FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. -- (Feb. 25, 2016) Fort Campbell Fire and Emergency Services hosted the inaugural Light and Fight Firefighter training Saturday at the Fort Campbell Fire Training Facility beside of Campbell Army Airfield.
FCFES worked together with the Middle Tennessee Fraternal Order of Leatherheads Society, an international professional organization for firefighters, to make the event happen. The Light and Fight training had approximately 50 Fort Campbell, local and regional firefighters train on basic firefighting skills.
Firefighters rotated through five different realistic training scenarios, most of which took place inside the training facility building where the firefighters faced off against Class A fire conditions. Trainers included members of the Chicago, Atlanta and Nashville fire departments, who shared their organization's vast knowledge with training participants.
The scenarios trained firefighters on forcible entry, ladder operations, hose team operations, searching for adults and children, and rescue operations for downed firefighters. A large fire created thick banks of smoke inside the training facility along with high temperatures to challenge firefighters going through the training.
Fort Campbell had both civilian firefighters and military firefighters from the 550th Engineer Detachment, 716th Military Police Battalion, supported on Fort Campbell by the 101st Airborne Division Sustainment Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, participate in the training. The training improved FCFES ability to respond to fires, making the post a safer place for Soldiers, Families, civilian employees, contractors and retirees. Captain John Kile, commander of the 163rd Military Police Detachment, the 510th Military Police Detachment and the 550th Eng. Det., all three elements of the 716th MP Bn. led by example as he donned his firefighting gear and took part in the training with eight other military firefighters.
"Training to a firefighter is the most important thing," Kile said. "If you don't train hard every time you go into a fire training event that's going to be something you miss out on there in the real world. Because in training is where you can make those mistakes and it's not going to cost you your life or the life of the personnel that you're trying to rescue …"
Bart Brindle, a captain at Fire Station 3 echoed Kile on the importance of training for firefighters.
"It's critical to have training frequently," said Brindle. "We'll take some of this information and the new stuff we learned today and I'll be able to teach it to other firefighters."
The 550th Eng. Det. has integrated its firefighters with the civilian firefighters on Fort Campbell, which brings extra capabilities to the FCFES while giving the military firefighters the ability to constantly practice their skills.
"This has been the first time they've [the 550th Eng. Bn.] been able to do a training event like this, but it goes back to that strategy of fully integrating them into the Fort Campbell Fire Department and Directorate of Emergency Services so we can be able to do training events like this, which improves their skills as a Soldier, it also improves their skills as a firefighter and they take this with them when they go down range," Kile said.
Participants divided into groups during the training and often the groups included firefighters from different departments. This allowed best practices, techniques and expertise to flow freely between organizations improving the overall training.
Brindle said training with different departments helps build camaraderie and familiarity amongst different departments which helps build a good working relationship. He cited the Oak Grove Fire Department as an example of a fire department that works closely with Fort Campbell firefighters to the benefit of both departments. Firefighters will provide assistance as needed to either community, enhancing overall safety.
"Today's training was excellent because we learned a lot of new tricks of the trade," Brindle said. He added that it allowed "a sharing of information between departments."
Learning new techniques and refreshing on basic firefighter skills allows the firefighters to successfully accomplish their primary duty of protecting the lives and property of Fort Campbell and the surrounding communities. Although the training facility routinely was more than 500 degrees inside -- with the ability to rise to approximately 1,000 degrees -- and filled with thick smoke, that was only part of the training according to Donnie Plaster, assistant chief of Training for Fort Campbell FES.
"So the training that we did wasn't necessarily about the heat as much as it is hitting the basics … and just simple Firefighter One and Two scenarios is what this whole day was about and bringing everybody together and training the outside community and those around us," Plaster said. "You can fight fire a thousand different ways and I think the techniques we learned today from the instructors and the knowledge we gained from them is going to make us faster at our jobs. We're going to be more proficient at our job and we're going to be more confidant at our job by the training that we went through today."
The groups practiced with tools, used hoses and wore their equipment as they forced open doors, climbed ladders and crawled through smoke-filled rooms. The Fort Campbell firefighters wore approximately 65 pounds of gear, which protected them from smoke, fire and heat.
During the training they worked as teams and practiced rescue techniques on training aids such as spare fire hoses formed in the shape of a baby or a manikin nicknamed "Rescue Randy." They also practiced rescuing downed firefighters, with the help of a PASS device connected to a manikin outfitted in full firefighting gear. The personal alert safety system makes noises when a firefighter stops moving so other firefighters can use their ears to hone in on an incapacitated comrade even in the low visibility conditions of a smoke-filled building.
"The gear is very, very good and it gives you self-confidence to go in and do your job, because you know you're going to be able to do it without getting hurt," Plaster said. However, it takes more than top-notch gear to work in a burning, smoke-filled building -- it takes teamwork to be a successful firefighter.
"So when you're in there, communication is key. You talk and communicate with your partner [who is] behind you," Plaster said. "You just work together as a team [it's] a team effort."
Kile said the difficulties firefighters face inside of a burning building require them to stay in constant contact. It is hard to hear because of the fire and air coming through their masks. It is hard to see because of the smoke, and this can be dangerous for firefighters because of unseen hazards.
So firefighters hold on to each other as they make their way through the smoke, often on their knees. It requires team work and the ability to do simple actions like tie a harness around a person, while wearing bulky gear in a dangerous situation where wasting time can be deadly. They do simple things like put all of their lifesaving equipment on their left side, so other firefighters know where it is if they need to use it. The participants practiced all of those things during the training.
"The purpose of the Fort Campbell Fire Department is to protect those who defend America," Plaster said. "We are here to protect those that live, sleep and play right here at Fort Campbell."
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