Training key to fire fighter success

Published March 7, 2009
By Senior Airman Brok McCarthy
379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

SOUTHWEST ASIA -- Fire fighters can have one of the most dangerous jobs in the world - to run into a burning structure, save lives and find a way to put that fire out.

The 379th Expeditionary Civil Engineering Squadron fire fighters handle structural fires, crash fires and medical first response capabilities for more than 100 coalition aircraft and 8,000 servicemembers.

There are three fire stations on base, two handle structural fires and are located in the Blatchford-Preston Complex and "Ops Town." The third is located on the flightline, and is responsible for aircraft emergencies and flightline buildings.

"We are a little busier here than at home station," said Senior Airman Kevin Parks, 379th ECES fire fighter, who is deployed from F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo. "We have a higher call volume because the base doesn't shut down at 4:30 in the afternoon, so there are more chances for something to happen.

"Our job is a lot more than just waiting for an emergency call to come in," the Brooklyn Park, Minn., native said. "There are different parts to our job, and we do training on one of those parts every day."

Airman Parks said only 20 percent of emergency calls come in because of fires, the other 80 percent are medical emergencies. In 2008, all three stations had an estimated 2,800 emergency responses, which is approximately 54 emergencies per week.

"During this rotation there have only been a few small fires that we've had to respond to," said Tech. Sgt. Nicholas Towner, 379th ECES flightline fire station captain, who is deployed here from Moody Air Force Base, Ga. "There was also a light ballast fire in one of the facilities on the flightline area, but a building occupant extinguished it prior to our arrival. Lastly there have been a few dumpster fires and crews quickly extinguished those as well."

He said there have been no fires in any of the living facilities.

Because fires aren't usually a normal occurrence on Air Force bases, the fire fighters participate in various training exercises on a daily basis. Airman Parks said the training will last between half an hour, if it's a class room exercise, to three hours if there is hands-on training involved.

He said in addition to making sure fire fighters are as prepared as possible, the training also helps them to meet National Fire Protection Association standards, which state how much training they must go through on a monthly basis. Areas normally covered by training include medical, structural fire fighting, aircraft fires and hazardous materials.

"The training we do is very important both here and at home station," said Sergeant Towner, who is a native of Horseheads, N.Y. "We can be called upon to provide assistance to various emergencies every day. Some could involve rope rescue, vehicle accidents, aircraft mishaps, and even injuries to personnel at home, on the job or in the gym.

"There are a wide variety of tools we bring to any scene and a great deal of tactics and strategies that must play out to ensure successful completion of our mission," Sergeant Towner said. "If you take away the training, you've lost the skill set it takes to remain proficient in the various areas required to mitigate those situations."

The fire fighters must also be prepared to deal with issues unique to the deployed environment including large amounts of live ammunition, heat and, perhaps most importantly, the availability of water, especially on the flightline.

"At home station we have all our operational hydrants, but here it can be hit or miss," said Airman Parks. "We have a 4,000-gallon tender that responds to every emergency, plus emergency water supplies located up and down the flightline."

"I couldn't be happier with this crew," Sergeant Towner said. "There are guys from nine different installations, all with various backgrounds. It took them about a week to mesh emergency response procedures from their home stations, but since then, they work together as if stationed with each other for a great deal longer than they have been."