YARS firefighters respond to mutual aid call Published Feb. 15, 2012 By Eric M. White 910AW/PA YOUNGSTOWN AIR RESERVE STATION, Ohio -- Youngstown Air Reserve Station firefighters supported the efforts of the Youngstown City Fire Department, Mahoning County HazMat Team and several police departments when a gasoline tanker truck rolled over along the ramp from Interstate 680 South to the state Route 711 connector Tuesday, Feb. 14. The tanker was carrying approximately 8700 gallons of fuel, leaking approximately 2400 gallons onto the ground. Fire Chief John Lewis, Captains Chris Streamo and Joe Davies, Driver/Operator Wayne Roberts and firefighters Bob Little, Bob Soles, Steve Dennis and Jeff Pandrea responded to the call shortly after 2 P.M., providing personnel and vehicular support with a HazMat truck and crash response truck. The YARS firefighters played a critical role in the incident response by providing the only on-scene vehicle capable of dispersing an Aqueous Film-Forming Foam (AFFF). The foam is designed to spread over the surface of flammable liquids, minimizing the risk of combustion and containing fumes. YARS personnel spent approximately seven hours at the incident scene, during which they spread more than a dozen applications of the foam. The applications totaled approximately 3000 gallons of water mixed with approximately 100 gallons of the AFFF material. Before workers could upright the overturned vehicle, they had to drill a series of holes in the tanker's fuel compartments so that the gasoline could be pumped into other trucks. During this process, YARS firefighters constantly applied AFFF. The response required the close cooperation and coordination of the several agencies involved. "We've trained with off-base agencies as well as them coming here for training," said Captain Davies. "Each individual call is different in nature. But once you lay down the basics, and we're constantly training on the basics, it allows us the depth to handle incidents like that."