Siem Rea, 2010
In April 2010, GlobalFire members were invited to train the Firefighters at the Siem Reap International Airport. The team arrived in Siem Reap as the shipping container sent from Canada cleared customs. Supplies from the container were distributed to the airport's fire service to improve their firefighting capability.
The training took place over several days and focused primarily on structural firefighting. Over and above fire suppression training, special attention was paid to teaching search and rescue techniques. This was due to the very high number of people found at an international airport, and their restricted access to exits. Small and large area searches, as well as victim drags and carries were practiced within the airport's terminals, out-buildings and aircraft access ways in order to improve realism. Blacked-out facepiece evolutions were also conducted to improve the firefighters’ ability to perform various tasks while blinded by smoke.
The airport's paramedics were put through refresher training to polish their skills and learn some new tricks, while the firefighters were being trained elsewhere.
The week of training culminated in a series of scenarios held on the airport grounds. GlobalFire provided professional emergency services workers, outside of the instruction staff, to act as victims throughout the scenarios. The firefighter and paramedic agencies were both put to the test during these scenarios, which allowed the airport's disaster command and control element to practise controlling and tracking their various resources during a series of real-time events.