Planes On Fire

Through various training courses over the past weeks, I have gradually understood what it means to be a 'Jack of all trades' (but hopefully not a master of none...) whilst living and working at Rothera Research Station. This is certainly not a regular 9-5 job! In addition to conducting marine biology related research in an extreme environment, I will have the responsibility for the safety of not only my colleagues but also passengers that will be transiting through Rothera, landing on the runway and refueling before taking off again into the deep field.  Whilst on station, we will rotate shifts in order that at least two people will effectively take on the role of the fire brigade! If a plane catches fire on landing, it's important that staff are sufficiently trained in order to respond quickly and efficiently to the incident. The first step will be to control the fire externally (most commonly, an aeroplane engine fire), once this is achieved, the next step will be to extinguish the fire internally before stabilising the aeroplane or vehicle and then effecting a rescue of the casualties. 

How can one enter a burning container I hear you ask? Just like the full face masks we will be using for SCUBA diving (see below), fire fighters don a breathing apparatus (BA) unit before entering an environment where thick smoke can seriously compromise breathing. Our instructors walked us through the process of setting up this kit from checking the air pressure, to deliberately triggering a warning alarm, and ensuring the sensor alarm operated correctly during a period of inactivity. We thoroughly practiced these prerequisites with our buddy before slipping into our fire retardant clothing, donning the BA unit and taking up our first challenge of entering a confined space. We were wearing a harness, which supports a cylinder of oxygen that we carry on our back, and has an inbuilt sensor that is activated by removing a key. Before entry, the supervisor collects our keys onto a board, notes our air, calculates the maximum amount of time the air will give us and issues one final check. In order not to trigger the sensor, we have to regularly twitch our shoulders because a 20 second period of inactivity would result in the warning sounds of our alarm.

Inside the enclosed simulator, smoke was circling around our masks and at our feet. It was vital that we remained in close contact with our team members. Communication and touch is key when you can no longer rely on your vision. Our mission was to climb down ladders, thoroughly search the overhead compartments and crawl through cavities in order to locate any casualties and safely evacuate them. It was quite fascinating how quickly adrenaline kicks in and it really felt as if we were effecting a real rescue; coupled with the fact that we were fully suited with all the gear. Upon exit, we were sweating profusely (especially from our hairline where the mask was tightly sealed to our faces) and certainly welcomed the fresh air!

As the days progressed, the training stepped up a notch at Teesside airfield, and some lucky ones even got a ride in the fire engine ! A 15 m fire hose was rolled out and connected to a hydrant (water supply). When the pressure kicked in (9 bars), the operator gently pulled the handle towards them and in this moment it was really important that a buddy was backing them up; standing in a lunge position and pushing their forearm into the operators back in order to stabilise themselves. Water exuded in a jet formation and we practiced adjusting the pressure in order to efficiently target the fire. We were introduced to different techniques that can be used to extinguish fire as flames rolled out across a huge screen only meters in front of us! The heat was intense and we certainly felt the importance of our visors. 

The next stage was to extinguish roaring fires as a team. The airfield is littered with test plane carcasses that have certainly seen some battering over time. The team tentatively awaited in their fire vehicles (pre-loaded with a water supply) at a distance from the fire and upon the first sighting of flames, parked upwind of the fire, selected the most appropriate extinguishing method, and leapt into controlled action! We delegated tasks between us so that someone was supervising, some were kitting up with BA' whilst others were effecting a search or assisting with recovery. We rotated various unplanned scenarios amongst ourselves which really got us thinking fast, practically and choosing the best way to respond to an emergency. Adrenaline was running high and it was thoroughly thrilling!