Garrison firefighters train Airmen for deployment

  • Published
  • By Christine June
  • USAG Kaiserslautern Public Affairs
"Old is new again," could have been the overall lesson
when U.S. Army Garrison Kaiserslautern fire inspectors taught seven Airmen
from Ramstein July 10 and 11 at Rhine Ordnance Barracks.

Training was on the AMERTEK Crash, Fire and Rescue fire truck to prepare
these Airmen for a four-month deployment to Bulgaria.

The Air Force doesn't use this type of fire truck, said Tech. Sgt. Don
Swiger, 835th Civil Engineer Squadron, who was one of the
firefighters being trained. He admitted he's seen one before but never
operated it.

"It's lifesaving," said Sergeant Swiger on why this training was so
important.

He added it's also a "wonderful coincidence" after discovering that the
garrison just received this truck from Vicenza, Italy, a day before his unit
requested training from the Army.

The Army has been phasing out the AMERTEK for the last two years, said Klaus
Kueppers, a garrison fire inspector and one of the instructors. He and
Sergeant Swiger said the Army and Air Force currently uses different models
of the KOVACZ Motor, Equipment and Water fire truck.

Sergeant Swiger said the AMERTEK is very similar to the KME fire truck. Mr.
Kueppers' opinion is that the AMERTEK is more complicated and confusing than
the KME.

"When the Army ordered the AMERTEK, they wanted it to do everything -
structural and wild-land fires, and from its name - crash, fire and rescue,"
said Mr. Kuepper, who was one of the firemen who drove these trucks to the
U.S. Army Garrison Hanau's fire department in 1987 - the first year the Army
added these trucks to its inventory.

Another instructor, Olaf Klein-Chazkelewitz, also a garrison fire inspector,
said training lasted a couple of hours each day, dividing the Airmen into
two groups. The training consisted of truck orientation, start-up and
braking procedures, and nuances of the truck such as water capacity and pump
capabilities.

For instance, said Mr. Kuepper, "You have to switch the pump panel back and
forth depending on what kind of emergency you are responding to."

Garrisons that still use the AMERTEK fire trucks are Baumholder, Mannheim
and Ansbach, said Mr. Klein-Chazkelewitz.