The firefighters assigned to the state’s largest airport haven’t had time to settle in to their newly refurbished station house.
That was readily apparent on a visit last week to Station 22, strategically situated amid the maze of runways and taxiways at Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field.
No personal touches were evident, either in the six bedrooms or the two offices. In fact, the firefighters haven’t unpacked all their gear from the move last month.
They have been too busy preparing for and undergoing a Federal Aviation Administration aircraft crash and fire response inspection.
But the new digs have not gone unnoticed.
“It’s very nice,” said fire Capt. Calvin Pearcy, who has been assigned to Station 22 for 11 years and heads the station’s C Shift, which also includes engineers Glenn Davies, Anthony Franklin and Kenon Saine.
The Little Rock Municipal Airport Commission awarded a $2,092,500 contract last August to Flynco Inc., a Little Rock general contractor and construction management company, to do a major rehabilitation of Station 22, which supports the unique aircraft rescue and firefighting functions of the dozen Little Rock Fire Department personnel assigned to the airport.
The station is housed in a 15,300-square-foot building built in 1990 and situated north of the terminal with quick access to the runways and taxiways that constitute the airfield. It features a four-place bay to shelter the station’s four fire trucks, three of which are huge models designed specifically to respond to aircraft crashes and fires, and the firefighters’ living quarters and offices.
The scope of the project included a complete demolition of the interior and reconstruction of the living quarters and offices, installation of a new fire-suppression sprinkler system, a new roof, replacement of the vehicle bay doors and other improvements.
It was time for the remodel, said Wayne Craft, the battalion chief assigned to the station.
“It was just an old fire station,” Craft said in an interview as he helped conduct a tour of the new station last week. “Twenty-four (hours) a day, seven days a week. You’ve got that constant wear and tear.”
Some of the wear and tear had gone beyond normal, even for a fire station. The skylights above the room where the firefighters slept leaked when it rained. As a result, mold was becoming a problem. In the truck bays, birds flew in and out, using the opening underneath the roof to nest and often leaving other evidence of their stays.
Firefighters spend a lot of their time in the station house, and that is especially true for Station 22. They are dispatched far fewer times than their colleagues “outside the fence.” On average, they are called out once a week, mostly for medical emergencies, either in the terminal or on airline flights diverted to Clinton National for that reason, Craft said.
The last fatal crash on the field occurred on June 1, 1999. American Airlines Flight 1420 with 145 aboard, on arrival from Dallas, overran the runway in a severe thunderstorm. The pilot and 10 passengers died.
“We may not have the level of runs the stations outside the fence do, but I feel that our level of responsibility is way above what the others are,” Pearcy said. “We’ve got hundreds of people in a can flying and landing every day.”
Their training also is far different from other firefighters, focusing on FAA regulations that govern their responsibilities. Aircraft crashes are not fought the same way as structure fires. The fire trucks hold 1,500 gallons of water, but the firefighters primarily use it to mix with foam, which is the primary agent firefighters use to fight fires involving aircraft. The trucks also carry a load of a powder-like substance that is used to smother fires.
The differences with other stations also extends to the communications system. The first call to respond to an aircraft in distress comes from the air traffic control tower, not Little Rock central communications, which dispatches firefighters to structure fires. A dedicated line between the tower and the station is set up to where any one of four red telephones in the station can be used to immediately talk to controllers. Any discussion is broadcast on speakers throughout the station and to the airport’s administration office and communications center. Given the training that they must undergo, the firefighters,says Craft, are most proud of a new feature in the remodeled fire station - a dedicated training and class room. Before the remodel, the station’s day room, which the firefighters use to watch television and relax, doubled as the training room.
“You train constantly for something you don’t want to happen, but you know eventually will,” Craft said.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 05/28/2013