Firefighters from Mexico Public Safety and the Little Dixie Fire Protection District practiced fighting the types of fires that could result from a plane crash at the Mexico Memorial Airport-Hagan Brothers Field on Saturday.
There has never been a crash at that airport, but Audrain County Emergency Manager Sarah Williams said because the airport has a mile-long runway, it could handle diversions of large aircraft, including commercial jets, in the event of an emergency. She said the training session was important for firefighters in Mexico and the surrounding area because they do not usually work on that type of rescue.
“If you had a situation where an aircraft lands and it catches on fire,” she said. “our guys don’t really have a chance to practice this kind of thing,”
Williams said the airport does not have its own firefighters, like some international airports do in larger cities. At Saturday’s training, firefighters learned about the layout of runways and features of airplanes they would need in an emergency.
The University of Missouri’s Fire Rescue Training Institute ran the training session. Williams said the county’s Local Emergency Planning Committee has a fund made up mostly of federal grant money to spend on hazardous material response training, which it used to set up the training session with MU FRTI.
The FRTI brought a large airplane simulator on a flatbed truck to the airport for the training session. Flames can shoot out of different parts of the simulator and firefighters could enter it from the sides and rear, as they would a crashed aircraft, to extinguish flames and rescue passengers. There was also a device to simulate the burning of spilled fuel on the ground.
Williams said 52 firefighters from four different departments attended the training session. In addition to MPS and Little Dixie, there were also teams from the Laddonia and Rural Fire Association and the Martinsburg Area Fire Protection District.
“We had a fantastic turnout for it,” Williams said. “We’re really excited for all the people who are here.”
MPS Director Susan Rockett said her department is also preparing for the air show that is part of the Mexico Elks’ Military Appreciation Day in August.
“That’s a pretty big deal, with a pretty big scope, so we want to make sure we have our end of that taken care of,” she said.
She also said the department was happy that it was able to secure funding for the training session and had done so by working with emergency departments from other cities. She said the department would continue to use a teamwork approach.
“This is quite a coup for us, having this come to our neck of the woods,” she said. “With the quality and caliber of instructors we’ve got, we’re very pleased.”
Little Dixie firefighter Lt. Kyle Middleton said the training session was a good learning experience for his department because they were able to teach skills to new firefighters who did not have as much experience fighting fires.
“We’re running a lot of people through that really haven’t had a lot of live fire training experience,” he said. “We’re just taking them in and showing them our techniques.”
He said fighting fires inside the airplane was similar to battling a blaze in a trailer because the space is narrow and compact.
FRTI Programs Manager Mark Lee said the simulator aircraft usually goes to larger commercial airports, but said the institute is trying to raise awareness about the need to train for aircraft rescues among local fire departments near smaller airports.
“We’ve been trying to get people to realize that the airplane is an important thing to think about too, because most people think ‘it’ll never happen here,” Lee said.
Lee said 310 aircraft accidents have happened in Missouri since 2000. He said aircraft fires present additional challenges because of their size and possible danger from spilled fuel and debris.
He said having multiple fire departments spread over a wide rural area helped the training process because the firefighters are seeking experience fighting this type of fire.
“It’s less complicated here because people want to learn,” he said.
|
|
|
Firefighters from Mexico Public Safety and the Little Dixie Fire Protection District practiced fighting the types of fires that could result from a plane crash at the Mexico Memorial Airport-Hagan Brothers Field on Saturday.
There has never been a crash at that airport, but Audrain County Emergency Manager Sarah Williams said because the airport has a mile-long runway, it could handle diversions of large aircraft, including commercial jets, in the event of an emergency. She said the training session was important for firefighters in Mexico and the surrounding area because they do not usually work on that type of rescue.
“If you had a situation where an aircraft lands and it catches on fire,” she said. “our guys don’t really have a chance to practice this kind of thing,”
Williams said the airport does not have its own firefighters, like some international airports do in larger cities. At Saturday’s training, firefighters learned about the layout of runways and features of airplanes they would need in an emergency.
The University of Missouri’s Fire Rescue Training Institute ran the training session. Williams said the county’s Local Emergency Planning Committee has a fund made up mostly of federal grant money to spend on hazardous material response training, which it used to set up the training session with MU FRTI.
The FRTI brought a large airplane simulator on a flatbed truck to the airport for the training session. Flames can shoot out of different parts of the simulator and firefighters could enter it from the sides and rear, as they would a crashed aircraft, to extinguish flames and rescue passengers. There was also a device to simulate the burning of spilled fuel on the ground.
Williams said 52 firefighters from four different departments attended the training session. In addition to MPS and Little Dixie, there were also teams from the Laddonia and Rural Fire Association and the Martinsburg Area Fire Protection District.
“We had a fantastic turnout for it,” Williams said. “We’re really excited for all the people who are here.”
MPS Director Susan Rockett said her department is also preparing for the air show that is part of the Mexico Elks’ Military Appreciation Day in August.
“That’s a pretty big deal, with a pretty big scope, so we want to make sure we have our end of that taken care of,” she said.
She also said the department was happy that it was able to secure funding for the training session and had done so by working with emergency departments from other cities. She said the department would continue to use a teamwork approach.
“This is quite a coup for us, having this come to our neck of the woods,” she said. “With the quality and caliber of instructors we’ve got, we’re very pleased.”
Little Dixie firefighter Lt. Kyle Middleton said the training session was a good learning experience for his department because they were able to teach skills to new firefighters who did not have as much experience fighting fires.
“We’re running a lot of people through that really haven’t had a lot of live fire training experience,” he said. “We’re just taking them in and showing them our techniques.”
He said fighting fires inside the airplane was similar to battling a blaze in a trailer because the space is narrow and compact.
FRTI Programs Manager Mark Lee said the simulator aircraft usually goes to larger commercial airports, but said the institute is trying to raise awareness about the need to train for aircraft rescues among local fire departments near smaller airports.
“We’ve been trying to get people to realize that the airplane is an important thing to think about too, because most people think ‘it’ll never happen here,” Lee said.
Lee said 310 aircraft accidents have happened in Missouri since 2000. He said aircraft fires present additional challenges because of their size and possible danger from spilled fuel and debris.
He said having multiple fire departments spread over a wide rural area helped the training process because the firefighters are seeking experience fighting this type of fire.
“It’s less complicated here because people want to learn,” he said.
