Michigan Air Guard firefighters exchange best practices during Saber Srtike 2012

By Air National Guard Tech. Sgt. Daniel Heaton

127th Wing

AMARI AIR BASE, Estonia – Under a light drizzle on the afternoon of June 12, firefighters from the Amari Air Base – local civilian firefighters – and four firefighters from the 127th Wing, Michigan Air National Guard rolled out to the flightline with lights and sirens blaring, as they responded to a call of a fire and incapacitated crew members aboard a Michigan Air National Guard KC-135 Stratotanker.

The alarm, however, was part of a surprise drill in which the American firefighters helped the Estonians learn new skills about how to respond to a fire on large aircraft since the Estonian Air Force does not own any large aircraft, such as the KC-135.

"The Estonian guys have a lot of experience and knowledge in fighting a structure fire," said Air Force Tech. Sgt. Miguel Castillo, the lead Michigan Air Guard firefighter participating in the larger Saber Strike 2012 exercise. "Our mission is to help give them some training on how to engage on an aircraft fire."

Air Force Staff Sgt. Robert Juozapaitis, another 127th Wing firefighter, said the crews from the two nations have been sharing ideas with each side and allowing each group to determine how best to apply that information to their own setting.

"We're not trying to come in here and say 'here's how we do it and you have to do it this way,'" he said. "The Estonians have their own equipment and their own procedures. This is about exchanging ideas."

Building such partnerships is the goal of Saber Strike 2012, a multinational exercise based in Estonia and Latvia. This is the second year for the exercise, which is led by U.S. Army-Europe and includes about 2,000 personnel from eight nations and the air forces of the various nations for the first time this year.

Paavon Münter, the Estonian fire chief, said having such realistic training is a definite benefit for his department.

"We do not otherwise have the opportunity to train with these types of aircraft, but we want to be a ready air field for any aircraft that lands here," he said.

Castillo, who is a firefighter in Toledo, Ohio, in his civilian job, said there is an interesting difference in firefighting philosophy between the Americans and Estonians.

"Their equipment is built around the idea of using high pressure on lower volumes of water. Ours is a lower pressure with more volume," he said. "It is a different way of looking at the same problem."

Adding to the exercise for the firefighters are the long hours on duty in the firehouse for the airmen from both nations. Airmen from both air forces are all living at the firehouse for the duration of the two-week exercise.

"We are living together, working together, eating together," Juozapaitis said. "We've even learned after duty that they have a few different 'house' rules in playing [the board game] Risk. So, I think the fire crews are really getting along well."