Photo By Sgt. Glen Baker | Contractor civilians run and carry a dummy during a fire muster competition during...... read more read more
CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, Iraq— Soldiers, airmen, and civilian contractors kicked off fire prevention week with a team course competition featuring firefighting activities, Oct. 3, near Memorial Hall at Contingency Operating Base Adder, Iraq.
The fire muster event was hosted by Airmen from the 407th Air Expeditionary Group to increase awareness of fire prevention week, which took place, Oct. 3-9.
Team “Wreckerz” with the 319th Transportation Company, 110th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 224th Sustainment Brigade, 103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), won a plaque for completing the course with an average best time of 1:54.
There were four teams, but only two competed: Team “Wreckers” and the Army Corps of Engineers. The Air Force firefighter team and a civilian contractor team participated for fun.
Tech. Sgt. Michael Champion, assistant chief of fire prevention with the 407th AEG, and a Lansing, Mich., native, explained the history of the fire muster.
“The idea is to kick off fire prevention week,” said Champion. “The fire muster goes back a long way. Back in the days when they had bucket brigades…fire companies would get together and compete just for fun, maybe have dinner and beers and just talk about people’s lives and how their neighboring districts were doing, just as an event to get different firefighting companies together.”
Today, the events are a little more contemporary than when the bucket brigades competed.
“We’re doing a dummy drag,” said Champion. “They’re going to grab it underneath the arms and drag it down to the end [of the course]. They’re going to do a hand-over-hand hose pull. They’re going to deploy this hose by first rolling it up, and then they’re going to fling it out to get it to a hydrant. Then, they’re going to grab a hotel high-rise pack hose and run through the serpentine [course of orange cones].” Champion explained that a hotel pack is designed to be brought up several floors of a building.
Chief Master Sgt. Michael Cavalero, a fire chief with the 407th AEG, and a Medford, N.Y., native, explained what inspired the event.
“It’s fire prevention week, so we wanted to put something together to show the public some of the things that we do,” said Cavalero. “When you do this course just in regular clothing, you realize that this is going to be more difficult when you put 80 pounds of gear on, once you put the personal protective gear and air pack on.”
Cavalero also explained the purpose of fire prevention.
“The goal is to give people a better understanding of fire prevention and what we do,” he said. “The reason we’re in the station all the time practicing these emergencies is because we only get one chance to do it right. So when we respond to a fire, if we’re not doing it right the first time, it’s hard to recover from that, so there’s a lot of pressure on the guys to set up right and make their attacks on the fire the way they’re supposed to.”
The course itself was somewhat complex and challenging for the competing teams.
“What they’re going to do is something similar to what the ESPN Challenge is; we just don’t have a five-story staircase to go up,” said Cavalero. “These things simulate what we do in an actual fire. We’ll be dragging hose, rolling hose, dragging dummies, shooting targets. It’s gonna be a fun day…There are two teams: the Army Corps and the Army Maintenance teams. You guys will battle it out, but it’s really for fun and enjoyment.”
Spc. Mitchell Jones, a mechanic with the 319th Trans. Company, and an Interlacken, Fla., native, said it was a lot of fun and good exercise. “It’s good camaraderie and a team-builder.”
Pfc. Robert Jarvis, an automated logistics specialist with the 319th Trans. Company and an Augusta, Ga., native, described what inspired him to attend the event. “I wanted to show support for my platoon,” he said. “It’s very informative seeing what firefighters do and how they train up.”
Jarvis said that his favorite event was the dummy drag. “It’s just funny to watch people drag it around,” he said.
Cavalero said that service members interested in firefighting must attend school at Goodfellow Air Force Base in San Angelo, Texas, and pass the basic course.
“It’s about 6-8 weeks, and then they go to the field fully trained,” said Cavalero. “I was recently down there in March and I’ve done the course with the young armen. I preach to the guys that they need to do it, and I’m out there doing it with them. I can still do it, so the expectation is that they’d better do it better.”
| Date Taken: | 10.03.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 10.18.2010 11:09 |
| Story ID: | 58318 |
| Location: | CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, IQ |
| Web Views: | 29 |
| Downloads: | 6 |
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