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Instructors

Our instructors are volunteers who are willing to take leave from their day job to go on mission and train firefighters around the world. They do not receive any salary for their hard work. All they get is a Victorinox rescue knife, a Fenix flashlight and a great story to tell their friends and family. 

Arno van Campen

Missions to Guatemala

Arno started as fire fighter a long time ago, working for the fire department in Tilburg. He had a great variety of jobs during the years. He specialized as a trainer/educator and trained more than 1000 individuals in fire fighting. He became the Dutch guru in ppv (positive pressure ventilation). He retired in 2012 and stayed active in the training field.

 

He went to Guatemala several times and enjoyed the enthousiasme of the fire fighter of Puerto Barios. 

Klaas de Graaf

Missions to Bosnia and Benin

Klaas is a team instructor at the fire department of Breda. He is also active in the maritime fire fighting scene. He trains the fire fighters of Breda and enjoys training others.

 

Klaas joined Fire fighters without Borders to help colleague fire fighters around the world. Klaas was one the climbers who climbed The Mont Blanc in a fundraising project for Fire fighters without Borders.

Ton Schots

Missions to Guatemala, Sri Lanka and Kyrgyzstan

Ton retired as a fire officer in 2012 and joined Fire fighters without Borders a few months later. During his career Ton specialized in Hazardous material and worked for the Regional Fire Brigade of Brabant Noord. 

 

Before going to the Fire academy, Ton worked for Philips and lived in Guatemala for a few years. He loves going back and help the fire fighters of Puerto Barrios and meet up with old friends. 
 

Ruud Huveneers
Mission to Sri Lanka

Ruud joined the Regional Fire Brigade of Mid-and West-Brabant in 2000 after completing the Fire Academy. Ruud had several jobs during his first years as a fire officer. He left Tilburg in 2007 and became Head of Operations of the fire department in Oss.  In 2011 he became a senior advisor for the safety Region of Brabant Noord. Ruud is a MIMMS (Major Incident Medical Management and Support) instructor. 

 

Ruud went on mission to Sri Lanka to train the instructors. He enjoys challenges and working in different cultures. 

Joop van Gendt
Mission to Philippines 

Joop van Gendt started his fire fighter life as a volunteer at the Tilburg Fire department. He became a career fire fighter after a few years and started working for the training department. 

 

He joined Fire fighters without Border in 2013 and went on mission to The Philippines. He loves training fire fighters from all parts of the world. 

Flinn Deen
Mission to Benin

Flinn Deen joined Fire fighters without Borders in 2014. He studied Law and worked in several fire brigades in the training departments. In 2004 he joined the TLO Deen company. It is a public safety educator that provides training to private and public comapanies. 

 

Flinn speaks French fluently and likes the adventure that working for Fire fighters without Borders is. 

Jeroen van der Meijden
Missions to Philippines 

After a short career as a mechanical engineer, Jeroen joined the Tilburg Fire department in 1997. He is an instructor and enjoys working with people. He specialized in maintenance of breathing aperatus. 

 

Jeroen joined Fire fighters without Borders to help his colleagues in the Philippens.  He loves working with different cultures. 

Robert Schoormans

Missions to Guatemala

Robert worked for more than ten years as a fire fighter in the fire department of Breda. He was active as a team instructor for several years. In 2012 Robert became the co-owner of his private company (B&V Partners in Safety) that provides safety training for companies.

 

Robbert was one of the first instructors who joined Fire fighters without Borders in 2007. He went on mission to Guatemala for several years. Robert is a passionate instructors who enjoys working with people that are eager to learn.   ​

JanToine van Hooft

Missions to Kyrgyzstan

JT worked almost ten years as a fire dispatcher in the Mid- and West-Brabant region before making the transition to the Tilburg Fire Department in 2011.

In 2008 he travelled to Kyrgyzstan, a former soviet republic in Central Asia, and visited some of the fire stations where he noticed the bad state the fire department in Kyrgyzstan was in. As soon as he got back he brought this to the attention of the board of directors of FwB and a new project was born. To this day JT is one of the instructors responsible for this project. Not only helping the fire fighters in Kyrgyzstan is very satisfactory, but also making new friends and experiencing other cultures is a huge bonus! 

Eric Zigenhorn

Missions to Kyrgyzstan and Sri Lanka

Eric started his fire fighting career in 1990. He is one of the commanders of the fire department at the University Medical Center in Utrecht. In addition he is a Fire Fighting instructor, instructor Technical assistance and Hazardous materials. He also is a judge at fire fighter exams, and specialised in fire expansion/development and hose handling. He is one of the instructors of the Kyrgystan project. 


His motivation to contribute in The Fire Fighters Without borders foundation is his eagerness to learn and share knowledge in Fire Fighting, his enthousiasm to help others, his interest in foreign countries and last but not least his respect for different cultures. Always prepared to share!

Wilbert Kleijer
Missions to Philippines 

After his life at sea, Wilbert decided to join the fire department in 2000. He then attained his officer’s/bachelor’s degree at the National Fire Academy.  He worked in several positions at the fire department, including crisis management. His fascination with crisis management was so great that he decided to obtain his master’s degree in that field.  He also succeeded into following a police duty officers training at the National Police Academy and later became an instructor for MIMMS (Major Incident Medical Management and Support). 

Having Asian relatives, Wilbert decided to have his internship for his Master of Crisis and Disaster Management in the Philippines. Struck by the resilience of Filipino people he was determined to start a project with the Fire National Training Institute (FNTI) of the Philippines, together with the Firefighters without Borders Foundation.

 

Wilbert strongly believes in empowering the people by providing them with knowledge, training and education.

Hans van Mensvoort

Mission to Kyrgzystan

Hans worked during the past 19 years as a fire officer in several jobs within the Mid-and West-Brabant fire service. At the moment he is a strategic advisor and an on duty hazamat officer.  Hans has relatives in the south of Russia, speaks Russian fluently and has special interest in the former Soviet Union.

 

He advises our board and instructors about issues concerning our missions to Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine and participated in the 2014 Kyrgyzstan mission.

François Smets
Mission to Benin

After a career as a luitenant in the Belgian Civil Protection, François is enjoying his retirement. Over the years François has been active in the EU Civil Protection and went on several missions.  

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François  joined Fire fighters without Borders to help his colleagues and share his experiences in the field. He loves working with emergency and rescue professionals.  

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