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Firefighters work together to blaze through extraction exercise

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Marelise Wood
  • 386th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  Four crash trucks, one rescue vehicle, one tanker, one command vehicle and a partridge in a pear tree. This was the scene at a C-17 Globemaster III aircrew extraction exercise at the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing, June 17, 2013. Minus the partridge in the pear tree, of course!

The fire department, a unit under the 386th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron umbrella, conducts routine training, to include extraction exercises, every few months to keep the crew current and comfortable when responding to a variety of scenarios.

"If an aircraft crashes and the pilots are unconscious or unable to get out on their own, the fire department would respond to the scene, make entry into the aircraft, up to the cockpit and...get the aircrew extracted from the aircraft," said Tech. Sgt. Robert Hanson, Fire Department Training Assistant Chief.

This is where the rescue vehicle comes in. Rescue vehicle personnel are the ones who enter the aircraft, perform shutdown procedures if needed, and extract the crew members and any passengers.

However, this scenario involved not only incapacitated crew members, but an engine fire. Queue the crash trucks and tanker vehicle!

Crash trucks provide the water and extinguishing agents needed to put out fires so rescue personnel can enter the aircraft. When even more water than the crash trucks can transport is needed, a tanker is also on hand to keep resupplying the crash trucks with water.

During the exercise, the crash trucks pulled up and the firefighters poured out of their vehicles rapidly pulling out their hoses, extinguishing the engine fire in minutes. The incident commander gave the all clear; the rescue personnel entered the aircraft and quickly extracted the aircrew from the cockpit, which involved bringing them down a narrow set of stairs, no easy feat.

"Everything went very smoothly," said Hanson who played the part of an incapacitated crew member during the exercise.

The smooth flow of the exercise was a credit not only to the role of the rescue vehicle, crash trucks and tanker, but to the command vehicle personnel who orchestrate what response actions are taken and how.

"We want them to know that they are comfortable...responding, making entry, and evacuating personnel," Hanson added.

Senior Airman Joseph Graveline, a firefighter deployed here from the 103rd Airlift Wing, Connecticut Air National Guard was a participant in the exercise. Although he only has two months on the ground and this was his first time working on a C-17, he felt he did well thanks to his training.

"All the training I've had so far, I definitely feel comfortable," he said. "Every time you get in an aircraft you learn new things about it, new ways to get in and get out, easier ways to do things. The more time to get trained, the better off we are, the more proficient at it we get."

Words that are music to Hanson's ears.

"The aircraft entry crew was outstanding, truck set up was excellent," said Hanson, "I was very impressed for this being their first C-17 exercise."