Peterson 'Knight' helps to put out coalition forces' fire

Published April 16, 2008
By Staff Sgt. Nathan Gallahan
407th Air Expeditionary Group Public Affairs

ALI BASE, Iraq -- Airmen from the fire department and provost marshal's office along with Army medics responded to a structure fire in the Romanian Coalition Force Camp here at 8:26 a.m., April 11.

The 407th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron firefighters and military police Airmen from the 407th Provost Marshal's office immediately responded to the scene after a wooden building in the camp caught fire only minutes beforehand. There were no injuries or deaths.

To combat the fire, the fire department deployed every available truck to "safeguard our Romanian brothers," said Master Sgt. Jay Watts, 407th ECES assistant fire chief, deployed from Springfield Air National Guard Base, Ill.

"The building was fully engulfed when we arrived and there were flames shooting out of the eves and windows about 15 to 20 feet and there was massive amounts of smoke," said Sergeant Watts.

The team immediately dispatched a majority of the firefighters to the rear of the building because that was where most of the fire was. Sergeant Watts said they then sent the remaining firefighters to the front of the building to begin pushing the flames toward the rest of their team.

"We caught the blaze in a crossfire and attacked it with everything we had," said Sergeant Watts. "Within forty minutes of the initial call, we had the fire completely extinguished."

The emergency response forces remained on scene until 10:26 a.m. while they "went through the building to clear any hot spots and remove any salvageable items," said Tech. Sgt. Timothy Walsh, 407th ECES firefighter, deployed from Misawa Air Base, Japan.

According to fire department officials, the cause of the fire is still under investigation.

"It was a total loss," Sergeant Walsh said.

Air force emergency response forces respond to all emergencies here including those involving coalition partners, such as the Romanians, or other services, like the U.S. Army and Navy.

"They're our coalition partners; they are our brother-in-arms," said Capt. Kevin Lombardo, 407th PMO provost marshal, deployed from Peterson Air Force Base, Colo. "They help us outside the wire so we are doing everything we can to help them inside the wire."

The Air Force firefighters and military police, regularly train with the Army medics stationed here and respond to emergencies.

"We work hand-in-hand with these guys during training and almost every emergency on [Contingency Operating Base] Adder," the captain said. "We are a fully trained, equipped and disciplined emergency response force here to assist anybody from any country requiring help and assistance."