Guadalajara Bomberos
Train with Portland Fire & Rescue

Six bomberos - firefighters - from the Portland Fire & Rescue's sister city of Guadalajara received specialized training from PF&R early in October. Chief Hector López Sahagún, fire chief of Guadalajara's Fire Department, and five other fire officers received high-angle rope rescue training. The bomberos were trained on doing rescue pick-offs on the face of the Bank of California Building as part of their high-angle rope rescue training.

The bomberos also learned how to operate in compartmentalized building fires, how to use fire shelters in wildland firefighting, and practiced hazard materials response. The Guadalajara fire department is the first in the country to learn these techniques. The Guadalajara bomberos have been teaching the skills they've learned in Portland to other firefighters in departments as far away as Central and South America.

On a weekend during the bomberos' October visit, they took a day off from training and visited Mt. Hood. They played in the snow for the first time in their lives.

The sister city program with Guadalajara began in 1999. Guadalajara metropolitan zone has approximately 7 million people and has a fire department with only 400 firefighters. Since that time, Portland Fire & Rescue has trained firefighters and officers as well as donated fire apparatus and firefighting equipment. In August of 2008, Portland Fire & Rescue sent a fire engine, a fire truck, and equipment to Guadalajara. Those two fire apparatus are already being used as first-line apparatus in Guadalajara.