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Civilians get a grip on duties of 910th Airlift Wing
By SEAN BARRON
VIENNA
Amelie Anderson was interested in seeing how military firefighters train to get the upper hand on a blaze under simulated circumstances, but she also knows that each fire can dictate who will work with whom.
“This gives me a better understanding of what our reservists are doing when here, and in their second job,” said Anderson, an assistant to Kent State University’s executive officer of human resources.
Anderson was referring to a 30-minute firefighting demonstration that was part of Sunday’s 910th Airlift Wing’s Employer Awareness Day at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station.
She was one of about 60 civilian employers of reservists who attended the daylong program, the main goal of which was to increase awareness that civilian employers have of the important part Air Force reservists play in defending the country, organizers said.
The program also allowed the employers to experience firefighting and other capabilities 910th members provide to national defense.
Anderson and the others watched as several of the estimated 44 reservist firefighters, some of whom are trained to handle hazardous materials, entered a two-story structure that was filled with smoke. The firefighters are assigned to the 910th Civil Engineer Squadron.
Afterward, they saw the capabilities of a Striker 1,500-gallon crash truck, which needed only a few minutes to spray nearly all of its water about 170 feet.
“You really have to watch the water you use and how you use it,” noted chief Master Sgt. Tom Powner, who assisted with the truck demonstration.
Powner explained that such vehicles, which have infrared cameras and cost between $750,000 and $1 million, are designed mainly for in-flight and airport emergencies. They also can handle nearly any type of terrain and have been used in the Iraq desert, he continued, adding that more sophisticated models have hydraulic booms for larger aircraft.
Before the two demonstrations, the employers took an orientation flight in a C-130 plane over Niagara Falls, N.Y., the purpose of which was to acquaint them with such a plane, explained Maj. Brent Davis.
The employers also saw a modular air-spray system on a C-130 that had been used shortly after the April 20 Deepwater Horizon oil- rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico that killed 11 workers.
The system was part of a five-week mission beginning in early May that added chemical dispersants to break up the oil and help clean up the disaster.
The air reserve base has the only large-area fixed-wing aerial spray mission approved by the Department of Defense, Davis noted