KADENA AIR BASE, Japan –
The 18th Mission Support Group along with the 18th Civil Engineer Group and 18th
Medical Group conducted a triennial fuel spill response exercise here April
15.
The exercise not only met the Defense Logistics Agency requirement to
practice worst case discharge every three years, it also allowed the wing
inspection team to look over the plan and determine if there were any areas
needing improvement to make the process more streamlined.
"The first year
we did a fuel spill exercise here it was a small spill from a vehicle, and then
the next year they ramped it up to a larger spill where it was 6,000 gallons of
fuel released," said Maj. Dan Walton, 18th Wing inspection planner. "This year,
we looked at the worst case scenario which would be an earthquake cracking one
of our fuel tanks and dumping half a million gallons of Jet Propellant 8 fuel in
22 hours into the culvert and ravine areas."
Airmen and civilians
responded with fire trucks, patrol cars and equipment needed to assess, contain
and clean up the simulated 333 gallons of fuel being dumped per
minute.
During the exercise, Airmen from the 18th Logistics Readiness
Squadron worked with contractors to check the initial responses of the fuel farm
and contacted the 18th Civil Engineer Squadron firefighters. The firefighters
quickly assessed the situation, donned their masks and turned the handle to
transfer the simulated cracked tank to an undamaged storage tank.
18th
Security Forces members worked with bioenvironmental Airmen to determine the
proper protective equipment and distance needed to safely work near the
simulated spill and set-up security cordons. Afterward, the 18th CES fuel
response team worked with 18th LRS to pump the water, which represented the
fuel, out of the culverts to be transported and properly disposed of.
"We
couldn't handle a spill this large without the other people," said Master Sgt.
Benjamin Powell, 18th CES firefighter assistant chief of training. "We couldn't
do it without the training as well and these kind of events help our people
understand this is why we do it and why we train like this."
After the
physical part of the exercise, they continued in the afternoon with a tabletop
exercise discussing how they would contract out the clean-up and get the message
out to the local populous. The exercise allowed the wing to streamline their
communication and let them know who to go to for particular concerns.
"I
think it was a good thing to make this a wing inspection instead of being unit
specific so we can get better and stronger as a wing," said Powell. "It gives
the program visibility to the wing commander so he can make the whole process
better, the environment better and make our Airmen
safer."