CAA: GA News, "Fire department training at Michigan airport"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Saturday, October 5, 2002 

Fire department training at airport 
By DAVID JESSE 
The Holland Sentinel, MI


The Holland Fire Department will soon get some specialized training in
rescue and fire fighting techniques at Tulip City Airport.

The Holland City Council approved the training exercise for the fire
department at a cost of $5,668 at its meeting on Wednesday night.

Instructors from Kellogg Community College in Battle Creek will bring
their expertise and the aircraft simulator to the airport for the
training.

"We just think it's great for the firefighters to be trained (at the
airport)," said Assistant City Manager Greg Robinson, the city staff
member who oversees the airport.

The fire department, which is responsible for handling any incidents at
the airport, just doesn't get much practice at those type of
emergencies, Fire Chief Dan Henderson said.

"This is an ideal opportunity for us, since the airport was willing to
pay to bring the simulator in," he said. "We just won't get that
training any other way."

Henderson didn't know the exact date the exercise would take place.

"This will be a hot drill training exercise that has been approved by
the Federal Aviation Administration," City Manager Soren Wolff told the
council in a report.

The last time the city held a similar exercise was 1998.

Nearly 50 firefighters from Holland and Graafschap fire departments
worked on an airplane fuselage set up in a field along 64th Street.

When they arrived on the mock disaster scene, firefighters found
"victims" -- volunteers from the Hamilton High School Drama Club -- and
worked to rescue them.

"This was very helpful to the firefighters and provided an opportunity
to train on a device similar to what could be encountered during an
emergency," Wolff wrote to the council.

Two instructors from the college will spend several hours setting up the
equipment, working with the firefighters and then tearing down the
equipment.


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