By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A Hutchinson Community College Fire Science instructor explained how the aftermath of an accident like the one that claimed the lives of Kobe Bryant, his daughter and seven others works from a firefighter's perspective.
"It's mountainous terrain, so first is access," said instructor Jason Holland. "The Fire Department will have access problems in certain situations, like you saw yesterday with that helicopter. The other thing that we have to deal with are the different types of materials involved with the aircraft, as well as the fuels that are carried on board."
That's in addition to any active fire the crash may leave behind. In fact, there was still smoke in the background later on Sunday.
"Sometimes that smoke is a result of the lighter metals that the aircraft potentially could have, like magnesium or titanium," Holland said. "They're combustible metals and sometimes they're hard to get out, because, when you put water with it, they react and it makes the fire bigger. It's a unique challenge presented to those firefighters, for sure."
The brush fire that was started on the hillside where the crash took place presents its own challenges.
"We have the ability to drive our vehicles into these fields here in Kansas because they are flat," Holland said. "In California, we have what they call the wildland-urban interface. We've got grass on mountains and hills and cliffs and canyons and things like that. The fire departments out west, their firefighters are trained not only for structural firefighting but wildland firefighting, as well. They'll actually get out of their apparatus and hike up the mountain with backpacks. In their backpacks, they have hose bundled together. That's called a progressive hose lay. They'll hook to their truck down below, they'll hike up the mountain, stretching their hose as they go."
Though the fog Sunday morning may have contributed to the accident, it also may have assisted in making at least the underlying brush less combustible when the accident happened.