Operation Florian has recently received a Certificate of Appreciation from Mae Sot Municipality after donating sets of personal protective equipment to the firefighters of Mae Sot Municipal Fire Service.

Operation Florian has recently received a Certificate of Appreciation from Mae Sot Municipality after donating sets of personal protective equipment (PPE) to the firefighters of Mae Sot Municipal Fire Service.

During the recent trip to Thailand in which the Operation Florian team were undertaking fire risk assessments of a series of refugee camps on the Thai/Burma border the team were fortunate to meet members of the Mae Sot fire service.

As part of the field study undertaken the Florian team had become aware that some of the basic firefighting training that had been delivered to emergency response volunteers within the Mae La refugee camp had been trained by the local firefighters. 

Despite the remote locations of many of the refugee camps there was still a commitment from firefighters in the nearest municipal to respond to major incidents and support the refugees.

The Mae Sot firefighters kindly hosted a visit and tour of their fire station for two team members, Steve Jordan and Roy Barraclough, during their stay in Mae Sot.

Mae Sot is seen as a gateway town between Thailand on the Burma border which is currently experiencing rapid growth and expansion on account of the political and economic changes within Burma.  As is ever the case with any such rapid population increase, various kinds of risks increase and if unchecked the delivery of public services such as fire protection and rescue can be stretched.

Mae Sot is served by one of only two transnational roads and cross-border points across the Tenasserim Hills to Burma, along with Three Pagodas Pass..

Startling statistics presented by the firefighters indicated that within the Mae Sot municipality there is an average death of one death per day due to some form of road traffic collision. Additionally, although the fire crews were exceptionally well facilitated and equipped for forest fires there was still a lack of PPE for all the firefighters.

The hope is that Operation Florian can assist further in partnership with the municipal firefighters and working together to with various NGOs to improve fire safety and response within the refugee camps.