The White Falcon - 16.10.1992, Qupperneq 1

FALCON
VoL 51 No. 41
NATO Base, Keflavik, Iceland
October 16, 1992
Cooking accident stresses fire safety
By Haili Stefansson, NAS Keflavik Fire Chief
It was Monday afternoon, barely two days
into Fire Prevention Week. The Naval Air
Station firefighters were scattered around the
base giving fire safety lectures to the base
occupants, when all of a sudden the Fire
Department dispatcher announced over the
radio that a fire had been reported in a third
floor apartment in the Tree Housing area.
Three fire trucks with nine firefighters
responded immediately. While on their way
to the scene of the fire, the dispatcher called
the firefighters again and reported that heavy
smoke was seen coming from the windows
of the apartment. A second fire truck with
four firefighters joined the first group. What
were they to find? Were there to be injuries,
I or worse yet, deaths?
^Upon arrival at the scene, the firefighters
wned that there was no fire in the apart-
ment, and that most importantly, no one was
injured.
A lady in the apartment had decided to
prepare some food for her family and had
placed a pot of food on the stove. She then
went to lie down in her bedroom to wait for
the food to warm. In no time, she was
asleep.
All of a sudden, she woke up to the
blaring of the fire alarm in her hallway. She
immediately noticed the heavy smoke and
ran to the kitchen to turn off the stove and
remove the pot.
This prime example of unattended cooking
could easily have resulted in an apartment
fire and possible death. This time we were
lucky, there was no fire, but the smoke in the
apartment could have done more damage.
For this, we can thank what is sometimes
called the most inexpensive life insurance
one can get, the smoke detector.
Smoke detectors are located in all family
housing units on this base. They need
minimal attention to function properly, yet
the battery should be tested at least once a
month to insure that the detector will protect
you in the event of an actual fire. If your
detector fails to work, call the Fire Depart-
ment, you may only need a replacement
battery.
TEST YOUR DETECTOR, IT’S
SOUND ADVICE.
MCI offers
A Microwave Communication Incorpo-
rated (MCI) representative is on base offer-
ing personnal the opportunity to sign-up for
their calling card service. Ms. Paula Fitzpa-
trick, European Military Marketing Consult-
ant from Naples, Italy, explained, “MCI is
contracted worldwide through the Navy Ex-
change to make their special savings avail-
able to members of the U. S. armed services.
Once you fill-in the application form it
takes approximately three weeks to get into
the system. You will receive a calling card
which can be used from any telephone. A
MCI operator is available 24 hours a day at 9-
999-002. There are no start up fees, no
monthly charges and no credit limits. You
pay only for the telephone calls you make
from a monthly itemized bill from MCI.”
She further explained, “Calls may be made to
calling card
toll free telephone numbers in the U.S. but
there is a charge for the call from Iceland to
the states. 'Free' toll free calls can only be
made when dailing from within the U.S.”
To find out how you can signup for the
MCI service, see Ms. Fitzpatrick tonight at
the Enlisted Navy Ball at the Three Flags
Club or tomorrow at the Navy Exchange
Lobby from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Free promo-
tional items and free telephone calls will be
given away.
Applications will also be available at any
Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) fa-
cility and at the Navy Exchange Main Store.
According to Fitzpatrick MCI gives MWR
$50 for each Navy/Marine Corps applicant
The money is used in support of worldwide
MWR programs.
Air Station ‘Bird Team’ reduces aircraft mishaps
To the tourist in the local area, a flight of
gulls flying near the port of Keflavik can be a
beautiful sight, but when a large international
airport is also nearby, the same beautiful birds
can mean not only damage to aircraft, but also
death and destruction.
That’s where the Naval Air Station (NAS)
Keflavik bird team comes into play. Under the
direction of Fire Chief Haraldur Stefansson,
the population of birds near the airport is sig-
nificantly down as is the number of bird strikes
^ both military and civilian aircraft.
#The Fire Chief and his three teams of bird
Pnooters were recently recognized by Air Forces
Iceland for their efforts to reduce a potential
bird/aircraft strike hazard (BASH) at NAS
Keflavik. Col. Thomas L. Allot, Commander,
Air Forces Iceland, praised the personal efforts
of the Icelanders of the Fire Department and its
U.S. military volunteers. Quoting from Col.
Allen’s letter, “Each year throughout the Air
Combat Command, formerly the Tactical Air
Command, aircraft collisions with birds ac-
count for significant aircraft damage and air-
crew injury. This has not been a problem here
(Keflavik), thanks to your effective bird con-
trol techniques.”
Col. Allen went on to say that more than
50,000 mishap-free flying hours alone have
been recorded by the 57th Fighter Squadroa
The teams use shotguns to harass and kill the
birds in addition to using bird cannons and
audio bird scare tapes. This year the program
began in April with the hindering of nesting
near the aircraft operating areas. As the mi-
grating birds grew in population and the scare
tactics became less effective, the shotguns
were used to scare the birds. After 12 gauge
shotgun familiarization/safety training by the
NAS Keflavik Weapons Department in May,
an aggressive shooting campaign began in
June and continued throughout August.
As of Sept 9, 3,055 birds were killed with a
very high kill percentage by the shooters using
3,564 shells.
“We’re happy to make a difference,” said
Fire Chief Stefansson. “Four years ago, we
had 60 bird strikes, none last year and only four
this year.” He added that more than 4,000 birds
were killed by the teams in 1991 and 3,000 the
year before.
Team members include: Halldor Hall-
dorsson, John Newman, Virgil Richardson,
Haraldur Stefansson, Jhon Ward, Gudmundur
Haraldson, Thedor Kjartansson and Gudmun-
dur Oskarsson.