It's an area the outside world seldom sees. Access is limited, for good reason. It's nicknamed the "bomb dump". More accurately it's called: the Munitions Storage Area.
I was a US Air Force Firefighter stationed at Ellsworth AFB from 1982-1984. I loved every minute of it there. I remember some of this area in the video. SAC base in the height of the cold war .
What kind of response plan did you guys have back then in case there was a fire at one of these buildings? I imagine it's just evacuate the area, set a perimeter and get out the popcorn?
I was at Ellsworth from '73 - '76. I could see the explosives depot off in the distance. Back then they stored a lot of nukes for the ballistic missiles as well as the B-52's. There was a cold war going on.
I used to stand the fence line inside the WSA when it has nukes for 8 hours no matter what the weather was...I was there from 93-1997 then after the nukes left I used to have to drive my patrol vehicle inside the WSA then lock the gate behind me and hand check every single lock on each and every one of those bunkers.... I sure do miss that place....!!!
I was at a facility out in California that manufactured items for the Air Force that's all I'll say. When I was trained at the one place they didn't really say what was being made but they said there was no two-way radios or electronic device allowed in the buildings. They mention about a building that a janitor was in and the only thing that saved him was crawling into a metal storage locker. They said he was just at the right place at the right time. The first building I walked into on patrol I let the static wire hit me took 2 steps forward and then took 5 steps backwards. I realized what was in there was C4. Found out all the buildings that C4. Went back out to the patrol vehicle put the radio in the car and took my stun gun off.
WE had a weapons storage area south of the runway at Fairchild AFB. over a mile long and with three fences around it's perimeter. The center fence was electric with enough voltage to kill a human being. The center fence sat on glass insulators and had the 45 degree barbed wire along with razor wire. Every one hundred feet on the outer most fence were signs posted that this area is a restricted area entry only by permission of the base commander. Another sign directly under it and printed in upper case red letters stated; USE OF DEADLY FORCE IS AUTHORIZED. As a Security Policeman it gave us the authorization to use deadly force should anyone attempt to penetrate the restricted area. Lights were also placed at intervals to ensure there were no dark spots along the entire fence line. We also incorporated fence sensors, ground sensors and automatic television cameras to give an instant view of the fence and alarm field. The alarm console sat in a bullet proof tower 50 feet up, giving a commanding view of the restricted area and approach paths. Of course no one ever attempted to penetrate these restricted areas, it looked formidable just just seeing the first fence. Us Security Police took our jobs serious and anyone to have the misfortune to cross where they shouldn't have found out how serious we were. We had valuable Air Force assets with-in these areas and were armed in order to prevent entry.
