| Ready Together. 👨🚒🇺🇸🪂
On July 16, 2026, West End Fire & Rescue was honored to host personnel and resources from eight partner emergency service agencies and two branches of the United States Armed Forces for a large-scale joint training exercise. Firefighters, rescue technicians, EMS personnel, emergency managers, U.S. Army Soldiers, and U.S. Marines came together with one shared mission:
Be the best we can be when our community and our country need us most.
The exercise centered on a complex airborne water insertion operation. U.S. Marine Corps aircraft transported approximately 90 U.S. Army paratroopers from a landing zone established at the West End Fire Station before conducting parachute drops over Lake Auman. Recovery teams then rapidly located, assessed, and retrieved each paratrooper and their equipment using swiftwater rescue boats before transferring them to larger rescue craft for transport back to shore—all while aircraft continued cycling overhead for the next wave of jumpers.
Supporting this operation required a tremendous team effort. Moore County Public Safety coordinated accountability, logistics, and incident support. Moore County EMS and U.S. Army medical personnel staffed a casualty collection area with ambulances and advanced life support equipment. Fort Bragg Fire & Emergency Services maintained rescue divers and rapid dive response capability throughout the exercise. West End Fire & Rescue personnel also protected the temporary military landing zone with a staffed pumper-tanker standing by for any aircraft emergency.
Despite a 103° heat index, crews worked together to keep all personnel hydrated, fed, and mission-ready. Thanks to careful planning, outstanding teamwork, and professionalism from every agency involved, the exercise concluded with zero injuries and zero damaged equipment.
Fire, Rescue & EMS training objectives included:
• Rescue boat operations
• Water rescue and recovery of persons in the water
• Landing Zone (LZ) operations
• Radio communications and interoperability
• Unified command and incident management
• Integration with regional and military resources
• Waterborne search and rescue tactics
Military training objectives included:
• Mass tactical airborne operations
• Water parachute landing procedures and equipment recovery
• Personnel accountability after airborne insertion
• Aircrew and ground force coordination
• Joint operations with civilian emergency response agencies
• Casualty management and medical evacuation procedures
Emergency Management objectives included:
• Multi-agency incident coordination
• Resource tracking and accountability
• Incident logistics and sustainment
• Operational communications support
• Incident Action Plan execution
• Coordination between local, state, and federal partners
West End Fire & Rescue extends our sincere appreciation to every organization and individual who contributed to this outstanding training opportunity. Exercises like this strengthen relationships, improve interoperability, and ensure we are prepared to respond together when our communities—or our nation—need us most.
Organizations Involved:
- West End Fire and Rescue
- Fort Bragg Fire and Emergency Services
- City of Fayetteville Fire Department
- Hope Mills Fire Department
- Cotton Fire & Rescue
- Moore County EMS
- Moore County Public Safety
- North Carolina Wildlife Law Enforcement
- U.S. Army Airborne and Special Operations Test Directorate out of Fort Bragg, NC.
- U.S. Marine Corps Tilt-Rotor Squadron 263 out of Marine Corps Air Station New River, NC. |
