With a pull of the trigger and a snip of a fire hose, base officials officially opened a new fire training facility at Grissom Air Reserve Base, Indiana, Nov. 9. Standing in for a ribbon was a four-inch piece of scrap fire hose, and pnuedraulic shears upped the ante on the scissor portion of the cutting.
Col. Doug Schwartz, 434th Air Refueling Wing commander, was joined by John Ireland, Grissom fire chief and other base officials as they officially opened the facility. Kevin Jefferson, Army Corps of Engineers Louisville District construction representative, also helped to cut the ribbon.
Moments later two firefighters put on a rappelling demonstration for the crowd of fire fighters, emergency managers, elected officials and others on-hand.
"We have annual training requirements that require live fires twice a year," said Todd Woolf, GFD assistant chief for training.
"Having the updated burn house will allow us to burn more often, and rather than do it twice a year, we can do it whenever we want," he added. "We won't be locked into having to go off base, and worrying about availability."
The $750,000 project expanded the existing facility from 1,600 square feet to about 4,000 square feet. The facility uses primarily wood and straw as combustibles and has a tower inside that allows members to train in confined space, elevator rescue, forcible entry training and more.
"The panels in the room can withstand temperatures of 2,200-degrees Fahrenheit," Ireland said.
"Being a firefighter in civilian job, it's great to see a top-notch training facility here at Grissom," said Chief Master Sgt. Rob Herman, command chief, and firefighter from Omaha, Nebraska. "At the end of the day having better trained, better equipped firefighters benefits us all."Not only will Grissom firefighters greatly benefit from the new building, other agencies from different counties will also get good use of the facility.
"All around it's just a better situation for everybody," concluded Woolf. "We have existing mutual aid agreements so other agencies can also train with us."
"Kokomo S.W.A.T. has already used the rappelling portion of the facility," Ireland said.
Grissom is home to the 434th Air Refueling Wing, the largest KC135R Stratotanker unit in the Air Force Reserve Command.
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