Training day: Hands-on experience prepares rescue workers for disaster on the tarmac

DAILY MAIL STAFF

Silver-suited firefighters climb into the cockpit to rescue anunconscious pilot while another team sprays flames poking out of theaircraft's landing gear and then its engine. A loud boom startleseveryone, but in a few more seconds the fires are out and the pilotis lying on the tarmac.

The pilot - a mannequin - is through for the day, but for morethan two dozen firefighters from the Air National Guard and theMalden and Cottageville volunteer fire departments the day is juststarting.

A few minutes later, the aircraft is on fire again and a secondset of firefighters is learning how to combat airplane fires thanksto the $1.3 million Aircraft Firefight and Rescue Simulator purchasedby the West Virginia University Fire Extension Service.

Built by Symtron Systems Inc. of Fair Lawn, N.J., the airplane-shaped trainer can simulate fires inside and outside of the plane aswell as allow firefighters to practice rescues inside a smoke-filledplane.

Outside the plane, the extension service also has a large, metalmesh device known as "the pit" that simulates a fuel fire.

Joe French, an extension service instructor, said the training isinvaluable for firefighters who may end up fighting an airplane fire.Inside the cabin, they typically face temperatures of 400 to 500degrees.

"They'll get a real taste of what a hot fire is," he said.

French, who retired from the Air National Guard as the assistantchief of the Guard's fire station in Charleston, has 32 years offirefighting experience.

"It's the best training I've ever come across," he said.

The fire extension service has taken the trainer to six airportssince June and plans to make two more stops before storing it for thewinter. French said the trainer can't be used in cold weather becauselow temperatures interfere with some of the safety controls.

Bradley Scott of the Malden Volunteer Fire Department said theonly time he and other volunteers have received this type of trainingbefore is when they traveled to a DuPont plant in Martinsville, Va.

"This training is great. Words just can't express it," he said.

While fighting a plane fire may seem like a stretch for the Maldendepartment, in fact there have been two plane crashes in its firedistrict in the last 10 years and a third that was just outside itsdistrict.

Learning how to fight a fire in the confined space of a plane'spassenger section could well be the training that saves lives in thenext plane accident.

"It's a lot harder than it would be in a residential fire," Scottsaid.

Tech. Sgt. Taylor Daniel of the Air National Guard said thetraining is important for the Guard's firefighters and other airport-based fire crews, but it's just as important for the other firedepartments in the state.

"If we have an aircraft accident, it's probably not going to behere," he said.

Jeff Simpkins, the program coordinator for the fire extensionservice, said the trainer was purchased with a grant from the FederalAviation Administration that paid 90 percent of the cost. The WestVirginia Aeronautical Commission paid the other 10 percent.

The only other states that have similar trainers are Virginia andOregon, he said. The state decided on the purchase before the Sept.11 terrorist attack, he added.

One of its main purposes is to allow fire departments at nineairports in West Virginia to meet an annual training requirementwithout having to travel to Lexington, Ky., or Pittsburgh. Inaddition to saving travel costs, the fire departments can do thetraining with their own equipment instead of borrowed equipment, andeveryone in the department can get the training at the same time, hesaid.

"With this grant, we were able to take the training to them," hesaid.

Writer Brian Bowling can be reached at 348-4842 or by e-mail atbrianbowling@dailymail.com.