Scott firefighters save mechanic's life

Published Jan. 30, 2013
By Airman 1st Class Jake Eckhardt
375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- A team of firefighters raced down the flightline at the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing to arrive at what looked like a normal KC-10, but the real emergency was inside the plane.

Firefighters deployed from Scott Air Force Base, assigned to the 380th Expeditionary Wing Civil Engineer Squadron fire department, rescued an unconscious maintainer inside the belly of the aircraft.

Airman 1st Class Jeffery Simcoe, 375th CES firefighter, said, "When we got the call, we were told that it was a medical emergency. That's all the dispatcher knew at the time."

They were told that the victim was incapacitated outside the aircraft, but when the rescue crew arrived at the scene, they found the victim not outside, but inside the fuel-cell of the plane.

Staff Sgt. James Fligor, 375th CES fire department crew chief, said, "When we got there, the crew was still determining how to get in the aircraft--we had to get in there."

The crew climbed a ladder to reach the belly of the aircraft. From there, they had to move through four small, fuel-soaked passages connected by a small corridor that had just enough room for one person to crouch in.

"I thought the passageways were vents," Simcoe said. "They were just big enough to put your arms through and slide in."

To reach the unconscious maintainer, the firefighters removed their protective gear except for their breathing apparatuses. They also removed the air tanks from their backs to strategically maneuver their way through the passages.

After 15 minutes of struggling with the firefighter's tanks, the maintainers hooked up their on-board supply air respirator, to allow the firefighters to move through the passages easier because of its 300-foot hose instead of the 2-foot hose they had before.

"When we got to him I thought he was dead," Simcoe said. "He was face-first in this pool of fuel. He wasn't moving."

The victim had passed out because of exposure to the fuel and heat.

The team placed a self-contained breathing apparatus on the unconscious airman after verifying he was still alive. The team also began the tedious task of getting him out.

"Once he started to stabilize, we moved him," Fligor said. "By that time, my team and I had to leave because our air bottles were running out, so we were replaced by two other guys."

Teams of two rotated in to drag the victim out of the fuel cell, because the teams only had a limited amount of air to use on the maintainer, forcing them to trade out for more oxygen.

"After he woke up a little, he was disoriented and didn't know where he was, so he fought back a little," Airman 1st Class Kendall Fair, 375th CES firefighter, said. "He was pulling off the mask we put on him. We understood the situation that was happening, but he didn't."

Forty-five minutes and three teams later, the firefighters pulled him out to safety. The maintainer was sent to the hospital and made a full recovery by the next day.

"It was the first time I have ever saved a life," Fair said. "It made me like my job even more. Day-to-day gets pretty slow sometimes, but when you do get that call it makes it all worth it."