Fort Indiantown Gap Fire and Emergency Services firefighters got their first crack at battling a blaze using a new UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter model during live-fire training exercises on the base in late July.
The annual exercises were held July 23 to 26, according to an article published on the FTIG website. The Black Hawk model, the article explained, “helps the trainees be prepared for real-life scenarios at Muir Army Heliport.”
“The first part of the training consisted of roof turret operations,” said Donald Wilson, chief of the Fort Indiantown Gap fire department. “Turret operations are conducted during the approach to a burning aircraft. It enables firefighters to begin cooling the airframe and extinguish fuel fires before approaching the aircraft on foot. … This training provides an opportunity in a controlled environment to practice the techniques that will be needed in the event of a real-world situation involving one of the aircraft here at Fort Indiantown Gap.”
The Black Hawk model functions on propane and has three active fire zones: the cockpit, the passenger area, and the spill pad, where they can simulate a fuel fire on the ground. Each zone on the simulator has an independent switch and emergency stop button, the article said, as well as a master foot switch to control the flow of propane.
The helicopter can be moved to any training site on post and can also be used to simulate a helicopter down in an urban environment with higher population density.
Muir Army Heliport, which is home to the 28th Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigade and the Eastern Army National Guard Aviation Training Site, is the second-busiest heliport in the U.S. Army, the article noted. Pilots there primarily fly CH-47 Chinook, UH-60 Black Hawk and UH-72 Lakota helicopters.
See the full story by Spc. Jessica Barb on the Fort Indiantown Gap website.
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