Bomberos Voluntarios (Guatemala)

The Bomberos Voluntarios (Guatemala) (Spanish: Bomberos Voluntarios de Guatemala or CVB) is an agency of the Guatemalan Ministry of the Interior (Guatemala) that is domiciled in the Guatemala Department and has organizations in each of the 22 departments constituting Guatemala.

The agency's mandate is to prevent and fight fires; aid people and property in the case of fires, accidents, disasters, public calamities; promote education and prevention campaigns for accident avoidance; review and issue security certificates in matters of its competence; provide the collaboration requested by the state and those in need.

There are 134 departments throughout Guatemala.[1] In addition to the contributions from the Bomberos Municipales (Guatemala), volunteer departments are necessary to respond to the volume of accidents in Guatemala, and so most volunteers make a space in their schedules to serve others by taking night or weekend shifts.[1] In 2017, CVB's 5,100 bomberos (of which 4,414 work ad honorem) provided help in 922,668 service incidents to the Guatemalan people.[2] The current budget for the Bomberos Voluntarios de Guatemala is 80,000,000 Quetzales (10.44 million USD).[2]

History
Shield of the Bomberos Voluntarios de Guatemala

The Bomberos Voluntarios de Guatemala were founded in 1951 after a major fire destroyed much of Zone 1 in Guatemala City.[1] Not having had resources to combat the blaze during the fire, the Chilean Ambassador to Guatemala, Rodolfo González Allendes, partnered with Guatemala City residents to form a fire department.[1] The organization was officially formed on August 16th, 1951, which is the day when members celebrate CVB's founding each year.[1]

They most recently celebrated their 67th anniversary with a parade in Guatemala City on August 15, 2018.[3]

Each year, CVB attend the "Congreso de la República" to ask for a budgetary increase, as the current funds currently available are insufficient to meet the major burden of emergencies across Guatemala,[2] petitioning the government for a 25% increase in funding (additional 20 million Quetzales) in 2018.[2] As a result, Bomberos Voluntarios often rely upon support from private institutions or international NGOs, like after the 2018 Volcán de Fuego eruption.[4] LFR International worked with CVB in 2019 in Chimaltenango, Escuintla, and Sacatepéquez departments.[5]

References
  1. "1951: surge el Cuerpo de Bomberos Voluntarios". Prensa Libre. 12 August 2017.
  2. "¿Qué sucedería en Guatemala sin la presencia de los Bomberos Voluntarios?". 24 November 2018.
  3. "EN IMÁGENES. Bomberos Voluntarios celebran su 67 aniversario".
  4. "Gobierno de Guatemala solicita apoyo a la OEA para transparentar la ayuda internacional".
  5. Delaney, Peter G.; Figueroa, Jose A.; Eisner, Zachary J.; Andrade, Rudy Erik Hernandez; Karmakar, Monita; Scott, John W.; Raghavendran, Krishnan (2020-04-01). "Designing and implementing a practical prehospital emergency trauma care curriculum for lay first responders in Guatemala". Trauma Surgery & Acute Care Open. 5 (1): e000409. doi:10.1136/tsaco-2019-000409. ISSN 2397-5776.

https://bomberosvoluntariosdeguatemala.com

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