Airmen train firefighters to saw through aircraft parts

  • Published
  • By Lanorris Askew
  • 78th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. (AFPN) --  A call for assistance rang out from the fire department here recently, but it was not to battle a raging fire.

Firefighters asked 653rd Combat Logistics Support Squadron Airmen for some hands-on training on a K-12 cut-saw, a piece of equipment both agencies use in their lines of work.

The training helped firefighters better prepare themselves for possible real-world emergencies like aircraft crashes where time and skill could save lives.

“They were all qualified to use the saw, but many of them had never actually cut any part of an aircraft with it,” said Staff Sgt. David Imel, a 653rd CLSS depot-level maintenance craftsman. “We took some of the stuff we had already cut off of an aircraft and showed them some techniques and let them get the feel for actually cutting through the metal.”

The aircraft parts used for the training were removed from a C-5 Galaxy that, for more than a year, Airmen here have been using to help evaluate the aircraft’s future viability.

The maintenance Airmen form highly trained, worldwide deployable teams to accomplish aircraft battle damage repairs. They said they know cutting into aircraft like the backs of their hands. With that knowledge and some spare parts, Sergeant Imel and Staff Sgt. Paul Hockaday, an aircraft fuels system craftsman, spent an afternoon with about 20 firefighters training on the saw.

For four hours, the firefighters made cuts through 2 and 1/2 inch thick metal, learning and seeing firsthand what could one day be the difference between life and death.

Tech. Sgt. Joseph Fruge, a fire protection craftsman, said aside from actual emergencies, they very rarely cut into an aircraft, so many of the Airmen and some of the civilians working at the fire department had never gotten the opportunity to cut into the skin of an aircraft.

“That’s why this was such an advantage,” he said. “It was more lifelike training than the simulations we have done before. I thought it was very worthwhile.”

He said the two maintainers gave them insight on different parts of the aircraft.

“It really helps everyone out in the end because who knows when and where they may actually have to use the training,” Sergeant Hockaday said. “I think it was some good hands-on training out there. If they can cut through that, they can cut through anything.”

The saws are used to demilitarize and dismantle aircraft, but are also used by base firefighters in cases of aircraft emergencies.

Sergeant Imel said the 35- to 45-pound saw is a powerful piece of equipment.

“It’s basically a powerful chainsaw modified to cut concrete and steel, and it has special blades used to cut through other metal,” he said.