Firefighters are training to deal with blazes in high-rise buildings, as these towers continue to grow and pose a “bigger problem” for them.

“Maltese buildings are changing, and the higher they go, the bigger the problem for us because a fire on the 20th floor means having to climb high with equipment and water,” station officer Jesmond D’Amato said.

The Civil Protection Department has invested in training courses for its firefighters on the specific procedures for high-rise buildings, he said.

“Whether to evacuate, how, and from which floors, as well as where to set up to fight the fire – these are all details that would mark the difference between success and failure,” D’Amato said.

As well as the physical training the firefighters require, their vehicles are equipped with strong pumps to shoot water up several storeys, he said.

D’Amato and his colleague, assistant rescue officer Jonathan Delia from the Ħal Far fire station, were speaking to Times of Malta about what goes on behind the scenes in their work at the CPD.

“It always involves some sort of peril, but from our end, we are trained to identify the dangers and we take calculated risks,” D’Amato, a firefighter for 23 years, said.

The department focuses on firefighting, rescue and education. When not handling emergencies, its members take care of their equipment and the station as though it were their home – they spend up to 24 hours together “like a family”.

Both men were part of the team that responded to a fierce fire that spread through a scrapyard in Marsa last month, that could be seen for miles.

Over 2.2 million litres of water from nine new specialised vehicles, including private bowsers, were used by 35 officers for over 24 hours to put out the fire.

But the important thing is that no one was hurt, D’Amato said.

Firefighters in action. Photo: Facebook

A vocational job

A particularly dangerous situation he recalls was when he was extinguishing a fire in a third-floor flat and opened the door to the balcony in the dark of the night to ventilate the room from the thick smoke to avoid further damage to the property.

Had he made one more step, D’Amato would have fallen off because there was nothing there.

Station officer Jesmond D’Amato

“This is the sort of danger you would not really think of,” he said.

Both men believe “it has to be in you” to take on the job.

“Not everyone is made for this work. But if I had to be reborn, I would work here again because it gives me lots of satisfaction. If you do the right thing, you will not come to any harm,” D’Amato maintains.

ARO Delia, a former soldier, who has been a firefighter for two years, believes you “need a heart” to do the job due to the risks taken to save anything from a property to a pet and a person.

“When you save someone’s home, for example, and the owner comes to thank you, you feel proud,” Delia said of his experiences so far.