Fort Belvoir Fire and Emergency Services obtain additional equipment

With the expansion of Fort Belvoir under BRAC, installation agencies have been planning for quite some time to meet the expected increased demands for services. One of these installation groups includes the Fort Belvoir Fire and Emergency Services, which is under the direction of Fire Chief Patrick Reid.

Fire and Emergency Services has seen a steady increase in calls for emergency services over the past several years. We expect the demands for service to double due to the increase in population. As with many other installation directorates, FES has been working to get funding for equipment and staffing to meet these new demands.

FES has also been working diligently to find creative ways to obtain equipment without increasing the costs to the installation and Army.

Fort Belvoir's garrison commander, deputy to the garrison commander and the director of emergency services have been strong supporters of FES over the last several years and have helped FES with its efforts to get equipment from installations that are closing due to BRAC, thus saving the Army much-needed funding for the war effort.

Some of the equipment FES is trying to replace is more than 20 years old and is not able to carry equipment needed to a fire or emergency.

FES is also getting new equipment for the DES-Emergency Services Center on Fort Belvoir North Area. This will, of course, provide much-needed coverage for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency site, and provide a backup role in the event of an emergency on main post.

The Army recently bought a new fire engine for the installation to partially meet Belvoir North's requirements. This engine is a 2010 model manufactured an apparatus builder from Appleton, Wis. This engine carries 750 gallons of water and can pump up to 1,500 gallons per minute. Fire engines are the primary response vehicle for the Fire Service. Some of the primary incidents they respond to include fires, medical emergencies and hazardous-materials incidents, in which they are used in a support role for hazmat units.

In the spring, FES sent one of its 1988 aircraft crash rescue fire fighting vehicles to Florida for a rehab, which involves removing the engine and transmission from the 1988 vehicle and putting the components into a new vehicle frame and building it up from there. This method is a heavy version of a rehab but still provides the Army and the installation with cost savings, because the process uses components from the old truck. The truck will be configured into a fire engine and will be placed at the Davison Airfield Fire Station replacing its 1996 fire engine.

FES hopes to have this vehicle delivered by mid-August and will be equipped similarly to the rest of the fleet's fire engines.

Recently, FES received another rehabbed vehicle. The Special Services Unit is a 2000 model year Freightliner truck with a large, red, square body. FES obtained funding to have the unit converted to a special unit, capable of allowing personnel to fill their fire-fighting air bottles on the scene of emergency incidents and provide emergency lighting for extended periods of time for fire and police incidents and large-scale, natural disasters. FES previously did not have the capacity to do this on a medium to large scale. The addition of this unit fixes that problem.

This Light and Air Unit can provide 75 kilowatts of emergency power to the installation if critical buildings lose power due to storms or other events. Fire and Emergency Services will be able to support the telecommunications building and other critical structures with power, which will help keep the installation running smoothly during critical times.

This unit will also carry, funding permitted, smaller generators to supply housing residents with critical electrical power for life-saving medical equipment for children and adults.

Additionally, the Light and Air Unit will also be used on hazmat incidents and confined-space, technical and water-related rescues.

In the future, FES hopes to get a heavy rescue squad, which is the primary response vehicle for motor vehicle accidents involving people trapped in cars and confined-space and technical-rescue calls, which happen frequently when there is a large amount of construction in an area.

As part of FES's effort to increase fire safety awareness, the Fort Belvoir Fire and Emergency Services received a 27-foot fire safety trailer. The Bull-Ex Fire Safety Trailer represents the latest advancement in fire-training technology. It is the only training system using self-generating, digital flames combined with actual heat, sound, artificial smoke and smart props.

Training props consist of a full-use kitchen with interactive stove top, oven and waste basket fires that can be extinguished with a simulated 5-pound fire extinguisher. The children's bedroom has a heated door, a smoke generating machine and an escape window for secondary exit.

The exterior graphics are set up to provide fire safety training outside of the trailer, explaining smoke detectors; escape routes; stop, drop and roll; and other fire safety messages. The trailer will provide training to school-age children and adults living on Belvoir and the surrounding communities.

As the installation grows, Fire and Emergency Services grows to meet the new demands to provide the installation with top-notch fire and emergency services. With current and future equipment, FES continues to work to ensure a high level of service delivery.