Firefighters respond to blaze

Air Force Links ^ | Staff Sgt. Bryan Bouchard

[SandRat]

7/7/2006 - SATHER AIR BASE, Iraq (AFPN) -- Sixteen firefighters here responded to, controlled and eventually extinguished a large grass fire that threatened several locations on the Victory Base Complex outside Baghdad on July 3.

"A trash burn got out of control and started the surrounding grassy area on fire," said Tech. Sgt. Michael Routh, assistant operations chief.

The fire was not on Sather Air Base-proper but within the confines of the Victory Base Complex on which Sather sits.

Chief Master Sgt. Robert Guerrero, fire chief, was driving to Fire Station 1 when he noticed the blaze and called it in.

"My first reaction was (to wonder) if this was going to affect flying operations," Sergeant Routh said. "My second concern was whether any structures would be involved and whether those buildings were occupied or not."

The fire department responded with six trucks and 16 firefighters, who were joined by firefighters from neighboring Camps Stryker and Victory, and water trucks from contractor KBR. Together, the teams gained control over the blaze in 30 minutes.

"The wind was blowing the fire toward the neighborhood, and our crews along with the Stryker and Victory crews were able to stop it," he said.

Sergeant Routh said trucks could not gain access to several spot fires, but crews let them burn toward the roadways before extinguishing them, which took about seven hours.

There was no property loss, however, at least 2 pieces of unexploded ordnance in a fenced area in the middle of the fields ignited from exposure to fire.

"We made sure no crews entered this area, so we had to wait for the fire to burn through the fenced area before attacking it," Sergeant Routh said.

[SandRat]

Interesting news that Al Gore will soon blame on Global Warming and Pres. Bush.

[nw_arizona_granny]

Well, it must be blamed on someone..........

LOL

Thanks for the pings......