YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan --
Recently I had the opportunity to spend 24 hours with the 374th Civil Engineer Squadron fire and emergency services flight. The goal was to get a look at the daily life of Yokota firefighters, beyond the moments when they are usually in front of the camera.
The job is not all about fire suits and blazing sirens. From 24 hour shifts, to staff meetings to saving lives, I'll try to share the little taste of the firefighter life that I experienced.
For the 374 CES FEF, each day begins with a shift change at roll call where the incoming Airmen relieve the outgoing from 24 hours of duty. In that 24 hours, the outgoing shift will not have been allowed to leave the fire department except to perform their job. They will have been constantly ready, day and night, at a moment's notice to drop any activity or leap out of a dead sleep to respond to distress. In those 24 hours they may have saved a home, an aircraft or a life. They may have brought a trauma patient back from the brink of death or prevented mass casualties from a burning building. Or, they may have done nearly nothing.
"A lot of people say our job is '90 percent boredom, 10 percent adrenaline,'" said Tech. Sgt. Shawn Edgecomb, 374th CES FEF assistant chief of operations. "Getting a call to respond to an emergency is what makes the 90 percent worth it."
Edgecomb has been with fire and emergency services for 10 years. I asked him what it was like when he was starting out.
"I remember when I got my first few calls and it was just someone burning popcorn or something but I thought I was out to save the world," Edgecomb said. "Over time you get used to it."
Airman 1st Class Thomas Smith, 374 CES FEF firefighter, is serving his first duty station at Yokota. I asked Smith if the job was what he'd expected when he first joined.
"For the most part, no," Smith said. "It's a lot more attention to detail than you would think. There's a lot more that goes in to it than just putting water on fire."
I saw some of that attention to detail at a meeting on the morning that I spent with the 374 CES FEF. Edgecomb reminded everyone not to store hydrocarbons with rope and other materials that it can degrade. He reminded rescuers to fill out the proper paperwork for trauma patients. There was also the detail that went into routine fire truck maintenance inspections, making sure each vehicle is fully functional and ready for use. In the truck bay, fire protection equipment is arranged close to the trucks in a specific way to maximize donning speed. Further, every one of the numerous tool in the trucks has its place and has to be ready when it is needed. The list of details that the staff have to manage properly every day stretches on.
"I think an important part of our job is never getting complacent," Smith said. "It happens: the one day that you don't check something out it catches up with you."
The morning after the meeting moved along according to a daily schedule of fire truck maintenance inspections, training and cleaning details, lunch break and then more training and cleaning details.
During training, three personnel travelled to the fire training facilities on base to practice vehicle extraction, or, different ways of opening a vehicle. They broke windows, sawed open a windshield and used Jaws of Life to cut and pry open doors. In a real-world scenario these techniques would be used to access victims trapped inside vehicles without injuring them. I wondered what it was like to have someone's life depending on your speed and precision.
"To have lives in your hands is a big responsibility," Edgecomb said, "I think that most firefighters who stick with this job do it because somewhere in their core they want to help people. They want to be the reason someone's day gets better."
Smith has his own way of thinking about the lives in his hands.
"Getting married has definitely given me a different perspective," Smith said. "Every time I think of responding to a fire, I think 'How long would I want my family to be up in that building?'"
During the vehicle extraction training, the firefighters worked together to perform their tasks. They seemed to have a good rapport, teasing and joking along the way.
"Firefighters vary, but typically we have a pretty strong bond because we spend so much time together," Edgecomb said. "A lot of people say you have your personal family and you have your firefighter family."
At 3 p.m. the firefighter family began physical training and down time. The CEF building has everything personnel need for the evening, including a gym, basketball court, kitchen, day room, bunk rooms and shower. The bunk rooms are not large but each person gets their own, including a bed, desk and wardrobe. In a corner of the ceilings sits orange strobe lights. The intercom system crackles faintly, remaining open throughout the night.
I remembered waking to loud music in Air Force basic training and tried to imagine what it felt like to get an emergency call in the middle of a dead sleep.
"It's the quickest clarity that I've experienced in my life," Edgecomb said. "We go from serene, peaceful sleep to immediately up and ready to go. It's definitely something that you learn to deal with, but that adrenaline kicks in and you're thinking 'What can I do to help? Is this the big one?'"
At the end of the day the firefighters relaxed together in the dayroom, talking and watching television. Some were scheduled to get up at various hours during the night and perform inspections around base, but there were no emergency calls that night. The next day could be a completely different story.
Edgecomb said that being a firefighter takes determination. There is no typical day at the office and one has to be flexible to deal with that lifestyle. It can get stressful, especially when dealing with victim response situations where there is injury or death.
"You have to have a certain amount of personal resiliency but you also need to fall back on your fire department family," Edgecomb said.
When I asked Edgecomb what he would remember most about the job after separating or retiring, he said that there are a billion different memories. He took a moment to consider before answering.
"I've been all over the world," Edgecomb said. "I've seen air planes drop out of the sky, buildings drop to the ground and cars mangled. People live and people die and I've been able to be there and play a part for the better. I'll remember being able to make a change in somebody's life."