tonga 2025

Tonga experiences frequent and devastating natural disasters. As a country, it is also incredibly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change due to its low-lying topography and geographic location within the Ring of Fire. Cyclones, tropical storms, earthquakes, volcanic activity, droughts, tsunamis and flooding are common occurrences in Tonga. However, smaller yet damaging disasters are often not reported, and do not receive attention on an international scale. As a result, people living in Tonga continue to have recurring disruptions to their social and economic livelihoods, with very little international support during disaster recovery.

104,000 People inhabit 36 of 176 Islands in Tonga. When firefighters are spread over multiple remote communities, in a remote country, it compounds the logistical and economical challenges they face. Tonga has an active, dedicated fire service, but they lack the budget for updated equipment and training, making them reliant on international assistance. 

Tonga Fire and Emergency Service requested additional training from GlobalFire following the success of the training and equipment donation we provided in 2023. In November 2025, four GlobalFire trainers volunteered two weeks of their time to train 25 firefighters from Tonga Fire and Emergency Services.

Training included:

  • Fire Investigation

  • Fire Dynamics

  • Incident Management System

  • Auto Extrication

  • Firefighter Survival & Rapid Intervention

  • Structural collapse

  • Firefighting hazards and suppression tactics for lithium ion battery fires

  • Car Fires

  • Live Fire Training

Through this project, GlobalFire improved the capacity of Tonga Fire & Emergency Services to protect themselves while they protect the people and property of their country. Firefighting is a very dangerous profession. Through the new skills learned and the old skills practiced during this training session, firefighters in Tonga will now be able to work smarter and share best practices with their colleagues. Even firefighters from outer islands Nomuka and Tungua paid their own travel expenses to join the training and can now spread awareness and share new skills across the country.

This training was made possible thanks to the experienced trainers who volunteered their time and expertise, as well as the generous donors who provided flights for the trainers.

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