DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM Hickam Air Force Base Fire Department Capt. Maurice Ekimoto, left, and engineer Brett McCurtain operated gas and ignition controls from the control tower to create a simulated aircraft fire yesterday.

Hickam crews set up
hot stage test

Teams can now train battling
live fires on a mock crashed aircraft

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By Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.com

Hickam Air Force Base has received a mockup of a crashed aircraft that can burn on cue and can re-create numerous scenarios for training firefighters.

The $3.8 million aircraft training facility was dedicated yesterday and will be available for use by military, federal, state and Honolulu fire departments, Hickam's Fire Chief Bill Moore said.

Honolulu Fire Department Deputy Chief John Clark noted that the city does not have "a training facility where we can hold live burns."

"This is a great opportunity for us to be able to partner with the military and get live fire training," Clark said.

Moore said the mockup is fueled by liquid petroleum gas instead of hydrocarbon fuels, which are harmful to the environment.

"We expect it to be heavily used," said Moore, who has worked as fire chief at the Yokota Air Base in Japan and other Air Force installations for the past 30 years.

A 12,000-gallon propane tank feeds burners throughout the aircraft, which is housed in a 150-foot gravel pit near the approaches to Honolulu Airport's reef runway.

"This is not just an aircraft mockup," Moore said. "There are at least eight or 10 scenarios we can employ."

There are burners in each of the two jet engine compartments. Others are placed in the aircraft's wheel well, auxiliary power unit, cockpit and on the tail of the aircraft. Six other burners are under the fuselage, and three are inside the aircraft.

"We can light them individually," said Moore, "or all at one time."

Mannequins also can be used so firefighters can practice rescuing passengers trapped inside a burning aircraft.

During yesterday's demonstration, two of Hickam's three mint-green crash trucks threw a steady stream of water from about 150 feet away. Each truck carries 3,300 gallons of water and 515 gallons of foam.

Moore said that during a training exercise, the firefighters do not actually extinguish a fire. Instead, they are evaluated by fire and safety officers who determine that certain objectives are met before the propane valves are shut, killing the blaze.

"It's a lot safer," Moore said. "It saves a lot of money, but it is still like real. The firefighters still get to experience the heat and the smoke."

Recalling the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001 where two jets were driven into the twin towers, Lt. Col. William Kunzweiler, 15th Air Base deputy commander, said: "Our trainer won't replicate that level of destruction, but we must be able to practice safely attacking aircraft fires that we can imagine and control.

"Our fighting crews will now be able to get up close and personal and make split-second decisions in fire ground strategies on how best to handle hands-on responses."

About half of Hickam's 63-member firefighting team are civilians.

Besides the three aircraft crash trucks, Hickam has two vehicles used mainly to respond to structural fires, and two rescue trucks.