Exercise trains for real-world emergency Published June 26, 2011 By Senior Airman Amber R. Kelly-Herard 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq -- Airmen from the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing Safety Office, 332nd Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron and 332nd Civil Engineer Squadron Fire Department worked together to accomplish a confined space exercise. The exercise was conducted June 18 on the flightline at Joint Base Balad. "We held this exercise to get hands-on experience in case a real-life emergency happens," said Tech. Sgt. Christopher Smith, 332nd AEW Safety Office program NCO in charge, who is deployed from Minot Air Force Base, N.D. "They have a plan, but now they have an idea of how to initiate it and recover personnel." The scenario for the exercise involved two maintainers who had become unconscious while fixing an F-16 fuel gadget. "The F-16 has very tight quarters and is a hazardous environment for fumes," explained Staff Sgt. Brett Schofield, 332nd CES Fire Department firefighter, who is deployed from Travis AFB, Calif. Sergeant Schofield is a native of Midland, S.D. In addition to hazardous vapors or gasses, in a real-world situation, another incident that could have happened in a fuel gadget is the oxygen level could have decreased. Once another maintainer found the two Airmen unconscious and could not get them out, the Fire Department was called and they responded. They pulled the Airmen from the simulated fuel gadget and started initial medical treatment. "Both the firefighters and maintainers did fairly well, I'd give them a passing grade," said Sergeant Smith, who is a native of Jackson, Miss. To further prevent this type of scenario, maintainers usually have a monitor that watches the fume levels and they wear respirators. These exercises are held quarterly to maintain rescue skills.