Air Guard firefighters welcomed home from Iraq

BANGOR – A group of firefighters from the Air National Guard’s 101st Air Refueling Wing returned home Wednesday after spending four months in Iraq training hundreds of firefighters in the Kirkuk area.

The six men, who work at the base’s fire station, flew into Bangor International Airport on a commercial flight Wednesday afternoon, glad to be home after spending much of their time in a war zone with 120-degree Fahrenheit weather, Staff Sgt. Philip Hamm of Glenburn said Wednesday.

The group consisted of Hamm, Tech. Sgt. Norman Harrington of Bangor, Staff Sgt. Ben Donnerstag of Bangor, Senior Airman Kyle Milan of Bangor, Master Sgt. Gregory Jordan of Waltham and Tech. Sgt. Ryan Murray of Fairfield.

They were met Wednesday by fire engines from three area fire departments. Hamm is a firefighter-paramedic with the Bangor department, and Donnerstag is a captain in Hermon, where a yellow ribbon was tied around the station to welcome him home.

Levant, a sister department to Hermon, also sent an engine.

Hamm said he planned to catch up with his family, particularly his 22-month-old son, who he was worried might not remember him.

“He came right to me,” Hamm said of his son after returning home Wednesday. “He’s eating french fries right now.”

While stationed in Kirkuk at a U.S. Air Force base, the group provided fire protection and emergency medical services, as well as trained local firefighters with the assistance of an interpreter, Hamm said.

“They really wanted to be better at what they did,” he said of the Iraqi trainees. “We’ve probably trained a couple hundred guys.”

The 506 ECES fire station at the air base consisted of 39 soldiers from Delaware, Kansas, Arkansas, Tennessee and Maine.

Weather in the area was “cooling off” to a little more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit when the Maine group left, said Hamm, who plans to return to work at the end of October after spending some time relaxing with his family.

“I’m going to get caught up,” he said.