Navy, Air Force and Panamanian Personnel Rescue Eight Aircraft From Burning Hangar During PANAMAX
Navy NewsStand
Story Number: NNS080819-07
Release Date: 8/19/2008 9:02:00 AM
By FA PANAMAX Public Affairs
TOCUMEN, PANAMA (NNS) -- United States and Panamanian service members saved up to eight aircraft from a nearby cargo hangar that had become engulfed in flames at Tocumen International Airport Aug. 16.
The spirit of multinational cooperation among personnel participating in exercise Fuerzas Aliadas (FA) PANAMAX took a dramatic and unexpected turn as they responded to the real-world emergency. Maritime patrol and logistics flights comprise the air component of FA PANAMAX, a U.S. Southern Command annual joint and multinational training exercise cosponsored with the Government of Panama that is currently underway in Panama, El Salvador, and Honduras from August 11-22.
U.S. Navy Cmdr. Sam Sorgen, deputy maritime patrol aircraft commander for Commander, Task Force 805, and his operations officer, Cmdr. Douglas Rosado, discovered the fire at 9:20 a.m. when they greeted a returning Colombian P-3 Orion air crew.
As the group was returning to the operations base to debrief the flight, they saw smoke and flames billowing from the roof of the hangar. Directly below and barely 20 feet away from the hangar sat a U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter from Joint Task Force Bravo.
Rosado said he and the others thought about running back to the base to radio for help but they quickly realized there was no time. Sorgen and Rosado raced to the helicopter, where they were met by U.S. Air Force Maj. Mark Webb, detachment commander of the 474th Air Expeditionary Group, and members of the Panamanian National Air Service, who joined in the effort from their nearby operations center.
"Took the chocks off, took the brakes off and just started pushing," Rosado said.
Unable to steer the aircraft, the group moved the helicopter about 150 feet away from the burning building. Firefighters arrived about two minutes later and began directing water from nearly the identical spot where the helicopter had been parked moments earlier.
As more Panamanian and U.S. personnel converged on the scene, the group turned its attention to a number of Panamanian T-35 training aircraft and a pair of crop dusters that were parked just outside an adjacent side of the hangar, in an area shared by commercial air operations.
"It was a fast, furious 45 minutes," Webb said.
On-scene commanders were concerned that, had the fire continued to spread toward this area of the hangar, it could ignite jet fuel, oxygen and hydrogen tanks at a nearby fuel depot.
The group pushed all seven aircraft to safety, eventually bringing them to a spot about 200 feet away, in a parking area near the Black Hawk helicopter.
"We were all working as one team," Sorgen said. "It was a good effort by the whole base."
As the fire continued to spread toward the fuel depot, Air Force personnel briefly shut down their expeditionary operations center and evacuated to a safe location.
"It is a moment when your instinct tells you to act – without thinking," said Panamanian Air Force Maj. Danilo Cabellero, one of 14 Panamanian Air Force personnel who assisted in the operation.
Cabellero said he was pleased with the coordinated effort to move equipment and aircraft out of harm's way.
Likewise, Chief Electronics Technician (SW/AW) James Brown, an intelligence assistant with the maritime patrol aircraft operations, said he was impressed by the group's ability to rise to the occasion in the face of communication challenges.
"It just goes to show that in the face of a common enemy – in this case the fire – the language barriers break down instantly," Brown said.
The fire was extinguished at approximately 1 p.m. Its cause remains under investigation.
Fuerzas Aliadas PANAMAX 2008 participating nations include: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, the United States and Uruguay. France, Mexico, Paraguay, and Spain are scheduled to participate as observers. The Conference of Central American Armies, the Organization of American States and the United Nations will also participate.
For more news from Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command, visit www.navy.mil/local/cusns
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
