An Cosantóir

www.military.ie THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE | 23 There is no place for an individual here. Only by working as a team will these five sailors fight their way through hatches and down ladders, deeper into the burn- ing vessel, negotiating total darkness to find the seat of the fire. There is no room for fear or failure during a fire at sea; ship- mates' lives are at stake. The training exercise described above is from the last advanced marine damage control and fire fighting (DCFF) course of 2018. Although conducted in the relative safety of the National Maritime College of Ireland (NMCI) fire yard, the seriousness of the exercise is not lost on the students, all officers and NCOs here to renew their certificates and ensure that their training is up to date. There are two DCFF courses for NS personnel: a three-day basic course, which is a requirement for every sailor, and a five-day advanced course, which is a requirement for all command-and-control appointments. The basic course teaches fire and damage control theory, from the fire triangle (fuel, oxygen, heat) to DCFF shoring techniques; doffing and donning of fire fighting suits; breath- ing apparatus (BA) and emergency escape breathing appa- ratus (EEBA) use; search and life line techniques; first aid fire fighting appliances, including fire blankets and hose reels; and full-team door and hatch entry. Each lesson being practiced until the required standard is met. The advanced course revises the basics before rotating stu- dents through roles such as the Damage Control Officer and IC of the Forward Control Point. Under the watchful eye of the instruc- tors, the students must make plans, deliver them to the fire team on scene, and build a picture of the developing incident on the incident boards using standard markings. During the final exercises, the information flows thick and fast over the comms net, and the board fills up as multiple teams go on and off air, relief teams hot-bottle change and stand by for re-entry. The sce- nario is altered with- out warning, causing the students to adapt to new threats and change the plan of attack. The training is measured yet intense, because it needs to be. The goal is to build the students' confidence in their roles, giving them the skills to achieve their mission in the event of fire or flood at sea. Operating hundreds of miles from sup- port, in some of the toughest waters on the planet, the crew must look to themselves first for survival. Their vessel is their best lifeboat and everything must be done to ensure it is kept afloat. Marine fire fighting students are taught by NS instructors in the DCFF Training School (also known as the Fire Yard) at the NMCI. To serve as an instructor in the college, hull artificers (HA) and mechanicians must pass the gruelling Chemical, Biological, Radiologi- cal, Nuclear and Damage Control course at the Royal Navy School HMS Excellent, Portsmouth, where its DCFF training facilities include the Phoenix Damage Repair and Instructional Unit, which has a mock-up of a flooding ship that rocks and rolls as sailors try to plug gaps in the hull, and a fire training unit that replicates compartments such as engine rooms, machin- ery control rooms, mess decks, galleys and passageways. The gas-powered fires inside are supported by smoke generators, and can be controlled by tutors.

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