ROMULUS -- It's an unsettling sight for passengers
landing at Detroit Metro Airport: Fire trucks and
ambulances, lights flashing, racing toward the runway.
Last year, airport emergency crews scrambled out to meet
arriving planes well over 100 times.
The number of runs that turned out to be emergencies?
Zero.
Such is the life of the 57 members of the Detroit Metro
Airport fire/rescue service, who stand ready to deal with
catastrophes that may never happen.
"We end up going to the runways on the average of about
once every other day," said Craig Carnell, the fire chief at
Metro Airport. "Probably 199 out of 200 times, we're not
needed. But that's what we do."
As year after year passes without major problems, the
airport fire and rescue department can feel a little like
the Maytag repairman. But Carnell said the memory of two
commercial airplane crashes at Metro in 1987 and a third one
in 1990 prevents any complacency. The crashes killed 175
people and were the last fatal airline accidents at Metro.
"We're there ready to face any challenge if we're
needed," Carnell said.
The department handles calls at both Metro Airport and
county-owned Willow Run Airport, about five miles west of
Metro.
In 2004, fire department crews were alerted to 185 runway
incidents with only two actual problems, both at Willow Run.
The two cases involved private planes with landing gear
problems. No one was hurt, and the emergency crews weren't
needed.
The vast majority of local emergency runs are at Metro,
where 522,531 airplanes took off and landed in 2004 compared
to 113,938 at Willow Run.
Chris Klinke, a former financial adviser from Royal Oak,
has seen firsthand how quickly airport crews respond at the
first hint of a problem.
Klinke, 35, said he was flying into Denver several years
ago when his plane was met by numerous fire trucks. None of
the passengers was aware of what was going on until the
plane came to a stop at the end of the runway.
"You see those fire trucks, and you start wondering
what's going on," Klinke said. "It does freak you out a
little bit."
Passengers eventually were told the flight crew suspected
a hydraulic problem could have disabled the airplane's
brakes. It turned out the emergency crews weren't needed.
Carnell said most runway deployments involve
malfunctioning instrument lights or someone reporting that
they smell smoke in the aircraft. The pilots notify the
control tower, which alerts the fire department.
In 2001, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered
Metro Airport to keep a driver behind the wheel of an
aircraft fire and rescue truck at all times after the
airport's emergency crews failed three tests that year.
The problem was quickly corrected by Metro officials
after dispatching procedures were changed.
All but four of the 57 firefighters at Metro Detroit are
certified paramedics. Besides being specially trained to
respond to airplane crashes, they handle fire and medical
emergency runs on the airport grounds at both county
airports.
This includes responding to automobile accidents and
medical emergencies in the terminals.
In 2004, the department had a budget of $5.3 million.
It's comparable in size to the Royal Oak Fire Department,
which has 65 full-time firefighters, a budget of $6.5
million and made 5,113 runs last year.
Carnell said his firefighters have had special training
to deal with airline crashes with huge amounts of aviation
fuel.
The department has equipment to handle those crashes,
including trucks that carry water and foam.
One truck has an aerial spout with a piercing tip to
puncture a hole in a burning plane so that water or foam can
be pumped into the cabin.
"Nobody else is as ready as we are for a major incident,"
Carnell said.
"If it has to happen, this is a place for it."
The airlines say it's important to know emergency crews
are available if a problem arises. They all have policies
for pilots to notify air traffic controllers if they suspect
any malfunction.
Northwest Airlines, the biggest carrier at Detroit Metro,
had about 400,000 takeoffs and landings in 2004, about 75
percent of the operations at the airport.
"The safety and security of our customers is our
paramount concern," said Tim Rainey, Northwest's senior vice
president of flight operations and system operations
control. "During the course of operating a daily schedule
... of departures from Detroit, out of an abundance of
caution, from time to time our pilots call upon the fire
department to stand by when a flight develops an irregular
condition,"
The requests are almost always precautionary, Rainey
said.
Carnell and others say they understand why some might get
upset at the sight of flashing emergency lights along a
runway.
But Michael Conway, a Metro Airport spokesman, said
passengers should feel safer when they see the emergency
trucks.
"When people see emergency flashers out at the runways,
they shouldn't be concerned, but reassured that airports
have firefighting and paramedic professionals poised to
respond on a moment's notice," Conway said.
You can reach Joel J. Smith at (313) 222-2556 or
jsmith@detnews.com.
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