Camp Pendleton Fire Department Fire School

Captain Jim Day from the Camp Pendleton Fire Department (CPFD), speaks to fire fighters from the surrounding areas about the upcoming events at fire school on Camp Pendleton, Calif., June 15, 2016. Fire School is run the CPFD to integrate multiple fire departments and develop coordination to better their ability to fight fires together. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Brian Bekkala/MCIWEST-MCB Camp Pen Combat Camera/Released)

Firefighters spray water to extinguish a training fire during Camp Pendleton Fire Department's Fire School in Camp Pendleton, Calif., June 15, 2016. Fire School is conducted by the Camp Pendleton Fire Department to integrate multiple fire departments and develop coordination to better their ability to fight fires together. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Brian Bekkala)

Fire fighters prepare a hose to fight a training fire during Camp Pendleton Fire Department's Fire School on Camp Pendleton, Calif., June 15, 2016. Fire School is conducted by the Camp Pendleton Fire Department to integrate multiple fire departments and develop coordination to better their ability to fight fires together. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Brian Bekkala/MCIWEST-MCB Camp Pendleton Combat Camera/Released)

A fire fighter extinguishes a training fire during Camp Pendleton Fire Department's Fire School on Camp Pendleton, Calif., June 15, 2016. Fire School is conducted by the Camp Pendleton Fire Department to integrate multiple fire departments and develop coordination to better their ability to fight fires together. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Brian Bekkala/MCIWEST-MCB Camp Pendleton Combat Camera/Released)

A fire fighter carries a water hose to a training fire during Camp Pendleton Fire Department's Fire School on Camp Pendleton, Calif., June 15, 2016. Fire School is conducted by the Camp Pendleton Fire Department to integrate multiple fire departments and develop coordination to better their ability to fight fires together. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Brian Bekkala/MCIWEST-MCB Camp Pendleton Combat Camera/Released)

A fire fighter from the surrounding area carries a water hose to the fire while he participates in fire school on Camp Pendleton, Calif., June 15, 2016. Fire School is run the Camp Pendleton Fire Department to integrate multiple fire departments and develop coordination to better their ability to fight fires together. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Brian Bekkala/MCIWEST-MCB Camp Pen Combat Camera/Released)

Firefighters from the surrounding areas carry a water hose to the fire while participating in fire school on Camp Pendleton, Calif., June 15, 2016. Fire School is run the Camp Pendleton Fire Department to integrate multiple fire departments and develop coordination to better their ability to fight fires together. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Brian Bekkala/MCIWEST-MCB Camp Pen Combat Camera/Released)

Firefighters from the surrounding areas carry a water hose to the fire while participating in fire school on Camp Pendleton, Calif., June 15, 2016. Fire School is run the Camp Pendleton Fire Department to integrate multiple fire departments and develop coordination to better their ability to fight fires together. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Brian Bekkala/MCIWEST-MCB Camp Pen Combat Camera/Released)

Battalion Chief Morea from the National City Fire Department speaks to firefighters from the Camp Pendleton Fire Department (CPFD) and surrounding fire departments before they participate in Camp Pendleton Fire Department's Fire School on Camp Pendleton, Calif., June 15, 2016. Fire School is conducted by the Camp Pendleton Fire Department to integrate multiple fire departments and develop coordination to better their ability to fight fires together. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Brian Bekkala/MCIWEST-MCB Camp Pendleton Combat Camera/Released)

Firefighters from the Camp Pendleton Fire Department (CPFD) and the surrounding areas move to a designated location and create a firebreak while participating in Camp Pendleton Fire Department's Fire School on Camp Pendleton, Calif., June 15, 2016. Fire School is conducted by the Camp Pendleton Fire Department to integrate multiple fire departments and develop coordination to better their ability to fight fires together. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Brian Bekkala/MCIWEST-MCB Camp Pendleton Combat Camera/Released)

All in a day’s work: 1st MLG Sailors respond to motorcycle accident

Photo By Cpl. Carson Gramley | U.S. Marine Sgt. Brandon Jackson is treated for injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident by corpsmen aboard Camp Pendleton, Calif., May 23, 2016. Jackson, an airframes mechanic instructor at the Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training,was on his daily commute to work when he collided with a passenger vehicle. He sustained only minor injuries in the accident. (Courtesy Photo)

CAMP PENDLETON, CA, UNITED STATES
06.09.2016
Story by Cpl. Carson Gramley
1st Marine Logistics Group

Jackson, an airframes mechanic instructor at the Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training aboard Camp Pendleton, was making a right turn on his motorcycle less than a mile from work when he collided with an oncoming passenger vehicle that was turning left. Jackson sustained only minor injuries and remembers the accident in detail.
“I stayed conscious through the whole thing,” said Jackson. “Once I hit, I rolled over off of the bike and tried to stand up but my ankle was hurt pretty badly so I couldn’t really walk and at this point I went down to my knees. Blood started running down my face and dripping off and I thought, ‘Well, that’s not good.’”
Jackson noted that all of this happened in mere seconds, and as he hit his knees to lie down, he felt a tug on his backpack that carefully lowered him to the ground.
Two corpsmen, Petty Officer 2nd Class Brandon Parsons with Headquarters and Support Company, 1st Medical Battalion, and Seaman Max Norum with Headquarters and Support Company, 1st Supply Battalion, were both in their cars nearby. They sprang into action.
“My first reaction was to get out of my car and run over to the motorcycle driver and then I yelled at someone in a car across the road to call 911,” said Parsons. “[the motorcycle rider] was down and I ran up to him to make sure he was breathing and coherent, so I could try to talk to him to make sure he wasn’t seriously hurt.”
Parsons began to run through the procedures for triaging and treating a patient; checking spinal, neural and respiratory functions, making sure he was conscious and coherent, and checking for external injuries.
His hands were rushing to keep up with his thoughts.
“I was just thinking I really hope this guy isn’t hurt. Nobody wants to get hurt and I don’t want to treat someone who’s actually hurt,” said Parsons, a native of Niceville, Fla. “That’s what we’re trained to do but not what we want to have to do.”
Although Jackson was wearing a helmet, his sunglass lenses were shattered in the accident, causing small shards to cut into the skin just above his right eyebrow.
“I noticed some bleeding above his eyes.” said Parsons “His sunglasses had cut into his head and that was the biggest thing I wanted to address.”
After the initial evaluation Norum, a native of Gresham, Ore., used his medical bag that he kept in his car to begin treating the injuries.
The driver of the car wasn’t badly injured but was treated and referred to the emergency room as well.
With traffic secured and the patients in good shape, the danger was at an end.
Parsons spoke for himself and the other Sailors on scene about how the medical knowledge that they possess made an impact here and helped them through this.
“The training that we receive is very repetitive,” said Parsons. “We do it all the time. Once it’s instilled in you it’s just second nature when something like this happens.”
From Jackson’s perspective he could attest to both the proficiency and the character the corpsmen displayed.
“I’m very appreciative of how well everything was taken care of,” said Jackson. “We always have it in our heads that we would do the same thing but until you’re in that situation, you don’t really know. I don’t think he ever thought twice.”
“I feel like I did what I should’ve done,” said Parsons. “You don’t even think about it really. You don’t have to ask if you need to help; you just go and do it.”
Jackson is from Ft. Collins, Colo. and has a wife, two young children and another on the way. He said he’d like to urge other riders to be vigilant and to give credit to all hazards because anything can happen.
Both parties involved in the accident were referred to the emergency room to ensure full treatment. The details of the accident are still under investigation.

Air Cav trains 3d Cavalry Regiment troopers FORT HOOD, TX, UNITED STATES

Photo By Staff Sgt. Julie Wallace-Myles | Chief Warrant Officer 2 Thomas Gorgeny, an AH-64 Apache pilot, provides the talk through method of instruction to the members of 3d Cavalry Regiment and Fort Hood Fire Station 3 on how to properly extract a pilot in the event of a downed aircraft, he explains ways in which the cabin can be accessed and the different positions a pilot may be in the cockpit during an aerial reaction force training at Hood Army Airfield, Texas. June 1. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Julie Wallace Myles, 1st ACB PAO, 1st Cav. Div. (released)

FORT HOOD, TX, UNITED STATES
06.01.2016
Story by Capt. Kat Kaliski
1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs

FORT HOOD, Texas -- Members of 1st Air Cavalry Brigade along members of Fort Hood’s Fire Station 3 were called upon to train the 3d Cavalry Regiment on responding to a downed helicopter in preparation for the regiment’s upcoming deployment.
The goal of the training is to prepare the Soldiers for “all the things that could happen with a downed aircraft,” said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Philip Learn, the Aviation Mission Survivability Officer for 1st Air Cav Brigade, who spearheaded the training.
The group of 3d Cav. Regt. Soldiers are infantry mortar men who will be acting as the Aerial Reaction Force in theatre. Their role will be first responders and security at crash sites.
“If the scene is too dangerous, 3d Cav. Regt. may be the only rescue team on the site,” Learn said.
The firemen and 1st Air Cav. Soldiers covered such issues as: extraction, handling hazardous material, leaking fuel, first aid, spinal straps for stability and even mortuary affairs, to name a few.
This training is not uncommon for 1st Air Cav who routinely helps non-aviation units prepare for aerial reaction.
“We team with the firefighters about every 6 months for aerial reaction training,” said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Thomas Gorgeny, an Apache pilot for 1st Attack Reconnaissance Battalion, 22th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cav. Bde.
The brigade trains an array of Soldiers, to include members of the Air Force.
“I love showing my aircraft and showing them something they don’t often see,” Said Gorgeny.
The aviators demonstrated how the pilots could potentially be positioned by taking the infantry men on the flight line and mimicking how they might find crews in an Apache, Blackhawk or Chinook aircraft and showed the Soldiers what would need to be done to quickly to successfully recover them.
The brigade made the training as thorough and as real as possible, according to Lean and his team.
As 3d Cav. Regt. prepares to make its way into combat, the pilots of 1st Air Cav. took strategic and methodical measures to ensure that their fellow Soldiers were prepared for their mission.

Travis Firefighters receive Accredited Agency Status

TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, CA, UNITED STATES
06.02.2016
Story by Senior Airman Amber Carter
60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs

The Travis Fire Emergency Services is one of 220 agencies to receive accreditation worldwide, which includes being the first in Solano County and the 16th across the state of California.

“TFES was unanimously awarded accredited status by the panel of commissioners for the Commission of Fire Accreditation International at the semi-annual hearing in Orlando, Florida, this past March,” said Nicholas Christensen, 60th Civil Engineer Squadron fire emergency services captain. “This means that all of the commissioners agreed that TFES has met the 253 performance indicator requirements to become an internationally accredited fire service agency.”

To compete for the award, the Commission of Fire Accreditation International sent a peer assessment team to Travis in January, which reviewed the department’s processes in their performance areas to receive a recommendation. 

“In order to be eligible to become accredited, an agency must be legally established and recognized as a professional fire department,” Christensen said. “Here at Travis, we are established as a Federal Fire Agency under DODI 6055.06 Fire and Emergency Services Program and AFI 32-2001 Fire Emergency Services Program.”

Some of the major areas evaluated as part of the 253 performance requirements included fire suppression, aviation fire suppression, hazardous materials, emergency medical services, technical rescue, fire prevention and public education, as well as adequate standard operating guides, effective program management of additional duties and a comprehensive career training program. In addition to the Air Force and Department of Defense Instructions, TFES was also required to adhere to National Fire Protection Association requirements. 

“Being an accredited agency shows we have demonstrated that we meet the international standard of what is considered the industries best practices as a professional fire service agency,” Christensen said. “It is a major accomplishment to achieve and being the first in Solano County has been an additional achievement that is now sparking interest in other local fire departments.”

The accomplishment took three years to achieve. In that time, TFES had to write an explanation as to how they met each of the 253 performance objectives, develop a five year strategic plan, develop an agency standards of cover and perform a comprehensive risk assessment of all hazards on the installation to include a risk assessment of each facility on the installation.

“In addition, we had to track and analyze the past three years of response data for all emergencies to include structural, aircraft, medical, hazmat and technical rescue,” Christensen said. “This truly was a team effort that could not have been done by any one person.”

ARFF Marines Deliver the Heat in Hawaii

U.S. Marine Corps firefighters assigned to the Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting (ARFF) section, put out a fire during a fire response training scenario at Landing Zone Westfield, Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS), Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, June 3, 2016. The ARFF Marines conduct monthly training to sharpen and enhance their firefighting skills so that they may be ready to respond to emergencies at a moment's notice. (U.S. Marine Corps Photo by Cpl. Aaron S. Patterson/ Released)

(U.S. Marine Corps Photo by Cpl. Aaron S. Patterson/ Released)

(U.S. Marine Corps Photo by Cpl. Aaron S. Patterson/ Released)

(U.S. Marine Corps Photo by Cpl. Aaron S. Patterson/ Released)

(U.S. Marine Corps Photo by Cpl. Aaron S. Patterson/ Released)

(U.S. Marine Corps Photo by Cpl. Aaron S. Patterson/ Released)

(U.S. Marine Corps Photo by Cpl. Aaron S. Patterson/ Released)

(U.S. Marine Corps Photo by Cpl. Aaron S. Patterson/ Released)

(U.S. Marine Corps Photo by Cpl. Aaron S. Patterson/ Released)