Last week on Thursday, 7-30-09, I had the opportunity to take part in the ARFF live burn training that was hosted and held at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton airport, PA.. The fire fighters practiced dousing propane gas flames shot from spill fires surrounding the mock aircraft while putting out two engine fires. 90 percent of crashes happen off airport property while 10 percent happen on-site, according to FAA statistics. Having this kind of training on an annual bases helps prepare fire fighters. Classroom instruction can give you the knowledge. Its not until you actually feel the heat and carry something heavy out of the aircraft that you realize as a fire fighter to be fortunate to attend and have a live training burn drill like this.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting (ARFF) mobile trainer and approved FAA Part 139 annual live fire training instruction was provided by the ARFF certified instructors from Kellogg Community College, Battle Creek, MI.. http://www.kellogg.edu/arff/index.html
There was a great class room presentation/instruction and there was the aircraft itself that would be set on fire for the fire fighters to train on. Actually the aircraft is a mobile training simulator that travels the country providing a variety of realistic fire scenarios for firefighters. This aircraft simulator unit actually burns and the fire personnel work in an active fire environment. The training on this aircraft simulator allowed fire fighters to learn proper approach to an aircraft fire with hand lines and for assigned rescue fire fighters to enter the plane where a audio tape of people screaming helps to make the scenario feel more like a real aircraft emergency.
Now if you’re asking, “What is ARFF?” you can read my last month’s blog article about it at What is A.R.F.F.? I give a bit of insight on what ARFF is. There is a lot to becoming and follow up training to maintain being an ARFF fire fighter, and the live burns are all part of that. Here’s a YouTube video that shows what an ARFF aircraft mobile training simulator is like and shows the fire fighter training on it…
The reason this type of ARFF training is conducted is to make sure the fire fighters that may face such an emergency will be familiar with an aircraft while it’s on fire and the hazards associated with it. The fire fighters gets to test their skills on a simulated airplane crash, with the results of this type training giving them the confidence to perform under what ever circumstance may develop on the fire ground.
(The usual disclaimers: I am not a journalist; This is a blog that expresses an outlook and is not conclusive in any shape or manner.)
