South Bend International Airport conducts annual live fire training

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- South Bend International Airport held a live fire training on Monday.

The event was held to help the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) be better equipped to put out large flammable liquid fuel fires.

Multiple controlled exercises were conducted, each involving different fuel.

“Well each fire, since we do the actual, hydrocarbon fuel and not propane fuel, the fire is going to do what it’s going to do, so it’s very realistic, sometimes the wind takes it a certain way so no two fires are exactly the same and we have the ability here to light the inside of our mock-up so we can do interior attacks as well.”

Twelve safety officers had to work to put out the dangerous flames as if they were in a real life situation.

“The real deal depending on the size of the aircraft and how much fuel they have on board, it can be significantly worse than this, so we’re trained to be as realistic as we possibly can with the resources that we have available to us.”

The FAA requires airports to hold the fire training at least once a year.