Maria Isabel Espinoza Holina showed off her bruised shoulders with a beaming smile Thursday.
"This place is tough, but good," the Costa Rica native said about the Texas Engineering Extension Service's 44th annual Spanish Fire School.
Holina, 51, isn't used to wearing such heavy equipment but was able to endure the weeklong training that consists of classroom curriculum and real-scenario field work.
"I already went through four scenarios in the field," Holina said as she rubbed her shoulders proudly.
Holina is a member of an emergency fire brigade at an oil refinery in Costa Rica and was sent with 12 co-workers to receive training on how to battle refinery fires.
"We need to know about these things to be prepared to respond to situations that might occur at our workplace," she said.
Every year, the company Holina works for sends a different group of employees to the training, she said. It was Holina's first time at the school.
"We are all spread out in different courses so we can all go back with something different," she said.
Courses at the Brayton Fire Training Field include operations with hazardous materials, rescue techniques and basic firefighting.
Twenty-three live-fire props are also stationed throughout the field to help firefighters practice hosing techniques and rescues.
Salvador Lambreton Narro is no stranger to the Spanish Fire School, one of three summer fire schools organized by TEEX.
Narro, 90, helped found the Spanish school in 1966, and he has attended every year since, he said.
Peering into a glass case, Narro pointed out a photograph of the first Spanish Fire School class.
There were only 23 participants, he said, but this year the school is hosting more than 500 firefighters from all over Latin America, Europe and Africa.
"It was necessary, very necessary, to have this school," he said. "This is where they get preparation and learn about all their capabilities. Firefighters are the same all over the world."
Participants from 17 countries, including Brazil, Chile and Ecuador, came to College Station to learn what it takes to fight fires, and six firefighters from Equatorial Guinea in Africa attended this year's Fire School, he said.
Tuition for the one-week training is $900 and all students are responsible for paying their own travel and lodging expenses.
"These participants made a lot of sacrifices just to be here," Narro said, "but they wanted to be here."
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