iraqi Fire Service:

• The Directorate is not a military organization; however, military activities, such as maintaining air raid shelters, providing early warnings of imminent attacks, identifying areas contaminated by unexploded ordinance (UXO), and disposing of UXO, are among its responsibilities.
• The Directorate, originally organized in 1941, had been an entity of the Ministry of the Interior and also was once a part of the Defense Ministry. It was organized on a municipal level before it was returned to the Interior Ministry in 1977.
• Under Dr. Ali’s tenure, which began in April 2003, the primary objectives were to acquire the basic necessities for the fire service, which-along with Iraq’s infrastructure–had been severely damaged in the war. Although some equipment, such as the 300 fire apparatus ordered prior to the war through the United Nations Oil for Food Program, and contracts for training and equipment through the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) have been received, the contracts were often awarded without any input from his office or consideration of the country’s actual needs. Often, his office was told which vendors would supply which equipment and services.
• Future goals for the Directorate include increasing the size of the force, opening new fire stations, improving communications, increasing rescue capabilities, implementing training on various levels, and introducing specializations within the service.

“Sustainable Development For The Fire Services” Concept
In reorganizing the Iraqi Fire Service, Chief Triozzi explained that the concept of “Sustainable Development for the Fire Services,” the basic philosophy of the FRDP, is crucial for success. The concept, he explained, “is committed to providing assistance that will allow local firefighters to grow and evolve and to implement programs that will continue long after international aid leaves town–in a nutshell, programs that help them to help themselves.”

Among the highlights of Triozzi’s presentation were the following:

• It is imperative to development that the help being offered a country such as Iraq is indeed help. All too often, those wanting to help take initiatives that neither reflect realities nor take into consideration what the actual needs are. Examples include assistance offered by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to the Basra Fire Department. The money that was to help the Iraqi Fire Service was used to paint the fire station pink while firefighters were fighting fires without gloves, boots, helmets, or any protective clothing whatsoever-an action that did not constitute help and was neither cost-effective nor practical.
• The FRDP philosophy has proved successful in many parts of the world because the solutions offered are low tech, simple, practical, and–above all–applicable locally.
• A country’s history, culture, and mentality must be understood and respected before engaging in programs for reorganizing the fire service. What may seem obvious and logical for one city or nation may not necessarily be what is needed in another.
• Success will be achieved sooner if the reorganization programs build on the structure already in place and maximize the use of existing resources. The help the fire service receives should include first making the service efficient in using whatever is immediately available. New techniques and equipment can slowly be introduced over time. The primary goal is to render firefighters capable of putting out a fire safely.
• Functional priorities are critical in the early stages of reorganization. They include maintaining an evolution of progressive events that permit the fire service to function and grow in a natural way that enriches its capabilities and sticking to basic, traditional fire service roles related to training and the purchase of equipment.
• Responsibilities in the early reconstruction stages should be limited to firefighting; basic rescue with hand tools; elementary haz mat; and, in the case of Iraq, explosives and ordnance disposal (EOD), a tradition in the Iraqi Fire Service. What is key is to have a fire service that functions and puts out the fire safely.
  
  Specialized units and high-tech operations, such as high-angle rescue teams, fire service rescue diving, advanced haz-mat units, heavy rescue, and EMS, for example, can come much later, just as occurred in the industrialized world.
• The order of progression in Iraq should be as follows:
  1. Render existing firefighters efficient with what is at their disposal.
  2. Create an officer/management corps.
  3. Create a staff of instructors.
  4. Hire new recruits and introduce new equipment and techniques.

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¹ The FRDP is a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization (NGO) comprised of firefighters from nine countries on four continents. It is headquartered in Rome, Italy, and has offices in Chicago, Illinois, and Johannesburg, South Africa. The FRDP was created to assist firefighters in developing world and war-torn countries. It is the only Fire Rescue NGO recognized by the United Nations. Its members are the only firefighters in the world to serve as delegates to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Within the United Nations, the FRDP is most active in areas related to “Disaster Impact Reduction” and is very involved in promoting “Sustainable Development for the Fire Services” in poorer nations.
The FRDP led a mission in Iraq in July 2003 to evaluate the Iraqi Fire Service and to provide recommendations for its reorganization. The FRDP team visited all parts of Iraq, from the Turkish border in the north to Kuwait in the south.