445 CES blazes through training

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Denise Kerr
  • 445th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  Beyond the youth camp grounds, a rusty C-130 Hercules aircraft and a hollowed-out three-story building on a gravel field set the scene for the 445th Fire and Emergency firefighters to practice their emergency response procedures.

Approximately 20 445th Civil Engineer Squadron firefighters and an 88th Air Base Wing fire ground safety liaison completed their annual training here July 11, 2015.  

At the site, trainers simulated a large aircraft fire with victims inside. Firefighting crews performed aircraft and structural search, and rescue drills.

"We have two trucks in this exercise but in a real-world emergency, we can have up to five trucks out fighting the fire from different angles," said Chief Master Sgt. Dennis McJunkin, fire emergency services chief. 

The firefighters are a part of what is called the Prime Base Engineer Emergency Forces, or Prime BEEF, in the 445th Fire and Emergency Service Flight.  Prime BEEF trains and organizes to respond to emergencies around the world and to support the Air Force.

"We conduct incident command duties, truck operations and driver's training -- we get a lot of really good training in one day," said McJunkin.

"Basically once the flames are put out, it is our duty to go in and save any victims on the aircraft," said Senior Airman Steven Brown, 445 CES fire protection journeyman. "We are emergency medical responders, which is one level below emergency medical technicians. But we are still very competent in saving lives."

Training the 165 Airmen of the 445th CES can be challenging with only three full-time air reserve technicians. The unit maintains a rigorous training program to ensure readiness. 

"We really are only a deployable unit and do not provide base operating sustainment operations on a day to day basis," explained Lt. Col. Jason Shroyer, 445 CES commander.

The 445th CES is comprised of an operations flight, fire and emergency services flight, an engineer flight, an emergency management section and operations management section.  The largest flight, operations, has heavy equipment operators, carpenters, power production, electricians, liquid fuels, water distribution, pest management and heating, ventilating and air conditioning technicians.

CE's core mission is to establish an air base as long as there is serviceable runaway and a water source and to recover a base after an attack back to operations. 
"If there is a pond, well or spring, our personnel are trained to purify the water, build up a tent city and service a living area," said Shroyer.

Every 3 ½ years, the 445 CES operations and fire and emergency flights participate in the Silver Flag exercise at either Tyndall AFB, Florida, Ramstein AB, Germany, or Anderson AFB, Guam.  There, they receive Air Force speciality code-unique training, spend two days of exercising command and control, Unit Control Center, and Emergency Operations Center and spend one day fixing a runway.

Firefighters are trained at the Department of Defense Fire Academy initially and throughoThe academy runs a four-month technical school that covers hazardous materials, structural fire, rappelling, fire pit and rescues courses, said Shroyer. 

"I've been a fire fighter for two years and we have to continue to work at our certifications," said Brown. "I'm working on my license which will allow me to operate a water pumper truck."

Firefighters use water pumper trucks to pump water from hydrants or sources of water to extinguish fires. The 445 CES does not have trucks assigned to the unit; there is a mutual aid agreement with the 88th ABW which allows them to borrow trucks,
equipment, air packs and maintain their masks through a reciprocal agreement. 

"We are only training for deployments, much like the rest of CE here.  We do not have the functions of a normal CE or Firefighter Emergency Management where we are riding fire station trucks," said McJunkin.

The firefighters are trained to deploy as an expeditionary force. "We are just here to train, be prepared, and ready to deploy," said McJunkin.