COMMANDER’S CORNER: THE AIR FORCE DINING-OUT - PAGE 2 Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado
Thursday, June 15, 2017
Vol. 61 No. 24
Where there’s smoke, there’s training By Steve Kotecki 21st Space Wing Public Affairs
PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. — A flashover in firefighting is when oxygen is introduced to superheated smoke causing it to erupt in flames. It is one of the most dangerous scenarios any firefighter can encounter, and that’s why it’s important for firefighting recruits to see one up close. The Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station, Colorado, Fire Department teamed up with trainers and recruits from the Colorado Springs Fire Department on June 9, 2017, for flashover training at the Cheyenne Mountain AFS fire training area. The training was conducted by members of the Cheyenne Mountain AFS Fire Department, who set up and oversaw the training simulations for the recruits. The flashover training is designed to give the recruits an up close and personal view of the phenomenon. The training the recruits received was their first exposure to fire in a training environment. “It gives us the ability to sit in an extremely safe environment yet still experience the effects of heat and watch a fire grow from the very beginning stages until the room is almost fully engulfed,” said Capt. Brad Starling, Colorado Springs Fire Department training division. This is accomplished by having the recruits don their personal protective gear and huddle inside a room-sized metal box that then has a fire built in it. See Training page 12
(U.S. Air Force photo by Steve Kotecki)
CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN AIR FORCE STATION, Colo. — Instructors from the Colorado Springs Fire Department training division use a road flare to light a fire during flashover training at the Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station, Colo., fire training area, June, 9, 2017. Flashover training is integral to becoming a firefighter as it it gives a firefighter a front row seat to the behavior of fire in an enclosed space.
ENDURING PERSEVERANCE:
50 miles and 18 hours of ‘just a little more’ By Senior Airman Dennis Hoffman 21st Space Wing Public Affairs
(Courtesy photo)
PROVO CANYON, Utah – Al Strait, 21st Space Wing director of staff, pauses on the trail of the Squaw Peak 50 Mile Adventure Run in Provo Canyon, Utah, June 3, 2017. Strait, 64, prepared for this 50 mile challenge with long Saturday morning runs and participating in other events such as the Bataan Memorial Death March.
PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. — “My dad always taught me that when you start something, you finish it,” said Al Strait, 21st Space Wing director of staff. “I knew I had it within me — I just had to play mind games with myself. I would tell myself, ‘Okay now to the tree,’ or ‘Once you are to that rock you can pause for 20 seconds,’ I had to keep moving.” Strait, 64, started the morning of June 3, shrouded in complete darkness at 4 a.m. ready to take on a grueling 50 mile adventure run with his mind set on finishing it in Provo, Utah. Offering challenges, expected and unexpected, Strait pushed through the adversities and emerged at the finish line
18 hours later, leaving all he had on the trail behind him. A cumulative elevation gain and loss of 14,000 ft. alongside five major climbs varying from 1100 ft. to nearly 3000 ft. was only one of the many tests the runners faced. Other factors that required extra determination to battle through were the temperature changes from the elevation, the deterioration of the trail by snow and ice and a looming deadline of 2:30 p.m. to reach the 33rd mile marker. “The first, short-term goal was to get to mile 33 by 2:30 in the afternoon,” he said. “After the 33rd mile, I felt pretty confident I would finish, but the snow and climb on Windy Pass took it’s toll on all the runners.
INSIDE News Briefs Crossword Classifieds
1-16 4 22 23
Bioenvironmental Engineering Reports Water Quality Page 3
Former 302nd AW members take ‘LEAD’ Page 5
See Endure page 4
AF pilot selected for NASA astronaut training Page 15