ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. -- The weather isn’t the only thing that heats up at Arnold Air Force Base with the approach of spring.
Each year as the season begins to shift, members of the Arnold AFB Fire and Emergency Services team assemble for live fire training.
This training is conducted annually to help FES maintain readiness should an emergency arise on Arnold or in the surrounding community. The annual exercise is also required in accordance with National Fire Protection Association and Air Force standards.
Throughout the training, which began March 6 at Arnold AFB, headquarters of Arnold Engineering Development Complex, Arnold FES crews combated fires on a simulated aircraft fuselage.
A Mobile Aircraft Fire Trainer, or MAFT, was once again brought to Arnold from the University of Missouri Fire and Rescue Training Institute, or MUFRTI. The simulator, approximately the size of a C-130 Hercules, is capable of replicating internal and external aircraft fuselage fires. These blazes are generated via a propane system and, to elevate the authenticity of the experience, simulated smoke is released throughout the fuselage to create a low-visibility environment.
Ignitable pans to simulate running fires stemming from leaked aircraft fuel were also set up at the rear of the MAFT.
Arnold firefighters worked in teams to extinguish fires that could ignite almost anywhere on and within the fuselage. The MAFT allows its operators from MUFRTI to control the ignition and intensity of fires throughout the simulator.
Arnold FES Deputy Fire Chief Christian Lyle said FES crew members relish the opportunity to train in a controlled environment.
“Just like regular aircraft, sometimes we don’t know exactly what we’re getting into, so the operator can actually put different simulations in there,” he said. “It definitely gets the firefighters to think and create different solutions. The guys absolutely love it. It keeps them on their toes, and it gets them out of the norm that we’re used to. It’s definitely something that enhances our training.”
The training allowed crews to hone skills such as handline firefighting, which is when a hose is used to extinguish fires, and their communication with one another as they worked their way through the smoke-filled simulator.
FES team members also sharpened their techniques with the P-23 and P-19 “crash trucks,” also known as Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting trucks, in the Arnold FES fleet. High-pressure water can be sprayed from turrets mounted on these vehicles to attack fires.
The training is intended to help Arnold FES better prepare to respond to fire emergencies on the installation and to bolster the support the department provides while responding to mutual aid requests FES often receives from neighboring community first responders when emergencies occur in towns and localities near Arnold AFB.
As has become tradition, AEDC leadership joined the FES team in donning the turnout gear, equipping masks and air tanks, and taking up firehoses to battle blazes both inside and outside of the simulated aircraft.
For the second year in a row, AEDC Commander Col. Grant Mizell suited up to participate in the MAFT exercise.
“As the base commander, I know that every single day we take risks out here on the base,” Mizell said. “When you’re dealing with pressures and temperatures that we’re dealing with, things moving 3,000 miles an hour, operating at heat 8,000 degrees Fahrenheit, there’s always a risk on this base. We have to have the most professional firefighters that we can have out there, and this training is part of that process.
“The key to this training is not only ensuring that our firefighters know what they’re doing, but ensuring the base knows that we have the best-trained folks every single day to respond to anything that could happen on this base. I’m assured that this professional team we have out here is ready for anything that might be thrown at them to protect the people, the men and women, of this base, as well as our local community.”
Members of Complex leadership joining Mizell in the training were AEDC Senior Enlisted Leader Chief Master Sgt. Evan McCoy and Individual Mobilization Augmentee Col. Aaron Stevenson.
“It’s probably cliché, but it was hot,” Stevenson said following his turn through the simulator. “It was definitely a lot of fun, and it really shows you what these guys have to do when they go in and the danger that they face. It just gives you an appreciation for all the things you’ve got to consider.”
McCoy previously battled simulated aircraft fires while serving as an Air Force flight attendant, though he added that training was not on the same scale as the recent exercise at Arnold. Following his participation in the fuselage training, he came away with a new respect for the Arnold FES firefighters.
“Much like the rest of the AEDC teammates that we have here at Arnold and Holloman and throughout our other locations, we’ve got a bunch of professionals here that work for us every day, and these firefighters and what they’re doing and how they train, it’s topnotch.”
Lyle said their active participation in the training not only gives AEDC leaders greater insight as to what Arnold firefighters may face when responding to emergencies, it also resonates with FES crew members.
“For the commander and his staff to come out, take a couple of hours out of their day and really just kind of put everything off to the side and say, ‘Hey, we’re out here for you guys to understand exactly what you guys are going through,’ it absolutely speaks a whole lot to the firefighters,” Lyle said.
The training not only reaffirmed Mizell’s confidence in the base firefighters, but he said it should serve to provide some reassurance to nearby residents that the Arnold FES team is prepared to respond to any emergency that comes its way.
“On a day-to-day basis, our firefighters not only respond to stuff happening at Arnold Air Force Base, but they respond as mutual assistants to things happening off Arnold Air Force Base,” Mizell said. “Seeing our firefighters out here in action should let the entire community know that they’re in good hands and that Arnold is not only looking out for the United States of America, but we’re looking out for every single teammate that we have within 25 miles of Arnold Air Force Base.”