There was a fire station on the airport grounds, but it was a normal
city
station, not specifically for the airport and certainly not dedicated to
supporting the fly-in. I don't know if it had a separate door for letting the
trucks onto the airport itself, or if the fly-in had a means other than calling
9-1-1 to summon the fire department. If the answer was "no" to both questions,
that means that the summons for help would have had to go through the 9-1-1
dispatcher and the trucks would have had to drive around the outside of the
airport to the nearest gate. If so, it would explain the reported six-minute
reaction time.

But considering that the air show itself was about to start, I would be
surprised to discover there wasn't a fire/rescue vehicle standing by. You'd
think the fly-in's insurance would have required it.



Good question Ron...

Having witnessed 2 crashes at airshows already (Blue Angels F-4 at Lake
Charles, LA in 1974 and an FM2 Wildcat at Houston in 2003) its
something I'll definately be looking for in the future. I don't
remember much about the 1974 crash, other than the noise and fireball.
The FM2 crashed about 4 miles to the southwest of Ellington Field and
the airport fire trucks went by me and out the gate at 70+ mph.

I think I'll be adding a decent-sized fire extinguisher to my
spectator-control equipment this year. A cotton and spruce gilder would
go up like a torch if a cigarette landed on it.

Harry