Emergency personnel from Fairchild AFB, Wash., responded Aug. 12 to a toxic gas leak in nearby Spokane that hospitalized four people at a recycling plant, according to Fairchild officials. Airmen with the 92nd Medical Group’s bioenvironmental team and emergency management personnel from the 92nd Civil Engineer Squadron assisted local agencies in responding to an accide?ntal release of chlorine gas at Pacific Steel and Recycling when workers placed an unmarked 55-gallon drum in a crushing machine, according to Fairchild officials. A yellowish-green gas released, caused respiratory distress that sent four people to the hospital. The Fairchild Fire Department personnel provided decontamination for those exposed to the gas. The emergency management group was teaching a survival course on base when it was called to the scene, SSgt. Bryan Foley, a 92nd CES emergency manage?ment member, said in a release.
An Air Force C-17 transport jet recently tested a new technology that could help aviators stay on course even if the satellite-based Global Positioning System (GPS) that much of modern-day aviation relies on is compromised.