Aircraft Rescue and Structural Fire Departments

On a cold February night, a passenger plane crashed into a Buffalo, NY, neighborhood killing all 49 on board and one person on the ground.  In another case, a single engine Mooney Aircraft crashed in a heavily wooded area after flying in bad weather. The lone occupant was killed and locating the aircraft and extinguishing the post-crash fire proved difficult.  A Boeing 737 overran a runway in a snowstorm and the 50-ton aircraft came to rest on an occupied vehicle. What do these three incidents have in common? They were all handled, either initially or completely, by structural fire departments. Although these types of accidents are rare, they will happen without warning and challenge even the most experienced Incident Commander’s (IC’s) abilities. 

Aviation history in the United States has had its safety issues, but air transportation remains the safest way to travel (per mile). While 80 percent of the world’s aviation traffic is in United States airspace, there were no deaths from crashes in commercial aviation in 2010.  With 85,000 flights a day in the U.S., and approximately 61,000 people in the air at any given time, it is always possible that an accident can occur, but the average is now as low as one accident for every 1.2 million landing and takeoff cycles. About 85 percent of all aircraft accidents happen during landing or takeoff and usually without warning. Problems with aircraft quite often occur within the first 10 to 15 minutes of flight.

Aviation Accidents

If an aviation accident were to occur, would you know what to do? When dealing with aviation accidents, the personal safety of responders should be your primary concern.  An aviation accident should be handled just like any other emergency in the initial stage. Risk vs. benefit must be weighed before making rescues. “Risk a lot to save a lot” as the saying goes.

If there is nothing to be saved, responders must put out any fires, minimize property damage and control access to the scene. Safety needs to be paramount in any IC’s plan of attack. The Incident Command System must be established whether it is a large or commercial aircraft or a small general aviation aircraft, due to the large amount of resources you may need to manage. The 3 C’s (Coordination, Communication and Cooperation) will get you through.

Aviation accidents can be many incidents rolled into one. You may be dealing with fire, extrication, structural damage, hazardous materials, confined-space rescues, just to name a few. The location of an accident by itself will have a great deal of importance of how the incident is handled.  An accident that occurred at the Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, where an executive jet was taking off, is one example. During takeoff, the jet never made it off the ground. It went through the fence at the end of the runway, struck at least one car on a very busy highway and then crashed into an occupied building across from the airport. All occupants of the jet successfully made it off the aircraft, but the ensuing fire destroyed the aircraft and heavily damaged the building. Once again, in that incident the Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) was a structural fire department.

Airport firefighters were on the scene in a very quickly, but roads became quickly blocked with traffic making it difficult for responders to gain access. Imagine being the IC for this incident. Not only do you have an aircraft accident to mitigate, but also a fire in a building with unknown occupancy and a major highway blocked with damaged vehicles and stopped traffic. That is a lot to manage and take in. 

Another problem can be the misidentification of the aircraft during an aircraft emergency. The 1990 Avianca Crash in Cove Neck Long Island was reported by the first police officer to arrive as a possible Cessna aircraft down. It was actually a Boeing 707 that had run out of fuel and crashed on a steep slope. With that incident, not only did a volunteer fire department have to deal with most of the previously mentioned problems, but the aircraft was from South America, so there was also a language barrier. 

In the case of the Boeing 737 jet that overran the runway and came to rest on an occupied vehicle, what steps would you take to stabilize a 50-ton aircraft and perform extrication having very little knowledge about the aircraft?  

Aviation accidents can cause many problems for responders, however, like many other challenges within the fire service, training is the key.

Aircraft Accident Training Tips

It may not be as difficult as you think to get access to good aircraft training, you just need to know where to look. There are some basic avenues that will provide great access to training.

1. Contact the nearest airport Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) station. This is where the experts live in this field. ARFF stations should be eager to help out their neighbors and have the expertise to answer most of your questions. In Rochester, NY, the ARFF unit provides training sessions at the airport or will come to your station with a program to assist you in your training needs. The backgrounds of the ARFF personnel vary, and that usually means a great amount of experience and knowledge.

2. Formal ARFF training programs are available all over the country. These programs have been led by people with a great deal of experience in the aviation field. Programs, in some cases, can be tailored to a department’s specific needs. Basic ARFF and Advanced ARFF are offered in many venues in individual 40-hour classes.  In most cases, you do not have to be an airport firefighter to train at these facilities. There are costs involved, but keep in mind the resource is there and the knowledge you gain is invaluable.  

3. Look in your own backyard. If there is a general aviation field or a private airstrip in your town or county, that is another possible avenue for training.  Contact a flight school, a private pilot or just look online under aviation or aircraft. Most pilots will be glad to show off their airplane and assist you in planning for an aircraft incident. The life you save, after all, may be theirs!

4. If there is a military aviation installation in your general area, an opportunity may also exist for training. The military is very interested in making sure that their personnel are well cared for in the event of an accident. The military will also train you on how to not cause further damage to their aircraft than necessary in the event of an accident. They have specialists who know their equipment and can train your personnel in door opening and removal, aircraft dangers and what not to do if you respond to a crash.

5. Another source of training is neighboring fire departments. What do they have in their response areas that your department may be able to train with? If there is a neighboring department with an airfield in their district, ask them what they do in an emergency. Who do they call, what are their operations guidelines and mutual-aid resources?  Who provides their training?

Aircraft accidents can happen anytime or anywhere and preparation will allow you as a responder to successfully handle these situations.  Will you be ready? Will you know what to do? Will you know what not to do?  In a series of articles to be presented in the future, different aspects of aviation accidents, scene mitigation and investigation will be discussed.