Fire department taps into local expert resources

  • Published
  • By Senior Master Sgt. Scott Knupp
  • 775th Civil Engineer Squadron
HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah --  Practicing the LEAN principle, local fire department leaders have been working very closely with 75th Medical Group bioenvironmental engineers and 775th Civil Engineer Squadron readiness personnel to ensure all base resources are being utilized to their fullest extent possible.

These efforts began with fire department hazardous material technicians providing 24 hours of academic training Oct. 15-18, including an exercise. Twelve bioenvironmental engineers and readiness responders were nationally certified to the Hazardous Materials Operations level. This is the second of such training here at Hill Air Force Base.

"Fire Departments across the Air Force, to include Hill AFB, took an average 14 percent reduction in staffing in personnel," said Craig Golden, 775th CES fire department assistant chief for training. "This meant some of the more manpower intensive services, such as Hazardous Materials Technician level responses, could exceed the department's immediate capabilities."

Twelve first responders were instructed on how incidents are classified, understanding the risks associated with them and the proper notification procedures. Personnel were trained in the incident command system, use of the emergency response guidebooks and understanding emergency response plans.

Additionally, personnel were instructed in basic hazard and risk assessment, proper selection of personal protective equipment, basic containment and confinement operations and decontamination.

To culminate their efforts and really put those efforts into practice, team chiefs conducted a joint exercise where personnel were recalled from their flights and responded to a radio active unattended container left in a facility.

Firefighters, bioenvironmental engineers, and readiness Airmen responded jointly, established a unified command, and mitigated the incident working together for the first time at Team Hill under this new concept.

According to one of the students, Senior Airman Ryan Tinsley of the 775 CES Readiness Flight,"I thought the training was really great, the recall went really smooth, and the exercise was overall pretty realistic."

"The exercise went off with great success and is a step towards many more to come," said Mr. Golden. "In today's manpower constrained times, Team Hill employees are coming together and working to maintain the superior level of service we have all come to expect."