Aircraft Emergency Procedures PDF (Miami Fire-Rescue)

Aircraft Emergency and Airport Mutual Aid Procedures PURPOSE To provide City of Miami Department of Fire-Rescue (MFR) employees with guidelines for responding as mutual aid to Miami International Airport and mitigating aircraft emergencies. POLICY Aircraft Emergency If an aircraft emergency occurs w...

Aircraft Emergency and Airport Mutual Aid Procedures PURPOSE To provide City of Miami Department of Fire-Rescue (MFR) employees with guidelines for responding as mutual aid to Miami International Airport and mitigating aircraft emergencies. POLICY Aircraft Emergency If an aircraft emergency occurs within the limits of the City of Miami the Alarm Office will dispatch: • • • A Class 3 Assignment (EOM 2-2) Hazardous Materials Team Battalion Chief The Fire Central Information Office (FCIO) can modify the dispatch based on information received by the Alarm Office. Whenever an aircraft or other major emergency has occurred or is expected to occur within the limits of the City of Miami, the Alarm Office will sound the tones in all stations. Only those units dispatched will acknowledge their response, other units will prepare for possible dispatch or move-up assignments. Airport Mutual Aid Miami Fire Department units may respond mutual aid to aircraft emergencies at the Miami International Airport. The normal dispatch for Airport Mutual Aid is: • • • • • A Class 3 Assignment (EOM 2-2) Hazardous Materials Team Technical Rescue Team Battalion Chief Additional units may also be requested There are six recognized rendezvous points for entrance into the airport (see attached map): 1. Central Boulevard: Terminal entrance from Lejeune Rd., just prior to overpass. 2. South East Gate: Perimeter Rd. across from tank farm at approximately N.W. 16th St. (McLaughlin Dr.). 3. Red Road Gate North: Red Road and N.W. 36th St. (next to new GAC Terminal) 4. Red Road Gate South: Red Road and South Perimeter Road. 5. West Gate: 2650 N.W. Perimeter Road on the west side of airport. Enter from 67th Av. and N.W. 36th St. or 67th Av. and N.W. 25th St. 6. Southwest Gate (NW 68th Ave. & 18th St.) FEBRUARY 2019 Page 1 of 5 EOM /Article 3 / Section 4 Aircraft Emergency and Airport Mutual Aid Procedures Responding units will proceed to the rendezvous point designated by the Alarm Office, and must wait there for an escort vehicle. No apparatus will enter the airport or cross runways or taxiways without an escort vehicle, and no apparatus will pass the escort vehicle unless signaled by them to do so. Escort vehicles will be WHITE in color with a yellow blinking warning light on top. If arrival times permit, responding units should be escorted as a group. Later arriving units must wait for the return of the escort vehicle. Miami Fire Department Units will report to the Airport Incident Commander (IC) and follow his/her instructions. PROCEDURE Scene Operations Modern aircraft • • • Can weigh over 800,000 pounds when fully loaded Have heights greater than 65 feet Carry up to 60,000 gallons of fuel. The primary hazard associated with aircraft accidents is that fuel will likely be released and ignited. A secondary hazard is that fuels released but not ignited could subsequently be ignited. For aircraft rescue and firefighting there are too many variables to establish hard and fast rules. Therefore, in addition to standard firefighting practices, the following are guidelines and information to consider when combating aircraft emergencies. • On arrival, or as soon as possible, the IC will advise FCIO of the following: o Location and direction of crash o Type of aircraft (civilian, military, passenger, cargo, large, small). o Condition of aircraft (i.e. burning, occupied, etc.). o Exposures involved or in danger. o Additional assistance needed. o Command Post Location. • The first Incident Priority is Life Safety (EOM 1-1) and the first arriving unit(s) should take appropriate action to accomplish this goal. o Consideration should be given to providing an escape route for surviving passengers by using foam to cut and maintain a path through flammable liquids from escape doors to a safe place outside the burn area. o If foam is not available, use large volumes of water to open and maintain the path. • Many aircraft cabin materials can produce high concentrations of toxic gases when heated, whether or not open flame is present. Therefore, the use of full PPE and SCBAs are required when engaged in rescue, firefighting, and overhauling operations. • Foam is the extinguishment method of choice, but if not enough foam is immediately available large amounts of water are acceptable. FEBRUARY 2019 Page 2 of 5 EOM /Article 3 / Section 4 Aircraft Emergency and Airport Mutual Aid Procedures • • • • • • • • • • • • Spray streams are generally more effective than straight streams in applying foam or water and offer better personal protection when fighting liquid fuel fires. Spray patterns may be set initially on wide angle to reduce the heat and flame and then reduced to 30 degrees to attack the fire. Whenever compatible with the evacuation process, it is best to attack the fire from the windward side. If multiple hoselines are in use they should attack from the same general direction to avoid pushing fire at one another. Protect aircraft fuselage from direct flame impingement. o The survivable atmosphere inside an intact aircraft fuselage involved in an exterior fuel fire is limited to approximately 3 minutes, and this will be reduced considerably if the fuselage is fractured. o Burn-through of a fuselage directly exposed to flame will occur in approximately 6090 seconds. Advance an attack line inside the aircraft as quickly as possible without interfering with the escape of passengers. Provide ventilation as quickly as possible, as most victims killed in survivable crashes die from smoke inhalation. If possible, ventilation should be coordinated with the placement of attack lines. If there are no apparent survivors consider adopting a defensive mode of operation, protecting personnel and exposures. Virtually all aircraft have fuel tanks of various types in the wings; some also carry fuel in the center wing section within the fuselage. Aircraft can also be equipped with auxiliary tanks attached to the wings. These may detach in an accident. Penetrating nozzles can be used to combat hidden fire in: o Common attic spaces o Large open cargo areas (belly) o Sidewall areas Composite materials are commonly used in the construction of modern aircraft and can present the following problems when damaged, cut, or burned: o Emission of toxic gases. o Sharp particles of composite materials can become airborne and be ingested into the respiratory system and cause skin injuries. o Composite materials can absorb other byproducts of combustion, and then enter your system by skin injection or inhalation. Keep flammable liquid spills covered with an unbroken foam blanket to prevent ignition or reigniting. Provisions must be made to acquire large amounts of foam required for this. If using water be careful to monitor the spread of fuel. Fuel should be directed to an area of containment free of ignition sources where it can be safely removed later. Fuel should be kept away from exposures, power lines, sewers, drains, waterways, etc. The impact of an aircraft into water can rupture fuel tanks and lines. Therefore it is reasonable to assume that fuel will be floating on the water surface. FEBRUARY 2019 Page 3 of 5 EOM /Article 3 / Section 4 Aircraft Emergency and Airport Mutual Aid Procedures • • • • • • • Always have a backup team in full PPE ready with a charged hoseline to protect personnel working inside a spilled flammable liquid area. Large aircraft may require ladders to reach exit doors or to access the wings, and jumbo jets may require aerial ladders. Door size and operation vary greatly on aircraft. o Modern aircraft with a door sill higher than 5 feet usually have an inflatable evacuation slide, which can inflate and extend outward with considerable force when an armed door is opened. o Doors on pressurized aircraft generally are “plug-type” doors, which push in slightly before opening outward or upward. o Doors on unpressurized aircraft generally open outward, and can be opened from inside or outside the aircraft. Hydraulic rescue tools and power saws can be used for forcible entry, but this type of entry into a modern fuselage is very difficult and time consuming. The best place to cut is in the upper fuselage area above the windows, using the wings as a platform to work from. o This is because large aircraft have: ▪ Numerous high pressure lines that can cause injury or death if cut or broken. ▪ Enough electrical power running through their power lines to electrocute a person. ▪ Oxygen cylinders onboard that can explode, become missiles, or accelerate the spread of fire. ▪ Numerous wires, cables, tubing, and structural members o The upper fuselage area is normally clear of such features Extreme caution must be used when operating spark-producing power tools where flammable vapors might exist. Do not allow any overhaul operations to take place until investigative agencies give their permission, unless needed to suppress fire; and take care to preserve in place aircraft parts, baggage, debris, etc. Military Aircraft • • • Use extreme caution with military aircraft as they may have ejection seats, unspent ordnance, high explosive bombs and rockets, etc. If appropriate a defensive mode, including unmanned lines should be considered. The blast and fragmentation radius for high explosive weapons range from a minimum of 400 ft to a maximum of 1000 ft, with a recommended evacuation area for non-firefighters of 1500 ft. The possibility of an atomic explosion from the detonation of a nuclear weapon or warhead involved in fire is virtually nonexistent. The dangers from a nuclear device come from the high explosives it contains, and radiation from its components. FEBRUARY 2019 Page 4 of 5 EOM /Article 3 / Section 4 Aircraft Emergency and Airport Mutual Aid Procedures 1. Terminal Entrance. On the main entrance to the Terminal Building, from N.W. 42nd Ave. (Le Jeune RD.), westbound at the overpass. 2. Southeast Gate. East side of the airport, approximately at the intersection of Perimeter Road and N.W. 16th St. 3. Enter at the intersection of N.W. 36th St. and 57th Ave. and proceed Southbound to the gate East of Bldg. #841. 4. Red Road. Gate South. South side of Airport, at Red Road. (N.W. 57th Ave.), and approximately N.W. 14th St. 5. 2650 N.W. Perimeter Rd. (One block North of N.W. 25th St.) 6. Southwest Gate. On the S.W. corner of the Airport, just South of Bldg. #706, at the point of access from N.W. 16th St. into the AOA FEBRUARY 2019 Page 5 of 5 EOM /Article 3 / Section 4