As the temperature rose upwards of 80 degrees Fahrenheit on a typical Spanish summer morning, Naval Station Rota Fire and Emergency Services (F&ES) personnel don their firefighting gear to begin live fire training drill with their Spanish counterparts.

The fire blazing from a controlled area, was reaching a heat that felt as radiant as the sun while it was simulating an aircraft fuel spill at the Spanish navy's live fire training grounds June 12, 2017.

This integrated training with both forces is typical aboard Naval Station Rota, as the U.S. and Spanish Sailors routinely train together to strengthen partnerships, become more efficient in their response and keeps lines of communication open between the forces.

The live fire drill is also an annual requirement as per regulations for F&ES to keep their fire fighters trained and ready.

"We've always trained with the Spanish," said Thomas Wiley, F&ES assistant chief of training. "We've been working with the Spanish to improve our relations and communications. We have our own training area that's just finishing construction. Once our training area opens up, we're going to invite the Spanish over to our training area to train with us."

As relations continuously improve between Naval Station Rota's F&ES and the Spanish Bomberos, the forces worked out a monthly integrated training plan which began about a year ago.

"Live fire training is a big deal," said Wiley. "It's more dangerous than the other types of training that we do and it allows us to fight simulated fires in a controlled environment. Today is probably the best ones that we've had together and eventually we want to get to a point where we're able to fully blend our crews."

The continuation of these training drills is imperative because both services are required to respond to the scene where an emergency is reported.

"We always have three priorities," said Wiley. "That's life safety, incident stabilization and property conservation. Those are our priorities but training together gives us that opportunity to work on our communications, tactics and strategies. The more we train together, the more efficient we'll be if there is a real incident."

Just as ship performs lines of operation that provide a capability, Navy Region EURAFSWA bases perform the same eight lines of operation to provide capability to the fleet, joint and allied forces. These eighth lines of operation are: air operations, port operations, safety, security, housing, MWR, Fleet and Fleet and Family Services and what is called the core: the fuels, water and power that keep the bases running. Through our lines of operation, our installations are force multipliers that maximize combat capability of operational units.



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