Confined Space Published Oct. 20, 2011 By Senior Airman Chelsea Smith 94th Airlift Wing Public Affairs DOBBINS AIR RESERVE BASE, Ga. -- A murmuring voice heard over the radio alerted a member from the fire rescue team of his gradually deteriorating condition. "Mom, mom," the victim said suddenly in an angst-filled voice. "I need my mom!" The scene was a secluded tower hovering over a three-part tunnel system above the ground. Twelve rescue workers from the 94th Airlift Wing Fire Department worked diligently to rescue the perishing victim as part of the annual Confined Space Program Team Emergency Response Rescue exercise held here Oct 17 at the Dead Runway Fire Training Facility. The training included an exercise evaluation team (EET) and a group of rescue members placed in a simulated operation that required the rescue of a contractor entrapped in a tunnel after being lowered from a defective tripod. The contractor, voiced by Mark Berkenmeier from the base Fire Department, in actuality, was a training manikin placed in the confines of a narrow tunnel at the site. To add realism, Mark Weaver from the safety office role played an attendant who was friends with the trapped contractor. He expressed an urgency for the fire department to rescue his friend. "That's my buddy, please get him out!" "The first impulse for a rescue member is to rush in and save a person's life," said Ron Durant, 94th Airlift Wing ground safety manager. "That is when someone gets into trouble because they're not following safety regulations." The nearly three-hour exercise stemmed from directive-driven procedures mandated by the Air Force Incident Management System, the National Response Framework and the National Incident Management System, said Lt. Col. Bubba Smith, EET chief. "The training highlighted the importance of monitoring conditions when rescue operators are lowered into a confined space," said Durant. "The directives ensure all emergency agencies follow the same guidelines." On the day of the exercise, the Department of Defense civilians were tested on actual duties and responsibilities, replicating a normal rescue and recovery environment, said Smith. "This is part of on-going training," Smith said. "We normally conduct four to six exercises per year which range from natural disasters to major accidents." These exercises are designed to be stressful because there are various components such as dim lighting conditions, narrow spaces, and heavy emergency gear, which may affect the response, said Smith. To provide an all-encompassing training scenario, a four-member EET team monitored and evaluated their area of expertise to ensure regulations were upheld during the training exercise. Accompanying Smith and Durant on the EET team were Jay Kula, chief of training for Dobbins fire and emergency services and Mary Moore, a bioenvironmental engineer from the 94th Airlift Wing Mission Support Group. "We're using a multi-gas meter to measure the atmospheric conditions in the tunnel," said Moore. "If there is a concentration of contaminated air in the hole, such as Carbon Monoxide, it may deplete oxygen from the victim's system hindering the physical and mental state of that person." The observing and executing teams diligently paced through the exercise, altering exercise scenarios if training opportunities were present. "Nationwide we've lost more people trying to rush in and save an already deceased victim, and they've ended up perishing with them," said Durant. By the last hour of the exercise, the mission changed from rescue to recovery. The distinction is made in which rescue members are now tasked to retrieve a deceased body, said Durant. "We set up a lot of challenges and barriers for them," said Kula. "These exercises are scalable and we can make them as big or small as needed. If mistakes are made, we can alter the scenario to meet their training needs." As a worker's head peers above the black tunnel, he reveals a body retrieved from the tunnel, safely handing him to his fellow rescue team member. This action signals the successful conclusion of the training exercise. "These exercises aren't just drills," said Smith. "This is what would happen in real life. Working as a team through the scenario, the training went off smoothly."
