Photo By Tech. Sgt. Sean Carnes | U.S. Air Force fire department stands ready to assist in the recovery process from...... read more read more
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TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. - After Hurricane Michael struck Tyndall Air Force Base, many buildings were left decimated.
Firefighters with the 325th Civil Engineer Squadron successfully recovered 10 of their fire trucks after the hurricane left considerable debris in one fire station stall.
"Their actions enabled us to re-open the airfield with Crash Fire Rescue Capability in order to receive the first wave of aid," said Lt. Col. Michael Askergen, 325th CES commander. "They completed this operation as a cohesive team under some of the most difficult conditons we've ever seen."
Senior Airmen Kody Ellis and Charles Vinson, 325th CES driver-operators, who stayed behind for the hurricane as part of the ride out team to immediately assess damage, recounted their experience.
"We were waiting for the storm in the Emergency Operations Center with our leadership," said Vinson. "You could hear the storm coming through the vents. The wind kicked up and we could hear things hitting the roof. It was eerie. After the storm passed, we went to check on our fire trucks."
The stalls in which the trucks are housed have fiberglass doors and metal frames.
"We lost all the fiberglass on the stall doors," said Vinson. "The storm bent the metal frames of the stall doors and moved the frames on top of some of the fire trucks. The storm also left behind two or three inches of debris throughout the stall, which included wet ceiling tiles, metal frames and even debris from the flight line. We had to get on top of the trucks and cut the metal off so we could pull them out and see how they were."
All 10 fire trucks suffered no major damage and are operational, functional and have already assisted with flight line operations.
Maxwell Airmen formed an augmented Base Recovery Element team and also assisted with fire station recovery efforts.
"They were a huge help," said Vinson. "As soon as they hit the ground, we were running together to recover the fire trucks. We would get a list at the beginning of each day and have it completed by lunch, because of the assistance from the BRE."
Through the combined efforts of the Airmen stationed at Tyndall and those in the BRE, the station is ready for further response.
"We're really proud of where our fire station is now," said Ellis. "Everybody demonstrated excellent self-sufficiency. We had our stalls cleared out, functional and ready within two days. Everyday we're seeing improvement."
| Date Taken: | 10.16.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 10.16.2018 16:21 |
| Story ID: | 296652 |
| Location: | TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, FLORIDA, US |
| Web Views: | 73 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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