| 178th Fighter Wing fire department trains to save lives |
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - Recently, you may have seen a group of firefighters decked out with rescue harnesses, helmets and other safety gear. They may have been rescuing manikins, rappelling down the side of the 269th Combat Communications Squadron building or the Air Traffic Control Tower. They may have been checking air quality while descending into a communications pit, using the “Jaws of Life” to extricate a simulated victim from car or building supports to protect against collapse before climbing into a trench. All of this was part of a three-week long Rescue Technician course provided by the Great Oaks Institute of Adult Education. In the early 1990’s, the Department of Defense realized that it needed a standardized method for training firefighters. Each branch of the armed service had developed their own training programs but, during joint operations, none of the firefighters spoke the same language. About the same time, they realized that the National Fire Protection Association had existing standards as part of their national consensus National Fire Codes. A plan was developed and the DoD adopted all of the NFPA codes and implemented them in DoD Instruction 6055.6-M, DoD Fire And Emergency Services Certification Program. The DoD certification program was accredited by the International Fire Service Accreditation Congress and a standardized DoD firefighter training program was born. The USAF implements DODI 6055.6-M through Air Force Instruction 32-2001, The Fire Protection Operations and Fire Prevention Program. In that instruction, Fire Chiefs are required to formally assign firefighters to rescue vehicles and ensure that crew members have graduated, or are scheduled to attend, the USAF Rescue school at Goodfellow Air Force Base, Texas.. Great Oaks Institute is an accredited satellite training program, whose certificates can be converted to DoD certificates through a process called reciprocity. Great Oaks’ program begins with the fundamentals of rope rescue, using rescue rope, tying specialized rope rescue knots, assembling rope rescue equipment systems and using those skills to provide a high degree of safety and life-saving abilities. Students learn how to climb and rappel from ropes, rescue trapped victims and haul them to safety. Here at the 178th, students ascended ropes inside the Fire Station vehicle bays, rappelled from the top of the ATCT and practiced intensive high-line operations from the top of the 269th building. High-line operations include rigging highly technical raise and lowering systems to span a gap, i.e., a ravine or gulley. As rescuers were pulled across the gap, they were lowered to the victims and eventually raised both the rescuers and victim(s) to safety. The next block of instruction is confined space technical rescue. Firefighters were taught how to safely assess, enter, and accomplish a rescue inside a confined space. They used their rope rescue skills to descend into a communications pit, strap a victim onto a basket and egress the space safely and efficiently. With that under their belts, they moved to storm drains, between eighteen and thirty-six inches in diameter, putting all of their skills and abilities to the test under even tighter conditions. Next on the agenda was vehicle extraction, which involved using the hydraulic Hurst Tool, Jaws of Life, to cut open a wrecked car and rescue simulated victims. Among the normal hazard of gasoline and vehicle stabilization, firefighters learned how to handle the explosive nature of air bags and gas-charged vehicle bumpers. The primary focus of this training was to ensure that firefighters can safely extricate a victim from a vehicle without injuring themselves or doing further damage to the personnel trapped inside the wreckage. Finally, firefighters learned how to assess and handle structural stability, handle structural collapse and to stabilize structural and trench walls to prevent a dangerous collapse situation. When conducting search and rescue operations, firefighters need to be concerned with the stability of damaged buildings. When performing trench rescue operations, they need to ensure that trench walls don’t collapse during rescue efforts, injuring rescuers or compounding injuries to trapped victims. This involved lots of time-consuming hammering, cutting, and nailing wood to build structurally stable systems capable of holding back man-made and earthen walls while rescue operations were conducted. All in all, the 178th fire department stands ready for the next call.
For more information, call
Maj. Laura Powers at 937-327-2321. |
