Specialized fire training at local airport

By Jay Almond, Staff Writer

Tuesday, July 3, 2007 — A deliberate fuel fire near an aircraft on North Carolina Air National Guard (NCANG) property at the Albemarle-Stanly County Airport would normally be cause for concern, but Saturday was an exception.

Firefighters from Badin and Bethany volunteer fire departments as well as from Albemarle City Fire Department and NCANG, met at the air strip this weekend for specialized training in Aircraft Rescue Firefighting (ARFF).

The Stanly County Rescue Squad provided support with an air truck for self-contained breathing apparatus maintenance and Efird Quality Gas supplied training-burn fuel and manpower.

The training, organized and orchestrated by Henry Parham of A&A; ARFF, gives local firefighters the opportunity to learn necessary protocols and procedures for effective rescue in the event of a fuel or aircraft fire.

“There are volunteer firefighters protecting millions and millions of dollars of assets at airports around the state,” Parham said.

“And until you come together and train like this – put the rubber to the road – you don’t know what you’ve got.”

Parham, a full-time Station Captain with the NC Air National Guard Airport Fire Department, has tremendous experience in his field that is integral in his instruction.

He and fellow instructors travel with a specially altered jet to locations where firefighters can meet to train.

And while the training is, by design, delivered to all participants to meet state and national standards, Parham has a bit of an extra connection with the local crews.

Splitting time between the Stanly County and Charlotte airports, Parham knows many of the local firefighters on both a personal and professional level.

He works with local firefighters for mutual aid calls and believes further enhancement of already exemplary skills through the training is taking airport fire protection to the next level.

“I have a vested interest in these folks,” he said.

“I count on these guys for firefighting operations and rescue operations.

“What we’ve done is brought them together with some very specialized training.”

Parham worked closely with Badin Volunteer Fire Chief Dale Ward to organize the weekend course.

“Dale did a great job getting everything ready to go and generating interest here,” Parham said.

“This is Badin Volunteer Fire Department’s response area and Dale recognized how important it is to have this kind of airport response training.”

Ward down-played his own role in the consecutive Saturday classes, but was adamant about the importance of collective training efforts.

“You’ve got to have this kind of mutual interface,” he said.

“And we’re going to try to do this again in the fall or winter.

“Hopefully next time around we can branch out and get some more departments involved.”

The course, A&A; ARFF 101, is uniting departments with uniform response techniques and shared training.

The result is, for all intents and purposes, several departments worth of trained firefighters working together as a single unit.

What’s been available in the state for only about three years in the form of a 54-hour certification course is presented by the mobile course in a condensed 12-hour version, not for certification.

Parham was involved in developing that course and draws from 24 years of airport firefighting through the U.S. Airforce and Department of Defense.

He was on the fire ground of the Flight 1016 crash July, 2, 1994 at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport as well as at a 2003 incident when a plane crashed into a maintenance hangar, also in Charlotte.

Striving largely to afford volunteer firefighters with elusive specialty training opportunities, the course involved the use of a small airplane to simulate an actual rescue situation.

Members of larger city departments are often more able to participate in the 54-hour certification program.

With A&A;’s ARFF 101, there are four lecture hours and eight hands-on practice and instruction hours.

Geared to meet the needs of volunteer firefighters, Parham’s course meets crews for instruction.

“That’s really the key to this program,” he said.

“We’re mobile and we can meet firefighters at local airports.”

While crews work to contain the fire outside the aircraft a rescue team enters, shuts down the power, ventilates it and rescues four mannequin victims.

Sometimes an instructor will pose as a panicked or unconscious victim.

The small corporate-style jet used for the operation is, for all intents and purposes, a typical private jet.

It’s training role is belied only by a few alterations including clipped wings and tail and the capped engine ports as well as being outfitted with landing gear modifications.

The landing gear modifications allow instructors to raise or dip the nose of the plane as needed during training.

Parham got involved in ARFF instruction through a firefighter training company he’s since bought out.

His former employers saw a need for airport instruction and Parham saw a need for volunteers to gain access to the same kind of training.

Now firefighters from varying departments are able to respond in symphony to any potential airport emergency.



Jay Almond can be contacted by email at snaponline21@yahoo.com.

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