RAF firefighters at Camp Bastion

RAF firefighters based in Afghanistan have earned lavish praise and a commendation from a United States Marine Corps General for what he described as their "bravery, courage, skill and professionalism" in helping to fight a massive fire at a neighbouring US camp.
The RAF crews, based at Camp Bastion, raced to help their US colleagues when the fire at neighbouring Camp Leatherneck threatened to get out of control. The blaze started at dusk in a storage compound that held gas cylinders, adding to the danger the crews faced. Strong winds fanned the flames which could be seem from Camp Bastion a mile away.
The first RAF man on the scene, Corporal James McInally (40) from Glasgow said, “It was absolute carnage, the flames, the smoke - the smoke was that dense that you could hardly see the American fire fighters who were actually in there dealing with it. We got our guys in to breathing apparatus and got our guys to the front.”
The strong winds continued to cause problems, reducing visibility to such an extent that at one point the men had to withdraw for their own safety. Sergeant Steve Pickston, (28), from Oldham said, “We tried to hit [the fire] from all three sides initially trying to create a fire break however, when the sandstorm hit we just had to withdraw because the conditions where unbelievable and we just had to evacuate everyone that was in our area for safety really.”
55 RAF and US firefighters battled the blaze for 16 hours throughout the night, fighting their way through the storage area container by container to ensure that the last of the flames were extinguished. An area the size of 2 football pitches was totally destroyed. No-one was injured and the base continued to operate normally throughout the drama.
Presenting the commendations Major General Richard Mills, Commander of the US 1^st Marine Division said, “ This is just a tiny, tiny token of appreciation but it is symbolic perhaps of the bravery, courage, skill and professionalism that each and every one of you exhibited that evening. I think that the highest thing that we can say is that in a situation where we could have had catastrophic loss of life because of the way you fought that fire we lost nobody. I can buy new things but I cannot buy new people.”
After the presentation Corporal James McInally said: “It was amazing that General Mills came down here today, it was something that we weren’t expecting. I think everybody can say that their heart was in their mouth, especially giving out the certificates. At the end of the day we were just doing our job and for someone to come down and appreciate that…actually coming here and saying thanks, it means a lot.”