MOD civilian keeps British bases in Afghanistan free from fire

Composed of a mix of civilian and military staff from the Defence Fire and Rescue Service (DFRS), the RAF and the Royal Navy, as well as contract fire services, the role of the DFRMO is to deliver cost-effective and sustainable fire risk management to the MOD and to provide an operational fire and rescue capability in support of military operations worldwide.

In Afghanistan the organisation is responsible for ensuring fire safety for all British defence locations as well as working cooperatively with other nations in large multi-national sites such as Kandahar Airfield and Camp Bastion.

Nik Green is a Divisional Officer with the DFRS and is currently undertaking a six-month deployment to Afghanistan as theatre fire officer.

He explained his role:

"I am the theatre fire officer so I am interested in everything from Kabul right down to the southernmost patrol base and everything in between.

"Typically the majority of my time will be spent at Bastion but then to ensure that I cover all of the facilities I'll move around theatre and liaise with the Quartermasters or the fire representative within the military; they have a remit to ensure all the buildings are adequately maintained and fire extinguishers are maintained accordingly - emergency lighting, fire detectors, that sort of thing - and ensure that training takes place."

Nik Green did a similar job in the Balkans and Iraq and said that while not perhaps as exciting as fighting fires, fire prevention is the raison d'être of his position.

He said:

"My whole ethos and posture is one of fire prevention. I think we are the best agency to prevent fire because we are regarded as fire professionals. We understand the consequences of fire.

"Typically the issues in theatre are largely that we are working in austere conditions and the opportunity for fire is far more prevalent in theatre because the military eye is very much fixed on the ball and quite often the issues that present themselves for accidental fire to propagate itself are very, very commonplace; I'm talking about general housekeeping, smoking, electricity, that sort of thing.

"Largely the military are very good at maintaining a safe environment from fire and what I'm really there to do is provide top cover for them and provide them with support and to provide solutions to ensure they are adequately equipped to deal with fire."

Under Nik Green's command are RAF Fire and Rescue personnel who will travel around locations such as Patrol and Forward Operating Bases to ensure that everything is being done to minimise the risk of fire in conditions that often fall far short of Western standards. He continued:

"What is typically happening is we are occupying buildings that are local infrastructure and they won't have any fire protection measures installed.

"So we have to provide them with something that ensures that at least when they are sleeping and are more vulnerable they get early notification if fire does occur.

"We had a fire recently at CP [checkpoint] North and were very fortunate that no one was injured and that has accelerated the programme to ensure we are covering all eventualities."

In Camp Bastion the role of the UK firefighting and prevention effort is even more crucial with so many personnel, land vehicles and aircraft offering ample opportunity for a potentially devastating fire.

Despite the international make-up of the camp it is the British fire resources that provide the lead, working collaboratively with the US Marines contingent:

"We will react to anything within the wire at Bastion, including Camp Shorabak [Afghan National Army (ANA) camp], Leatherneck [US Marines camp], and Camp Barber [US Army camp], the whole lot, and although we are different nationalities the Commander of Bastion has an overarching interest in everything that sits within the wire," said Nik.

"We have at our disposal five fire appliances, the Americans have got two plus two small ones, and together there is a mutual aid agreement and one emergency number."

To deal with the ongoing expansion of Camp Bastion a new fire station has recently been created, and, in order to relieve the pressure on the International Security Assistance Force, members of the ANA are being trained on fire appliances and the methods of fire prevention.

The aim is to train the soldiers to man and run a domestic fire service modelled on the RAF system for the Afghan Army's Garrison HQ at Shorabak.

The first trainees were put through their paces at Bastion Airfield in Autumn last year with ten students, including two Sergeant Majors, on the course. The plan is to train 100 soldiers over ten courses.

The soldiers were taught how to fight different types of fire - domestic, fuel and electrical - and then given practical training in tackling a blaze.

Commenting on the training, Force Fire Officer Warrant Officer Jack Ashworth, said:

"The Afghan Army Fire Chief thought the training was very productive, very well-received. He was very complimentary and said that that's how he'd like the training to go in the future."

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