Description
Respond to aircraft crashes, airfield fires, and aviation emergencies to rescue occupants and suppress fires involving aircraft, fuel, and airport structures. Provide rapid intervention, emergency medical care, hazardous materials control, and fire prevention on and around runways, hangars, and flight lines.
- • Respond to aircraft alerts, crashes, hard landings, fuel spills, and airfield fires.
- • Deploy foam, dry chemical, water, and clean agents using ARFF vehicles, turrets, and handlines.
- • Dress in proximity firefighting gear and SCBA for high-heat aircraft incidents.
- • Assess aircraft hazards and report size-up to incident command and air traffic control.
- • Approach aircraft upwind and uphill, considering fuel flow, ordnance, and egress routes.
- • Drive and operate ARFF apparatus, pumps, HRET booms, and foam proportioning systems.
- • Position vehicles to protect egress paths and establish rescue corridors.
- • Create aircraft access by forcing doors, cutting fuselage, or using piercing nozzles.
- • Rescue and extricate crew and passengers from cabins and cockpits.
- • Provide triage, first aid, and BLS/ALS; manage mass-casualty incidents.
- • Secure aircraft systems by shutting fuel, batteries, engines, and hydraulic power.
- • Select and apply foam concentrations appropriate for fuel spill and pool fires.
- • Contain and mitigate hazards from jet fuel, hydraulic fluid, oxygen, lithium batteries, and composites.
- • Establish and maintain communications with ATC, airport operations, and dispatch.
- • Coordinate with mutual-aid fire, EMS, police, and crash recovery teams.
- • Ventilate aircraft and hangars and manage smoke using fans and natural openings.
- • Patrol crash sites to locate and extinguish hot spots and prevent reignition.
- • Protect property and evidence and preserve the scene for investigation.
- • Conduct pre-incident planning and inspections of runways, hangars, terminals, and fuel farms.
- • Provide fire prevention education to flight line and hangar personnel.
- • Participate in ARFF drills, live-fire pit training, and full-scale exercises.
- • Maintain proficiency and certifications in ARFF per FAA and NFPA standards.
- • Prepare incident, patient care, and after-action reports.
- • Maintain a high level of physical fitness through regular training.
- • Clean, inspect, and service ARFF vehicles, tools, PPE, and foam systems.
- • Test hydrants, water supplies, and agent resupply and proportioning systems.
- • Maintain awareness of aircraft types, egress points, and hazards such as ejection seats and slide deployments.
- • Control crowds and traffic; establish exclusion zones and initiate runway closures.
- • Inspect airport facilities for fire code compliance and test alarms and suppression systems.
- • Stand by for takeoffs, landings, refueling operations, hot brakes, and emergencies.
- • Maintain contact with dispatchers and request additional resources as needed.
- • Train and mentor new ARFF firefighters in procedures and equipment.
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Tasks & skills:
O*NET occupational data (work activities, skills, knowledge).
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Last reviewed: Jan 2026
