THE BONDSTEEL BULLET
December 2013
NEWSLETTER
Last year
firefighters
responded to 193
emergency calls
Most common fire
hazards they see
are people “daisy
chaining” their
electronics.
Issue 9
THE BONDSTEEL BULLET
The Bondsteel Bullet is produced for
civilians and military personnel on
Camp Bondsteel.
Contents of this publication are not
necessarily official views of
Multinational Battle Group-East or Area
Support Team Balkans.
MNBG-E Public Affairs Officer
Maj. Wencke Tate
4th Public Affairs Detachment
The Camp Bondsteel Fire Department conducted quarterly UH-60 Blackhawk training
with the assistance of TF Aviation on Aug. 14, 2013. (Photo by U.S. Army Sgt. Samantha
Parks, 4th Public Affairs Detachment)
Fire Safety
Story by Ardian Nrecaj, Public Affairs Specialist
Everyday we see firefighters at Camp
Bondsteel driving their big fire trucks to
the dining facility or the gym. The reason
they do that is in case of an emergency
call, the requirement for them is to
respond anywhere on the base in seven
minutes; their average response time is
three minutes.
Jon Stanescu, a fire chief at Camp
Bondsteel, said that they are prepared to
respond to any emergency.
“We react to aircraft emergency,
vehicle, medical, wild land like bush fires
around and outside the base,” said
Stanescu.
Last year firefighters at Bondsteel
responded to 193 emergency calls.
“The two leading ones [calls] I would say
are structural, including alarm
activations, and hazardous material
spills,” said Stanescu. “We respond to
make sure it’s no more an emergency
and then we turn it to HAZMAT guys who
do the clean up.”
Stanescu said that Camp Bondsteel has
never lost a whole facility to fire.
We are probably the only contingency
operation [that can say that], especially
for this long of an operation,” said
Stanescu.
Executive Editor
Capt. Randy D. Ready
Layout design/Editor
Ardian Nrecaj
Staff Writer
Ardian Nrecaj
“It’s a joint effort between people
practicing good fire prevention and
informing us so we can respond to fires
while they are still small. We are still
maintaining that record after 14 years
now.”
Stanescu emphasized the role of fire
prevention, knowing the reporting
procedures and knowing where the fire
extinguishers are play a role to their
favorable statistics.
POC for this publication is:
Ardian Nrecaj, DSN 781-3467
[email protected]
“Camp Bondsteel has
never lost a whole facility
to fire.” – Fire Chief Jon
Stanescu
Stanescu said if there is a fire the
detector should be able to alert anyone
inside to evacuate the building. After
being alerted, if the fire is small enough,
they should grab the fire extinguisher
located on the outside of the building
and try to put out the fire.
“At the press shop [in June 2012] a
couple of soldiers were doing just that
from the doorway,” said Stanescu. “They
could not get into the room but they
could open the door and shot
extinguishers, which kept the fire
contained in that room. When we got
there we put it out, so it was a very good
joint effort.”
Stanescu also warned if the fire looks too
big for a fire extinguisher you should not
attempt to put out the fire and simply
evacuate the area in accordance with
the posted fire procedures.
Continued on page 4
Firefighters at Camp Bondsteel
throughout the year have
unannounced simulated situations to
test their readiness. (Photo by U.S.
Army Sgt. Angela Parady, 121st Public
Affairs Detachment)
THE BONDSTEEL BULLET ● Page 1