DVIDS
Photos and story by Sgt. Mike Pryor, 2nd Brigade Combat Team 82nd Airborne Division Public Affairs
As a firefighter in eastern Baghdad’s Sha’ab area, Esam Darwesh sees it as his job to respond whenever fire threatens a building in the neighborhood – even, it turns out, when that building is the heavily-fortified base for hundreds of U.S. paratroopers.
Darwesh and his team from the Sha’ab Fire Station responded to put out a blaze at Combat Outpost Callahan – home to the 82nd Airborne Division’s 2nd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment “White Falcons” - after a generator overheated and started a fire Sept. 27.
The quick actions of Darwesh and his fellow firefighters helped prevent the fire from getting more out of control and potentially damaging equipment or endangering lives, said Hinckley, Ohio-native Capt. Dennis Marshall, the White Falcons’ Headquarters company commander.
“I would have to say that the Iraqi fire department really saved the day for the White Falcons,” Marshall said.
The fire started early in the afternoon, and within minutes it was blazing. Flames licked 15 feet in the air, and thick, dark smoke billowed up into the sky. Paratroopers stationed at a base several miles away said they could see the smoke rising above the horizon.
“That thing was really burning,” said Marshall.
Paratroopers had rushed outside immediately with fire extinguishers, but the extinguishers were no match for the intensity of the blaze. The fire was still raging when the welcome sound of fire truck sirens was heard. The Sha’ab fire department had arrived.
The firefighters jumped out and went to work. Paratroopers helped them unspool the thick fire hoses from the truck and work the kinks out of them. When the spigots were turned on, the hoses puffed out as the water raced through them and came bursting out in a jet that immediately sent sizzles of white smoke into the air when it hit the fire.
Slowly and methodically, the firefighters brought the blaze under control. As a couple of firemen wrestled with one of the hoses, Sgt. Luis Amencuza, of Los Angeles, ran over to help. He grabbed a section of hose and the three of them worked together to put out the fire.
Soon the fire went out, leaving the hulking, ashen remains of the generator standing in a pool of foam and water.
As paratroopers poked through the remains to see what was salvageable, Marshall said he was impressed with the professionalism of the Iraqi firefighters.
“They did an outstanding job,” he said.
Darwesh, however, said he and his men were just doing their duty.
“If there is a fire and someone is being hurt, it is our job to go and put it out. It doesn’t matter if it is U.S. or Iraqi. For us, every fire is the same,” he said.
Photo captions:
- Iraqi firefighters extinguish a massive blaze that started after a generator caught fire at Coalition Outpost Callahan in eastern Baghdad?s Sha?ab neighborhood Sep. 27.
- Hinckley, Ohio, native Capt. Dennis Marshall, commander of Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, radios up a damage assessment while Iraqi firefighters try to extinguish a blaze that started after a generator caught fire at Coalition Outpost Callahan in eastern Baghdad?s Sha?ab neighborhood Sep. 27.
