Guardsmen Receive Fire Fighter Training

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Story & Photos by SPC Charles Ames   -   Posted Aug, 2001
     After a week of whirlwind instruction, 300 Guardsmen found themselves on a seldom-used training area of Fort Lewis on the last day of firefighter training. 
Owing to an unusually dry season in the aftermath of El Nino, dry air created countless lightning strikes, some of which sparked wildfires in inaccessible locations.  Hundreds of thousands of dry and brown woodland acreage have been consumed by fire.

Enter the National Guard.

Fire fighting equipment is handed out and Guardsmen are organized into teams

These soldiers practice building a fire break

      At the peak, nearly a thousand Guardsmen from across the state grabbed shovels, manned radios, erected tents, drove firefighters and relayed material and information.

     The first day troops spent in-processing through physical testing, medical screening, records check, and a welcoming address by BG Lee Legowik, Commander, Army National Guard.  The next two days involved required classroom instruction.  Finally, the 'hands-on' portion of their training began as they took up their firefighters tools until they learned to starve fire of its fuel.
     After a sack lunch under an ominously cloudless sky, they turned to the task of learning to properly operate their survival shelter.  Feet to the heat!, the instructor from the Department of Natural Resources reminds the assembly.  He tells them they have 25 seconds to unfurl their shelter, get under it and check that all corners are tucked in with no gaps that could let in superheated air.  Soldiers listen carefully, keeping in mind the 4 firefighters lost just a couple of months ago in the same fire.

The Emergency Fire Survival Shelter... Guardsmen must be able to secure themselves within this shelter within 25 seconds in order to graduate
     They will graduate today and return to their homes, but also know that within the next few weeks, it is very likely that their phone will ring the call-up... this time, to go to the line.
 

Contractors Bring Experience To Training

Story & Photos by MAJ Debra Allen   -   Posted Aug, 2001

     When the call was made to train more Washington National Guard soldiers as fire fighters, the DNR was not available to conduct the training. They were fully committed as fire bosses on the wildfires burning in central Washington. The Emergency Management Division and the Washington National Guard looked to surrounding states for a solution.

Training Coordinator Stan Kunzman

      TRUST US INC., is a private consulting firm from Salem, Oregon. Their name explains what they do pretty well, Tested Results Using Service Teams Unique Skills. As it implies, their teams apply their skills and experience, along with a nationally accredited training program to fire fighter training.

     Their training coordinator, Stan Kunzman, along with 10 other experienced former federal and state forestry professionals travel all over the county training civilian and military fire fighters.
     Kunzman and his team conducted an eight-hour refresher program in Yakima Training Center for more than 180 soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 161st Infantry on Monday, August 20th. Then from August 23-25, provided complete Fire Fighter Level II training here at Camp Murray and Fort Lewis, Washington, for almost 300 soldiers from the 96th Troop Command Brigade and the 81st Infantry Brigade.

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