Defying Danger

By Roberto Valdes Martinez

The author has wanted to contribute with his experiences and pay homage to this specialty so he elaborated the chapters that make of Defying danger an original book with testimonies, opinions, anecdotes, relevant events, so far unknown, in which the professionalism and the courage of the operatives of this Body were decisive. Connected to the boldness of this task, it is observed how with its development the technique and the knowledge were increasing in each risky operation, for it would be impossible to ignore the prevention for its importance and teachings to eliminate or reduce to the minimum catastrophes of big proportions.
Within these pages there are chapters about: fires, rescues, collapses, forest fires, cyclones, mental patients, on top of the confrontation to criminal sabotages where always, the combatants of the Direccin de Incendios do their job facing dangers and risks to their lives.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Feb 15, 2012
• ISBN: 9781466912878

Roberto Valdes Martinez

Roberto Valdés Martínez (La Habana, 1942), siendo un adolescente en la década del cincuenta, se incorpora a la lucha clandestina contra la tiranía de Batista en la ciudad de La Habana; a los 16 años deja sus estudios de Comercio, cuando terminaba el segundo año de la carrera, y se integra a la guerra armada en el Segundo Frente Oriental Frank País. Ostenta el grado militar de General de Brigada®. Es reconocido por sus aportes al enriquecimiento y a la defensa del patrimonio cultural cubano y a su labor como auspiciador, promotor y difusor de la cultura de la antigua provincia de Santiago de Cuba. Desarrolló un importante trabajo en la proyección y construcción del Parque Nacional Baconao.

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© Copyright 2012 Roberto Valdes Martinez.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

Printed in the United States of America.

ISBN: 978-1-4669-1286-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4669-1288-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4669-1287-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012901544

Trafford rev. 02/07/2012

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Contents

Liminary

Antecedents

History of the formation of the Fire Brigade

New York firefighters

Visit Cuba

The fires

The ships and planes

Fires with chemical products

Schools and day care centers

Official buildings

At the electric company sites

Stores

Military unit

Storehouses

Theater

Press

Carpentries

Hotel

On vehicles

Factories

Apartments

Rescues

Collapses

Cyclones and sea penetrations

Accounts with mental patients

A letter to Che

Prevention Against fires

The command during catastrophes and fires

The extinction means

Fires at forests and sugarcane fields

The Zoo chimpanzee

Firefighters National School

List of the combat means and the types

of services

Important advances have been achieved in the diminishing of fires and their prevention, in the fight to eradicate the causes that provoke them. The fighters of this body have distinguished themselves for their self-controlled, gallant and efficient attitude, in moments when lives and valuable resources of our people have been at risk.

COMANDER IN CHIEF FIDEL CASTRO RUZ

In the fight against fires, the means for extinction and prevention have been modernized, and the qualification of the personnel of this service has been elevated with the mastery of more modern techniques. Protection norms have been dictated and a divulgation campaign has been developed with the participation of the people through voluntary brigades at their working places to prevent accidents.

COMANDER IN CHIEF FIDEL CASTRO RUZ

Should never be forgotten scenes of the men of the Armed Forces

and their specialized troops performing missions of help and support to the population and the victims. Were impressive the actions of the Fire Brigade risking their life, in dangerous flows of water,

to help their fellow citizens.

COMANDER IN CHIEF FIDEL CASTRO RUZ

To the heroic Cuban firefighters and especially to the fallen ones.

To all the firefighters of the world.

To the chiefs of the Cuban Fire Brigade after the Triumph of the Revolution, they deserve a special place in this book, for they had the honor and the privilege to command those gallant combatants during the actions against the fires and events that took place during this half century of hard revolutionary work.

Liminary

When we hear the sound of a strident siren and the ringing of a small bell instinctively we look to the street, looking for a fire engine with red color and special features that circulates at high speed and exclaim: ¡They are the firefighters| ¿Where will the fire be?

I found in the Larousse dictionary the definition of fireman as: the person belonging to a body in charge of fighting fires and assisting in other damages. The fire, according to the fable, is ascribed to Prometeo who rescues it for men and, if at the beginning it was a real revelation, afterwards with the pass of time and the advance of civilization, emerges at some points as a devastating and sinister enemy, which reflects in the popular jargon as a warning cannot play with fire.

In these pages the reader will find a new work, amenable but, even more, will discover unknown aspects and will know about the noble and humanitarian work of these people, almost always anonymous who, defying danger, dedicate themselves to saving lives and material losses.

Its author, Roberto Valdés Martinez, is one of the protagonists of the revolutionary fight in our country. Almost a kid he incorporates to the clandestine fight and later, at 16, he integrates the Second Oriental Front Frank Pais, commanded by Commander Raúl Castro Ruz. After the triumph of the Revolution, within the Ministry of the Interior, he occupies different responsibilities and positions till reaching the rank of general.

Unquestionably, within his trajectory as a revolutionary, his efficient work and personal charisma stand out. During the period of his permanence as chief of the Cuban Fire Brigade (1962-1966) he left a mark in his wide projection.

The author has wanted to contribute with his experiences and pay homage to this specialty so he elaborated the chapters that make of Defying danger an original book with testimonies, opinions, anecdotes, relevant events, so far unknown, in which the professionalism and the courage of the operatives of this Body were decisive. Connected to the boldness of this task, it is observed how with its development the technique and the knowledge were increasing in each risky operation, for it would be impossible to ignore the prevention for its importance and teachings to eliminate or reduce to the minimum catastrophes of big proportions.

Within these pages there are chapters about: fires, rescues, collapses, forest fires, cyclones, mental patients, on top of the confrontation to criminal sabotages where always, the combatants of the Dirección de Incendios do their job facing dangers and risks to their lives.

The account about the explosion of the La Coubre, the 4th of May 1960, terrorist act that touched the country few months after the Triumph of the Revolution, emphasizes how in the first row, sharing the danger and aggression to the country, was the presence of the most outstanding figures of the Revolution and Fidel and Raúl among them.

The story of the rescue in Candelaria of the four years old little girl, who had fallen into a more than 300 feet deep well and the capture of a dangerous mental patient at the roof of one of the pavilions of the Calixto García Hospital in Havana, where the general Roberto Valdés himself was a protagonist, show once more how reality sometimes surpasses fiction.

The content of this book could not miss the priority that from the first day of the Triumph of the Revolution conferred the leadership of the country to this important and indispensable specialty.

It is opportune to bring out the high technology means put in the hands of the extinction units in all the provinces of the country and the resources assigned to elevate the combative readiness of its members to achieve a higher efficiency.

Also included in these pages, as a review, is the history of the firefighters in Cuba and the world, their beginning and development, mainly of our most detailed history after the triumph of the Revolution, in their different stages and the dynamics that their different leaders imprinted, illustrated with images that say each of them, more than a 100 words.

Defying danger is a work that arouses great interest for its accounts, some of them unpublished; in each page the reader will find room to acquire the knowledge that will surely appreciate. It will also be useful so that the new generations and in general the people of Cuba appreciate the heroic and anonymous job that this important and indispensable specialty accomplishes every day.

I reiterate that, with this valuable book, General Roberto Valdés, now as a writer, pays deserved homage of admiration, recognition and respect to the work of the Cuban Fire Brigade.

JUAN NUIRY SANCHEZ

Havana, 2008

I thank all the ones who one way or another have contributed testimonies, opinions, ideas, anecdotes, bibliography and themes which have served to elaborate and widen the content of this book; as for the photos a deserved recognition to comrade Puyol

To all those who from the very first moments listened to me and contributed with their testimonies so I could put together and publish this book, among them: Brigadier Armando López, Arquímedes, to the nowadays chief of the firefighters, Colonel Bienvenido Rafoso, who holds this responsibility for more than 19 years and to Rafael Pupo, who leads the retired firefighters.

Special gratitude to Colonel Mario Alvarez Martínez, present second chief of the Fire Brigade, to Sara Rivera Oxamendi and to Ileana María Rodríguez Hernández.

To comrades Juan Carlos Rodríguez, for his suggestions and recommendations, to Julio Cubría, Marta Pons, Zoe Cardoso and all the personnel of Capitán San Luis Editorial.

In a very personal way to the Revolution Commander Ramiro

Valdés Menéndez and to the Army Corps General Abelardo Colomé Ibarra, Furry.

Antecedents

Defying danger narrates in a tight synthesis the work of firefighters for more than 310 years. Fires, explosions, rescues and relevant events of these forces of extinction and the operative fronts will be revealed through these pages. The main topic is Cuban firefighters and their dangerous job, the risks, the awkward situations they face, the acts of bravery, efforts, sacrifices and the humanism of their profession, with assessments given, even, by some of their important counterparts in the United States. It is written in the own voice of our combatants, who contribute their experiences about the actions in which they participated, by which the reader will receive a real message, which tells of the altruism of the firefighters. They are common people to whom multiple situations happen, some funny, but some other full of pain, tragedy, horror and dread. This publication also proposes to pay homage to already gone comrades, who accomplished different missions within the organization.

In the presence of these fires the chiefs in Cuba are always the first to explore the place of the damage and take the decisions on the spot on how and what to do. Their example moved the rest to grow bigger. The firefighters are like a big family: they take care of each other; they get concerned for their comrades and are always alert to the movements of those at work, ready to help or rescue them, regardless of whatever risks they have to run into.

It is worthy to outstand, in the Fire Brigade, the participation of the voluntary women, who have anonymously accomplished with these dangerous tasks; they participated and cooperated in many of them. The same happens with the fire prevention, which is essential to avoid huge catastrophes. The training courses are received at schools and in the very units; the work of the voluntary firefighters; the industries fire brigades and the very history of the institution is presented in this work in a very tight summary, but reality points out that in a few pages cannot be reflected all the work done and all the dangers faced by these combatants.

I would like to alert the reader that most of the accounts within this book, are about the first years after the triumph of the Revolution, that is to say, many things have changed thanks to a better preparation of the forces, which today have a highly qualified personnel—engineers, technicians and specialists-, so as the extinction technique, specialized cars and a personal use equipment that competes with that of any international firefighters organization.

When you write about historical facts, mistakes are always made; the main among them is the omission of any important factor of anyone who did an outstanding and anonymous job. The same will happen in this book, for the firefighters constitutes a national organization that has hundreds of combatants and the stories have been already accumulating for more than three centuries. There some comrades who for different reasons did not present their testimonies and some others I could not locate. I only received from Pinar Del Río and Matanzas. I most sincerely apologize to them and suggest that, if they send their accounts to the Firefighters Museum, to comrade Sara Rivera, they will be taken into account for future editions.

All my respect and admiration to the heroic firefighters of our country and of the world.

The author

History of the formation of the Fire Brigade

If fire, when discovered, became a blessing, with the pass of time, has been a devastating element in some cities. To fight it come up in some countries the first fire brigades, but these did not have the adequate techniques or tools to control fires of big magnitude. In some occasions they could not but watch how the fire consumed big buildings and everything at its reach.

The first specialized machines that appeared on the XVII century were simple buckets on rollers or wheels. The water was taken to the fire by means of containers handed by hand to hand.

The invention in Holland, in the year 1672, of the hide pipe hand sewn allowed firefighters to get closer to the fire without endangering their equipment and allowed them more precision in the direction of the water flow. At the same time pumping systems were developed that allowed to draw water from rivers and ponds.

At the beginning of the XIX century copper rivets substituted the seams in the pipes, which could reach up to 15 meters long and were joined by bronze adaptors.

In 1870 started to be built a rubber pipe covered with cotton. The steam pumping machine was used in big cities in between 1850 and 1860. With the introduction of the internal combustion engine at the beginning of the XX century, the firefighters got motorized. The first car with a single engine for the pump and propulsion was built in the United States in 1907. In 1925 the motorcars had totally replaced steam cars. The pumps evolved into the centrifuges used nowadays in almost all the big cities.

In Cuba this activity goes back to November 13th 1696, when in the present day municipality of Santa Clara, in the center of the country, the first group of this kind was founded. Some others, like the one in the town of Batabanó, come up afterwards but for a short time and so were not officially acknowledge. On and on they start being organized in the rest of the localities until the first firefighters appear in Pinar Del Río.

During the colony, the authorities issued edicts and ordinances with the objective of taking measures to avoid the surging and spreading of fires, so as to provide themselves with the necessary extinction means.

The XIX century sets the appearing of the fire brigades as official entities, due to the increase of fires, their proportions and the human and material losses. On January 14th 1831 was created in Santiago de Cuba the Brigade of Truthful Firefighters, whose organization and structure was recognized by the colonial authorities on July 3rd 1838. It was established in Santa Clara on June 1832, made official in 1856 by the General Captainship. That of Havana was created on December 12th 1835 by decision of the General Captain, Don Miguel Tacón. Its regulations were approved by Royal Order on May 10th 1838.

The Brigade of Truthful Workers and Firefighters of Havana opened its first quarter on Obrapía Street and it was called San Felipe, with four pumps pulled by horses: the Virgin of the Unprotected, the Spain, the Gamiz and the Zencowiech, in addition to a stair car and an auxiliary one.

By then the commercial capital had reached great development in the country, and the insurance companies determined, for their own benefit, to create a Voluntary Fire Brigade, made up of commerce young people. Their quarter was inaugurated on September 19th 1873 and was established at number 19 of San Ignacio Street. They rendered their services with the pumps: Colón, Cervantes and Havana; in addition, they had a sanitation department with four doctors, a pharmacist and 21 sanitarians.

The rivalry between both brigades was incessant; they even disputed the water intake when arriving at the fires, making harder the extinction works.

On the night of May 17th 1890 happened the biggest catastrophe of those times: the fire at the hardware store of Juan Isasi, on the corners of Mercaderes and Lamparilla Streets, at the Old Havana. Municipal and commerce firefighters turned up at the fire.

The sneaking of merchandises and chemical and flammable products caused an explosion in which 38 people died, among them firefighters, police agents and spectators. There also were numerous wounded and mutilated.

The incident impacted so much the public opinion that even humorous magazines dedicated condolence notes and the most important literary personalities offered up