If you happen to see a large fire and smoke at Spirit of St. Louis Airport the next three days, don’t worry! The Monarch Fire Protection District is hosting Aircraft Rescue & Fire Fighting (ARFF) training at Spirit of St. Louis Airport Tuesday, September 17 through Thursday, September 19. 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, firefighters 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.