The U.S. Air Force is teaching Iraqi firefighters strategies and tactics for tackling different types of fires, including structure fires and cars bombings. For six weeks, members of the 407^th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron mentored Iraqi firefighters from the Dhi Qar province in Nasiriyah to provide them with adequate fire-response experience and training, said Master Sgt. Charles Harrison, who is an assistant chief of operations assigned to the 407^th ECES, Fire Protection Flight, Ali Base, Iraq.

“The Iraqi firefighters who we’ve been training on our location are firefighters from the city of Nasiriyah and the training went well,” Harrison said. “Anything we can give back to the Iraqi people and better help them survive is always a good thing.”

Harrison manages two fire stations with a shift of 16 firefighters and an 11-vehicle fleet, equaling about $3.7 billion in equipment and infrastructure. Harrison said the Air Force used its firefighting expertise and apparatus to develop for Iraqi firefighters a written training course that covers rescue techniques, ropes and knots, extinguisher use, an and more.

The written course taught basic firefighting skill sets, such as CPR, first-aid, ropes and knots, ladders, structural tactics, and more. Firefighters also were trained on how to use apparatus, which includes two rescue vehicles, seven aircraft rescue firefighting vehicles, one engine and two water tankers. Because of the lack of infrastructure, no hydrants are available on base, Harrison said. Instead, the Air Force uses two portable hydrants, dubbed water bladders, which hold 20,000 gallons of water.

Live-fire training was used to test the Iraqi firefighters’ understanding of the written material after completion of the six-week course. The Iraqis showed their understanding of fire behavior and how to tackle a fire situation in a facility, in a vehicle or in a grounded airplane, said Technical Sgt. Ryan Glosson, also an assistant chief of operations assigned to the 407^th ECES. Glosson said ignited buildings and vehicles were used to test whether the written translated into real-world skill sets, such as how to extinguish different types of fires.

“It’s unique because when they are out there in Nasiriyah [Iraqis] hardly have any equipment; they are limited on what they have and don’t even have self-contained breathing apparatus,” Glosson said. “So when we got them in here and put them in proximity suits and gave them masks and made them breathe air and go inside a building, they took to it. It was amazing to sit back and watch these guys, the smiles on their faces and the high-fives. That’s success right there.”

Harrison said the Iraqi firefighters face the same threats as any U.S. firefighter, although it may come in the form of an IED and car bomb.

“They face the same challenges as we all do,” he said. “They are firefighters just like we are.”