{"id":427199,"date":"2026-08-08T07:38:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T07:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/427199\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T07:38:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T07:38:09","slug":"miramar-marines-recount-response-to-f-35b-crash-nbc-7-san-diego","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/427199\/","title":{"rendered":"Miramar Marines recount response to F-35B crash \u2013 NBC 7 San Diego"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Marines who responded when an F-35B fighter jet crashed<\/a> at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar are describing how their specialized training kicked in as they confronted a fire on the aircraft and in the surrounding brush.<\/p>\n

They are members of MCAS Miramar\u2019s Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting team, known as ARFF. The Marines are also firefighters who focus on emergencies on the flightline.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tA Marine Corps F-35B fighter jet crashed at MCAS Miramar after the pilot safely ejected. The pilot suffered non-life-threatening injuries. NBC 7’s Shandel Menezes reports.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cNot many people know we even exist. For those who do, in our very small community, we\u2019re very proud of who we are and what we do,\u201d said Cpl. Israel DeLeon, who served as the incident safety officer the day the jet crashed.<\/p>\n

There are fewer than 800 ARFF Marines throughout the Marine Corps, including 38 at MCAS Miramar.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, how often do you get to be a firefighter and a marine?\u201d said Gunnery Sgt. Steve Calzada, the day-of-incident commander.<\/p>\n

Master Sgt. Quay Nims, Fire Chief for ARFF at MCAS Miramar, said the job can be dangerous.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause when it’s somebody’s worst day,\u201d Nims said, \u201cthat’s the day we go to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

That training was put into action when an F-35B, one of the most advanced fighter jets in the Marine Corps, crashed on-base at Miramar on Jul. 31. The pilot ejected prior to the crash and was taken to the hospital, before the downed jet sparked a fire in the surrounding brush. There are no updates on the pilot\u2019s condition, according to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess when I walked out the building and I saw everything that was happening, that was pretty much when it was just like, \u2018ok, here we go,\u201d Calzada said.<\/p>\n

The ARFF building sits directly on the flightline. When the team receives a call, lights indicate what type of incident the Marines are facing. The F-35B crash was classified as a mishap, but many of the Marines did not initially realize how serious the situation would be.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe never know when we\u2019re going to have a training call or a real call, so when we hear our tones go off and we come out and actually see smoke, it’s more just like locking in,\u201d DeLeon said.<\/p>\n

All of Miramar\u2019s ARFF Marines were called in for the response. The base gave the team blanket clearance, temporarily shutting down the airfield and allowing the firefighters to do what they needed to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho\u2019s where, what do we got, then it’s kind of like going through the steps. What are first steps, you know, life safety, protect property. That\u2019s pretty much our two main goals, so right off the get go that’s what we\u2019re worried about\u201d Calzada said.<\/p>\n

An aircraft fire presents different concerns from a standard firefighting response, including potential hazards involving chemicals and fuel. Nims said the Marines constantly study aircraft and their components to prepare for those emergencies.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy junior Marines, they study constantly, day in and day out, to learn exactly what part of the aircraft is made out of what component, so they know what to do when the time comes,\u201d Nims said.<\/p>\n

None of Miramar\u2019s ARFF Marines were hurt during the response. The team was able to get the situation under control within a few hours, with the surrounding community watching an often overlooked team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m very proud. This is weird to say on TV, but during the debrief I teared a little bit for how proud I was of my Marines,\u201d Nims said.<\/p>\n

For DeLeon, the teamwork displayed during the emergency is something he expects to remember.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of my Marines did their job almost perfectly, all of our junior Marines did a phenomenal job,\u201d DeLeon said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the time we got the call to the time we got back, I feel like it was like a once in a lifetime experience,\u201d Calzada said.<\/p>\n

Despite how practiced the response appeared, Miramar\u2019s ARFF unit has a relatively new team. Even Marines who have been there for several years have dealt with only one or two incidents of this magnitude.<\/p>\n

This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC San Diego. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC San Diego journalist edited the article for publication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Marines who responded when an F-35B fighter jet crashed at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar are describing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427200,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[1703,74,76,75],"class_list":["post-427199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-military","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}