Redmond firefighters took part in two days of live-fire training at Roberts Field, this week. Deputy Fire Chief Jeff Puller says they contracted with an outside company to bring in a training prop - a replica nose and body of a plane, originally built for the Air Force. They lit up the fuselage so firefighters could practice putting out the flames with the specially outfitted Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting (ARF) engine. "If there is an emergency, where a plane comes in and catches fire, they’re going to respond to that aircraft," says Puller,
"And, their primary goal is to put that fire out and create an exit for passengers to get off the plane. Using the training, that they learned here, they learn how to position using the wind, using their water and using their foam, to create that exit way and put the fire out on the plane."
While there's never been a commercial aircraft fire at the Redmond Airport, Deputy Chief Puller says there have been fire incidents on smaller planes. And, fire crews respond to all kinds of incidents and potential emergencies - two in the past month involved emergency landings by commercial jets. Both planes came down safely and didn't report any injuries.