FORT RILEY, Kan. - The Manhattan Fire Department was at Fort Riley April 15-17 to extinguish an aircraft fire. The three-day training with Fort Riley's Fire Department was to fill a requirement set by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Each day began with two hours of classroom work in Manhattan with Ivan May, a fire inspector for FRFD. In the classroom the firefighters had a refresher course on the steps to take when putting out an aircraft fire.
After the classroom work the firefighters traveled to Fort Riley to train on a helicopter crash simulator at Camp Funston. The helicopter has five different areas that burst into flame to simulate a real fire.
The MFD came to Fort Riley to do their live training exercises because they don't have a way to simulate an aircraft crash in Manhattan, May said.
The Manhattan firefighters started their training out by filling their truck up with water from a fire hydrant. Once full, they attempted to put out the aircraft fire controlled by May.
May started fires in more than one part of the aircraft and even outside of the aircraft to help make the training as realistic as possible.
The vehicle the firefighters used to put the fires holds up to 1,500 gallons of water and pumps out 1,250 gallons per minute.
Besides fulfilling requirements, training with the Manhattan firefighters helps keep up relationships between the two departments, said Bryan Frayzer, FRFD's chief of training.
Social Sharing