Camp Pendleton’s annual Wildland Firefighting Exercise

Photo By Cpl. Tyler Dietrich | Helicopters fill up with water from Lake O’Neill to assist Camp Pendleton Firefighters during the Roblar Fire on Camp Pendleton, Calif., July 22, 2016. The Roblar Fire has burned 2,000 acres and currently at 30% containment. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Tyler S. Dietrich)

CAMP PENDLETON, CA, UNITED STATES
05.02.2017
Story by Gunnery Sgt. Lynn Kinney
Marine Corps Installations West - Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton


Marine Corps Installations West, Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton’s annual Wildland Firefighting Exercise is, once again, bringing together assets from I Marine Expeditionary Force, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, Navy Region Southwest, 3rd Fleet, CAL FIRE and the San Diego County Sheriff's Department, May 1 to 5, to prepare for fire season.

Significant wildland fires throughout San Diego County in October of 2007 lead officials to seek a partnership between military and civilian aviation and firefighting assets to better manage crisis aboard regional military installations and in the surrounding communities.

Though several fires burned during the 2-week, according to CAL FIRE archives, the Ammo Fire alone burned more than 21 thousand acres of Camp Pendleton.

Since then, Camp Pendleton security and safety agencies, and local departments have been working together to streamline response and integrated communication efforts to provide ready, trained and certified military and civilian resources to combat wildland fires in the region, culminating with a cooperative effort to extinguish wildland fires.

According to George Shinrock, MCI-West Fire and Emergency Services program manager, the coordination for Defense Support of Civil Authorities is a year-round mission.

“With ever-changing and rotating personnel, it is important that we maintain communication and exercise the methodology and allow those decision makers the opportunity to [make the call to] get aircraft to respond,” said Shinrock.

All regional agencies participating have a vested interest in honing the relationships in preparation for what could be a heavy fire season, said Shinrock, career fire fighter and retired Marine, stressing the importance of Camp Pendleton’s training areas to I MEF’s ability to deploy it’s global force.

“While the recent rains were great for the region and have resulted in a very nice Spring, it is a part of the natural life cycle. Fire is also a part life cycle, when (the vegetation) dies off,” said Isaac Sanchez, the public information officer with CAL FIRE. “There has been a massive increase in grass here in San Diego County, increasing the threat of a catastrophic fire. It just adds more fuel.”

Sanchez highlighted the uniqueness of the relationships between the organizations participating in the exercise.

“All these agencies are eager to maintain open lines of communication to ensure the process is known and can be implemented in an efficient manner,” said Sanchez of the flow in which requests are routed from civil agencies to regional military units and installations.

“We are all working to combat the ravages of wildfires, both on and off the installations in the region,” said Shinrock, explaining how all these communities are affected by wildfires, from traffic on Interstate-5, to the rail line that travels through part of Camp Pendleton-which can all have direct off-base effects.

Air Force responding to Avon Park AFR wildfire

Courtesy Photo | An Air Force Wildland Fire Center team, supported by teams from the Florida Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is working to contain an 8,000-acre wildfire on the Avon Park Air Force Range in Florida. The AFWFC is part of the Air Force Civil Engineer Center’s Environmental Directorate at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas. (Florida Forest Service photo)

AVON PARK AIR FORCE RANGE, FL, UNITED STATES
05.19.2017
Courtesy Story
Air Force Civil Engineer Center


JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas --
An Air Force Wildland Fire Center team is leveraging internal assets and interagency partnerships to contain the Echo Springs Wildfire, an 8,000-acre wildfire on the Avon Park Air Force Range in Florida.

Avon Park serves as a bombing range and air ground training complex for the military.

Currently, 25 percent contained, the wildfire started May 17 from range activity and is burning in an area with unexploded ordnance which limits suppression options, according to Tracy Meeks, AFWFC branch chief.

To contain the fire at the range, located in Polk and Highlands Counties, firefighters are focusing on cutting firebreaks with bulldozers and heavy equipment.

“Firebreaks create gaps in vegetation and remove fuel from the wildfire’s path to slow or stop the burn,” Meeks explained.

The AFWFC is the lead agency in the response efforts; the center is supported by strike teams from the Florida Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Firefighters and equipment from AFWFC Wildland Support Modules at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, and Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina, are also en route to assist the efforts.

The AFWFC is part of the Air Force Civil Engineer Center’s Environmental Directorate at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas. WSMs around the country are trained and equipped for wildfire response and management either on a seasonal or full-time basis.

Robust training, preparation, and strong interagency collaborations enable quick responses to wildfires threating Air Force missions, assets and people. Wildland firefighters are also National Wildfire Coordinating Group qualified and always ready to respond to a wildfire.

“(Our teams) are in a constant state of preparing and training for wildland fire operations. WSMs take proactive measures to mitigate wildfire risk, including prescribed burns and mechanical fuel treatments which reduce combustible materials available to a fire,” Meeks said.

Additionally, the AFWFC routinely collaborates with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Forest Service to focus on fire threats and maximize shared resources.

“Interagency collaboration is critical to ensuring we can respond to wildfires and take proactive preventive actions. The success of our program relies on those partnerships because they have established expertise in wildland fire management and the core competencies to ensure our program’s success,” Meeks said.

“The AFWFC was established through interagency collaboration in order to better prepare the Air Force for these types of events. The quick interagency response to this wildfire, including the Wildland Support Modules is going exactly according to plan,” said Richard Trevino, operations division chief for the AFCEC Environmental Directorate.

General Wayne A. Downing Peoria International Airport full-scale mass casualty exercise.

A water tender truck supplies water to an Oshkosh T1500 crash truck while simulating extinguishing a fire during an exercise at the General Wayne A. Downing Peoria International Airport in Peoria, Ill. April 22, 2017. Thirty-eight agencies and more than 200 exercise participants took part in the full-scale mass casualty exercise. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Master Sgt. Todd Pendleton)

PEORIA, IL, UNITED STATES
06.02.2017
Courtesy Story
182nd Airlift Wing
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Our community stands ready when disaster strikes. Under a Mutual Aid Box Alarm System, or MABAS, umbrella, Peoria County agencies plan, prepare, train and respond to a multitude of incidents and emergencies all over the county.

Thirty-eight agencies and more than 200 exercise participants took part in the General Wayne A. Downing Peoria International Airport full-scale mass casualty exercise last month. Required every three years by the Federal Aviation Administration, the April 22 exercise simulated an aircraft crash with 57 passengers requiring advanced medical treatment and expedient transportation to medical care.

It certainly tested the airport’s emergency response network. Gene Olson, director of airports for the Metropolitan Airport Authority of Peoria, said he was pleased with the overall event.

“My thanks go especially to the 182nd Airlift Wing and its fire department and emergency response planning personnel, since they were instrumental in the planning and execution of this exercise,” he said. “I sleep better knowing that we have such dedicated professionals doing aircraft rescue firefighting at PIA.”

The 182nd Airlift Wing fire department is responsible for all emergency responses to the airport and its properties through a joint-use agreement. The exercise represented six months of coordination by the combined planning team. 182nd Fire Chief Chief Master Sgt. Clifford Otto, 182nd Emergency Manager Senior Master Sgt. Tim Foley, and Kevin Delmastro, OSF disaster preparedness coordinator for Region 2, worked diligently to synchronize the 38 agencies, 120 player participants and 107 Boy Scout troop volunteers.

The 2017 exercise was the largest in Peoria County over the last two years and was widely recognized as a success.

“I think the size and scope was great,” said Julie Leaned, the American Red Cross disaster program manager for the Central and Southern Illinois regions. “What’s most important is that we all learn from this and take that information to improve a real-life event.”

The collaboration of so many different agencies makes this particular exercise unique. City, state and federal government agencies responded to the simulation along with elected officials, airline representatives and even some from Tazewell County Emergency Management.

“It was good to see how the agencies work together…expanding to family assistance is complicated and you laid great groundwork,” said Jean Riehl, the regional Delta Airlines emergency planning and operations representative.

Division Chief Ronald Jones from the Peoria Fire Department participated in his first airport exercise and was part of the evaluation team.

“Being a part of the exercise and getting to know and work with the different agencies and fire departments, knowing what works and what doesn’t…when it does happen, we are all prepared,” he said.

A heartfelt “thank you” to the following agencies who participated in the exercise planning and execution:

182nd Airlift Wing Inspector General
182nd Civil Engineer Squadron Emergency Management
182nd Civil Engineer Squadron Fire Department
182nd Maintenance Squadron
182nd Security Forces Squadron
Advanced Medical Transport
Allegiant Airlines
American Airlines
American Red Cross
Bartonville Fire Department
Brimfield Fire Department
Central Illinois Public Information Officer
City Link
Delta Airlines
Federal Aviation Administration
Illinois State Police
Limestone Fire Department
Logan-Trivoli Fire Department
OSF St. Francis Medical Center
Pekin Hospital
Peoria County Coroner
Peoria County Emergency Control Center
Peoria County Emergency Management
Peoria County Public Information Officer
Peoria County Sheriff’s Department
Peoria Emergency Management
Peoria Fire Department
Peoria International Airport Air Traffic Control
Peoria International Airport Director
Peoria International Airport Operations
Salvation Army
Tazewell County Emergency Management
Timber Hollis Fire Department
Transportation Security Administration
United Airlines
Unity Point Health-Methodist
Unity Point Health-Proctor
West Peoria Fire Department