Lajes firefighters give Lisbon scout troop a glimpse of mission

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Olufemi Owolabi
  • 65th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
LAJES FIELD, Azores --  The mystic behind the timeliness of Lajes firefighters during emergencies, so-to-speak, was unveiled to a scout troop of students from the Mainland Lisbon during a visit to Lajes Field's Fire Department Aug. 2.

The visit, which began with a tour of the fire building, culminated with a real-world emergency response that allowed the Boys and Girls Scout troop to get a first-hand glimpse of the 65th Civil Engineer Squadron's fire department's mission.

"It is very cool to actually see the person that was briefing us not too long ago to quickly dress up when the emergency call came in," said Andre Cabrita, one of the three scout chiefs that led the troop to Lajes. "It makes the briefing about their response time to be clearer to us. I actually enjoyed the briefing and everything they described to us, and we are very happy to be here."

The first briefing of the fire station and the bedding area was given by Bruno Medeiros, 65th CES. The troop, comprising mostly of students, who were on Terciera Island for a week-long camping trip, were able to go literarily everywhere in the fire station during the briefing.

In order to allow the students to fully understand how the firefighters extinguish fire, one of the briefers, Valdemar Toste, gave them a tour and hands-on of a fire truck, the Striker 3000.

"The truck is the newest we have here at Lajes right now, and it's probably the best in the Air Force," said Mr. Toste, a 65th CES truck driver.

The students also had an opportunity to operate the vehicle and spray a few gallons of water. The Striker 3000 truck, according to Mr. Toste, could spray water at the rate of about 200 psi or 1,800 gallons per minute.

"This truck is really huge and I have never seen anything like it before," said Cabrita, who is visiting a U.S. military facility for the first time. "In Portugal we don't have a lot of vehicle like this. Our team loves everything we see here today because we are not used to seeing this every day."

After examining and test-driving the truck, the trip was about to wrap up with the students trying on the fire suit and helmet, when an alarm tripped off somewhere on base. It was neither an exercise nor was it a false alarm. It was the real deal; the firefighter had to gear up and respond immediately.

The firefighters and drivers, who were giving a tour some seconds ago, left the scene and rolled out within a few seconds of the call. And this gave the students an opportunity to see what their briefers' emergency response time was really like.

Even though the visit was terminated, the briefing and the hands-on experience already gave the students from Lisbon an understanding of the Lajes's firefighting mission. Most importantly, it was the sense of urgency that the Lajes firefighters demonstrated during the sound of the alarm that gave the visitors a lasting memory. 'It is really nice to host people, especially from outside the base," Mr. Toste said. "This tour right now is really important to us because we are able to show these students from Lisbon what we do here and how we do it. Today, they are able to see us in action, and they are really impressed."