Sigonella Seabees Support Air Ops

By MC2 Brianna Green, NAVFAC Public Affairs

As a Naval Air Station (NAS), maintaining a safe and secure flight line is paramount, and our Seabees assigned to Public Works Department (PWD) Sigonella, are indispensable in that effort as they maintain the airfield’s fire engines.

Construction Mechanic 2nd Class Codi Clippertonallen of Albord, Texas, and Construction Mechanic 3rd Class Corey Mason of Hermiston, Oregon have successfully certified as emergency vehicle technicians in maintenance, inspection and testing of fire apparatus and design and performance standards of fire apparatuses.

Though the official certification has a lengthy title, it means these Seabees have gone above and beyond to complete the extensive training necessary to maintain the NAS Sigonella Fire Department’s fire engines, the most important tools in combatting airfield fires.

“Aircraft emergencies and mishaps don’t announce themselves days in advance,” said William Casey, NAS Sigonella Fire Chief. “Ironically, one of the worst events which could occur while attempting to mitigate an emergency is for a vehicle to breakdown or not operate as designed. We rely on these vehicles as a mission critical platform to deliver firefighters and extinguishing agents to emergencies.”

As the “Hub of the Med,” NAS Sigonella sits at a strategic location in the center of the Mediterranean. The installation plays a critical role in supporting joint and combined operations across three military theaters. Not only does the air station’s Operations Department maintain and operate the C-26 transport aircraft, but hosts a multitude of aircraft to include the Navy’s Poseidon P-8 maritime patrol aircraft. Effective fire response is a mission critical pillar at any airfield.

“We attended a class in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, to get a better feel for all of our Oshkosh equipment,” said Mason, the transportation floor supervisor aboard PWD Sigonella. “After that we studied for a couple of months.”

Clippertonallen, work center supervisor aboard PWD Sigonella, explained that the tests were not easy and consisted of 120 questions with scenarios of two mechanics diagnosing an issue, and you have to select the best answer.

Luckily Oshkosh trucks are used across Seabee battalions, so though their mechanical makeup is similar, fire engines present unique challenges.

“Any bigger equipment is kind of the same, but the second portion is the firefighting portion,” said Clippertonallen. “Might as well get the UTs (Utilitiesman) to come over and fix it because it’s just plumbing, pressure and valves.”

Although it sounds simple, Mason explained that it gets complicated when checking valves and maintaining pressure for the hoses to work. Every vehicle has an engine, but add ladders and plumbing and it quickly becomes an entirely different trouble shooting process.

Even though the work is challenging, these engines are a safety requirement for the airfield to effectively operate in the event of the worst case scenario.

“This past Easter weekend, one of the trucks wasn’t shifting in the proper RPMs (revolutions per minute) when they tried to pump, so there was no pressure when they tried to pump water,” said Mason. “We came in and diagnosed for seven or so hours trying to figure it out. We were pulling stuff apart, looking at wire diagrams and found out it was just two little resistors.”

Like most resourceful Seabees, they used the resistors from another truck and swapped them out to get the fire truck fully operational.

“Our parts were coming from the States, so we had a large back order with COVID-19 then the power outage in Texas,” said Clippertonallen. “It was one thing after another, and we couldn’t get anyone certified out here, so it was left to us to get certified.”

Still, the two mechanics rely on the industry expertise from the school house at Oshkosh Defense.

“All the instructors do is work on the fires trucks, and I talk to them when I have issues that I don’t know what’s going on,” said Clippertonallen. “They’re geniuses. They go to the factory and watch it get put together. If I tell them a little problem, nine out of 10 times they can help figure it out.”

NAS Sigonella is considered a Category Four Airfield, which means it can support both small and large airframes and according to Casey, they must have three Airfield Rescue Firefighting vehicles capable of supplying 7,000 gallons of water.

“We’re extremely proud of our Seabee mechanics,” said Casey. “They put in extremely long hours under incredible pressure to keep a mission critical vehicle fleet in service. We enjoy working with them and partnering in maintaining the fire & emergency services vehicle fleet.”