PORT ANGELES — A group of five firefighters from the Port Angeles Fire Department will board a plane Saturday, bound for Haiti, where they will spend 10 days rendering aid.
The group consists of John Hall, firefighter and paramedic; Capt. James Mason, Lt. Kevin Denton, firefighter and paramedic Mark Karjalainen and firefighter and Bryant Kroh, an emergency medical technician.
“With any effort such as this there is a worry about the unknown,” said Dan McKeen, Port Angeles Fire Chief, today, “but I’m really proud to have a department that is willing to sacrifice personally, both with their time and financially to assist others during this very difficult time.”
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake that hit Haiti on Jan. 12 has been followed by aftershocks, the strongest being a 5.9 magnitude temblor on Wednesday. The death toll was estimated at 200,000 Wednesday, with 2 million estimated homeless.
The firefighters are not going in alone. They will meet up with a non-governmental organization called Mission Aviation Fellowship, which will decide where they are most needed.
All have medical training, and they will be prepared to provide medical aid.
They have received donations of medical supplies from Jim’s Pharmacy of Port Angeles. Capt. T’s T-shirt shop of Port Angeles is providing uniform shirts. Walmart has donated $150 in food and Independent Bible Church donated enough air miles to buy four round trip tickets to Florida.
From there, the firefighters will board donated private aircraft for the hop to Haiti.
The bulk of the funding is coming out of their own pockets and from individual donations.
They will carry all the emergency medical supplies, as well as what they will need to survive for 10 days in the quake-ravaged country.
None of the funding for the trip will be coming out of the fire department budget, as other firefighters in the department have volunteered to cover their shifts.
The Haiti team will not receive department pay during the trip.
They estimate hours on duty in Haiti will total 800.
Hall has set up a Web site to chronicle their trip, and donations can be made on the site, www.mercworks.us.
While donations will help to offset their costs, Kroh said the community can donate something else as well.
“Prayer support would be huge,” he said.
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Features Editor Marcie Miller can be reached at 360-417-3550 or marcie.miller@peninsuladailynews.com.
