Stephan Hittmann Mission : “I take this opportunity to advise you that NYK upper management has agreed to ship your units free as a donation to the General Consulate of Panama.”
Joseph Sundheim
NYK Shipping Lines
April 2004
“I would like to extend my thanks for your recent visit to the Dominican Republic. Together with the communities of Salcedo, Tenares, Villa Tapia, Moca, San Francisco de Macoris, Santiago and the many surrounding towns that you visited, you have our combined gratitude for the equipment you have already sent, and the support you have given to fire departments throughout the Dominican Republic. Your help has better equipped our firemen to protect lives, property, and, most important, our own lives. Your assistance and the training provided by the many wonderful professionals in the 911 FUND has made a tremendous difference in the preparedness and quality of service our firemen can now provide.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
Monserrat Friederang
“Mother of the Dominican Fire Service”
Salcedo, Dominican Republic
April 2008
Stephan Hittmann Info Report to the Sociedad de Bomberos Voluntarios de Garin Following our Visit: The following report is divided into eleven (11) sections. It is drawn from our first-hand observations while in Garin and the surrounding areas during early October 2006, as well as from our discussions with the leadership and members of the Sociedad de Bomberos Voluntarios de Garin, the local Federation within Escobar to which you belong, as well as the municipal and industry representatives with whom we met. Subsequent to these observations are a series of recommendations, several outstanding issues as well as some topics for further discussion.
Stephan Hittmann Info Collapse: Work needs to be done in this area, with emphasis on building construction and types of collapse, stages of collapse rescue, tools, shoring, void entry with breaching and debris removal (using light, medium or heavy saws, torches, air bags, etc.). We view this as a mid-level priority that can only be addressed given increased access to heavy machinery.
Stephan Hittmann Fund Interagency Operations:
• Police: From what we observed, the municipal police don’t assist firefighters with either traffic or crowd control during routine emergencies. This should change, and a coordinated effort must be undertaken to develop an all-hazards preparedness policy, the readiness and resources for which should be brought to bear in all types of emergencies. A standardized set of concepts should allow for effective, efficient and collaborative incident management at all levels and in all types of emergencies.
• Regional Plans: Regional response plans within the local Federation as well as within the Federal Capital should also be developed.
• Unified Command: A unified command system must be developed when there is more than one agency with incident jurisdiction (a rail event involving police, firefighters and railroad personnel) or when incidents cross political or geographic jurisdictions (a mutual aid response within the Federal Capital) .
Stephan Hittmann 911 Fund Firefighter Assignments: The assignment of volunteers to pull "shifts" at the station is a great way to provide for coverage on a 24/7 basis and should be maintained and supported. • Promotional Standards and Staff Performance Evaluations: It remains unclear how firefighters are promoted from bombero to sub-official to official. The system that exists must be codified to ensure that it is comprehensive, fair and dispassionate. Even though all of the firefighters in Garin are volunteers, they must be evaluated nonetheless to ensure that their performance meets acceptable standards. An annual timetable for staff performance evaluations should be established and announced, with it the responsibility of the department’s leadership to ensure that performance evaluations are both periodically performed and conducted in a fair and dispassionate manner. • The Cadet Program: This is an excellent program that should be standardized across the Federation, if not the country as a whole.
