They are the first to respond to any type of emergency at the airports, from a passenger in distress to an actual aircraft disaster. The 148 members of the Houston Fire Department’s Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) teams at George Bush Intercontinental and William P. Hobby airports ensure the continued safety of travelers through Houston.

With the help of an aircraft mock-up and a Mobile ARFF Fire Trainer (MAFT), the Houston Airport System’s ARFF teams at George Bush Intercontinental (IAH) recently held a full week of advanced training scenarios which gave them a chance to use their own equipment and to practice with live fires.

Although the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) only requires one live fire training a year, which the IAH ARFF teams completed this past February in College Station, officials for HAS and the Houston Fire Department believe consistently training at the airport, with their own equipment, proactively ensures the utmost level of preparedness for their emergency response teams.

“This is the third year we’ve brought the mobile training unit on-site,” says Les Fulgham, ARFF training officer for George Bush Intercontinental Airport and Houston Fire Department captain. “The training provided by bringing the MAFT to Houston allows the Aircraft Rescue Firefighters the opportunity to train, utilizing their own vehicles, equipment, radios, and procedures.”

The mobile unit was brought to IAH for training with coordination from the University of Missouri Fire and Rescue Training Institute and Texas A&M’s Texas Engineering Extension Service.

The MAFT’s design allows an operator to manage the development of multiple scenarios and the ability to change the dynamics based on the trainees’ performance to ensure skills and build confidence.

The training is under careful watch to ensure the safety of everyone involved. The operator is able to watch the safety of the crew and trainees on the ground and even has access to a so-called dead-man switch, which allow all fires to be extinguished in case of an emergency.

 The ARFF teams first practice operating their trucks and the Snozzles attached to them. The Snozzle is a piercing nozzle attached to certain trucks that allows ARFF teams to pierce the outer layer of an aircraft in order to extinguish fires.