Students benefit from live fire demonstrations

Thursday, October 31, 2013

 

Students benefit from live fire training demonstrations

OSU students benefit from the annual live-fire training exercises that Stillwater Regional Airport employees are required to perform to meet federal guidelines for firefighting readiness.

Fire protection and environmental students observe the airport training demonstrations, thanks to an agreement with the OSU Fire Protection Program.

“We use rescuing and firefighting personnel to demonstrate types of fire behavior to fire protection students at OSU and we also have environmental students study the effective of spill control,” said Airport Operations Crew Chief David Lyons. “It’s a great opportunity for students at the university to observe these areas."

Lyons and other airport employees Tony Chambers and Corbin Reid conducted their training at the OSU Fire Service Training - Professional Skills Center.

"The reason we must go through live fire exercises yearly is so we continue to be proficient in firefighting and rescue up to the level required by the Federal Aviation Administration," said Lyons. The airport handles aircraft big and small every day and must be ready for anything to happen.

Airport personnel are required to be knowledgeable in 13 different areas for recurrent training such as emergency communications, airport and aircraft familiarization, different fire apparatus equipment, emergency aircraft evacuations and HAZ-MAT.

 

The Stillwater Regional Airport is a city owned and operated facility located at 2020-1 W. Airport Rd. As the fifth-busiest airport in the state of Oklahoma, the airport handles operations from general aviation, military, and air medical services. The airport is equipped with an air traffic control tower, terminal building and pilot services provided by Hangar 1 Flight Center of Stillwater, OSU Flight Center and Stillwater Flight Center.