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American, Portuguese firefighters work, train together

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Shannon Ofiara
  • Det. 6, Air Force News Agency
LAJES FIELD, Portugal (AFPN) --  Military firefighters stationed around the world work with their local national counterparts to accomplish the common goal of saving lives and property.

Day or night, when an emergency call comes in to the Lajes fire department, both American and Portuguese firefighters respond together. Although they wear different uniforms, once they don their protective gear to respond to a situation, they are one team.

"We are one department," said lead firefighter Jose Costa. "If we don't train together and we mess up, the whole department messes up. There's no 'Portuguese' or 'American', it's the Lajes Field fire department."

Firefighters from the Lajes Field fire department have to be familiar with every type of aircraft that lands on the base. They practice saving dummies dressed up as crew members on both Portuguese and American aircraft so they will know exactly how to react to any emergencies on the flight line.

"We have to train," said Tech. Sgt. Jeff Cerri, assistant chief of training. "Unfortunately for all the firefighters but fortunately for the community, we don't have that many real-world incidents. We train here at Lajes for the 'what if' so that in case it does happen, we'll be ready for it." 

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