South Kingston Hosts Greek Firefighters

South Kingstown (RI) Fire Chief Steven Pinch announced that the Union Fire District (UFD) successfully hosted a group of firefighters from Greece as part of a continuing, longstanding partnership with the Hellenic Volunteer Firefighters Association (HVFA). A dozen volunteer firefighters and additional personnel from the HVFAvisited the Union Fire District from October 29 to November 5, 2022. The trip served as a training opportunity for the Greek firefighters who lack advanced training facilities and equipment in their home country.

Atotal of 12 firefighters made the trip from Greece, including two female firefighters. In addition, four other members of the Hellenic Volunteer Firefighters Association attended including President Serafeim Tsiougkris, Vice

President Dimitris Zervas, International Relations Manager Maria Bitra and photographer Georgios Chionidis.

“We are very fortunate to have a state-ofthe-art training center and equipment here at UFD, and we have always enjoyed the opportunity to share our knowledge and facilities with our partners at the Hellenic Volunteer Firefighters Association,” Chief Pinch said. “This trip was a huge success once again, and we thank their members for their willingness to learn and train with us while sharing experiences from their home country.”

Volunteer firefighters from the Hellenic Volunteer Firefighters Association first came to visit the Union Fire District in 2011, as an opportunity to learn new firefighting tech-