Smoke Near Spirit of St. Louis Airport? It Might Be Firefighter Training

Officials at the Monarch Fire Protection District tell us that you might not have to worry if you see smoke coming up in the direction of the Spirit of St. Louis Airport out in the Chesterfield Valley.

It's probably the result of "Aircraft Rescue & Fire Fighting" training that continues through Thursday.

Here's some of the details from Monarch Fire Marshal Roger Herin:

The training will take place on the airport grounds near the west end of Edison Avenue.  Several other fire districts and departments along with Spirit Airport personnel will be participating.

There will be two sessions each day.  The first daily session will be from 1:00 PM until 5 PM, and the second session will be from 6:00 PM until 10:00 PM.  The first hour of each session includes classroom instruction on safety and tactics.  After that, firefighter will be battling fires in an aircraft crash simulator.

Deputy Chief of Training Robin Echele stated, “This is the first year for the new aircraft simulator provided by the University of Missouri Fire and Rescue Training Institute.”  He also stated, “The evening session is most impressive when it gets dark.”  Chief Echele added that this is a major training event for jurisdictions that expect to respond to aircraft crashes, as the training is only conducted every two years in our area.