Wanda Chow
Burnaby Newsleader
A Port Moody man is among a large contingent of volunteers from the Burnaby fire department headed to Nepal to assist in rescue efforts following the massive earthquake Saturday.
He is among thousands of Canadians who are reaching out while the federal government has announced it will match donations to the Red Cross Nepal Earthquake fund.
The magnitude 7.8 quake, which had reportedly killed more than 3,700 people by Monday, collapsed countless buildings, including temples and heritage sites, in and around Kathmandu and triggered an avalanche that killed at least 18 at a Mount Everest base camp.
By late Sunday, George Assaf, (photo at left) a captain with the Burnaby fire department, posted on his Facebook page that he was headed overseas, along with 17 other colleagues and members of the Canadian Medical Assistance Teams to assist in the search for survivors.
Currently in transit, Assaf has not responded to requests of information from The News but Burnaby fire chief Doug McDonald said the group began the almost 24-hour journey early Monday morning, and was expected to spend four days on the ground in Kathmandu before making the trip back.
"These members have volunteered their own time, they're paying their own way and what the department is offering them at this time is just equipment and supplies they could take with them to use in the search efforts," McDonald said.
Some of the members come from the Burnaby department's technical rescue team and rescue task force, and have been trained in urban search and rescue, but not all, he said.
The group will be tasked with searching for survivors within the rubble, he said. Their equipment will include cameras on wands that will allow for searching in confined spaces, and technical listing equipment to detect faint sounds such as tapping by people trapped inside collapsed buildings.
"That's why it's important to have them there as quickly as we can get them there. If they're there in a week or two, to be honest it becomes body recovery after a while."
The call for volunteers was spearheaded by retired Burnaby firefighter Mark Pullen, a member of the B.C. Disaster Dogs Society who was heading to Nepal with his trained rescue dog, McDonald said. The team from Burnaby will be joined by two firefighters from Mission, each with their own rescue dogs.
Pullen served in a similar capacity with rescue dogs in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina and in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake.
Below, one of three dog handlers from B.C. headed to Nepal to assist in searching for earthquake survivors. PHOTO COURTESY CANADIAN MEDICAL ASSISTANCE TEAMS
The dogs are trained to detect people still alive in the collapsed buildings, as well as those who have passed on, and be able to indicate the difference to their handlers.
"I'm extremely proud of the members volunteering to go into very dangerous conditions and it just shows the resolve of the Burnaby fire department and its members," said McDonald, "that they're willing to help anywhere and go anywhere at their own expense, basically to help out those that are having a tough time."
In addition to those firefighters headed to Nepal, there are dozens of others who are helping back at home by covering their shifts, noted Rob Lamoureux, president of Burnaby Firefighters Association Local 323.
All the firefighters' flights were donated by Cathay Pacific and Pacific Blue Cross donated travel medical insurance to help make the trip happen, Lamoureux said from Ottawa where he's attending a conference.
"It's what firefighters do," he said of the volunteer efforts. "It's kind of the old sentiment, when everyone's rushing out we're rushing in. It's just our mentality. We just want them to return safe and hopefully they can help out and save a few lives and make a difference."
The firefighters will be working with a medical team from CMAT, which will conduct a needs assessment in the area around Kathmandu, to determine emergency health requirements. Depending on what it finds it may put out a call for medical volunteers and set up an inflatable field hospital.
For more information and to donate to CMAT, visit www.canadianmedicalteams.org
with files from Diane Strandberg
