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Show HILLTOP TIMES TIMES September 20, 2007 Airman helps keep fire Total Force Integration continues from being much worse Air Force Print News BY SENIOR AIRMAN BROCK MCCARTHY 75th Air Base Wing Public Affairs U nless someone's trying to collect on their home insurance, a homeowner's worst nightmare is probably finding out their house went up in flames. Thanks to the quick actions of one Hill Air Force Base airman, one homeowner didn't have to live that nightmare. "I was leaving my mom's house and we were coming back to Clearfield (from Hideaway Valley)," said Staff Sgt. Wayne Kahalekomo. "We had just got on Highway 89 and my wife noticed smoke coming out of a house. At first we thought it was fog, but as we got closer and drove by it, we saw the smoke coming out of the windows." As soon as he realized it was smoke, Kahalekomo made a Uturn and called 9-1-1 to give them all the information he had about the house. After he was done on the phone, he went up to the house to look in the windows and see if anyone was inside. "After I got off the phone with (9-1-1), he asked me if there was anyone in the house, so priorities started clicking; people was first," said Kahalekomo. "So I tried to find out if anyone was in there." It was at this point he realized he needed to move his car so emergency vehicles could have easier access to the house. He said as he went up the driveway he saw there was a fence with a lock on it. "I looked around and I saw a water shed, and I opened it up and saw a pick in there," Kahalekomo said. "So I used that to bust the lock off the gate so the emergency response vehicles could come right in." When he was done moving his car, he got a T-shirt from the back seat, ran back to the house and used a water hose to get the shirt wet. He then used the shirt to cover his nose and mouth. Kahalekomo said the wet cloth was a trick he learned by talking to friends who are firefighters. It is supposed to help filter out some of the smoke in the air before it enters the body. "I ran back around to the side where there wasn't fire and kicked the door in and took about five or six steps (into the house)," he said. "As I looked in I saw the living room was just engulfed in flames; there were flames on the ceiling and climbing up the walls. I yelled again, but no one answered." He wasn't expecting anyone to be at the house because he saw no cars in the driveway, so after he yelled inside, he went back to the water hose and used it to try to put out the fire on the pieces of debris that fell to the ground. Shortly thereafter, the first fire truck arrived, and Kahalekomo began helping pull fire hoses off the truck. "We were running shorthanded (that morning)," said Nathan Miner, chief of Fairview Fire Rescue, an all volunteer firefighting force. "He was an extra set of hands; by him helping pull hose off the truck, it freed up one of my firefighters to put his air pack on." Miner said that because Kahalekomo took action as soon as he did by calling the fire in and putting out the small fires that were falling off the house, it only took firefighters about 10 minutes to put out the fire. The fire was likely caused by faulty electrical wiring between the basement and first floor, he said. W ASHINGTON, D.C. — The Air Force announced the addition of Dangly Field Air Guard Station, Ala., as well as other initiatives, to its evolving set of Total Force Integration efforts at a recent event at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala. Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley said the move is part of the service's Total Force Integration effort designed to cement more than 680,000 active duty, Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve Airmen and civilian employees into an even more capable and efficient Air Force. "While we're fully engaged in conflict on a global scale today, our efforts to revolutionize the Air Force are critical to forging an Air Force with the capability and capacity to dominate all its warfighting domains across the spectrum of 21st century conflict," Moseley said. The general also announced the historic re-designation of Dannelly Field's 160th Fighter Squadron of the Alabama Air National Guard as the 100th Fighter Squadron. The famed "Red Tails" of the 100th Fighter Squadron, members of the Tuskegee Airmen, distinguished themselves in combat in Europe and the Mediterranean during World War II. The Air Force will create an active association at Dannelly Field with the 187th Fighter Wing, which includes the newly re-designated 100th Fighter Squadron. The wing will continue to have principal responsibility for the F-16 aircraft while incorporating active-duty Airmen into the unit. Moseley said the Air Force would continue the active association at the 169th Fighter Wing at McEntire Joint National Guard Base, S.C., and announced the establishment of active associations with the 482nd Fighter Wing at Homestead Air Reserve Base, Fla., and the 301st Fighter Wing at Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base in Texas. He also announced plans to expand the active associate community basing effort with Vermont Air National Guard's 158th Fighter Wing. In the city of Burlington, active-duty Airmen are garrisoned at an Air National Guard location without the support functions traditionally provided on an active duty installation such as housing, medical care, a commissary or a base exchange. Instead, Airmen access these services in the local civilian community. ; "The Guard has primary responsibility for the aircraft and the active-duty Airmen come in and associate with them to craft '•• and create a unit that will be more capable than either of them could do as cost effectively by themselves," said Maj. Gen. Charles E. Stenner Jr., assistant deputy ; chief of staff for Strategic Plans and Pro- \ grams. jj Moseley also announced the Air Force j will consolidate Air Force Reserve Com- \ mand officer commissioning programs ! with the active-duty Officer Training \ School at Maxwell AFB. \ "We see common commissioning programs as another way to cement the bonds between our future Total Force officers," ] he said. "By starting them on a path toward a career of service to the Air Force and • our great nation, there will be no seams between Airmen of different elements." j The last announcement made during the ceremony involved the moving of the i Eagle Vision 6 deployable satellite downlink ground station to its permanent home, at the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Ala! Eagle Vision interfaces with seven commercial imaging satellites download- j ing high-quality radar and electro-optical pictures used by military, state and nation* al leaders for disaster preparedness and j homeland defense. ' The move is part of a joint venture with a nearby Army intelligence unit to take full advantage of the Eagle Vision 6 capabilities. Air Force personnel will train Army intelligence personnel to derive imagery from the station which can be used to further examine disaster aftermath, battle damage or to aid in rescue operations stateside and abroad. "We are a Total Force that has been at war now continuously for 17 years in the Middle East and other crisis spots around the world," General Moseley said. "We've learned some tremendous lessons over that time and we're using those lessons to shape the way we organize, train and equip our service." Helicopter Rides Sat. from 1-4pm BySilverstate Helicopters Corn Maze Haunted Maze Cow Train Giant Slides Hay Jump Hay Maze Paint Ball Shoot Pig Races Animal Swings Farm Store Pumpkin Patch Hayride Animal Alley Concessions Corn Cannon Corn Box Coal Mountain Bon Fires Magic ;"• Mondays.(fcl.iiDS0 Qli'z/'[DJJ|)°Field of Screams Helicopter Rides 801-774-MAZE CORN MAZE & COURTYARD Adults $10 Kids $8 HAY RIDE Adults $8 Kids $5 Mon-Thurs: 4pm - 10pm Fri: 4pm - Midnight Sot: IQam - Midnight 3187 S. 3000 W. 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