Firemen blazing a trail to Quebec City

“Knock! Knock! We’re selling fire extinguishers. Every home should have one... We also have the fire alarm, which is an early warning device; only $120.” There is no catch to the fireman’s introductory line. His message is two-fold. First, the safety device is a priority in the home. Second, their visit is a fund-raising house-to-house campaign with a purpose. Our local fire officers are busy, busy, busy utilising every second of their off-time to raise funds for an event touted as the second largest of its kind in the world after the Olympics.

It is the XIth Biennial World Police and Fire Games, in Quebec, Canada which runs from June 26 - July 5, 2005. From its inception in 1985, Trinidad and Tobago has been well represented by members of both the protective service and fire departments. However, in 2005, the firefighters are going solo. A year and two months away, the games may be a long way off, but the 28 delegates representing Trinidad and Tobago have to raise over TT$100,000 cash for airfare and hotel accommodation. For Carnival they sold printed T-shirts. Since then, the fire officers have had cake sales, barbecues and curry-ques. In the past, they solicited funds for raffles where the grand prizes were motor cars and a satellite dish. Since the advent of the national Lotto, however, “we have moved away from games of chance,” said Deputy Chief Fire Officer, Clyde Ramsaroop. How about a bottle of ponche-de-creme out of the Christmas season! So far, they’ve sold 18 cases and plan on selling 40 by year’s end.

But, why all the hullabaloo about getting to the games? Simply put, “it’s a great achievement, we are meeting people of different cultures, we’re bonding and we are ambassadors — we sell the cultural aspect of it,” Deputy Chief Ramsaroop answered. By and large, he was right. Apart from the competitive gains, they substituted as cultural envoys travelling the world. When the team travelled to Spain last year, they were not only furnished with a winning attitude, but with an entire rhythm section. They took along with them the cuatro, steel pan, “two bottle and spoon,” marac, bugle, iron hub and tok tok. The rhythm section was undoubtedly, a rarity — “so much so that everybody wanted to be associated with it.” Pictures with foreign delegates stooping in front of the steel pan were taken with the group. Those who had never heard of or seen the dish “pelau” opted to sample it. “We even carried up souvenirs. We have some crack-shot tenor players and we would put on impromptu sessions before and after the games in the streets, and people came up to us asking about the country’s location. And we told them we are the land of the hummingbird,”
Ramsaroop said. “The most southern of the islands... We are an exponent of the Trinidad culture.”

The first games, hosted in San Jose, California, drew 5,000 athletes (police officers, firefighters, and correctional and customs officers) from around the world. At next year’s games, no less than 10,000 athletes are expected from over 70 countries. Athletes will participate in 65 sports, some of which include wrestling, judo, darts, pistol, scuba diving, motocross, soccer, tennis, bench press, bodybuilding, decathlon, triathlon and track and field. The latter, has earned our team numerous medals. Fire officers Peter Springer, Brent Clarke, Irvin Thomas and Curwin Callender, have participated in the high jump, decathlon and sprint, 4x4 relay events, respectively, under the training of former track and field coach, Nestor Browne, now deceased. Others have entered the long jump, javelin and table tennis events. Since the games are being held in the French Quebec City, the 28 team members are currently learning a few French words “in order to mix and mingle with the people.”