NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev.— Firefighters from the 99th Civil Engineer Squadron conducted multiple training exercises July 18 at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, to maintain their mission readiness during Red Flag 17-3.
With Red Flag 17-3 in full effect, 99th CES firefighters are in the middle of their busiest time of year. More than 2,500 servicemembers are on temporary duty at Nellis from all around the world to participate in the Air Force’s three-week air-to-air combat training exercise.
“With the influx of people on base our call volume goes up, not just on the flightline but on base as well, because they’re all staying here too,” said Staff Sgt. Blaine Erway, 99th CES firefighter crew chief. “We have more people on the flightline who aren’t used to the climate so we respond to a lot of heat related incidents.”
For an already extremely busy fire department with four stations across Nellis, Red Flag helps the firefighters train and put their life-saving skills to the test.
“We average about 1,500 calls a year as a department, but we get significantly more ground and inflight emergencies during each of the Red Flag exercises here,” said Brad Myers, 99th CES assistant fire chief.
The large volume of emergency responses means the crews must stay up to date on various training exercises. Their repetition with aircraft familiarization or building evacuation today is a successful emergency response that will save lives tomorrow.
“We have to always be prepared and keep up with training so that muscle memory will kick in,” said Erway. “We can work smoothly even if we’re tired from the 48-hour shift.”
The teams operate on rotating 48 hour shifts, meaning they are at the firehouse for two days straight. When the radio from the tower and dispatch breaks silence, the teams would rush to their positions on the flightline and prepare themselves for anything that could be waiting for them at their destination.
From rescuing victims in a simulated house fire to climbing the stairs of the air traffic control tower, the 99th CES firefighters are ready for anything.
Part of their mission included suiting up and making their way to an abandoned house on base.
Once parked, Staff Sgt. Erway and Airman 1st Class Brian Velten, 99th CES firefighter, worked cohesively to attach the hose to the fire hydrant while Senior Airman Jordan Davis, 99th CES engine operator, and Airman 1st Class Adam Striejewske, 99th CES firefighter, hid a dummy and smoked the house up. After a couple of minutes, the interior of the house was engulfed in thick clouds of smoke.
Erway and Velten suited up, donned their self-contained breathing apparatus masks and helmets, checked each other over one last time and proceeded to enter the house. As Erway broke through the front door, Velten followed closely with the fire hose and the two began crawling through the smoke drenched house with nothing more than inches of visibility. Within seconds of entering the house they disappeared into the wall of smoke, but the fire hose was still being dragged in.
After what was no more than a minute, a figure emerged from the doorway. It was Erway, dummy in hand, and Velten close behind. Drenched in sweat, the two removed their masks, congratulated each other for a job well done and talked about what could speed up the already blazing fast process.
The team walked through the house and opened multiple windows to let out the smoke. Just as quickly as the smoke swamped the house, it disappeared into thin air.
After securing the area, the team jumped out of their gear, rolled up the fire hose, hopped in the fire truck and moved on to their next exercise for the day.
Myers said, they have checklists for almost every type of emergency so they run through those in a step-by-step process to mitigate the risk to their guys when they respond.
“The safety of my guys is my number one priority,” said Myers.
Not all emergencies happen on the flightline. Part of being prepared for anything means training to save people in a tower more than 100 feet off the ground.
The Airmen on fire engine 27 pulled up to fire station 3, suited up and trekked across a dirt lot to reach the air traffic control tower. They were responding to what could be a simulated electric fire or medical emergency at the top of the tower. During a fire, the elevator is extremely unsafe, so these guys were going up the hard way.
When they entered the building they began marching up the 10 flights of stairs. Step-by-step, the team only took minutes to reach the top.
Once there they paused for a moment, caught their breath, enjoyed the view, checked each other’s gear and air, then headed back downstairs to conclude the exercise.
The air traffic control tower is the center of operations for flightline control. Without it flying operations would be suspended, so the teams practice their readiness to respond to any emergency by reaching the top of the tower quickly.
Red Flag is mostly night or afternoon operations so the teams try to relax when they can during the day more than they would on non-Red Flag days because chances are they’ll be responding to several emergencies throughout the night, said Myers.
“We’re with these guys almost as many days as they are with their own families, if not more,” said Myers. “We work two days, try to catch up on sleep and unwind for a day, and then get one day to do what we need to do at home before we start all over again. This is their home away from home.”
The Airmen on fire engine 27 had finished two full training exercises and the day had only just begun. The team loaded up and returned to the station where they had time to eat, unwind and relax before Red Flag exercises and more training started that afternoon.