Photo By Maj. Jason Elmore | A soldier assigned to Alpha Company, 52nd Brigade Engineer Battalion, 2nd Stryker...... read more read more
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Through the cold and windy days of late Colorado winter, the Fort Carson Fire Department partnered with the 52nd Brigade Engineer Battalion of the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team to proactively control fires on Fort Carson, Colo. In March, 3rd Platoon, Alpha Company, 52nd Bde. Eng. Bn. dug through mud and frozen ground to improve over four miles of fire access roads in the Ft, Carson training area.
Fire access roads are wide dirt roads which allow the Ft. Carson Fire Dept. brush trucks to quickly navigate the training area in case of an emergency.
Anticipating the upcoming dry, hot summer months, the department realized that many of the existing fire access roads were unusable due to erosion or overgrowth. The Ft. Carson Fire Dept. recruited the unique engineering capabilities of the 52nd Bde. Eng. Bn. to repair the roads.
3rd Platoon, Alpha Co., is an engineer support platoon in the battalion, and is typically combat support focused. They are trained in using their heavy machinery on a battlefield to build obstacles or fighting positions so the transition to support the fire department was a natural fit.
While road maintenance was outside the ordinary for 3rd Platoon, it presented an excellent training opportunity. The platoon’s horizontal construction engineers used their grader, high mobility engineer excavator, and bulldozers in occasionally unfamiliar ways while working on the access roads.
“It was good training. I learned a lot and got hands on with the dozer,” said Pvt. First Class Gabriel Collins, a member of the platoon.
March is only the beginning of a sustained partnership between the Ft. Carson Fire Dept. and the 52nd Bde. Eng. Bn. that is expected to last through July. Ft. Carson Fire Dept. Deputy Chief Mitch Van Dyke has prepared an ambitious plan to prepare Fort Carson’s training area for the high-risk summer months.
Bravo Company, 52nd Bde. Eng. Bn., takes over the fire prevention mission in April and hopes to build on Alpha Company’s success.
The 52nd Bde. Eng. Battalion’s partnership with Ft. Carson Fire Dept. strengthens ties between the installation and 4th Infantry Division assets, provides unique training to soldiers in the 52nd Bde. Eng. Bn., and makes Fort Carson a safer place.
| Date Taken: | 04.06.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 04.06.2022 17:08 |
| Story ID: | 417978 |
| Location: | FORT CARSON, COLORADO, US |
| Web Views: | 224 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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