Deployed first responders test reaction skills

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Amanda Savannah
  • 380th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFNS) --  An explosion rocks the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing's aerospace ground equipment hangar. Minutes later, the sound of anguished voices calling for help can be heard as firefighters enter the dark, smoke-filled building.

The scene then becomes mass chaos as medical personnel scramble to assist the injured Airmen the firefighters are rescuing from the hangar.

Though this particular scene was the result of a major accident response exercise, it's one that could potentially happen at any time.

The 380th AEW wing plans office plans exercises regularly to prepare for situations like this. Senior Master Sgt. Russell Lindfors, chief of exercises, said this particular scenario included a building explosion and focused on the actions of Air Force, coalition and host nation first responders, including fire department, security forces and medical personnel.
Members of the 380th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron Fire Department responded approximately three minutes after 911 calls began flooding the 380th AEW Command Post.

Senior Master Sgt. Marvin Wagoner, fire chief and incident commander for the MARE, was the senior person responsible for the scene. As the IC, he said his priorities were life safety first, then property and environment conservation.

"The first actions we took were to make sure that all personnel were safe, including ourselves," said Wagoner, who is deployed from Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, and is a Short Gap, W.V., native. "As soon as it was feasibly safe, we went in to rescue all the injured personnel."

The first person firefighters encountered was Staff Sgt. Scott Buecker, 380th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron AGE technician, who hobbled to them with a "gash" on his leg and explained the simulated situation.

"I told them we needed help and that 15 to 20 people were injured," said Buecker, a Mountain Home, Idaho, native, deployed from Mountain Home AFB. "I said that we accidentally dropped an acetylene bottle, it exploded and there were other bottles in there."

Airman 1st Class Alyce Taylor, 380th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron patrolman, who is deployed from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, was on scene and assisted in caring for Buecker. Taylor said security forces Airmen train throughout their careers for situations like this, but that wing exercises benefit the whole base.

"I think it's good to do this base-wide exercise so it gets all the squadrons to work together," said Taylor, a native of Cleveland, Ohio. "I think it definitely benefits a lot."

Once the scene was safe, firefighters moved in to rescue those injured in the building. As the firefighters removed the injured Airmen from the hangar, medics from the 380th Expeditionary Medical Group were on-hand to treat them.

"We train for this every day," said Tech. Sgt. Richard Norland, 380th EMDG independent duty medical technician, who is deployed from Holloman AFB, N.M., and is a native of Kalispell, Mont. "We love it, we revel in it. We don't get to play 'real world' all the time, but when we get to do this, we enjoy it. It keeps our skills top-notch."

Bioenvironmental engineering was also on-hand for environmental monitoring.

"Once they established the cordon, we have to make sure the air isn't contaminated because no one out here has protection," said Maj. Andrew Wagner, 380th EMDG BEE chief, who is deployed from Holloman AFB, Wyo.

Wagner and Staff Sgt. Larry Simon, BEE technician, said it takes "lots and lots of training" to prepare for events like this.

"In the bioenvironmental career field, in garrison equals being deployed. We're always doing this," said Wagner, a Mabank, Texas, native.

As the exercise unfolded, Lindfors evaluated the "players" on the timeliness of their arrival, response and communications and that all required assets were present.

"Initial response looks to me like they did a pretty good job," said Lindfors, who is deployed from Dyess AFB, Texas, and is a Summerville, S.C., native. "It was a great one to have the host nation be involved. It was very interesting to see their procedures versus our own."

Overall, many people who participated in the exercise saw it as an important event.

"The exercise was outstanding," Wagoner said. "It (was) a great opportunity for us to work directly with the medical unit, directly with our host nation counterparts and to prove that yes, in the middle of an incident, we can work together smoothly."