Fire fighting students learn skills for deployed environment Published July 19, 2012 By 2nd Lt. Andrea Valencia 325th Fighter Wing Public Affairs TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- Fire trucks race to the scene of a jet fuel spill as flames and smoke billowed hundreds of feet in the air. Airmen in silver suits leap from their truck and begin to draw the water hose. The effort to extinguish the fire is a coordinated and rhythmic operation, as Airmen fire fighters put their training to the test. This is just one of the scenarios that students at the 823rd RED HORSE Fire Fighting Contingency Training course learn to navigate through as they continue their Air Force fire fighter training. Thirty two classes a year go through this rigorous five-day training course, and Airmen come from bases all over the country to attend. Four days of training culminating in an all-day exercise, where everything they have been taught is tested for proficiency. "They have one week to learn to come together as a team and function as a fully operational fire department in a contingency location," said Staff Sgt. Darliska Blessing, 823rd RED HORSE Fire Fighter Contingency instructor. The students learn how to fight structural fires, plane crashes, and jet fuel spill fires. They also receive extraction training, learning to extract a person from an armored vehicle, and expedient rescue of people from guard towers. The students do most of their training in protective chemical gear layered under their bunker fire fighting gear. This enables them to go directly from dealing with a chemical operation to a firefighting situation. "Down range, fire prevention is pretty limited, so we push structural fire training here, which is one of the hardest parts of the job," said Tech. Sgt. Philip Morris, 823rd RED HORSE Fire Fighter Contingency instructor. The course has a two story house that can be filled with smoke and simulated fire, which the students have to clear, then carry out life-size "victims." There is always particular emphasis on being able to respond to an aircraft crash, with a mock F-15 Eagle crash site in the woods that students have to convoy to in order to respond. "The fire fighters act as emergency management, crash and fire rescue, HAZMAT teams and emergency medical response," Sergeant Morris said. "Most fire fighters are also trained EMTs; we wear a lot of hats." "What they learn here is everything they need to know how to do when we deploy," added Sergeant Blessing.