DYESS AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --
Being a first responder can be stressful, especially when they are dealing with life and death. Fortunately, several flights on base came together to test their abilities to ensure they’re more prepared for the real thing.
Members from the 7th Civil Engineer Squadron’s fire department, emergency management and explosive ordnance disposal came together to complete joint emergency response training at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, Aug. 29, 2018.
“Having this training scenario is important because we are testing the capabilities of our emergency responders for the base to make sure we are all on the same page for any potential real-world incidents,” said Master Sgt. Ryan Raneiri, 7th CES fire protection superintendent. “This event helped us improve our communication with our fellow responders and also enabled newer Airmen to see how their skills and training correlates with other agencies.”
The exercise was a chemical of mass destruction style scenario to test their capabilities in how they work as a team. The Airmen responded to a simulated explosive device near a leaking chlorine cylinder.
After responding to the scene, the EOD team surveyed the area, set their F6A robot on the ground and attached detectors to test the air of the scene to see what safety precautions were needed to be used while finding the exact location of the device from a mounted camera.
Airmen donned Level-A hazmat suits upon discovering the item to safely move around the area while learning how to dismantle the simulated WMD. As they came to the device, they set up an x-ray machine to scan the inside of it to learn how to properly dispose of it.
Once the scene was deemed safe, members from the emergency management team and fire department proceeded to stop the chlorine leak. When the teams finished securing the scene from all of the hazardous materials, they went into a decontamination area to ensure the chemical agents were completely removed from their suits and bodies.
“The event was very productive for us, because we were able to knockout any kinks in our process of handling incidents,” said Staff Sgt. Sumitr Saetan, 7th CES EOD team leader. “The more we train together, the better we work together.”
The 7th CES responders look forward towards future joint training operations within the base and local area.
“Once we are comfortable training as a squadron, we will then incorporate other base agencies and our off-base mutual aid partners” Raneiri said. “The more agencies that participate in training evolutions, the more realistic the scenarios can become and better prepare us for any real world responses we may encounter.”