MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. -- A joint emergency simulation with firemen from Marine Corps Base Quantico Station 533 and soldiers from Fort Belvoir was interrupted by two actual emergency calls aboard Quantico on Dec. 4, 2013.
After the training began, the fire station received a call from range control to respond to a brush fire on Range 10. Once the fire was under control, the firefighters received another emergency call, this time for an elevator rescue at the FBI Academy.
Returning from real life, the firefighters turned their attention to the regularly scheduled training session already in progress at the fire training tower. The exercise was planned to practice condensed, high angle and wide-area rescue techniques.
The joint training with the soldiers is normally held at Fort Belvoir, but this year the soldiers came to Quantico where the scenario simulated mass casualties due to a tornado strike.
“Our goal today is to practice urban search and rescue in three different areas,” said Army Spc. Cody Hysom, a heavy equipment operator with the 911th Technical Rescue Engineering Company. “Like everything else, these are perishable skills, so we always need to practice.”
According to Adam Burton, captain of Fire Station 533, the fire station’s goal during the training was to provide the soldiers with support during their exercise and to better themselves in the case of real-world emergencies.
According to Burton, the training worked specifically on technique, rescue and discipline.
With actual emergency calls interrupting the training scenario, for the Quantico’s firefighters, it was just another day at the office.
Correspondent: cuong.le@usmc.mil