Coming together for crisis readiness

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Samantha Mathison
  • 301st Fighter Wing Public Affairs
NAVAL AIR STATION FORT WORTH JOINT RESERVE BASE, Texas --  The 301st Fighter Wing participated in an exercise recently at Tarrant County College, Fort Worth, Texas, with 10 other emergency response agencies to hone collaboration and teamwork.

More than 150 firefighters, police, paramedics, city officials, Sailors and Airmen united in a scenario that simulated an F-16 Fighting Falcon crashing into the college’s northwest campus.

“The purpose of the drill was to practice interagency cooperation in case of a disaster and to combine with the military to bring in their skills so that we provide a better service to our citizens,” said Roger Woodard, Fort Worth Fire Department battalion chief and designated on-scene commander for the exercise. “This gives us a chance to build lines of communication and networking, and to understand one another’s skill levels so that there’s no doubt in what everybody can do.”

The scenario involved unexploded bombs, a hydrazine container, vehicle fires, property damage and injured personnel, so that each specialized agency had a part to play.

Tech Sgt. Matthew Gordineer, 301st Emergency Management superintendent, partnered with Keith Wells, Fort Worth Fire Department senior emergency management officer, to coordinate the exercise.

“We wanted to show that the base and local community could handle an accident, if it were to happen,” Gordineer said. “We always look for opportunities for our people to work with their civilian counterparts because a real-world event is not the time to meet people.”

Two training bombs and an empty hydrazine tank were placed on campus for the 301st Explosive Ordnance Disposal team to practice bomb disarming procedures, while the hydrazine response team from the 301st Maintenance Squadron retrieved the tank.

The Naval Air Station Fort Worth Fire Department brought an aircraft fire training simulator to represent an F-16 so the military and community could practice crisis resolution involving a base asset.

Col. Jeffrey Barnett, 301st Mission Support Group commander, served as the senior military representative during the exercise and saw the value in contingency training.

“We’re living right next to these different communities,” Barnett said. “Citizens are out there and see our jets flying over every day, and they love it. But when this kind of situation happens we need to take care of them. We need to look out for them.”

The exercise showed how important safety is to everyone and many hope to continue training together in the future.