Duke firefighters go west to support joint exercises

DUKE FIELD, Fla. -- Firefighters from the 919th Special Operations Wing spent their summer out west supporting joint medical and explosive ordnance disposal exercises.

In late July, the 919th sent 14 firefighters to Fort McCoy in Wisconsin to support this year's Warrior Exercise 2013. Then, at the end of August, three 919th firefighters provided medical support to EOD Airmen at the Air Force EOD mountain warfare training course at the Marine Mountain Warfare Training Center in Bridgeport, Calif.

WAREX is an annual joint-reserve field-training exercise designed to replicate all facets of combat theater aeromedical evacuation support. Air Force Reserve Command fire departments are tasked each year to provide support.

This was the first time, 919th firefighters attended the WAREX as a group and made up the majority of fire department presence during the two-week event. Their role was not to participate in the exercise, but to be on hand if an actual first responder incident occurred. On the second day of the exercise, it did.

A plastic bag was sucked into a ventilation system in one of the large housing tents causing heavy smoke to fill the area.

Senior Airman James Weslowski arrived on the scene first, shut off the HVAC unit and evacuated the people in the tent and made sure everyone was accounted for. He worked to ventilate the tent until other firefighters arrived.

"There really wasn't that much to it," he said humbly. "I just wanted to make sure everyone was out and safe."

His efforts earned him a top performer citation along with two other 919th members, Tech. Sgt. Steven Gardner and Staff Sgt. Joey Quick.

Along with keeping all of the players safe during the exercise, the Airmen also completed annual training requirements like live-fire burns and auto extrications among others. They also trained with the Army firefighters on live JP-8 fires.

"We were able to see their procedures and fight fires alongside them," said Tech. Sgt. Ronnie McCoy, who acted as assistant fire chief during the temporary duty. "Once JP-8 fire is lit, it is up to the firefighters to put it out. It can't be cut off. Everyone had to be in sync or it could get away from us."

During the medical exercises, McCoy said he and his crew were able to watch procedures closely and learn from them.

"That was great experience to see what it is really like to be deployed and execute those critical care missions in a deployed environment," said the 11-year veteran.

That same type of medical training the firefighters witnessed would be a requirement for their next assignment.

In August, a "last-minute" tasking to both active-duty and reserve was sent out for emergency medical technicians to support Air Force EOD members attending mountain training. The 919th was the first to respond. A week later, Duke's Airmen were at an elevation of 7,000 feet learning to climb sheer cliff faces.

The assignment was again to support the players, but the firefighters received all of the preliminary training the EOD Airmen received prior to the exercise. Most of the training was totally new to the firefighters, but they said it was beneficial to learn as Airmen and for anyone who spends time outdoors. The three-man crew learned extensive knot-tying, river crossing, land navigation, rock climbing and repelling.

The group didn't have to provide any critical medical assistance during their time there, but they said their biggest health issue was smoke-related. Two major wildfires were burning sometimes less than 50 miles away from the camp.

"Every morning would be bright and clear and then around noon, we could see the smoke rolling in," said Master Sgt. David Jacobs. "We treated Airmen quite a bit for headaches, allergies and nose bleeds due to the smoke."

A large-scale mission that incorporated all of the mountain techniques they'd learned had to be scrapped due to excessive smoke from the wildfires.

On one of the clear days, the EOD Airmen executed a casualty evacuation from the top of the mountain. McCoy, who also attended this assignment, played the role of the victim. It took the 16-person team almost two hours to carry him down the mountain on a rescue stretcher through rough terrain and thin roads along cliff faces.

"It was not at all a pleasant trip down the mountain," said McCoy. "I have even more respect for EOD than I had prior to this TDY. I never knew how in-depth their career field was and how much they're required to know on top of their explosives training."

Even though both taskings were in support of training for others, the firefighters of the 919th were able to learn and develop regardless of what they were called to do.