MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- Team Moody’s 23d Civil Engineer Squadron firefighters performed nighttime, live-fire training, Jan. 10, here.
This training prepares Airmen for the possibility of nighttime aircraft fire operations.
“This is 80 percent of what we do, the other 20 percent is structural,” said Charlie Johnson, 23d CES assistant fire chief of training. “Most likely, if anything is ever to happen, it will be with an aircraft. So it’s very important that we get this live-fire training.”
It isn’t only important that the 23d CES Airmen experience this, but it’s actually required by the Air Force and the Federal Aviation Administration that all airport firefighters conduct this training periodically.
“Situations like this happen,” said U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Jacob Molden, 23d CES firefighter who’s conducting live fire training for the fifth time. “In the real world, we’re not going to be able to really predict everything. So it’s good in training to throw out some random events and not tell us exactly how it’s going to go to let us figure it out on our own because that’s how we learn.”
Upon arriving to the scene, firefighters used their vehicles to assess the situation and began battling the flames.
“Usually we modulate,” said Molden. “So we’ll [drive] around the aircraft and spray water, and then we’ll position ourselves and pull hand-lines to fight the fire.”
After pulling the hand-lines, Airmen began to group up and combat the fire.
“My favorite part is actually fighting the fire,” said Molden. “It’s hot and adrenaline’s going with all the lights, people yelling and it’s chaotic, but at the same time we’ve got it all figured out because our training is very good. We know exactly what to do. We can fall back on our training to get the job done.”
While Molden said he enjoys this training, he has no doubt in the seriousness of it and hopes the newer guys take something away.
“When a live fire burns you’re not exactly sure how you’re going to act,” said Molden. “You get to know yourself a little bit better and what works for you and also what you can work on to get better.”