Press Releases

GMR Announces Peru Mission, 2010

The mission to Peru is finally set in stone.  Global Mission Readiness will travel to Peru in February, 2010 to teach Water Rescue Awareness to firefighters of two different regions of the country.  This class has been years in the planning and has finally come to fruition.   With a team of six professional firefighters that have volunteered their time for GMR, we will travel to some remote regions of the country to teach shore-based rescue operations as well as practical, hands-on skills when working in the water.  The team will consist of Water Rescue Team Leader Joe Pelletier, Firefighters Brandon Paxton, Ryan Savage, Scott Kohler, Mike Bauer and GMR Founder, Don Davis. 

The first leg of the mission will have our firefighters travelling to Caraz, Peru in the central highlands of Ancash.  There, they will meet with the Elite Rescue and Aid Brigade of Caraz, also known as the BEAR Team.  The BEAR team is a group of firefighters and rescue personnel that provide fire and EMS service for the region, as well as disaster relief and wellness clinics for the community.  They are a great group of volunteers that provide these services at no cost to the citizens they serve.  With many water related emergencies in the area, the group will definitely benefit from this training.

The next leg of the mission will involve travel to Cusco, Peru to train the bomberos of Cusco's regional fire brigade with the same skills.  These bomberos are the same firefighters that GMR volunteers have trained with through three previous missions since 2004.  These skills will be extremely valuable to Cusco as well due to the recreational tourism in the region utilizing the many waterways nearby.

In preparation for this mission, we are in need of water rescue equipment such as personal floatation devices, ropes, wet or dry suits and firefighting protective clothing that anyone would like to donate to our cause.  These donations make an immediate impact by providing a direct, sizeable difference in peoples' lives, not only for local area residents, but also tourists who frequent the area.  Thank you for your continued support!

Cusco, or sometimes written as Cuzco, is a city in southeastern Peru, near the Urubamba Valley (Sacred Valley) of the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cusco Region as well as the Cusco Province. The city has a population of 348,935 which is triple the figure of 20 years ago. Located on the eastern end of the Knot of Cusco, its altitude is around 3,300 m (10,800 ft). Cusco is the historic capital of the Inca Empire and was declared a World Heritage Site in 1983 by UNESCO. It is a major tourist destination and receives almost a million visitors a year. It is designated as the Historical Capital of Peru by the Constitution of Peru.