Iraq’s firefighters face different kind of fire

[__Kratos__]

Firefighters are Iraqi heroes in most parts of the country - battling blazes, giving first aid and even getting water to places where pipelines have been sabotaged.

But in regions where insurgents are waging a guerrilla war against US and Iraqi forces, they can face a different kind of fire.

The rattle of insurgent machine guns often greets them when they respond to emergencies, especially following the almost daily suicide car bombs targeting US and Iraqi military convoys, said Colonel Abdul Karim Messin Zayer, a fire station commander on Baghdad's southern outskirts.

At other times, armed men show up at fire stations to warn firefighters not to respond to attacks against the US military, said an administrator at the civil defense corps headquarters.

"They know we are unarmed, that we have only our water hoses," he said of the strong-arm intimidation tactics, declining to be named. "So they don't shoot us."

Perhaps most unsettling of all, two fire chiefs were killed in the Baghdad region in recent months, said Ali Saeed Sadoon, chief of Iraq's civil defense corps, which oversees fire fighting and search and rescue missions.

Insurgents have killed at least 300 Iraqis in June, most of them civil servants, particularly Iraqi soldiers and police, adding to a grim toll of 700 in May following the installation of the new government of Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari.

With firefighters now themselves a target, the average Iraqi is grateful for their work, Sadoon said.

"People still cooperate with us. We're providing a humanitarian service to save lives. All Iraqis know the importance of civil defense."

In an attempt to keep his men out of the line of fire, Sadoon has changed the color of their uniforms to gray, distinguishing them from Iraqi police blues and the tan camouflage worn by soldiers.

He said he is also trying to separate the corps from its current affiliation with the interior ministry, which oversees other security forces as well.

"We have nothing in common with the Iraqi police," Sadoon said. "Their job is completely different."

Even when they're not targeted directly, however, fires from insurgent bombs and an upsurge in other emergencies leave the 11,000-strong force stretched thin, he noted.

The number of calls has doubled since US-led forces invaded Iraq in March 2003, Sadoon estimated, without giving specific figures.

"Most of what we deal with are explosions and other acts of arson," said Adil Hussein Abbas, a firefighter for 23 years. "The explosions generate fires. Even if there is a bombing, it's our job to cover it."

Sadoon wants to increase the size of his force and give the firefighters more training. He has plans to increase the number of fire stations in Baghdad to 100 from 25 and to build a new civil defense academy.

In the meantime, 4,000 firefighters are to get basic skills training in Bahrain in the next two years as part of a 20-million-dollar project sponsored by the United States.

At least 1,250 have graduated from the training since January, Sadoon said.

In addition, US troops are teaching emergency medical procedures to firefighters in Iraq, training 70 since May, the military said in a statement. Most have never received "basic life support" training before, the military said.

"We have to fight the fires," Abbas said. "We see them as our enemy."

Source

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As if their job wasn't hard enough...

Edited July 25, 2005 by __Kratos__

[morpheas]

-Post removed-

Edited July 25, 2005 by morpheas