Plea to help turn Bosnia's 'soldiers into saviours': when a chief fire officer recently visited Bosnia, the harrowing experience of Bosnian soldiers turned firefighters, and the sustained efforts of UK colleagues in training and equipping them, proved life changing - Overseas Aid

I suppose like many, the images that remain with me of the Bosnian Civil War (1992-1995) are citizens dodging sniper's bullets and artillery shells in the siege towns, such as Sarajevo and Mostar, reports of massacres in Srebenica and others and of course, Martin Bell, then journalist, being shot. However, at the time of several conflicts around the world this was another war brought to me by the media and, although sympathetic, I found it difficult to relate such images to my own day-to-day existence.

At the time of this war I was attending courses at the Fire Service College, transferring between brigades and enjoying my young family. At the same time in Bosnia firefighters were being deliberately targeted and shot at while doing their job and others were arrested and imprisoned. In neighbouring Dubrovnik, Croatia, three firefighters were killed when their appliance was targeted as they responded to an incident. Their colleagues at the fire station overheard the Serbian army talking on their radios about waiting for the firefighters to arrive at the house that they had set alight through shelling.

Operation Florian (OF) is a UK registered charity that was founded by Steve Owen-Hughes, a Ministry of Defence Fire Officer; its aim is to provide firefighting and rescue equipment to communities in need, irrespective of ethnic origins or politics (usually recovering from war or disaster). OF's doctrine is to provide equipment coupled with training and long term support to assist communities to find their own solutions to their problems. The charity was founded following the delivery of a fire appliance to the Croation sea port of Split in 1993. Since then the charity has raised funds to provide vehicles, training and equipment to other projects in Croatia. The reliance upon volunteers is absolute and these are usually serving firefighters that give up their own annual leave to assist in delivering vehicles and/or training.

Since the end of the civil war Crotia has been successful in its redevelopment and is involved in the preliminary stages of preparation for eventual integration into the European Union. Bosnia is a different story. With over 40 per cent unemployment and the scars of battle visible in almost every village, the country looks as though it has barely started to recover from the conflict. In 2001 the Organisation for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE) completed an audit of Bosnian/Croat Federation's defence accounts. And in conjunction with the International Monetary FUnd (IMF) proposed a budget based upon what the economy could afford. This meant a reduction of 10,000 military and police personnel who would each receive approximately 3,500 [pounds sterling] severance pay to enable them to start their own businesses or alternative training for new careers.

Firefighting was identified as an appropriate occupation for these ex soldiers and, following a project proposal from Britain, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) agreed to assist in recruiting candidates and securing support from the municipalities that had no fire cover. This is a vital part of the process in that each recruit is guaranteed two years employment upon successful completion of the training. Each municipality must agree to send and subsequently employ six firefighters, even though many have not yet identified a suitable location for a fire station. The role of Operation Florian is to secure the vehicles, equipment and training for 200 recruits. The British Government is part funding the project, which has been given the title 'Soldiers into Saviours'.

Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue service has supported Operation Florian for some time. We sell our released fire appliances to the charity for a fixed cost and donate other equipment considered to be suitable. Brigade personnel have also been involved in delivering both appliances and training. It has to be remembered that although the British Fire Service follows national frameworks and regulations regarding the use and suitability of equipment, in places like Bosnia and many African states anything, no matter how old, is better than nothing at all, and it will save lives.

At the moment Bosnia has no national fire school, no national fire regulations, no national standards for fire cover and little support for the fire service in general. I agreed to visit the project to find out how a chief fire officer of a local authority fire and rescue service could assist the project, given its support by HM Government. What I discovered left me with a change in life perspective that I will not lose.

The training course is tightly compressed into six weeks of intensive theory and practical exercises, with a large emphasis on the safe wearing of BA in real fire situations. The course is being validated to the NFPA level 1 firefighting course by a Texas fire school. The final two to three days of the course are based upon combination exercises using real fire scenarios. Each recruit must use part of their forces severance pay to fund their own travelling and subsistence during their stay.

The recruits are drawn from all backgrounds, even though many were on opposing sides during the war. One, a former Muslim soldier, was one of only 28 survivors after his platoon of 98 were ambushed by Serbian forces. He had to lay underneath and next to his dead colleagues to survive the attack. Afterwards 20 of the 28 went to Srebenica while he went to Tusla. This decision may have saved his life as he later lost family members, murdered among 5,000 others when the Dutch UN Peacekeeping force handed over the 'safe haven' of Srebenica to Serbian forces. This same Muslim recruit was later helped and encouraged by Serbian colleagues on the course when he became claustrophobic during a BA training exercise. He told me that once he exchanged bullets with the Serbs, on the course he drinks coffee with them.

All of these former soldiers and police officers, now firefighters, have a story to tell. Unless you have had a sensitivity bypass, or perhaps experienced something similar to them, it is impossible not to be moved by the experiences of these people and the stoic way in which they reflect upon them and are coping with the after effects.

Another recruit lost his three year old daughter during an artillery attack in which his house was hit, while he was away fighting. He mentioned this every time I spoke to him during the week, as though it had happened only a few days ago. The most difficult moment I had was trying to explain to this man, through sign language, nods of the head and drawings, that I understood how he felt at the loss of his daughter. I did not of course, how could I? For the first time ever when talking to a firefighter I felt lost for words.

At times I found it humbling to be in the presence of these men, former neighbours who became bitter warring enemies, who have since reconciled their past to work to a common future. I found it moving that they recognised that their common future was to be bound by the family that envelopes firefighters worldwide. To observe them working hard on their training, visibly improving in the week that I was there, and the commitment of the instructors, on this occasion from Lancashire and East Sussex, was heart warming. Being involved even on the periphery of this project gives me an enormous sense of pride.

The dedication of the volunteer instructors deserves recognition. They were totally committed to giving the recruits the best start that they could in their new firefighting career. Although they were clearly enjoying supervising the drills, I could see that it was relentless and hard work, made more complex by the continuous need for an interpreter. Their absolute determination to ensure that all recruits passed the course was self-evident, with extra coaching willingly given, and I could not help but notice a watery eye in one of the instructors as he said goodbye on the final evening of his tour. It would be wrong to single out anyone for special praise but I hope that all would accept that the latest Bosnian fire service phrase of 'franknstevetheygoodmen' applies to all of the British firefighters who have given their time to the project.

The recruits all know that they will return to their own communities and they all seemed to recognise this training as possibly their only chance of employment. All of those that I spoke to also acknowledged the bond developed between all personnel on their training course. This is a hugely important aspect of this course. Make no mistake about it; although the war is over, tolerance is the state of being in Bosnia at present. Friendship as it used to exist is still a very long way off and I felt the balance to be precarious. This was dramatically underlined elsewhere in the region by the assassination of the Serbian President on the final day of my visit.

During my visit the Japanese embassy in Sarajevo confirmed a large cash donation to the project. This was followed by a visit from an embassy researcher who was looking at the way they were spending their allocation of grant money. The researcher was clearly impressed with what he saw and will report favourably on the project. Perhaps more telling though was the view of his Bosnian driver He admitted to initial scepticism of the project but by the end of the tour remarked to Steve Darby, the senior instructor, that he thought this to be one of the few international aid projects that was actually delivering something tangible. Some of the key benefits to projects such as this are:

* The establishment of civil protection;

* The creation of civic infrastructure;

* Employment and development of skills;

* Recognition of credible international support;

* Development of political stability.

So what is needed to stop this becoming a very well intentioned but short-lived project? We need to avoid the 'sack of grain will make everything better' mistake of early African famine relief and recognise the need to make the country self-sufficient in its fire cover provision. This particular project needs long term help to enable the country to establish its own fire infrastructure.

The UK Government has recently announced an extension to the project to train a further 100 firefighters. This will require more appliances, equipment and volunteers. The key though, is sustainability. As reported earlier all of the vehicles and equipment are old, in good working order, but none-the-less old. Therefore a programme of servicing and maintenance is vital. In addition there is a chronic shortage of compressors for re-charging BA cylinders. Continuation training for replacement recruits is impossible at present unless undertaken by an organisation like Operation Florian. There is no Bosnian fire school.

A further issue is that of competing demand. There are a number of other equally laudable projects making requests of chief fire officers for vehicles and equipment surplus to requirements. Right now there appears to be little or no co-ordination between projects to ensure that donated resources reaches the right project at the right time. Moreover, there are probably resources available in brigades that would be ideal for many overseas projects if the right contacts and connections were made.

I believe that this is a matter with which CACFOA could assist by acting as an umbrella organisation to assist in bringing potential recipients and donors together, sharing contacts and utilising the experiences of others. I hope to take this to the CACFOA Board in the near future. In the interim, I would naturally urge chief fire officers to continue to release vehicles, equipment and personnel for these many worthy causes.

I may have waxed lyrical over the positive aspects of the 'soldiers into saviours' project. If so I make no apology. When you see something good happening then the natural reaction is to want to tell everyone and although the current pay dispute has affected the project in terms of delaying the release of vehicles and equipment, it has not stopped the volunteers.

Early on in the dispute Andy Gilchrist referred to firefighters as "ultimate humanitarians". Without doubt our firefighters, who have given up their annual leave, spent time away from their families and friends to work for the good of those less fortunate, are worthy of this description. Let us hope that we are able to do justice to their efforts in the longer term.

Chaps, it was emotional.

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