El Bombero Harold

When we lived in Iowa and Texas, Harold was a volunteer firefighter (total of 17 years). He had some old fire gear that he brought with us when we moved to Bucerias. He donated those things to the Bahia de Banderas Bomberos, whose fire station is located in Jarratederas.
Board member mddfire has also donated equipment to the Bahia de Banderas firefighters
Harold has always been a "siren chaser." We have witnessed several grass fires and other civil protection calls just by hearing the sirens or following the trucks while we were out driving around.
We have become acquainted with many of the bomberos that serve this area.
Thursday night, we heard the fire truck sirens and they sounded very close. Harold looked out the window and saw the fire trucks go by. so he drove to see where they were going.
The fire was one block from our house. Harold thinks there was an electrical short in the bedroom and things had smoldered all day before a neighbor smelled smoke and, upon investigation, saw flames in the window of the house at about 10 p.m.
Lacking spotlights or flashlights, the bomberos were working in the dark (the electricity had been turned off) trying to put the fire out.
Harold came back home, got his flashlight and went back to help the bomberos light up the scene, remove smoldering clothes/furniture and ventilate the house.
When he got home 2 hours later, he said that was just like the old days.
Harold is in contact with a fire department in Texas to get used equipment donated and perhaps establish a “sister fire department” agreement.