Photo By Cpl. Cameron Payne | Sgt. Brice Kuehn, Aircraft Rescue Firefighting Marine, inspects a Marine's protective...... read more read more
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MARINE CORPS AIR STATION NEW RIVER, N.C. -- At the edge of the Marine Corps Air Station New River flight line sits a brick building that houses a group of Marines ready to bring the fight to the fire.
Marines in Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting bear the responsibility of being first responders to aircraft accidents.
They are trained to control fire incidents on the flight line, as well as trained to assist in medical emergencies.
“When the call goes out and there has been an emergency, we are the ones who answer that call,” said Lance Cpl. Will Hingson, ARFF turretman. “Our Marines are highly trained to arrive on scene, assess the situation, and get Marines out safely.”
Every day ARFF Marines wait at a tactical position on the flight line with their Oshkosh P-19 rescue vehicles. From there they can see all ongoing air operations and respond immediately, should an incident occur.
“We use a lot of tools to get the job done,” said Cpl. Mike Dupont, an ARFF crewman. “From axes to pneumatic chisels and thermal imaging cameras, we have huge advantage over any type of emergency with the mount of equipment we have coupled with the intensive training we put our Marines through.”
In order to maintain knowledge and skill level, the ARFF Marines run drills including rescue drills, hand line drills and response drills, said Dupont.
“We are constantly running our Marines through drills to keep them alert,” Dupont. “The responsibility to keep people safe is an honor for me and my fellow ARFF Marines. We train hard to make sure that when the time comes, we can save those Marines from harm’s way.”
Response drills consist of suiting up as quickly as possible in their gear and getting into the response vehicles to make sure they can meet a five minute response time at any point on the airfield.
The Marines are also constantly practicing rescue drills to practice the proper drags and carries to extricate unconscious or trapped personnel in aircraft.
“We don’t have the luxury of just going through the motions,” said Hingson. “The readiness of our Marines is a direct reflection of the hard work we put in every day.”
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| Date Taken: | 07.10.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 07.10.2014 14:31 |
| Story ID: | 135735 |
| Location: | MARINE CORPS AIR STATION NEW RIVER, NC, US |
| Web Views: | 89 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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