Mostar Airport Fire-fighters
Lt. Pedro Fernández Vicente
First published in
SFOR Informer#135, March 28, 2002
The Mostar Airport Fire Team belonging to the Air French
Detachment carried out a series of exercises on Europe Base
March 19. The training consisted of three different emergency
drills, in which fire fighters improved their personal technical
skills.
Mostar - In order to provide the best answer against all
kinds of crisis situations, the Airport French Fire Brigade
performed three different practices which consisted of rescuing
the crew of a crashed aircraft, evacuating injured persons
from a high building and extinguishing several kinds of fires.
"The Fire Brigade has to be ready to act at any time
as an emergency service. We have a daily shift to cover this
duty. There are seven firemen in each turn, one in the control
office and two truck teams ready to leave. The usual alarm
is a phone call. In the case of an aeronautical emergency,
the Air Traffic Control (ATC) calls us and the medical service
at the same time through a hot line," said WO2 Alain
Geron.
Rescue crashed airplane's crew
"Our main mission is to protect the aircraft from landing
to taking off including movements on the apron; our secondary
mission is provide cover for the rest of the base," said
Geron.
"In the case of a damaged airplane we always use two
teams each with a truck. The chief of the two teams uses the
first lorry, which carries all the special equipment and is
also the faster. The chief is part of the first team. The
first team has to join the aircraft and rescue the crew, while
the second team fights against the fire and covers the entrance
of the first one," said WO2 Frédéric Prunot.
"We have the capability to cut any kind of aeronautical
structure with our heavy hydraulic equipment in order to enter
the aircraft. A doctor comes with us when we go inside and
gives the "go/no go" to rescue the injured. Then
our job consists of taking the injured out without causing
any new injuries or increasing the wounds. We have very good
special equipment in order to perform our job," commented
Prunot.
Evacuate the Tower
"In this part of the exercise we train a specific urban
drill. We have different procedures and equipment that allow
us to adapt to the situation. In this case a slightly injured
person has to be evacuated from a high building. We can not
use the stairs or the lift for security reasons. We divide
into two teams. The first one works up inside the building
and the other works down outside. The up team does the anchorages,
the rope structure and prepares the injured to be evacuated.
The down team descends and receives him. Our job is the safe
evacuation of the injured," said WO2 Noël Ricoveri.
"We are part of the emergency equipment within the help
chain. We always work closely with the medical services and
our job usually finishes where the medical job begins,"
commented Ricoveri.
Related links:
Nations of SFOR: France
Training and Exercises
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