In this series of pictures, you can see the four guys grab the ladder, RUN with it across the field to the tower, use the momentum of the ladder to begin pivoting it to the upright position and then deploying it to the upper platform. Here's where the Kenyans separated the men from the boys.
Forget about the fact that they deployed this ladder in about 2 minutes, then one of them climbed the ladder, exited on the platform and feigned an injury, collapsing to the floor. The second fireman scaled the ladder and executed a rescue....by lifting his comrade ONTO HIS SHOULDER, climbed over the top rail onto the ladder, and DESCENDED the ladder with his buddy on his shoulder. They then (without a break of any sort) collapsed the ladder and reloaded it onto the truck. I don't care who you are, or where you're a fireman, you have to respect the sheer force of will exhibited.
This same sentiment carried on with the live fire drills. We lit fires and they put them out. We hid manikins, lit fires and they rescued the victim and extinguished the fires. We lit multiple fires and they handled it. By the end of the day, using a fusion of their own techniques and those learned over the last week, they were rescuing victims and putting out two fires in 4 minutes! I have much respect for these men, what they already knew, what they learned this week and what they intend to do with the knowledge to further the fire service in Kenya.
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