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Toledo sends firefighting gear to Serbia

In an effort to help Serbian firefighters who lack gear, Toledo Fire and Rescue Department is sending equipment to Belgrade.

TOLEDO, Ohio — It's a family. That's how firefighters describe their relationship with one another, even if they're a sea apart.

Last week, Toledo City Council unanimously agreed to lend a helping hand to firefighters in Serbia.

Now, six boxes of equipment Toledo Fire and Rescue Department no longer uses are on their way from the Glass City.

Toledo's donation came about after Serbia reached out to the U.S. embassy to ask for an assessment on their fire services. With help from the U.S. Department of Defense, officials found some of Serbia's firefighters didn't have enough training and lacked the right gear, Toledo Assistant Fire Chief John Kaminski said.

"Most the time, if not all the time, when they go into structure fires, they're wearing what I'm wearing right now, which offers no fire protection," Kaminski said.

The department also previously sent equipment to Mexico. This latest shipment of gear will go to volunteer fire fighters around Belgrade.

The gear, including gloves, helmets, vests and other equipment had been just sitting in storage in Toledo, he said.

While Toledo firefighters replaced it with new gear and it no longer meets U.S. standards, the equipment is still much better than what Serbian firefighters currently have, Kaminski said.

If Toledo had not donated the used gear, officials here would need to destroy it or throw it away, he said.

You might wonder, why the donations had to be approved by city council?

"It has no value to us right now because it did come as a cost initially by taxpayers," Kaminski said. "That's why we go through the legislative process with city council and do an ordinance on it because we're donating it."

The gear will travel almost 5,000 miles to reach the Serbian departments that need it. Toledo firefighters said they are happy to share equipment with other firefighters.

"It is a brotherhood and a sisterhood," Kaminski said. 

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