McChord Air Force Firefighting Training Facilities

McChord multi-million dollar live fire training props (plane foreground and burn building in the background) are an examples of the state of art technology. The burn building can use both gas or burn Class-A fire materials.

 
McChord Engine 931with FWD

Firefighters from McChord AFB and Fort Lewis practiced the Modified Dash Roll on this vehicle. The dash was hyper extended for this evolution to demonstrate that the dash drops very little after being displaced, unlike a conventional dash roll maneuver.  Normally only one side of the dash is displaced, however in an effort to make the best use of the prop vehicles, students displaced both sides.

Students attending the basic review program met some challenging issues when they had to stabilize a bus rollover before they could commence rescue and recover operations.

While viewing some of these photos as yourself; does your department have the training and the equipment to perform a real life incident for a bus or truck crash? While this wasn't a bus extrication program, the skills levels of the responders allowed us to introduce some complexity to some of the evolutions.

Members from McChord and Fire Fort Lewis Fire Departments taking a short break before beginning this bus rollover evolution. To enable all shifts the same training two similar programs were conducted back to back over a period of four days for all the shifts.

Here the group team leader is addressing task assignments to his team members.

 
In this evolution members had to perform both rescue and recover operations. One way to provide greater patient access was to remove the B-pillar and perform a third door. You will notice that besides cribbing the passenger car, it was immobilized by placing blocking in front and to the rear. This is not a new procedure, it something that was done when I came into the fire service in 1977. We re-enforced the task during both the new technology training and the basic skills review to better prepare the students for incidents with hybrid drives. Since a hybrid vehicle can run silent and start up instantly responders now more than ever should be blocking/chocking vehicle wheels.

Here McChord Crews began using space making techniques to provide greater accessibility during the sustained patient access phase of this evolution.

Anyone in the Hot Zone needs to have a task, donn suitable PPE for that task, be equipped with the proper tools to perform the task and properly trained to the level of skills required for that task. The McChord Fire Department members who did not have a task, keep at least 15 feet back from the work area. Anyone that wandered closer than this was asked to step back by the safety officer who is in the background in the orange vest.

McChord members taking a well desired break pose by the vehicle they had just displaced this dashboard. 

Here members stabilized an inverted vehicle and opened up the floor for greater access. While not as common here in the States, extrication like this is used for sub-compacts in Europe.

Here members posed for a group photo in a vehicle (under ride scenario) that they just performed the Modified Dash Roll due to limited forward space.

Here is a picture of the jet prop used for live fire training. One side of the plane represents a high wing aircraft while the other low wing. Instructors can pump water into the lined pond during exercises and then recycle the water back into its holding tank. McChord is the only facilities in the area allowed to burn fossil fuel. Any water is drained and recycled through strainers to separate the un-burnt fuels.

Inside the cargo area of the jet prop.

McChord Air Museum