One pilot dead, a second injured in U-2 spy plane crash in rural Northern California

An aircraft assigned to the 1st Reconnaissance Squadron at Beale Air Force Base and on a training mission went down on the lower slopes of the Sutter Buttes on Sept. 20, 2016. Hector Amezcua—TNS/Getty Images

One pilot was killed and another injured when a U-2 spy plane crashed in Northern California shortly after takeoff Tuesday morning, according to a U.S. Air Force official.

The pilots ejected shortly after takeoff from Beale Air Force Base and moments before the aircraft crashed into a rural area north of Sacramento, according to the Air Force.

Initially, the Air Force reported the crew members had “safely ejected” and were awaiting recovery.

Almost four hours after the crash, however, air combat command tweeted, “There is no official confirmation of status of U-2 pilots.”

Shortly before 1 p.m., Sgt. Charity Barrett of Beale Air Force Base confirmed one pilot’s death. The extent of injuries suffered by the second pilot was unclear.

“There’s always inherent dangers in an ejection. The technology is fantastic, but it’s not foolproof,” Col. Larry Broadwell, the base commander, said at an afternoon news conference. “I would match the safety and maintenance record of the U-2 with any of the apparatus the Air Force flies.”

The crash occurred about 9 a.m., and the pilots were participating in a training mission, according to the Air Force.
“Everything about the flight today was routine — nothing out of the ordinary as I was told,” Broadwell said.

The single-engine, high-altitude surveillance jet is from the 9th Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base and was assigned to the 1st Reconnaissance Squadron.

Photographs from the scene showed the tail of the aircraft sticking out of a scorched hillside with wreckage scattered around it.

According to the base website, the wing is “responsible for providing ... timely, reliable, high-quality, high-altitude reconnaissance products.” The wing is equipped with U-2 planes as well as RQ-4 and MC-12 reconnaissance aircraft.

The last time a U-2 Dragon Lady crashed in the area was Aug. 7, 1996, in Oroville.

The spy plane crashed into a parking lot outside the offices of the Oroville Mercury-Register, killing the pilot and a woman on the ground.

Capt. Randy Roby, an instructor assigned to Beale Air Force Base, was piloting the plane over the city on a routine mission when it burst into flames, then crashed.

Jerri Vering of Oroville was leaving the newspaper’s office when the plane’s wreckage hit and killed her.

The Beale air base is home to America's fleet of high-altitude spy planes, and its motto is emblazoned on signs: “In God We Trust. All Others We Monitor.”

The U-2 flies to 70,000 feet — higher than any U.S. military aircraft. It’s also among the oldest. The spy plane was first designed during the Eisenhower administration to breach the Iron Curtain and, as engineers said, snap “picture postcards for Ike” of hidden military strongholds in the Soviet Union. There have been 33 updated versions of the jet that still flies today.

The U-2 is perhaps best known for the plane that was shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960 and the subsequent capture of pilot Francis Gary Powers. He was traded for a Soviet spy nearly two years later, but the embarrassing incident convinced U.S. officials that manned spy planes posed too many risks.

The military now relies more heavily on drones for reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering. The U-2 is set to be retired by 2019.

By Veronica Rocha

Three people displaced by South Burlington fire

(Photo: NICOLE HIGGINS DeSMET/FREE PRESS)

Free Press Staff 8:28 p.m. EDT September 11, 2016

SOUTH BURLINGTON - Three residents of an apartment building on Hinesburg Road have been displaced after a fire, the city's fire marshals office said Sunday.

The South Burlington Fire Marshal's Office said in a news release that they are investigating the cause of the fire, but that several people reported seeing lightning strike nearby earlier Sunday morning. No one was injured in the fire.

An occupant of the apartment building at 300 Hinesburg Road called 911 around 9:16 a.m. and reported smelling smoke and hearing "crackling noises" from her second-floor ceiling, the fire marshal's office said.

Eight on-duty city firefighters were dispatched to the scene. Around the same time, Fire Chief Douglas Brent was entering a 9/11 Memorial "Blue" Mass at St. John Vianni Church several hundred yards away, and he noted smoke coming from the roof of the two-story apartment building.

The chief requested that additional fire apparatus from the Vermont Air National Guard also respond to the scene, the fire marshal's office said. The chief also began going door-to-door to notify apartment building occupants of the fire. The building is operated by Vermont Property Exchange, according to the fire marshal's office.

Firefighters who arrived on scene continued the evacuation of the property, while other firefighters began investigating the source of the smoke.

The marshal's office said that crews entered the common attic and found moderate smoke conditions and discovered a small fire along the common apartment wall between apartments 11 and 12. Firefighters contained the fire to the attic and interior parts of those two apartments.

Damage is estimated at $15,000 in structural damage and less than $2,000 for personal items within the units. Two of the three displaced residents will be staying with local relatives, and the other person will be staying at a local hotel as arranged by the property management group, the fire marshal's office said. Residents of the 14 other units were allowed back into their apartments after the fire and subsequent building evaluation.

Williston Fire Department and University of Vermont Rescue provided station coverage during the fire, and the American Red Cross provided support services to the firefighters and evacuees.

Misawa reflects during POW/MIA, 9/11 remembrance ceremony.

U.S. Air Force Col. R. Scott Jobe, left, 35th Fighter Wing commander, and Japan Air Self-Defense Force Maj. Gen. Koji Imaki, right, 3rd Air Wing commander, lay a wreath during the 2016 POW/MIA and 9/11 remembrance ceremony at Misawa Air Base, Japan, Sept. 9, 2016. The wreath was placed in honor of the 2,977 people from 91 countries who lost their lives during the 9/11 attacks. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Brittany A. Chase)

By Senior Airman Brittany A. Chase, 

35th Fighter Wing Public Affairs / Published September 12, 2016

MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan -- U.S. Air Force Col. R. Scott Jobe, left, 35th Fighter Wing commander, and Japan Air Self-Defense Force Maj. Gen. Koji Imaki, right, 3rd Air Wing commander, lay a wreath during the 2016 POW/MIA and 9/11 remembrance ceremony at Misawa Air Base, Japan, Sept. 9, 2016. The wreath was placed in honor of the 2,977 people from 91 countries who lost their lives during the 9/11 attacks. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Brittany A. Chase)

Airmen with the 35th Fighter Wing stand with a wreath and the “last alarm” during the 2016 POW/MIA and 9/11 remembrance ceremony at Misawa Air Base, Japan, Sept. 9, 2016. “It’s customary the ‘last alarm’ be sounded for our brothers and sisters who have paid the supreme sacrifice,” said Tech. Sgt. Ricardo Malan, 35th Civil Engineer Squadron assistant fire chief of operations. “For having selflessly given their lives for the good of their fellow man, their tasks completed, their duties well done, to signify they’re returning to quarters.” (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Brittany A. Chase)

U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Ricardo Malan, 35th Civil Engineer Squadron assistant fire chief of operations, gives a speech during the 2016 POW/MIA and 9/11 remembrance ceremony at Misawa Air Base, Japan, Sept. 9, 2016. “Fifteen years ago, on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, at 8:46 a.m., terrorists started a series of coordinated suicide attacks against the United States,” Malan said. “Today, we remember those lost on Sept. 11, 2001, and honor the selfless acts of courage of the 343 firefighters, 65 law enforcement officers and 15 emergency medical technicians who gave their lives that fateful day.” (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Brittany A. Chase)

Airmen with the 35th Fighter Wing stand at parade rest in formation during the 2016 POW/MIA and 9/11 remembrance ceremony at Misawa Air Base, Japan, Sept. 9, 2016. Approximately 100 Airmen participated in the event, which highlighted the bravery of the men and women who gave their lives during 9/11, as well as the POW/MIA Airmen of the 35th FW. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Brittany A. Chase)

Bilateral exercise prepares JASDF, USAF for airshow

U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Brandon Cotham, a fireman assigned to the 35th Civil Engineer Squadron, conducts a patient assessment during a bilateral emergency management exercise at Misawa Air Base, Japan, Aug. 31, 2016. Firemen assessed patient damage and escorted them to a safe zone. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. April Quintanilla)

By Airman 1st Class Sadie Colbert, 35th Fighter Wing Public Affairs / Published September 01, 2016

MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan -- Midday, a loud boom echoed across Misawa’s flight line during a bilateral emergency management exercise led by the Japanese Air Self Defense Force, Aug. 31.

The exercise was held to prepare USAF and JASDF members in the case of a scenario where a suicide bomber detonates an improvised explosive device, said Master Sgt. Elizabeth Ehrnschwender, a wing self-assessment program manager with the 35th Fighter Wing inspector general’s office.

USAF and JASDF agencies including security forces, medical and fire responded to approximately 60 American and Japanese personnel who simulated various injuries that could occur after an explosion.

“We’ll have an exceptionally large amount of people on the base [during the air show],” Ehrnschwender said. “The risk associated with this is greater than during our normal day-to-day operations, so it’s important the base [knows] we’re ready to respond to an incident.”

Ehrnschwender explained an EME is required to be conducted prior to any air show, and with both JASDF and USAF members planning the event together, they decided to perform the exercise jointly.

“In the planning stages we established who the counterparts are, who the chain of command is for the incident, where people are going to be staged, and where and how we are going to respond,” Ehrnschwender said. “In a real world incident, the JASDF would respond to the Japanese patients who would be taken to a Japanese hospital and we would take care of our own U.S. patients, so it’s important we work together to establish whose role is whose.”

Tech. Sgt. Joseph Helguero, a flight sergeant assigned to the 35th Security Forces Squadron, said he is confident in the exercise and how it has prepared them for any explosive scenario.

“Coordinating with the JASDF is something we do often and we do it well,” Helguero said. “I think we would be able to handle a situation like this if it were to ever occur.”

He added that although the exercise went well, there are always things everyone can improve on.

“Participating in exercises like this help us coordinate better,” Helguero said. “It helps us learn how to function as one unit."

Japan Air Self Defense Force member 1st Lt. Murase Toshia, left, and Kawashima Toshinobu, an assistant fire chief, center, discuss with U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Francis Tagalog, a deputy fire chief and incident commander assigned to the 35th Civil Engineer Squadron, the situation and roles of the firemen from both the JASDF and USAF during a bilateral emergency management exercise at Misawa Air Base, Japan, Aug. 31, 2016. During the planning stages both sides established the counterparts, chain of command and how all agencies were going to respond. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Sadie Colbert) 

9/11 Memorial Climb held to honor lost first responders

Dawn Solinski, San Antonio 110 event coordinator, poses for a photo in front of the Tower of the Americas after finishing the memorial climb. The San Antonio 110 committee was founded in 2013 by a group of firefighters. The memorial climb, held at the in the city’s downtown, is to pay tribute to the 343 firefighters who lost their lives on September 11, 2001. (Photo by Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Nina J. Ramon, 205 Press Camp Headquarters)

SAN ANTONIO, TX, UNITED STATES
09.11.2016
Courtesy Story
205th Press Camp Headquarters

SAN ANTONIO – Firefighters, police, military, and a myriad of other safety and security agencies joined together to commemorate the lives of the first responders lost in the 9/11 attacks, 15 years later on Sept. 11, 2016. Around 960 climbers ascended and descended 110 stories of the Tower of the Americas in downtown San Antonio.

In an air of competition, different safety and security agencies tried to out do each other by donning the most equipment up and down the tower stairs. SWAT members were in full body armor and helmets as Firefighters were fitted with oxygen tanks, face shields, and hoses.

One of the firefighters who made the climb was Joe Ochoa, a firefighter with the Saint Hedwig Fire Department located near San Antonio. Ochoa, a U.S. Army Reserve Veteran, had given much of his life to his country and community.

In 2005, he served in Iraq with the 463rd Engineer Battalion in the U.S. Army Reserve. There he was responsible for fortifying forward operating bases and keeping his fellow service members safe in a combat environment.

Ochoa, along with many other climbers, carried memorial tags with a picture of one of the first responders that were lost. Ochoa was in full fireproof garb and helmet as he made the climb.

“These guys didn’t quit, so I didn’t quit,” he said. “They [the 9/11 first-responders] had no idea what they were running going into. I kept going, to honor them.”

The event coordinator, Dawn Solinski, gathered 300 volunteers to hand out water, direct crowds, and maintain order during the event. Solinski stated, “This started with a cooler full of Gatorade and word of mouth,” as she described the humble beginnings of the event in 2013.

This was the first year the event staff asked for a $20 donation from participants who wanted to climb. After operating costs, the event has raised over $40,000 for the different charities. This year, all of the proceeds will be donated to the Rotary Firefighter’s Home. This is a charity that provides housing for firefighters who are undergoing cancer treatment.

A Firefighter in full uniform and personal protection equipment climbs 110 flights of stairs in the Tower of The Americas to pay tribute to the 343 fallen firefighters and 70 Law enforcement and 9 Emergency Medical Personnel who lost their lives at ground zero on September 11, 2001. The equipment the firefighters wear can exceed more than 75 pounds. Two ascents of the towers equaled the height of the World Trade Center Towers. (U.S. Army photo by 1SG Timothy Lawn, 205th PCH)

As the memorial climb begins Joe Ocha (right), a U.S. Army Reserve veteran, joins his fellow firefighters as they begin the ascend up the Tower of the Americas stairs Sept 11, 2016. Ocha is a member of the St. Hedwig Fire Department, located near San Antonio. The memorial climb is hosted by the San Antonio 110 committee in honor of the to the 343 firefighters who lost their lives on September 11, 2001. (Photo by Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Nina J. Ramon, 205 Press Camp Headquarters)