VIDEO: 123-year-old fire brigade in Chile founded by Croatians
- by croatiaweek
- in News
ZAGREB, 11 Jan (Hina) – Croatian immigrants founded the fire brigade “Bomba Croata” in Chile 123 years ago, and on the anniversary of its establishment, a demonstration drill was held in the city of Punta Arenas earlier this week when new members were inducted and cooperation with the local port was agreed upon.
In January 1902, Punta Arenas was the centre of transoceanic trade, with ships navigating through the Straits of Magellan at the southern tip of South America. The population of the city grew rapidly, and Croatian expats proposed the founding of a volunteer fire brigade.
(Photo:Facebook/Cuarta Compañía Bomba Croata)
“This proposal was made in order to contribute to this generous country that welcomed them so warmly,” says a text on the official website of the fire brigade, whose full name is Cuarta Compañía “Bomba Croata”.
At the time, Croatia was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, from which emigrants such as Miguel Kacic, Andres Juricic, Lorenzo Milos, Bartolome Poduje, Pascual Simatovic, Pedro Marinovic, Lorenzo Ljubetic, Fortunato Kardic, Mateo Trebotic, Juan Gligo, Marcos Pivcevic, Jose Kovacevic, Lukas Buskovic, Tadeo Bonacic, Simon Cvitanic, and Nicolas Rendic emigrated to Chile.
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They requested the establishment of a Slavic fire brigade from the Austrian Mutual Aid Society, which was one of the common workers’ organisations for mutual assistance at the time. The society was initially founded under the name “Austrian Fire Brigade”, but it was later changed to “Bomba Croata”.
The word bomberos in Spanish means firefighters.
Today, in the city of 124,000 inhabitants, the Croatian fire brigade Bomba Croata, with the Croatian coat of arms featuring firefighting equipment, rushes to help those in need.
In front of a gathered crowd, remembering their beginnings, they performed a drill this week on extinguishing a fire and rescuing people from a high-rise building. During the event, four new volunteers were inducted into the brigade.
At the same time, Bomba Croata has established close cooperation with the local port operator, Ultraport.
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The director of the fire brigade, Jonathan Garay, presented Ultraport with a commemorative medal featuring the Croatian coat of arms of the brigade, specially designed for the occasion, as a token of gratitude for their support.
“We wanted to show our appreciation to Ultraport because when we sent out an inquiry regarding our Christmas celebration, they were the first to respond. Thanks to their support, we were able to organise an activity for almost 50 children, with a Christmas meal, gift distribution, and a special tour of the Croatian quarter and the centre of Punta Arenas,” Garay said.
The Croatian Quarter (Barrio Croata) is one of the oldest parts of Punta Arenas, named after the Croatian immigrants.
