Student heads to Belarus for young rescuers rally

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Loretta Jackson photo Devin Martin of Merrimack, seen here at the Merrimack Fire Department, is preparing for a life safety competition he will attend along with six other teammates headed for the eighth annual International Rally of Young Rescuers, upcoming in the Republic of Belarus.

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Loretta Jackson photo Devin Martin of Merrimack, and Manchester teammates Ken Kondrat, center, Andrew Reisman, Maria Cervantes Gonzalez , front row left, and Tien Dang will compete in the eighth annual International Rally of Young Rescuers, hosted outside of Minsk, the capital city of the Republic of Belarus in Eastern Europe. Not pictured is teammate Trevor Giroux of Meredith.

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Loretta Jackson photo Devin Martin of Merrimack (left) and Manchester teammates Ken Kondrat, Andrew Reisman (right), Maria Cervantes Gonzalez (seated left) and Tien Dang will compete in the eighth annual International Rally of Young Rescuers, hosted outside of Minsk, the capital city of the Republic of Belarus in Eastern Europe. Not pictured: teammate Trevor Giroux of Meredith, New Hampshire.

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Loretta Jackson photo Devin Martin of Merrimack is sharpening his life safety skills for an international rally, attended by teams of young rescuers, in the country of Belarus in Eastern Europe.

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Loretta Jackson photo Devin Martin of Merrimack, seen here at the Merrimack Fire Department, is preparing for a life safety competition he will attend along with six other teammates headed for the eighth annual International Rally of Young Rescuers, upcoming in the Republic of Belarus.

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Merrimack’s Devin Martin, a junior at Merrimack High School and a lieutenant in the Manchester Fire Department’s Young Explorers’ program, is one of seven New Hampshire teens selected by the Partners for Peace Young Rescuers Program to participate in the eighth annual International Rally of Young Rescuers to be held this month in the eastern European country of Belarus.

Partners for Peace, a New Hampshire-based organization, promotes democracy-strengthening and nation-building through the mechanism of civil military emergency preparedness. It works with countries in transition to democracy and organizers anticipate its third year of participation in the rally.

The rally features competitions in a wide array of life safety skills. It takes place Sept. 15-23 near Minsk, the capital city of the Republic of Belarus, a landlocked country bordered by Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. It is country graced with agricultural areas, industrial centers and regions of thick forests, fields and marshes.

The Partners for Peace Young Rescuers program sponsored its first United States youth team in 2008. Last year, a second team was captained by one of this year’s attendees, Manchester’s Maria Cervantes Gonzalez. Teams from some 15 countries provided an exciting competition. Also on board last year was internationally recognized emergency medical expert Dr. Rob Gougelet of Dartmouth College.

The rally is hosted by the Ministry of Emergency Situations in Belarus, an organization similar to the United States’ Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Rescuers will compete in numerous trials. The most grueling, this year’s team agrees, are the obstacle course, a rigorous event completed in full firefighter gear, and a victim carry, wherein two fully equipped rescuers interlock arms and rush a victim to safety.

The long jump contest is a major attraction, as is a rush over a balance beam. Relay races in which heavy fire extinguishers are positioned and then recovered by the next teammate also draw their share of sweat.

Martin, 16, heard about the rally through his activities with the Manchester Explorers’ Post 7635, a part of the Daniel Webster Council in Nashua. His teammates mostly heard about the opportunity through Manchester’s Youth Advisory Council. In the months since their selection, the team has practiced their skills under expert tutelage from the program’s training director, Lt. Leo Roy of the Manchester Fire Department.

“I’ve always wanted to be a firefighter, for as long as I can remember,” said Martin, whose uncle, Richard McGahey, is a captain in the Manchester Fire Department. “A year of training is required to do ride-alongs on fire calls. I was the first Manchester Explorer to get to go on a call for a building fire. Now, I do a few ride-alongs each month.”

Martin, a talented athlete who excels in soccer, tennis, and track and field events, also is adept at CPR and first aid. He said the most difficult training drill done in preparation for the trip to Belarus is the one in which the team must don in less than a minute a full set of turn-out gear – bulky boots, padded pants tethered with suspenders, jackets, gloves and helmets – and then begin breathing off an air pack. The Belarus contests will offer many challenges. But Martin already has had his share of drama.

“When I was in seventh or eighth grade, I helped a young girl who got her coat stuck on a ski lift,” he said. “She was hanging off the chair of the lift, at the top of the mountain. The lift operator didn’t see her. I yelled to get his attention and he stopped the machine. I was able to run over and hold the girl up until the ski patrol came and took over.”

Martin’s mom and dad, Eileen and Herb, and a brother, Connor, 13, are the teen’s most supportive fans. All expect a stellar performance from Martin and his teammates. They also are proud of his desire to become a firefighter and a help to his community.

“It’s quite a rush,” he said. “One minute, you’re working around the station, then you hear the signal go off and you know someone’s life or property is in danger. Rushing off to the scene and helping sure does get your adrenaline going.”

The events in Belarus are officially co-sponsored by UNICEF and the International Red Crescent, an agency somewhat similar to the Red Cross. The team will be a part of what is an internationally recognized competition.

David Tille, the youth program’s director, and George Bruno, co-director of Partners for Peace, based in Manchester, arranged for a recent telephone conference between the team and Ken Yalowitz, a former ambassador to Belarus now teaching at Dartmouth College. Yalowitz praised the upcoming trip as one that may foster many friendly relationships between youth from Belarus and the teens from the United States.

“What you’re doing is very important,” Yalowitz told the team via speakerphone during a break in a recent training session. “This will be an incredible opportunity to experience a new culture. You may make some new friends, for life.”

Belarusian and Russian are the languages spoken by most in Belarus, a country headed by President Alyaksandr Lukashenka. He is a proponent of a socially oriented market economy for the independent country, formerly a part of the Soviet Union. The team of New Hampshire teens and adult supervisors will have interpreters to help with any language barrier, although teammates are busy learning some common greetings and phrases.

Martin said the cost of the trip’s airfare is about $1,300 per teammate. Funds are incoming but nearly $2,000 still is needed. Donors are urged to quickly contact George Bruno by e-mail at GBruno1@aol.com or David Tille at Tilleco@aol.com.

Upon arrival, lodging and food will be paid for by the government of Belarus. Already, informative trip briefings have been held. And on tap is an orientation conducted by U.S. Embassy officials, upon the team’s arrival in Minsk. Cultural tours, sightseeing forays and other excursions are planned. All on the team expressed appreciation to numerous sponsors whose donations have made the trip possible.

Those given the nod from all on the team include Dick Anagnost of Anaganost Investments, Makin’ It Happen, Young Explorers, Michelle and Matthew Pierson, Marilyn Bradbard, Meredith Savings Bank, Senator and Patty Humphrey, Kedar Gupta, Fred Kocher, Ambassador Joe and Augusta Patrone, Dr. Rob Gougelet, Steve and Kit Reno, David Lustbader, the Meredith and Manchester Fire Departments, along with the Manchester Office of Youth Services and many others.

Meanwhile, Martin continues his school work and after-school sports. He is attending the final training sessions with his teammates. His passport and vaccination records are up to date. He’s ready to leave for the airport. The airplane ride is a day-long undertaking, with a change of planes in Frankfurt, Germany.

“I’m not very nervous about much that’s going to happen,” he said. “In fact, it will be an adventure.”