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| U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Rosado Harcel, 97th Transportation Brigade (Heavy Boat) Bristoe Station boatswain, guides a Joint Base Langley-Eustis fire truck onto the Bristoe Station during the 24th Annual Hampton Roads Marine Firefighting School maritime incident response exercise at Fort Eustis, Va., May 15, 2015. The Bristoe Station crew transported the firefighters and their equipment to the exercise location on A U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration (MARAD) National Defense Reserve vessel. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Natasha Stannard/Released) |
FORT EUSTIS, Va. - Approximately 150 national and international military and civilian firefighters participated in the 24th Annual Hampton Roads Marine Firefighting School maritime incident response exercise at Fort Eustis, Virginia, May 16, 2015.
The exercise was a culminating event during which the students were tested on what they learned about working with various agencies in a maritime incident on procedures such as: logistics, command and control, response and rescue in a simulated maritime fire incident. Throughout the exercise the students, who attended the school from various regional agencies including U.S. military and civilian fire departments and fire rescues as well as international firefighters from Hong Kong, Singapore and the Netherlands, worked in assorted groups to learn from one another as they accomplished the task to rescue during the exercise.
“Early on we identified that there was a gap in our marine fire fighting capabilities and marine response and knowledge, based on that and the complexity of a maritime fires – we started hosting this event” said Bill Burket, Port of Virginia Hampton Roads Maritime Incident Response Team director and exercise coordinator. “Most fire departments need the help from other agencies to successfully mitigate an event like this. We brought everybody together, so if an incident like this does happen, we are all reading from the same sheet of paper.”
For the exercise, the 97th Transportation Brigade’s Bristoe Station took the students from the Third Port at Fort Eustis to the U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration (MARAD) National Defense Reserve Fleet on the James River. Once students reached the fleet, they had to work together to get their equipment from one vessel to the other, and once that was accomplished they were given their scenario: rescue two people from fires in separate locations on a foreign vessel where the crew knew little English.
“By working with colleagues and seeing how they work, you can get smarter and deliver a better product at the end of the day, so it’s not that you do things better, but learning our different procedures is a way of training,” said Dutch Navy Fire Brigade Col. Tom Langenhuizen, Royal Netherlands Navy Fire Rescue commanding officer.
According to the exercise coordinator, working with the Department of Defense both logistically and for the response, was also an integral part of the exercise as any military installation with a port or fire team in Hampton Roads could be a part of a real life scenario.
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| Students of the Hampton Roads Marine Firefighting School prepare to participate in the maritime incident response exercise at Fort Eustis, Va., May 15, 2015. This is the 24th year this event took place giving opportunity to firefighters who have little to no experience with maritime response to learn established incident response and control tactics. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Natasha Stannard/Released) |
“We have the resources with the military and we work with them,” said Burket. “It’s such a rich military environment here--we could get called to respond to a ship fire at any of the installations, so it makes sense to train with the military. To be able to integrate the ship’s crews whether they are military or civilian and be able to speak the same language gets the job done, which is to keep everybody safe and get the fire out.”
For Portsmouth, New Hampshire, firefighter Scott Young, the training was invaluable as he works at a fire station near a port that may have to respond to scenarios similar to the one exercised.
“The Portsmouth, N.H., Fire Department has been coming to this event for years now, and it is definitely a sought after skill because we have a working port as well,” said Young. “I gained a lot of understanding especially in regard to what an undertaking it is to respond to a vessel fire. Knowing what different agencies’ capabilities are and how many agencies are available to help was beneficial. I also picked up tricks here and there from different guys at the training that helped.”
At the end of the training, participants like Young, were able to go back to their respective agencies with the knowledge of how to better integrate with one another as well as what regional agencies to coordinate with when responding to a maritime fire incident.
Story by Staff Sgt. Natasha Stannard
