Fort Belvoir Fire and Emergency Services (FES) capitalized the approaching holiday’s reduced operations tempo, and conducted a safety standdown at Fire Station 466, located on Davison Army Airfield, Dec. 18.
Fire Chief Kevin Good said the weekday standdown was focused on blending practical skills with problem solving based activities that his teams regularly practice.
“We have four firefighting objectives, and the focus is on safety, teamwork and communication,” Good said. “So, this standdown improves muscle memory, reinforces safety protocols and fosters communication and teamwork. We're hoping that when the crews leave here, they have a stronger understanding of their critical responsibilities, while engaging in some fun.”
Assistant Fire Chief Samantha Green opted to let the teams compete against each other for bragging rights, involving four challenges among three fire teams and the Emergency Communications group. The challenges involved pulling a small fire hose; fastest donning of self-contained breathing apparatus; tying proper knots; and then finding their final location based on provided clues and properly transmitting a mayday call on walkie-talkie.
“They’re supposed to work together as a team, do it safely, communicate with each other and then radio dispatch,” Good said.
The teams were shadowed by Amy Borman, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Environment, Safety and Occupational Health (ESOH), Col. David Stewart, Garrison commander, Mr. Boyd Hodges, director, Emergency Services and Ms. Marjorie McDonald, Director for Safety and Occupational Health, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy and Environment (IEE). Each of them verified task completion before the team could proceed to the next challenge.
Borman brought a barbecue lunch for the gathering, as a way to repay them for all the insights that the Fort Belvoir team has provided her office over the years, which included fighting an indoor blaze in the fire training tower, where she experienced the heat, smoke and flame that firefighters regularly face to protect life and property. McDonald said that Army fighter fighting challenges extend to many other aspects.
“The Fort Belvoir Fire and Emergency Services has been amazing to my team and helping us understand the challenges that that are occurring within FES, the challenges with PFAs, the challenges with staffing and manning,” Borman said. “[Fort Belvoir] has been instrumental in helping my team understand how what we do impacts the field. This is just our way of thanking the team for continuing to engage with us and provide us insights we'd not otherwise get.”
Good said that Fort Belvoir’s Emergency Services is standing by to assist anyone on the installation.
“If you need something on this installation, call the Directorate of Emergency Services and you can quickly connect to us with an answer,” Good said. “That doesn't mean we may know the answer, but we'll figure it out. We will get to yes.”
| Date Taken: | 12.31.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 02.07.2025 07:52 |
| Story ID: | 489966 |
| Location: | FORT BELVOIR, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 11 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, SAFETY FIRST: Fort Belvoir Fire Department Puts Skills to the Test during Safety Standdown, by Paul Lara, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
