Regional Office of the Month: Costa Rica
FrontLines: March 2008
For this edition of FrontLines, the Costa Rican regional
office in USAID’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance is
being spotlighted in place of a Mission of the Month.
Challenge
 In recent decades, Costa Rica has experienced disastrous
fires at chemical plants that raged out of control for hours as firefighters in this small Central American nation struggled to respond.
Emergency workers at the scene invariably faced obstacles
including lack of information
about the substances on fire, lack of specialized equipment,
and little training on how to best respond to incidents involving hazardous materials.
The risk of such incidents has grown exponentially in recent years. More than 34 million substances have been registered worldwide, according
to the American Chemical Society, and thousands more are registered every day. In rapidly developing Costa Rica, every year brings a long list of newly introduced chemicals, new and expanding industries, and new hazards. The few existing restrictions on the use, storage and transport of industrial
and agricultural chemicals are inadequately enforced, government officials admit.
“Ten years ago, we had 300 gas leaks a year. Today, we respond to 800 gas leaks a year. We face all sorts of risks, and we need to be prepared,” said Carlos Quesada, a 35-year veteran
of Costa Rica’s National Firefighters Corps, the agency charged with responding to incidents involving hazardous chemicals.
Innovative Response
Firefighters practice containing hazardous materials during field exercises as part of a two-week course in November 2007, developed with assistance from USAID/OFDA disaster experts. The course was held at the National Firefighters Corps training facilities outside San José, Costa Rica. Sixteen firefighters from Rica, Colombia, Guatemala,and Panama participated. |
In 1995, USAID’s Costa Rica-based regional disaster assistance office began a hazardous materials
program that included the course “First Response to Hazardous Materials Incidents,” known by its Spanish acronym, PRIMAP.
The course, developed specifically
for Latin America, teaches how to recognize the presence of dangerous materials amid disaster; identify specific hazards; carry out initial actions to prevent loss of life and property;
and safeguard the environment.
It is based on a Level I response as defined by the U.S. National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and is now a requirement for all Costa Rican firefighters.
In 2004, the National Firefighters Corps recognized that advanced training was needed and began sending its personnel to a chemistry course at the University of Costa Rica. Not long after, recognizing the value of USAID’s earlier training,
the Firefighters Corps requested the office’s assistance to develop a more comprehensive
course.
The new course—“Operations to Respond to Incidents Involving Dangerous Materials”—was developed with USAID’s technical expertise over the next two years. It exceeds the requirements of an NFPA Level II course, according to Argentine chemist Diego Nahuel Gotelli, who for the past decade has helped USAID periodically update its Level
I course.
Begun in 2007, the Level
II course is divided into three modules: one covering chemistry,
a second covering personal protection and instrument usage, and a third on planning and operations, which includes input from USAID experts in disaster response.
Results
Costa Rica’s success in involving its National Firefighters Corps, the University of Costa Rica, USAID and other outside experts to train its firefighters on an operational level, represents
the long-term vision of USAID involvement in this important area of disaster response, according to Tim Callaghan, USAID senior disaster assistance regional advisor for Latin America and the Caribbean.
The program is now open to firefighters from throughout
Latin America and the Caribbean.
Sixteen firefighters from Costa Rica, Colombia, Guatemala and Panama participated
in November 2007 in the two-week advanced course in San José.
“The results have been excellent. This course is very much needed to maintain security and control hot zones during incidents,” said Costa Rican firefighter Alex Araya, chief of the Firefighters Unit in the central Pacific port city of Puntarenas.
Chemist Gotelli said
he has no doubt the new advanced course will be replicated
in other Latin American countries. “Everyone wants this course. Everyone has been waiting for it,” he said.
Costa Rica’s National Firefighters Corps aims to provide the training to more than 60 firefighters by the end of 2008. .
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