Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighting (ARFF) what use to be called Crash Fire Rescue (CFR), back in the day, has been a big part of my life thus far. There has been a lot of changes in the training, applications, and equipment used on this type of firefighting. From our initial start training in the fire protection field we build upon each lesson learned to increase our knowledge base. Thus what we learn today may not be the case to fight fire in the future. Now granted the general concept is pretty much the same when fighting fire but the old say of “Put the wet stuff on the red stuff” might not apply today or tomorrow as it did yesterday.
To learn and practice in a changing dangerous fire environment that allows fire rescue to be performed is a priceless firefighting skill to learn and have as a firefighter. It's a skill you don't want to use but when called to do so, being prepared is the key for any fire fighter. The training we actively take part in helps us succeeded in doing and being prepared.
Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighting or ARFF what I still call CFR to a degree is a type of firefighting that is specialize for when an airplane or helicopter that departs and arrives at an airport or field which may have an emergency issue with it. There are two types of emergencies but are basically either a “Ground Emergency” or a “In-flight Emergency.”
The primary purpose and goal for any ARFF emergency is to save lives if possible. This is achieved by the ARFF fire fighter being trained to establish what is called a rescue path to the aircraft once on the ground if it’s in-flight, and prepared to battle large volumes of acrid smoke, rapid heat buildup, fight fire, lots of fire depending on the amount of fuel is being carried on the aircraft, and perform rescue. The training and skill base that I have acquired over the years has allowed me to do so safely. ARFF firefighters stand ready to respond to the worst case scenario be it a crash or burning aircraft. To meet this challenge, the men & woman of ARFF use their specialized training, equipment, and tactics learned.
I came across this video that I like to present now in this blog post of something I first viewed, back in the day, during my early training as a USAF fire fighter at the fire school as well as seeing out in the field at the bases I was assigned to over the years. Back when I first watched this video it was actually on 35mm film and you needed one of the old 35mm projectors with the big screen to watch it. Oh how we have advanced with this thing we call YouTube. I did a transfer of this video that was on the old VHS format to the YouTube format primarily for historical reasons. So here it is a historical video from 1964 on Crash Fire and Rescue (CFR) that is now called Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighting (ARFF)…
(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.)
