A day in Phnom Phen

A day in Phnom Phen

Today we headed the Fire Department to see how they were using the ladder truck that OESP shipped over last year. We found it to be in great shape. It’s obvious their taking good care of it. I gave them a couple of small suggestions on the maintenance of ground ladders. The generator had stopped working not long after we left last year. We spent several hours trouble shooting the problem (like my brother Rick use to say if there’s spark and gas, it has to run) we found that there was no gas getting to the cylinder. After first putting gas in the tank and fixing the float in the carburetor, we had a running generator. We talked about usage of portable lighting, ect. The training done last year seems to have had an influence. They assured us they were still using turnout gear while fighting fires. They run a fire every day and use the ladder truck whenever appropriate. I was really impressed at how clean it was for as often as it’s used.

The condition of the minimal amount of fire hose was horrendous. I really want to see some improvement / upgrades in the future, (let’s get them some hose)

After leaving the fire dept. Gary and I went to Toul Sleng (the high school that was used to torture and kill over 20,000 during the Khmer Rouge) the scale of the atrocities wasn’t fathomable. Our guide escaped into Vietnam after a year of the occupation at age 7 and told us of how her father and brothers and sister were killed.

On the brighter side we had a really good lunch and visited the Royal Palace. It was outstanding. When we returned to our hotel Gary’s luggage was waiting. (Yea!)
Tonight we went over our plan and power points for our classes that start in the morning.

From Andy and the OESP group Good night