McConnell firefighters support Nellis Weapons School

  • Published
  • 22nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. - Seven McConnell firefighters supported the Air Force Weapons School capstone event, 25 miles into the vast and desolate desert of Texas Lake, Nevada, June 2.

The event finalized the six-month training course hosted at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. It involved landing several aircraft on a dirt runway, which required fire protection in the occurrence of a safety mishap.

As the sun fell behind the mountain range and the light began to fade across the historic landing zone, the first aircraft made its way down the 50,000-meter salt-flat runway.

“They landed a C-130 Hercules to use as a forward area refueling point, which refueled two CV-22 Ospreys and a C-17 Globemaster III on the ground, while two A-10 Warthog’s circled overhead,” said Master Sgt. Matthew Reichle, 22nd Civil Engineer Squadron assistant chief of fire prevention and team lead.

The mission went according to plan without damaging any assets and the team provided a sense of comfort throughout the five hours of landing zone support. McConnell responded to the request because the fire stations closer didn’t have the manning to support the event.

“If there isn’t fire protection on the ground when those aircraft land it’s definitely not a safe environment. Especially, in that situation,” said Reichle. “It was a hot refuel, the engines never shut down. There were a lot of potential hazards that could have occured. If something happened, we could have stopped the loss of several aircraft.”