The Door County Senior Squadron’s emergency services officer, 1st Lt. Hans Shin, extinguishes a combustible-liquid fire with a dry-powder extinguisher under the watchful eye of Austin Straubel International Airport Public Safety Lt. Ben Tess.
Maj. Pierce Sherrill
Aerospace Education Officer
Northeast Group
Wisconsin Wing
WISCONSIN -- It all started when the Door County Senior Squadron was assigned Cessna 182.
The members were proud and honored to be entrusted with such an asset. But it came with some baggage -- two years earlier, the aircraft had been involved in a cold-start engine fire. All were determined to avoid a repeat.
Lt. Col. Richard Follmer, commander of the Wisconsin Wing’s Northeast Group, decided that a member standing by with a fire extinguisher during cold starts.
“Great idea,” all agreed.
But then …
“I was sitting in the right seat of our 182 as we ran through the prestart checklist,” one member recalled. “Outside, one of our guys was standing by with the fire extinguisher. ‘Hmm,‘ I thought. ‘If I were the guy with the extinguisher, and there was an engine fire, would I know what to do?’”
The squadron’s safety officer, Maj. Ron Marto, is a retired Green Bay firefighter. Members asked him about small-aircraft engine fires.
“Not sure,” Marto replied. “I haven’t had to deal with that. You need to ask someone with experience.”
That led to Austin Straubel International Airport in Green Bay. The airport’s Public Safety Department is responsible for police, paramedic and firefighting duties at the facilities.
After a few phone calls and some administrative approvals, Door County squadron members were scheduled for training in small-aircraft engine fires
Public Safety Department Lts. Ben Tess and Dave Walters conducted the first session. The two talked about the way to select an appropriate fire extinguisher, how to approach an aircraft fire, the importance of leaving a route of escape, and the PASS technique:
- Pull the pin.
- Aim the nozzle.
- Squeeze the trigger.
- Sweep the base of the flames.
In all, 32 members from Northeast Group Headquarters and the group’s four units – the Fox Cities and 248th TAC Air composite squadrons and the Brown County Senior Squadron, as well as the Door County squadron – were present for the intitial session June 3. They were so pleased with the instruction that they asked for some hands-on experience extinguishing fires.
On Aug. 19, 22 Northeast Group members returned to the “back forty” of the airport. There, Tess and Walters set up a pan fire using a sawed-off oil drum filled with fuel oil and gasoline.
The Civil Air Patrol members were allowed to use a variety of extinguishers, ranging from dry powder to Purple-K to CO2. After a re-introduction to the PASS technique, everybody got to put out a combustible-liquid fire.
The two instructors also demonstrated safe fire-approach techniques, along with a few of the most common mistakes. They emphasized:
- Always leave yourself a route of escape.
- Try to keep the wind to your back.
- Sweep the extinguisher at the base of the flames, not the fire itself.
- Use the whole extinguisher: Empty it.
- If you can’t extinguish the fire with one extinguisher, call for help! Don’t waste time using a second or third extinguisher – the fire is out of control.
- Again, always leave yourself a route of escape!
Members were unanimous in their appreciation to Walters and Tess, as well as to Public Safety Chief Trace Paulson, who approved the activities.
Most had never used a fire extinguisher before, and the experience demystified the devices. They are now better prepared to deal with fires both on the flight line and elsewhere.