European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 22, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday september 22, 1977 the stars and stripes Page 9 flame dowsers at Oesterberg pour it on dutch fire fighters demonstrate their capabilities with one of their pumper trucks that can douse flames with 1,600 liners of water per minute. The 44 fire fighters at the air base in Oesterberg the Netherlands compose the Only Host country brigade that is completely responsible for fire prevention and fire fighting at the base. Is Cole dutch Don Usan fire i by Jim Colo Nastaff writer Oesterberg Netherlands is dutch fire fighters at this . Air base Are considered among the Best in Europe. As a result the fire department Here operated and controlled by the Host nation holds the distinction of being the Only non . Air Force fire department to Wear the air Force fire Protection badge. According to base and Safe officials Oesterberg is the Only air base in Europe where the Host country brigade is totally responsible for fire prevention and repression. We come under our own regulations and guidelines said Peter Vonk a War rant officer in the dutch military and the base fire chief. We Are totally responsible for fire repression and prevention  the Only american on the staff is . Jack Haley who according to Vonk serves As a Liaison Between the dutch Bri Gade and the base. The dutch brigade is responsible for the flight line and the base Home of the 32ndtac fighter Wing which flies f4s. In Addi Tion it is responsible for the dutch Queen s House located near the base and four other areas around  can t even be inspected by . Inspection teams without our approval Vonk said. A request for such an inspection came up in 1974. The department agreed and the result was a letter from Brig. Gen. Edwin w. Robertson the Safe in at the time which said in part the response of the fire fighters in Alert situations was among the Best observed by this team in the previous  is proud of that distinction and also likes to show off his department which through self help has become almost completely automated. We Don t get government funds to improve our system so we have done it on our own by scrounging around and getting pieces from Here and there Vonk  were also Lucky to have one Man Here who loves to work with electronics and he developed an automated  from the control panel the operator can take a Call find out where the fire is Light a map Board on the Wall that pinpoints where the fire is and assign the men and equipment to respond to it. Smaller maps Are also available for the team to take with it. In addition a log is kept on each building which tells what function is performed inside equipment stored whether or not it is a High risk building storing explosives or other volatile goo Sand How Many people Are normally inside. Vonk credits 1st Cpl. Fred Visser with setting up the system which is near completion. We also have a current list of what air Craft Are parked where and what the status is. And we have a basement room where the control can be transferred in Case of a War. We can operate from there we have our own Generator that will provide eight hours of electricity and we have a built in automatic system connected to hangars which will be set off by heat or  system is a simplified electronics switchboard with about five Miles of wire tying it All together. Vonk said his depart ment has made diagrams of the system and is helping other dutch departments military and civilian set up similar sys tems. The brigade Here consists of three Power trucks five foam trucks capable of dispensing 30,000 liners of foam in less than three minutes and three pumper trucks that can pump out 1,600 liners of water per minute. The brigade is made up of 44 fire fighters. Vonk said there Are some differences be tween . And dutch fire fighting sys tems but generally the two Are compatible and the results Are quite Simi Lar. We Are All Here to prevent fires from stalling and to put them out when they do Start. We be been pretty successful Here. We Haven t had a major fire in about two  loss Swiss Pilot finds an Airfield Ramstein by Al Eakle Ramstein Germany lost with a wind torn map and running Low on fuel the Pilot needed a place to land. He spotted an Airfield and after waiting for the Green Light from the control Tower he  the lost Pilot  Flachsmann a state prosecutor from Basel Switzer land did t know was that the Airfield was Ramstein a. Flachsmann was on his Way Home after performing in an air show near Dusseldorf Germany in his dornier bucker Jungman 131 biplane when he became  flying Over  spotted Ramstein s runway. His radio was useless because he did t know How to Contact the control Tower but after watching five planes land he circled the base. The Tower gave him the Green Light and he landed his Small yellow biplane. After he landed ground Crews from the base s transient Alert Section snowed the bewildered Pilot where to Park his plane. He was immediately surrounded by Security police and base operations personnel. They checked his identification and aircraft registration and the nature of his emergency. Flachsmann explained to the people from base operations what had happened and they set the wheels in motion to Send him on his Way Home. Fuel samples were taken from his air plane to see which Type of aviation Gas u used. Once the biplane was refuelled Manfred ilgner of the transient Alert Section helped Flachsmann buckle in for his flight Home. The 12-Volt Battery from an air Force pickup truck was used to Start his plane after which he taxied out to Ramstein s Active runway and took off for Basel. Al Eakie is an information specialist assigned to the 66th tac fighter Wing at Ramstein a Germany and Clifford j. Almes is a photographer with the same unit. Urs Flachsmann left and Ramstein s Manfred ilgner Check position. Usan Almes