Hi im interested in joining the fire service.I was wondering if that in any point in a fire fighters career opportunities come along to work in other countries.
thank you
Hi mate,
Opportunities to work in other countries do come along but they are rare. I have been very lucky and was selected to do an international exchange programme in 2001. I went to the city of Bochum in Germany and did a report on "Disaster Management In The Federal Republic of Germany" for a European Commision. At the same time as this, a colleague of mine went to Nijmegen in Holland to do the same thing.
In addition to this, there is also an organisation which facilitates international firefighter exchanges, basically, you go and live in the other firefighters home and work at their place of work and they do the same at your place. I know a coleague who did this and worked in New Zealand for a year. In order to do this, you need a Chief Fire Officer who will allow this to happen and they aren't always easy to find.
Another method is to volunteer for "Operation Florian" these are UK firefighters who basically gather equipment and supply it to porer less developed countries with poorly equiped and poorly trained fire services. Operation Florian has teams of volunteers who then go and train these fire services how to use the equipment. I know that a lot of the instructors and volunteers give up a lot of their own time and leave to take part in this worthy cause.
Hope this information has been of some use to you.
Kaiser
