ARFF NHFA

The NHFA has a 9-million dollar Air Rescue trainer funded by the FAA People from all over the world come to this facility for training. The site has two 737 aircraft simulations. They are computer controlled by staff located in the tower. They have 35,000 gallon tank of LPG protected under a large pile of stone that supplies the fuel. The main fire pit can be controlled to have one or all of the burners working depending on the desired size of the simulation. At maximum output, the fire is fueled by 500 gallons per minute of liquid propane. Sensors in the ground turn off product flow when they have been sufficiently cooled by water. Because there are a large number of individual sensors, the the water must cool the area around each one or the spot will re-ignite from an adjacent burner. In addition to Air Rescue Firefighting (ARFF), the pit is used for liquid fuel leak training. The 737, that is not in the center of the burn pit, is named SAFT, Specialized Aircraft Fire Trainer. This simulator releases LPG vapor instead of liquid and is also computer controlled from the tower. The SAFT can simulate fires in the cockpit, baggage area, cargo area, wheel-brake, wing engine, tail engine, and aux power unit as well as the interior of the cabin. "victims" consist of heavy mannequins built from old fire hose attached to a wooden framework.