Chinese exchange students and government officials tour OFPD
facilities
A delegation of students and government officials toured the
Orland Fire Protection District on Thursday, Oct. 11, viewing firsthand how
firefighters train and battle fires.
The delegates, which included Chinese officials working in
public works, police and fire, and government from the Guangzhou Province in
China, are touring American government and public agencies through The 21st
Century Institute, a not-for-profit agency based on Oak Park.
OFPD Chief Ken Brucki said the Fire District worked with the
Village of Orland Park in coordination of the tour, noting Fire District
officials allowed the guests to view firsthand district responses to simulated
emergencies, on-going training and reviewing EMS equipment and procedures.
“We had our experts like Training Battalion Chief David
Piper and EMS Coordinator Mark Duke closely supervised the tour,” Brucki said.
“They were very interested in how we work with local
government asking questions about taxation, cooperation and also with how we
respond to specific emergency situations.”
Brucki said that the guests visited the Training Center, the
Administration Building, several Fire Houses and also the Dispatch Center. They
were able to watch several ongoing training exercises and were particularly
interested in the rigorous training the District requires for firefighters.
“We were in the process of conducting a hazardous
decontamination exercise which they were allowed to witness,” Brucki said.
“We took them to our EMS Simulator and demonstrated a
cardiac arrest response using our computerized mannequin. They were able to
witness firsthand how we address several emergency scenarios and how we also
monitor responses on our computer systems.”
The 21st Century Institute was founded in the early 1990s
and is a non-profit organization based in Oak Brook, Illinois with branch
offices in New York and Los Angeles, and in Beijing, Shanghai and Kunming in
China.
The goal of the institute is to maximize human potential by
integrating intellectual, cultural, economic, scientific, and technological
resources from different geographical regions of the world. The Institute
strives to be a strong and vital link in bridging the diversity of nations. The
current focus of the Institute is networking between the United States and
Asia-Pacific region.
Information below/website for the 21st Century non-for
profit organization http://www.tci21.org/
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