Baghdad Intl Airport Fire/Rescue

[Armyfirerescue]

Hey, my name is Matt and I'm currently deployed to Baghdad International Airport with the US Army as a firefighter. I have plenty of time on my hands, and very bored working alarm room shifts. I figured I'd start a thread on here to give information about what it's like fighting fire in Iraq. Anybody can ask questions, and I will answer to the best of my ability and to the extent that I can. You all know about "privalaged information" so I don't have to tell you. Please, respond to this thread and give me something to do on these long, boring 12 hour long stints sitting on a chair staring at a computer. Thanks!

Spc. Matthew Hulme
US Army Fire/Rescue

[E40FDNYL35]

WELCOME BROTHER AND THANK YOU FOR WHAT YOU DO.

[NJFFSA16]

Matt, so good of you to check in! Thank you for everything you and the troops do for our great country! BE SAFE!!

First question; are local firefighting resources back on line, and what capabilities do they offer?

Second question; What engines/trucks/equipment are staged at the airport complex, and what are the limits of your response area? Do you only support local resources, or are you totally responsible for all initial attack?

Third; What security measures take place to protect the firefighting crews during response? If you are unable to answer that...we understand.

Ed Seifert
NJ Forest Fire-Engine A16
Oakland, NJ

[Armyfirerescue]

Response capabilities

REPLY TO NJFFSA16

Ed, here are the answers to your questions.
1. Right now we are in the process of training Iraqi civilians that used to be firefighters at the airport. They have had almost no formal training, and havn't worked here since the end of the first war. We are actually living and working out of their old fire station. Once all their crews are up and ready (total about 90 firefighters) then we will hand over another station to them. They are currently in the process of dividing the airport into a military side and a civilian side. Obviously we'll protect the military side, and the civilian runway will be protected by the Iraqi firefighters. We've already trained one group of about 20, and we're working with the second group now.

2. Our apparatus (when everything is in service, which isn't very often) consists of 4 Amertek Macy 2500L's. Nobody has ever heard of them, but they are a combination crash truck and structural truck. We also have two 6,000 gallon water tankers and 5 HUMMVEE's. We use the hummers for chief vehicles, rescue vehicles, and special service vehicles. We are currently working with the US Air Force as well. They supply 3 P-19 crash trucks, and two brush vehicles. We also have three comandeered Iraqi Somati crash trucks. We support both of the runways, and all of the military assets on the base, which is large. Military fixed wing aircraft and helos. There are also humanitarian aircraft that land on the civilian side.

3. You're right, I need to pick my words carefully to answer this question. Suffice it to say that we are always protected in some way. The only thing we'll usually have to worry about is the fire. I use the term "usually" loosely.

Any other questions, feel free to ask. I will be submitting lots of pictures to the "In Quarters" section of firehouse. Figure it'd be nice for people to see how we live over here.

Matt

[distchief60b]

I just wanted to jump in here and say hello and thanks for what you are doing. God Bless all of you and keep you safe.

The first two folks to welcome you are very well respected in the forum and I echo thier comments and accolades.

In a rush right now...but am sure I will have some questions.

Stan

[Armyfirerescue]

Reply to E40FDNYL35

E40FDNYL35 - I wanted to mention that I read the book that's on E40/L35 and I really enjoyed it. I'm sure you've heard all this over and over again, but I'll say it anyway. In everything surrounding 9/11, I think people have fallen into the whole "statistic" thing. Where they just think, yeah 343 firefighters died in the World Trade Center. They don't stop to think that each and every one of them had a family. A mother, a father, sister, wife, kids. They also forget the fact that every single firefighter in the world was their brother. They don't think that all of us felt an unimaginable loss that day, even if some didn't know any of the firefighters (I knew two brothers that were lost). Well, I hope I havn't overstated myself. I just wanted to let you know that I loved the book about your company, and that my thoughts and prayers are still with the families and all of you there, even almost two years after the attacks.

Respectfully,

Matt

[Quigger]

hi and thank you for what your doing over there.
the question that i have is do guys get any kind of weapons? if you cant answer thats ok.

[Neman13]

Amerteks Rule

Hey Army- I have heard of the Amerteks. They are really great truck as long as you dont have to fight any fire in them. It was a poor cheeper copy of the P-19. As you can see for your self they are Junk. I would take a AS32 P-19A or a P-23 any day of the week. Oskosh has some tried and true Crask Trucks. Starting with the MB-1. Hows the food? Are you on day on stay on or do you have some free time? If you have free time what do you all do, to pass the time that is. Any good Beach Volly ball games? You guys take care of one another overthere. Be Safe. Neman

[Gx7E10]

Great Job /thumbsup.

[Armyfirerescue]

Quigger and Neman13

Quigger - yeah, we are considered soldiers before we're firefighters. That, and it would be asanine to put us in a combat zone wearing an Army uniform without a weapon. We carry M-16s. We've been trying to get M9 pistols because we're firefighters, but with no luck so far. Thanks for the question. Take care and stay safe back home.

Neman13 - You are right about the Amertek's, they are good unless you need to do your job. Then they suck. I'd much rather have a P-19. P-23's have a chronic problem with losing wheels. Oshkosh does have a good reputation. We'll be getting new fire trucks somewhere down the line from Oshkosh, but built on a Hemmit chassis, which also sucks. Turning radias is horrible. Anyway, on to the other questions. The food is surprisingly good, for Army food. Free time is usually spent sleeping. The heat is pretty intense, all you want to do is retreat into some A/C and sleep the day away. We are currently in the process of getting some sand (we're in a desert!) delivered to make a sand volley ball court. We work 24-on 24-off. We all try to stay safe over here on a daily basis. For the most part the dangers aren't much more than back home fighting fire. You guys take care as well!

Stay safe,

Matt

[drparasite]

Hi Matt, I have a couple questions. first off, what color are the trucks? army green? or another color? are the trucks equiped like a civilian fire truck would be in the US, or is there more/less/different equipment? do you have full gear (firefighter boots, helmets, coats, pants, hoods, gloves, SCBA, mask, etc)? is your gear different than what the iraqi FFs have? how do you do manpower issues with the iraqis? is it 3 military FFs and 1 or 2 iragi FFs per engine, or is it 1 engine with all military people, and one engine with all iraqi people? do you guys do EMS too? how busy are you guys, what's the average # of calls per 24 hours shift? does the military protect just the airport, or are there other fire stations set up throughout the city?

good luck with starting the new department in iraq, and stay safe.

[BLSboy]

Hey Army, thanx for serving our country. If theres anything you guys need overthere, make a list and ill see what I can get for you guys. Now for the questions.
1) Were is your unit based out of?
2) Do you respond to EMS calls or just fire?
3) Do you have tones in your living quaters or how are you alerted to a call?
4) What are your plans after you get out, or are you career

Thanx,

C/A1C AJ Zuccarelli USAFJROTC

[DaSharkie]

Hey specialist,

As a former Marine I can only imagine what you boys and girls are doing right now. I keep you in my thoughts and prayers often. Along with the others, I wish to send you my gratitude and thanks. Extend my best wishes to the boys in your unit.

I really only have one question. We really only seem to get one side of the news and they only seem to report when one of our men uniform is killed so my question is this.

What is teh overall feeling of the Iraqi people? Are they still greatful or do they tend to have a lot of resentment towards teh U.S, G.B. and Aussies? I understand that many of them are going through tremendous hardships now, but as we do not seem to get the whole picture I am curious to your observations.

Also, I know that I only said one question but I was a Marine and can't eally count, if there is anything you boys need shipped on over I'm sure we'd be willing to help you out with personal supplies and such. Let us know.

[Just a new name]

Hello ARMY and thank you for everything that you do. My town respondes to a very busy airport in the next town. I am a A.R.F.F also. On the website www.airliners.net they have some pictures of the airport there. There was a Boeing 727 in one of the pictures that looked like it had been blown up a long time ago but they said it was still there. Is the airport still a mess?
Again thank you for everything. I have a good friend there in the 3rd division.

[Quigger]

I have another 2 questions for ya matt. with the attack and killing of saddams 2 sons do you think there will be more attacks on our soldiers and you over there or no? What is the feeling of the news about the sons beening dead?

stay safe and keep your head down out there