A Mobile Aircraft Fire Trainer (MAFT) sits on the NAS Sigonella flightline. The base fire department recently obtained the MAFT, which will be used to safely train firefighters on aspects of fighting aircraft fires. The MAFT can simulate such things as engine fires, wheel fires, interior fires, and tire blowouts. (Courtesy of U.S. Navy)
Firefighters at Naval Air Station Sigonella started battling aircraft blazes this week.
The base in Sicily has a new Mobile Aircraft Firefighting Training Device that simulates an aircraft fire. The only other device in Europe is in Keflavik, Iceland.
“The problem a lot of the bases are running into is they don’t have training facilities for students to do live-fire training,” said John Cupell, assistant fire chief of training for Sigonella’s Fire and Emergency Services.
The aircraft-shaped device allows them to train in a variety of scenarios, including search and rescue, along with internal and external firefighting.
Comprised of a tractor and trailer, it incorporates features of helicopters, transport and tactical aircraft.
“It looks like an 18-wheeler when it’s all boxed up,” said Steve Monteleone, fire chief.
Built onto the 45-foot long trailer is a fuselage with wings, a tail section and three engines. It can simulate a variety of fires, including wheel, cockpit, engine and galley. The tractor contains the control box that operates the fires and smoke machine via a propane hose and electrical connections.
The environmentally friendly, clean-burning propane “allows us to have live fires more often because Italy does have environmental restrictions ,” Monteleone said.
Temperatures inside the trailer, which are made of heavy-gauge steel, reach as high as 1,400 degrees, he said.
A cannon device simulates a battery or tire explosion. A television monitor allows people to watch the crews as they go through the fuselage.
Once the Sigonella program is up and running, Monteleone plans to invite firefighters from throughout Europe to the base to achieve or maintain their Department of Defense firefighting certification.
“We want to make Sigonella the hub for regional firefighting training,” said Monteleone, 51, from Lompoc, Calif. “We can also record what happens inside so we can give that agency or that group a copy of their training.”
The department is also looking at training the aviation departments on the La Maddalena-based USS Emory S. Land and 6th Fleet flagship USS La Salle.
“It would save them a whole bunch of money because they have to be sent back to the States to receive the training,” Monteleone said.
The devices were procured by Naval Air Systems Command starting in 1996, said Fritzi Hart, the command’s aircraft firefighting program manager.
“We were able to save the Navy about $12 million by using the mobile trainers instead of having stationary firefighting trainers, which are very expensive,” she said in a phone interview from Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland.
A Mobile Aircraft Fire Trainer (MAFT) sits on the NAS Sigonella flightline. The base fire department recently obtained the MAFT, which will be used to safely train firefighters on aspects of fighting aircraft fires. The MAFT can simulate such things as engine fires, wheel fires, interior fires, and tire blowouts. (Courtesy of U.S. Navy)
Ron Hall, Naval Air Station (NAS) Sigonella Fire Department battalion chief, and Aviation Boatswain's Mate 1st Class Stephen Mark, NAS Sigonella Fire Department assistant training officer, spray water on a fire coming from a Mobile Aircraft Fire Trainer (MAFT) on the NAS Sigonella flightline. (Courtesy of U.S. Navy)
