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.