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Navy sailors help extinguish Guam blaze
An MH-60S Knighthawk helicopter from Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 25 drops water on a fire along Route 17, Cross Island Road, in Santa Rita, Guam on March 25. (JESSE LEON GUERRERO)
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SANTA RITA, Guam—U.S. Navy sailors and civilian firefighters partnered with the Guam Fire Department to extinguish a blaze along Route 17, Cross Island Road, in Santa Rita on Tuesday.
An MH-60S Knighthawk helicopter from Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 25 and Engine 2 from U.S. Naval Base Guam’s Fire and Emergency Services responded to the scene and provided support.
“The team here on Guam relies upon mutually supporting assets across the military and civilian sectors, to be ready day or night to respond to any number of scenarios,” said Cmdr. Gregory Leland, HSC-25 commanding officer. “Our crews train relentlessly to provide 24/7, 365 search-and-rescue capability as well as our need to provide combat-ready aircraft crews in the Pacific Command area.”
NBG FES responded as part of the mutual aid agreement between local and federal emergency services.
“We have a very, very close tie with GFD,” said NBG FES Fire Chief Robert Green. “We have the most seamless mutual aid that I’ve ever seen; we assist them when they request for it and they support us when needed. Guam is a small island and there needs to be that partnership especially for incidents like this. It’s a miracle that we didn’t have to evacuate any residents.”
Leland said the incident was a prime example of how the command is trained to respond to an event both here and abroad.
“The syllabus used to train for combat plays well into the skill sets needed to fight fires, rescue people from life-threatening scenarios and be on call for any number of unplanned events, be it terrorist scenarios, humanitarian assistance or disaster relief,” he said. “The Island Knights stand ready with our brothers and sisters in the Coast Guard, Air Force, and Guam first responders to maintain the ability to help those in need.”
GFD was the incident commander and led firefighting efforts. According to GFD spokesman
Ed Artero, the fire was extinguished as of 5:10pm. (Joint Region Marianas Public Affairs Office)
