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Valuable
training
By REBECCA CRUSE
Capital
Journal Staff
Tuesday,
August 29, 2006
Firefighters with
Pierre Airport Fire and Rescue recently spent a day at Ellsworth Air Force Base
practicing procedures for extinguishing an airplane fire.
Staff Sgt. Shanda De Anda, in public affairs at Ellsworth AFB, said the base
fire department helps with training operations for many South Dakota fire
departments.
Firefighter Tony Aguayo, driver operator, added that the fire department also
holds its own training often, especially during the summer.
The firefighter training area has an aircraft mock-up, a building for structural
fire exercises and a structure with concrete culverts built in for practicing
confined spaces rescues.
"I think it's great that we can do these kinds of things because it's a way for
us to help out the state and the people in it, which is our job. And our guys
need the training anyway, so it makes sense to do it together," De Anda said.
De Anda was the media escort on base during the training operation.
Upon arrival, the six ARFF firefighters went to a safety briefing session at the
fire station where the incident commander for the day, Sgt. Victoria
Bell-Thomas, spoke to them about how the pit burn would commence and the proper
practices for extinguishing it.
The Pierre team said they would purchase 500 gallons of fuel for its exercise
working with water to put the fires out.
The Ellsworth Fire Department also wanted to practice extinguishing one fire
with foam, so they provided some extra fuel for that specific burn. Bell-Thomas
told the teams that the objective of the day's exercises was to develop
firefighters' technique and procedures through live-fire training that
resembled, as closely as possible, the conditions that will be encountered
during actual aircraft fires.
"Our priority is safety," said Bell-Thomas.
Out at the training facility, firefighters from both Pierre ARFF and the air
force base geared up in their flame and heat resistant suits and Self Contained
Breathing Apparatus equipment to prepare for the burns.
Paul Erbe, a captain with the Ellsworth Air Force Base Fire Department and
acting assistant chief for the day, explained that training exercises at
Ellsworth are the only ones that still use JP-8 fuel in the area, which is
similar to aircraft fuels because of its flash point and ignition time.
The fuel is pumped into the pit at the training area from a 2,000-gallon tank
across the concrete lot. It is released into the pit, which also contains water,
and the ignition team throws some gasoline into the mixture to help light the
fuel faster.
Aguayo said that an underground bladder, under the pit and concrete keeps the
fuels from leaking into the ground, but will let the water seep through if the
pit becomes too full.
"Part of our responsibility is to make sure that everything is environmentally
safe," Aguayo said.
He added that within the past several years, the firefighter training area on
the base has been updated to better the provisions for environmental safety.
Once the fuel was burning, the Pierre ARFF members went in with a hose to
extinguish the flames. They switched positions with each of the five or six live
fires and discussed the techniques that were done correctly and what practices
needed to be corrected in between exercises.
Pierre ARFF fire coordinator Cory Hoffrogge gave tips to his firefighters and
directed the attack patterns.
After the Pierre firefighters were finished with their exercises, the EAFB fire
department extinguished one fire with foam from their truck so a "probie", which
is a rookie firefighter still on his probationary period, could learn the attack
patterns.
Sgt. Bell-Thomas debriefed the Pierre firefighters after the operation, giving
them some advice on agent conservation and attack patterns.
He addressed Pierre's newest member of ARFF, who was training at the Ellsworth
pit burn for the first time, saying, "You've got a great group of guys that
you're working with here. They know what they're doing."
Story by: REBECCA CRUSE
Capital Journal, Pierre, SD
www.capitaljournal.com
For more information about the
Pierre Fire
Department, e-mail the PFD
webmaster.
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