Southeast Asia
When I was in charge of crash rescue in Southeast Asia, we had the busiest runways in the world. The crashes were continuous. We had arresting barriers on taxiways. The reason is that the pilots would sustain battle damage and try to make it back to Thailand to avoid popping out in Vietnam and become a POW. It was not unusual for the fire crews to working a crash on the runway, and another aircraft declare an emergency and crash on the runway. We lost a lot of crash rescue firefighters in SEA. Weapons were a constant exposure. Also the mortar attacks would create fires in weapon-laden aircraft, POL facilities, and structures at the same time. The young USAF Firefighting SEA gained more experience in a week that most firefighters get in a lifetime.
During the TET offensive, we lost the entire fire department of 50 firefighters (all on alert status) and 11 vehicles from sappers. Some of the boys died in their hand line compartments on the 0-11A/Bs. I had some pictures, but destroyed them out of respect for the deceased families. I didn't want the photos available. Even the official ones were destroyed. It was reported that we dropped more bombs in Vietnam, than in WW2. I flew over South Vietnam after the US military left, and we turned over operations to the South Vietnamese. The C-5A, and other US cargo aircraft that were re-supplying the South Vietnamese, pilots were complaining about the lack of adequate crash/rescue support, and I made a tour of the country with Air America (CIA). That's another story, but on that tour we flew over most of South Vietnam and it was totally pockmarked with water holes from the number of 500# bombs that were dropped. I learned later that they were used as fishponds. They didn't waste a thing. They won the war on their determination and resolve. I should say, they didn't win the war; our politicians gave it to them. Oh yea! A B-52 could carry 48 each 500lb bombs, and I can remember watching B-52s, fully loaded, taking off from Utapao, Thailand one after another around the clock, and that didn't include the B-52s from other bases i.e. Guam, Diego Garcia, etc
C-5As are difficult to conduct a rescue on due to the height. One crashed on take-off from Ton-sun- aut (Siagon) at the very end of the war in 1975. They were evacuating children. Over 300 kids perished in the crash, with a full load of fuel. Overloaded? Going in and out of Saigon was a terror. The passenger aircraft took off and landed like fighters to avoid small arms fire. They would set on the end of the runway, rev the engines to over military authorized power, release the brakes, and "up-up-and-away".
Credit should be given to those crash-rescue-firefighters who gave there all in the support of aircraft rescue in SEA. They deserve whatever credit that can be bestowed upon them. They worked hard under demanding conditions to protect USAF crews and resources. Yes and offer special accolades to those who made the supreme sacrifice in the crash rescue career field to save the lives of others and the property of America. They were there when called upon without reservation or compromise to their personal safety. The aircrews came first. I can attest that they served with honor and endangerment to their own welfare. They were true heroes. I am proud to have been among and part them. They sought no special recognition or privilege. They faced a very trying task without fanfare. All firelighters owe allegiance to those who served and died so that others might live. It is
a true man that puts his life on line for another person without any concern for reward. These young men served with due honor in SEA and their professionalism was a matter of respect by those whom they protected. The exemplify the achievements of these heroic dedicated men to assure that they get the recognition so justly deserved. The highest number of non-flying USAF troops killed in SEA aircraft support functions were firefighters. God Bless Them. I would be proud to have any one of these men in my fire organization. They have been tested, tried and proven.
Love of the Aroostook
I never forgot the people. They are some of the finest in the world. My friends consisted of Kempton Giggey of Fort Fairfield. He and I used to fish and hunt the Allagash before the spoiled it by turning it into a Wildlife area and bring alls kinds of people to the haven. Jim Leighton, who was the Fire Chief in Limestone, and the Loring hospital engineer, Jim Toussaint, who worked for the Civil Engineering office, Dean Soucy, who owned Deans Hotel in Portage Lake, and many, many more. They all treated me as family, not as a newcomer. I would have stayed in Loring except for them damn long cold winters, and the offer of a promotion. I still communicate with the people who bought Dana West's camps on Fish River Lake. Oh yea! another one of my cronies was Sleepy Atkins, supervisory game warden for Allagash country. Kemp Giggey's wife still lives in Fort Fairfield. I often brag about the full life, and kindness of the people, of Northern Maine. One of the Loring firefighters, the first in the total USAF to go on flight pay with the H-43B firefighting helicopter, married a local girl, and stayed in Aroostook County. He was the County or State Fire Marshal. His name was Bob McMann. I heard he was also a politician in Caribou.Yes! I learned to build canoes in Fort Fairfield. Kemp Giggey taught me. I broke Jim Toussaint's arm in a drunken arm wrestling match at a local bar. I still have a 25-1/4 inch, 5.25-pound native brookie that I caught in Fish River Lake. It is mounted and proudly displayed over my bar. So you see, even though I left Aroostook County, I still dream of a feed of small brookies and fiddleheads, along the Aroostook River or on the bank of Chamberlin Lake. I enjoyed the use of a log cabin we constructed on the Aroostook River, west of Highway 11, south of Ashland into a very small village, which I cannot recall the name of. Then a couple of hours by canoe, in white water to the cabin. Kemp died, and his wife sold it to a Maine State Senator. I met him at Deans Hotel Bar one night in 1980 on a retirement trip to my second neighborhood. One spring, before those damn bugs were out, we put a canoe in at Northeast Carry on Moosehead Lake, and spent a week making our way to the Town of Allagash. It was a very memorable trip. As you can now see, I am indeed proud to be second hand heritage from Aroostook County. Many a Sunday I sat on the stairs of a little country store in Caswell, drinking cold beer, and watching the Mic Mac Indians going to the fields to pick taters. You could always tell the price of taters by the number of potato house fires that occurred that winter.1961Fatal Fire
In the spring on 1961, a fire at Capt Haskell home on 13 Cobb Drive claimed the lives of his family including infant twins. Capt Haskell was a pilot on a B-52. Fire Chief Eugene Courtemanche remembered fire department members passing the infant to him from a front bedroom window, and he tried to breathe air into it lungs. He got that stale dead air return and knew that there was no life remaining. However they did try for a long time. The crews did an outstanding job by laddering and removing the children. The mother was rolling around on the grass/snow in front of the house and the father was on the door canopy. He had broken out the upstairs front bedroom window were the kids where. He had cut an artery in his wrist on the window glass and blood was flowing down the front of the house. This was before the apparatus arrived. There was no fire upstairs. If he had not broken the window, we would have had a chance. When Chief Courtemanche got there, he opened the front door to see if a rescue was possible. The entire first floor was engulfed and rolling around the ceiling. He couldn't get in. he closed the door to avoid creating an oxygen draft to the upstairs area. The life loss was the twins and boy and a girl. The boy was eight and a girl about five. The two oldest were found alongside there bed without any burns whatsoever. It was
a chilly night because Chief Courtemanche remembers giving the mother my jacket.
The front window was broken and fog applied to the downstairs area, which knocked the fire right down. The fire started in the kitchen near the fuse panel box. That is where the mother kept her wastebasket. Both were smokers and she was noted for emptying the ashtrays before retiring.
There were two lines advanced. A 2/12 to the front, reverse lay to hydrant, and a 1 1/2 to the rear hot line from the 530B and more water came from the 750, however very little water was necessary. The 750s laid a straight 2 1/2 in or a double reverse 2 1/2 out. Because of the common attics in the row housing, the fire department favored a double reverse out for two purposes. One: If the fire breached a single unit we were in a position to limit the fire spread, and secondly, they could tie in the pump to assure adequate pressure, support additional hose lines, allow second response pumper to lay from the original pumper, to assure at least one operational line in the event of a rupture, to assure a controlled even flow pressure with relief valve. Bottom line: they had it covered for all eventualities, which was necessary in harsh climates with combustible row housing.The 750 pumper, first arriving truck, laid two 2 1/2 inch hose lines, but only used one. The hose loads were so configured that it was a divided bed. You could lay two lines simultaneously or the entire load as a straight lay. With the newer large capacity/diameter hose, I would revise the hose beds. Also I would consider 1 3/4 pre-connect hot lines. I would still lay a large capacity supply line, with the two "hot" lines' Why? Manpower. One man, with a fog nozzle, can manipulate a single smaller line. Whereas it takes two or three to advance or control the larger capacity hose lines.
The larger, 3-inch hose lines would serve as supply lines similar to a flexible above ground water main. I am a great believer in high-pressure fog. For example a truck with 500 gallons of water, two-¾ inch hard rubber pre-connects, a 600PSI piston or rotary gear pump, with minimum tools, short ladder to reach second level only. Fast response chassis, etc. experience factor and logic: It is designed for small building fires. If the fire has not vented itself, small quantities of high-pressure streams broken down into minute water particles. These small water particles absorb the heat, turning the water to steam, which penetrates into all areas extinguishing the flame. Quick knock down. Have you ever noticed that when you arrive at a fire scene the smoke is black? When you apply water it turns to steam (white smoke), that's what extinguishes the fire. Steam is probably one of the most efficient extinguishing agents available. It is used on ships in the unoccupied areas. The rational of the high-pressure fast response vehicle is that. High-pressure fog can be used on any type fire. If the fire has not vented itself, one man per hose line can apply fog. Applying water through as many windows/openings as possible as fast as possible from the exterior. The high-speed truck can be there before the major units and upon arrival you are prepared for any type situation. Usually when a fire has vented itself, the life is already gone and the structure is damaged beyond repair. The slower major truck can be manned with two men. Just enough to lay big lines and make hydrant connections. The three men from the fast response vehicle will then transfer to the major truck. And man the bigger lines if necessary. The secret is to get there as fast as you can to prevent venting; apply the least amount water (to prevent water damage) necessary to confine the fire and/ or allow entry for search and rescue operations. With limited personnel, high-pressure fog is an appropriate extinguishing agent for any type fire. The major vehicle is the back up. This policy is ideal for volunteer department as the first two or three arriving firefighters can "scat" with the smaller unit and be in operation in a minimum time frame. A tanker can serve as a nurse vehicle to the "fast response high pressure unit" to provide continuing operations. It is extremely rare that a hard suction hose is ever necessary. By that time the fire is out. I have only seen a hard suction used twice in 60 years. and both times it was from a river to wet down a dump fire. Nothing critical.Brush of Death Fishing Trip
I liked Fish River Lake. At that time there was no roads. The only way I able to get there was by floatplane out of Portage or by a day's trip in a canoe. There was falls en-route. We would have to portage around the falls. There was an old Fordsom tractor there. Remember NO ROADS. The men had to raft that damn tractor in on white water. Many places had to be cut out of he woods. The river is too low for motors except on the side of a canoe. We used 7.5 Evinrude. We would place insurance on them each year because sure as hell you would break a couple of legs off the unit.Before heading into Fish Lake, we would call Dean at Portage to check what the tractor needed for repairs. One year it needed a magneto. Kemp and I spent two weeks trying to locate a magneto. We finally found one in Washburn. Bought it off of a farmer. We hauled that damn thing to the falls. Oh yea the radiator leaked so badly, I would have to run alongside of it pouring water in it. There was a fallen down "wardens camp" at the falls. Well it took that stubborn assed Kempton Giggey two days to change the magneto and get the contraption running. I've got movies of one contented old bastard by the name of Giggey setting on that tractor with a big shit eating grin. We spent the night in the dilapidated cabin. We used skids behind the tractor to portage the canoes and provisions around the falls. We would stop at Round Pond to catch wild minnows for bait. You could get an old French woodsman to go into the woods and make you a cabin, without windows for less than $200.00. The problem was getting a 99-year lease from the paper company. We used to leave our canoes and other materials scattered at different sites so as they would be available when we needed them. In those days nobody messed with someone else's gear. Oh no! It just wasn't done. One time I flew in from Colorado to fish the Aroostook River with Kemp. There were others going in. I said that I hadn't run a canoe on the Aroostook for a couple of years, so I didn't want to haul passengers. I would take the provisions. I caught some salmon on the way in for supper. There was some kind of newspaper reporter/photographer on the trip. I cooked the
salmon and he kept asking stupid questions. I hadn't unloaded the canoe. I said to Kemp that I would go up to the fork at Chase Brook and catch some fish for breakfast. Well halfway up it got too dark and I decided to return to camp. I had forgotten the streams details. Well low and behold as I made the turn the motor bracket broke and the motor fell off.
Being half stoned (booze), I jumped over the side to save the motor. What a mistake. I tied to hold the motor with one hand and the canoe with the other. I ended up loosing both. I got under some "dry ki" and couldn't get any air. I thought I had bought the farm. I took a breath and WALLA, fresh air. I dragged myself on the bank. I thought that I could make it to a wardens camp, I couldn't. I was loosing consciousness. Meanwhile back at the camp, the news guy was bugging everybody concerning my welfare. Kemp told him that I was Ok. He insisted that he go look for me. Kemp got pissed. He said that I would pull the canoe up on shore and let him pass. He reiterated that I could take care of myself and would show up the next morning. In reality, I was dying from exposure. The woods are very quiet at night. You can hear an outboard motor, when it loses its bite in white water, for miles. It was Kemp looking for me. I had no way to signal him. All the gear, and canoe were in the bottom of the river. For some unknown reason, I whistled and Kemp heard it. He flashed a light, and saw me. He wrapped me in his jacket, (it was below freezing) and put me in the bow of the canoe and took me back to camp. The "dry Ki" had beaten my head up pretty bad, but I was happy to be alive. They gave me a few belts of booze, and put me alongside the stove. I can remember the face of a young fellow, who had dropped in for the night, he was indeed shocked. We spent the next day recovering what gear we could. The canoe had bent around a rock and was totaled. My fishing gear as gone. The next day the warden had heard of the incident from the crew that had spent the night with us, and dropped in to see how we were doing. He had recovered my tackle box. If it weren't for that persistent news guy, I would have perished.