True blue firefighters

Coast Guard’s fire team ready for emergencies

When ammonia seeps out of a building, an oily sheen floats on the Pasquotank River or a major fire calls for area-wide assistance, Elizabeth City’s Coast Guard Fire Department is there to handle it.

The 22 civil service members of the fire department are tasked with responding to aircraft emergencies on the air strip, emergency health complaints, hazardous material spills, and general fire fighting. The unit of mostly former military members also responds to mutual aid calls.

Assistant Fire Chief William Heighter worked at the fire station back in 1980 when he began as an enlisted firefighter when the Coast Guard’s approximately 72 firefighters were enlisted. He came back in the 1990s after working at Naval Air Station Norfolk. When a blimp hangar in Weeksville burned to the ground in the early 1990s, the Coast Guard’s fire department was one of the units that responded. He said the building was ultimately destroyed, but the fire responders tried to do what they could and protected neighboring homes.

The Coast Guard’s fire department has continued to help the community. This past year, it worked on four structure fires and responded to other mutual aid calls.

Fire Chief William Myers said his department is there to give support.

“We’re actually the Coast Guard’s insurance policy,” he said.

The Elizabeth City Coast Guard’s fire department is the second largest in the Coast Guard and one of two that is designated to handle Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF), which is responding to emergencies specifically related to air craft. The shifts of seven firefighters don’t just prepare to respond to fires, but have trained for high-angle rescues and trench rescues and many have Emergency Medical Technician training or are paramedics.

The Coast Guard’s fire fighters are the closest team to Elizabeth City trained to the technician level in hazmat response. The next closest team is in Williamston which has an approximate response time to this area of two hours.

And that training has come in handy here. Sometimes the department handles small gasoline spills from the many aircraft and vehicles on base, but it’s also worked on more potentially serious cases.

Heighter said when anthrax was being sent in the United States in 2001, the Elizabeth City, South Mills and Camden post offices had some suspicious packages that his department responded to, sealed and sent to authorities.

When an ice plant on the south side of town leaked ammonia, the Coast Guard fire department sealed off the area and contained the gas. Once, a boat owner was filling a gas tank and leaked oil into the Pasquotank River. Myers said in that instance, his crew provided responders with advice on how to manage the spill.

The department has a ladder truck, which Heighter said is more of a light ladder truck for mainly tall structures. It also has an engine, three (ARFF) trucks that can spray water, a rescue truck, and a hazmat truck with a trailer.

Heighter said the Coast Guard Fire Department’s efforts aren’t just in emergencies. The fire station on air station property hosts hundreds of kids from throughout the region for educational trips.

A group of firefighters on duty Thursday morning joked about their community in the break room outfitted with a couches, TV, and kitchen.

Michael Wenthe, a lead firefighter at the department, said one of the major exciting events near their station was when the president landed at the base for the 2003 anniversary of Orville and Wilbur Wright’s flight. They also enjoyed watching the film crews for “The Guardian” film blow fake snow for a scene and the film’s stars Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher walk around base.

In the end they’re all just like any other fire department, a group of people who work and play together and are ready for anything.

“This is our family outside of our family,” Wenthe said.