Aircraft Rescue Firefighting (ARFF)
 If you get sick at the airport, you’ll likely have several Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) at your side within two minutes—the airport has a full time fire department and every firefighter has Firefighter 1 or Firefighter 2 certification and is a certified EMT.
Besides responding to routine medical calls, ARFF members stand ready to respond to the worst case scenario—a crashed or burning aircraft. To meet this challenge, the men of ARFF use specialized training, equipment and tactics.
The list of equipment begins with fire proximity suits that have an outer layer of heat-reflecting aluminized material. This allows firefighters to work in the extreme heat of an aircraft fire.
This is a drill: ARFF members respond during a disaster drill.
ARFF crews reach distressed aircraft in what you might call Monster Trucks. These 30 ton beasts use 540 horsepower to go from 0 to 50 mph in 25 seconds, with a top speed of 65 mph. The trucks are designed to shoot water while on the move. The airport has three of these trucks:
T-1500 Osh Kosh (EZ-5)
EZ-5 has 4-wheel drive and is capable of reaching any location on the airfield within three minutes of the initial alarm. EZ-5 carries water, foam and dry chemical to put out the fire. This truck is armed with a Snozzle—a cone shaped nozzle, mounted on a boom, which can pierce the fuselage to put out a fire inside the aircraft. |
EZ-5 extends the Snozzle.
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T-1500 Osh Kosh (EZ-4)
This 4-wheel drive truck is capable of reaching any location on the airfield within three minutes of the initial alarm. It carries water and foam to fight the fire.
M-1500 Osh Kosh (EZ-3)
EZ-3 is old, but it has something the newer trucks don't: 6-wheel drive. This makes it the perfect candidate to reach crash scenes in the rough terrain surrounding the airport.
Engage! EZ-4 attacks the flames with the forward water cannon during a
live fire exercise.
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Firefighter Matt Daily: one hand on the wheel of EZ-5, the other on the Snozzle's joystick.
Training for an aircraft fuel fire.
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