FORT CARSON, Colo. — A military construction vehicle from Alpha Company, 52nd Brigade Engineer Battalion, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, works on fire prevention and mitigation breaks on Fort Carson March 30, 2022. The 52nd BEB entered a partnership with the fire department to assist with fire prevention measures and provide a training opportunity for its Soldiers. (Photo by 1st Lt. Zade Koch)
2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team
4th Infantry Division Public Affairs Office
FORT CARSON, Colo. — A Soldier with Alpha Company, 52nd Brigade Engineer Battalion, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, inspects work on fire prevention and mitigation breaks on Fort Carson March 30, 2022. The 52nd BEB entered a partnership with the fire department to assist with fire prevention measures and provide a training opportunity for its Soldiers. (Photo by 1st Lt. Zade Koch)
FORT CARSON, Colo. — Through the cold and windy days of late Colorado winter, the Fort Carson Fire Department partnered with the 52nd Brigade Engineer Battalion of the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team to proactively control fires on Fort Carson. In March 2022, 3rd Platoon, Alpha Company, 52nd BEB, dug through mud and frozen ground to improve over 4 miles of fire access roads in the Fort Carson training area.
Fire access roads are wide dirt roads, which allow the Fort Carson FD brush trucks to quickly navigate the training area in case of an emergency.
Anticipating the upcoming dry, hot summer months, the department realized that many of the existing fire access roads were unusable due to erosion or overgrowth. The FCFD recruited the unique engineering capabilities of the 52nd BEB to repair the roads.
FORT CARSON, Colo. — A Fort Carson Fire Department vehicle is parked at a fire prevention dig site as a soldier with Alpha Company, 52nd Brigade Engineer Battalion, 2nd Stryker Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, walks toward digging equipment on Fort Carson March 30, 2022. The 52nd BEB entered a partnership with the fire department to assist with fire prevention measures and provide a training opportunity for their Soldiers. (Photo by 1st Lt. Zade Koch)
3rd Platoon, Alpha Company, is an engineer support platoon in the battalion, and is typically combat support focused. They are trained in using their heavy machinery on a battlefield to build obstacles or fighting positions, so the transition to support the fire department was a natural fit.
While road maintenance was outside the ordinary for 3rd Platoon, it presented an excellent training opportunity. The platoon’s horizontal construction engineers used their grader, high mobility engineer excavator, and bulldozers in occasionally unfamiliar ways while working on the access roads.
FORT CARSON, Colo. — A Soldier with Alpha Company, 52nd Brigade Engineer Battalion, 2nd Stryker Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, uses a military bulldozer to build fire prevention and mitigation breaks on Fort Carson March 30, 2022. The 52nd BEB entered a partnership with the fire department to assist with fire prevention measures and provide a training opportunity for their Soldiers. (Photo by 1st Lt. Zade Koch)
“It was good training. I learned a lot and got hands on with the dozer,” said Pfc. Gabriel Collins, with 3rd platoon, Alpha Company, 52nd BEB.
March is only the beginning of a sustained partnership between the FCFD and the 52nd BEB that is expected to last through July. FCFD Deputy Chief Mitch Van Dyke has prepared an ambitious plan to prepare Fort Carson’s training area for the high-risk summer months.
Bravo Company, 52nd BEB takes over the fire prevention mission in April and plans to build on Alpha Company’s success.
The 52nd BEB’s partnership with FCFD strengthens ties between the installation and 4th Infantry Division assets, provides unique training to Soldiers in the 52nd BEB, and makes Fort Carson a safer place.
FORT CARSON, Colo. — A Fort Carson Fire Department vehicle is parked next to a military bulldozer from Alpha Company, 52nd Brigade Engineer Battalion, 2nd Stryker BrigadeCombat Team, 4th Infantry Division, on Fort Carson March 30, 2022. (Photo by 1st Lt. Zade Koch)