It’s 1:55 p.m. on a Tuesday afternoon when a passenger suddenly collapses in Terminal C. Other travelers look in panic. What should they do? Who should they call? Where exactly are they? Of course the right thing to do is call 911 right away. 911 dispatch immediately transfers the call to the Houston Emergency Center (HEC) which makes an announcement over loud speakers positioned in every airport fire station with the exact problem, “35 year old male collapsed in Terminal C north, unconscious, faint breathing.” The Emergency Medical Service (EMS) units stationed at Houston's airports then take over and respond to the call.

© Houston Airport System EMS personnel stationed at Houston's airports are always ready to respond.

All EMS personnel in the airport are actually Houston Fire Fighters that have been trained as Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT). They make up a team known as Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighters (ARFF) which is stationed at surrounding fire stations on airport property. Each call is also dispatched to an outside Houston Firefighters Department unit in case a hospital transfer is needed.

There are a total of 140 fire fighters and four staff members that make up ARFF at Bush Intercontinental (IAH) and Hobby Airport. ARFF personnel respond to medical emergencies, aircraft alerts and fuel spills on airport property.

Hobby has one ARFF station and IAH has three due to its size. All three ARFF stations at IAH are strategically located next to runways for aircraft emergency events.

ARFF personnel know the airports inside and out. Don Hoyt, Senior Captain and Assistant ARFF Coordinator says it is vital to have this kind of service at an airport. If a person is in trouble and doesn’t know where they are, all they have to do is describe their surroundings to the call dispatcher and the ARFF team can find them.

“It is a better level of customer service to passengers,” says Joel Conwell, Program Director for ARFF.

In the event of an aircraft emergency, a crash phone system is used. The crash phone system is a dedicated phone line at each airport fire station that is also connected to loud speakers. All calls that come to the crash phone are from Air Traffic Control with the information of the aircraft event.

When responding to the aircraft emergencies, ARFF personnel arrive in crash trucks. Crash trucks are used only on airbases and are specially designed trucks that deal with aircraft fires and rescues. They come prepared with equipment such as 3,000 gallons of water and 400 gallons of foam concentrate. In the case of a fire, ARFF personnel use proximity suits that are designed for radiant heat, which allow them to get closer to the gallons of burning fuel.

Constant training and education goes on throughout the year for all ARFF personnel to help prepare for any given situation.

The training consists of EMT medical care, air crash entrapments, large hydrocarbon fuel fire extinguishment and aircraft refueling safety. It’s very important for outside training to take place at night when the airports’ runways take on a completely different look. ARFF also partners with the Houston Airport System and airlines by assisting major air carriers in various activities such as extinguisher classes, rescue classes and flight standards.

The ARFF team’s major challenge is to keep pace with new trends and strive to develop new technical standards for others to utilize at other airports.

Copyright © 2006 - Houston Airport System