More than 600 gallons of water drop from above, targeting what could be a fast-moving wildland fire. It’s all part of a training exercise designed to prepare crews for real emergencies at the Pohakuloa Training Area.
The backpack on the firefighters serve a purpose—when there is a wildland fire on the Big Island it involves lava rock. If they were to drag hoses across the lava rock it would sever those hoses, it would split them making the hoses inoperable.
“And then we’re going to try to coordinate aerial drops to slow down the head of the fire and the flanks of the fire,” said Capt. Steven Coloma. This training at Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA) extends to much more than just PTA personnel. “In addition to the military that trains here, we get a lot of our first responders that’s including HPD and as well as our Hawaii Fire Department as well,” said Lt. Col. Tim Alvarado.
As Alvarado said it’s not just military training. “We do quite a bit of state missions, such as any natural disasters,” said Sgt. Kevin Antolin. “So we’re talking hurricane hurricanes, wildland fires, multiple of different scenarios, like even the lava missions as well.” But the everyday work is the truly critical aspect Pohakuloa provides for its neighbors.
