The White Falcon - 07.10.1983, Blaðsíða 7

October 1, 1983/THE WHITE FALCON 7
Fire Protection Branch
The Naval Station's Fire Protection
Branch is composed of 60 Icelanders, many
of whom have been in the fire service up to
32 years. The branch's primary responsi-
bility is the protection of life and prop-
erty from destruction by fire. The Fire
Protection Branch is an activity consoli-
dated to accomplish its life saving mission
in situations involving both aircraft and
structural fire emergencies on a 365-day-a-
year basis.
The branch is organized into four shifts
of men: The A, B and C shift is composed
of 16 men each and the D shift is composed
of eight men. This arrangement provides 16
men on duty at all times to answer the call
as required. Another part of the branch's
responsibilities, communications, is ac-
complished by four fire officers assisted
by the on-duty fire fighters on an around
the clock basis.
The Fire Protection Branch is augmented
by auxiliary fire teams located at the out-
lying sites, such as H-3 Hofn, H-l Rock-
ville, NATO Fuel Facility at Whale Bay,
NAVCOMMSTA Grindavik, NAVFAC and NAVSECGRU-
ACT at Rockville. These fire teams are
equipped with fire trucks, fire hoses, smoke
detection equipment and other necessary
tools. The Naval Station Fire Department
has the responsibility for training these
fire teams to perform rescue and control of
fires until assistance can be rendered from
the Naval Station.
The Naval Station and the neighboring
communities in Iceland have entered into a
mutual aid, rescue and fire fighting agree-
ment where, in the case of an emergency be-
yond the capability of the Naval Station
fire protection force, the neighboring fire
departments will respond. Consequently,
the Naval Station Fire Department is also
on call to provide similar service to our
Icelandic neighbors should the need arise.
There have already been numerous occasions
tinguish the fires, the fire fighters do
not spend their time sitting around waiting
to be called upon. Most of their duty time
is spent in training, performing preventive
maintenance, testing of equipment, and in
effecting repair on their fire fighting
equipment. Additionally, fire fighters are
also called upon to provide inspections of
public buildings, assist families with fire
prevention measures and in training for
emergency exit of the home. The aircraft
crash rescue fire fighters perform precau-
tionary standby duties around the clock out
on the runways during flight operations and
other hazardous operations on the flight
lines.
A great number of automatic fire/smoke
detection alarm systems are installed in
buildings on the Naval Station. These are
constantly tested by Naval Station fire
fighters and as you know, if you've been
here for a few months, much emphasis is be-
ing placed on smoke detectors and fire ex-
tinguishers in family homes.
In 1982 the Fire Protection Branch re-
sponded 650 times to incidents in buildings
and areas. Of these responses, 37 were ac-
tual fires. There were no lives lost, but
the property damage was a total of $18,545
to property valued at over $35-million.
Thus far this year the total property dam-
age is $2,872 -- a substantial improvement
over 1982 -- mainly due to fire prevention
activities and the tremendous support of
the Naval Station community.
when the Naval Sta-
tion fire fighters
were called upon for
assistance. The most
recent, of course,
was the fire in one
of Keflavik's fish
factories in May of
this year.
Equipped with the
best of equipment to
deal with rescue and
fire emergencies , the
Fire Protection Bra-
nch can -- and has --
responded to both
aircraft and build-
Deputy Fire Chief
Haraldur Stefansson
has beenwiththe de-
partment 28 years.
ing fires. As a re-
sult of the special two-fold responsi-
bility, the fire fighters must be thorough-
ly trained in both fields. Training is
provided, on an in-house basis, by the fire
officers of the department. During the
winter months a special fire fighter quali-
fication training program is conducted where
each fire fighter is taught professional
methods of rescue and fire fighting based
on the standards set by the National Fire
Protection Association (NFPA). As the
training progresses, each fire fighter is
provided with a qualification rating based
on his accomplished test results.
Although the Fire Protection Branch is
well equipped and has sufficient manpower
to effect rescue of endanged lives and ex-
This building was saved by the firemen.
The Fire Department was instrumental in containing the C-118 fire last Saturday morning.

The Fire Department Crash Crew must spend a large amount of time training* in order to be prepared for emergencies.