An Cosantóir

14 | by Capt John Murphy (108 Inf Bn Fire Officer) T he deployment of an engineer fire crew to 108 Inf Bn UNIFIL is only the second time that the Defence Forces have deployed a fire-fighting and rescue team to a mission area. The crew is deployed with a fully equipped fire tender with breathing apparatus sets and road traffic collision (RTC) rescue equipment, and is based in Post 2-45 on a 24/7 basis. The IrishFinn Battalion HQ in Post 2-45 recently played host to the first ever joint military fire-fighter exercise in a UN mission. The exercise involved fire-fighters from Ireland, Austria, Finland, Malaysia, and the famous Sapeurs Pompiers, who are the full-time Parisian fire-rescue services, a role that has historically always been a military one. An Cosantóir Dec 2013/Jan 2014 www.dfmagazine.ie The training was specifically geared towards aviation fire-fighting and the immediate fire and rescue response to be deployed in the event of a helicopter crash or hard landing. Post 2-45 has a dedicated helipad, which provides both a day and night landing capability. The Irish fire crew is always deployed as a precaution for any heli landings at the post. One such landing involved the medevac of a wounded Malaysian soldier who was badly injured in a road traffic collision in which another Malaysian soldier was killed. UNIFIL's Mission Fire Officer (MFO), Robin Stenhouse, and Force Fire Marshall, Major Zamri (Malaysia), conducted the training. Both these officers have a wealth of professional and practical experience in dealing with real aviation fire incidents, including helicopter and aircraft crashes in remote places such as the Congo and South Sudan. This added an extra edge to the training, which was done under Lebanon's baking heat; even more so when wearing full PPE and BA sets. The fire-fighting tactics taught were specifically designed to take into account each fire crew's unique circumstances, such as equipment or manpower. The MFO was quick to point out the uniqueness of the training. "This is the first time that military fire-fighter units on a UN mission have trained together and this will be developed as the mission continues," he said. "This is important in providing UN missions with a proper understanding of the fire-fighting assets available to the force commander and the interoperability of the various crews that could be tasked in dealing with a major incident. The remoteness of the posts and the lack of firefighting infrastructure available to support fire-fighting assets make this training all the more valuable for the crews." The Irish fire crew carry out daily checks and tests on their equipment like any full-time fire-fighter crew and then return to carry out their engineer taskings such as working as an electrician, fitter or carpenter. The daily crew consist of a minimum of one NCO, four privates and a fire officer and in total nine of 108 Inf Bn's engineers are fire-fighters, qualified as breathing apparatus wearers and RTC operators, trained in removing casual-

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