Grissom Fire conducts exercise Published Oct. 13, 2011 By Senior Airman Andrew McLaughlin 434 ARW Public Affairs GRISSOM AIR RESERVE BASE, Ind. -- The reach of the Grissom Fire Department extends well beyond the confines of the base, recently it took the firefighters inside a state prison to participate in a joint emergency response exercise. Grissom firefighters rushed to the Miami Correctional Facility, located adjacent to the base, to respond to an exercise scenario where a plane crashed in the outer perimeter of the prison damaging the facility and injuring staff and inmates. The firefighters arrived at the scene to simulate providing medical care to the wounded and rescue trapped guards in a tower. With prison guards, emergency response teams and K-9 units out in force to secure the area, the firefighters practiced carrying out their duties in what would be a chaotic and dangerous environment in real life. Although this situation may seem unlikely, the firefighters must train and be prepared for everything. The fire department has mutual aid agreements with the local community to respond to emergencies in the area. "It's important to exercise our mutual aid agreements," said William Dixon, GFD assistant chief of training, who was observing the exercise and has over 33 years experience working in the firefighting career field. During the exercise, the firefighters along with prison medical staff set up a mock triage center to gather, evaluate and tend to the wounded before their transfer to a local hospital. The fire department assists with medical emergencies in the local community by acting as first responders if needed. "We can sustain life until the ambulance arrives," said Dixon, who added Grissom firefighters have first responder basic training, but many have obtained emergency medical technician certification on their own. Besides administering medical attention, another focus of the training was rescuing wounded personnel. In this exercise, firefighters were forced to extract wounded through a guard tower window by use of a ladder truck because the tower door was inaccessible due to the crash. Capt. Dana Witt, a MCF guard, explained the importance of Grissom's capability to the prison because the facility doesn't have the capability to extract someone from a guard tower if the door or stairwell was blocked. The Grissom firefighters joined with the Pipe Creek Volunteer Fire Department and the prison medical staff for the exercise. Capt. Aaron Dehner, a GFD crew chief who was overseeing the mock triage center, said the exercise was important because it gave them the opportunity to work in a joint environment. With the different agencies training together, Dehner explained how seeing each other operate helps them improve teamwork and efficiency. When it comes to different agencies working together in an emergency situation, there's a big difference between actually practicing it and just talking about it, he concluded. The 434th ARW is the largest KC-135R Stratotanker unit in the Air Force Reserve Command. Stay connected, visit Grissom on Facebook and Twitter.
