Day 21 - Rain greeted us in the morning. It was a taste of what was going to come. We all gathered at 7:00 am to do our chores. Nothing unusual...moping, dusting, and such.
Once class got started, we were told to get our turnout gear and head for the gym. A few dress down drills later, and we were told to head outside. Our task? To get the drill ground set for extinguisher drills. And yes, it was raining. But lucky for us? Turnout gear is designed to keep the water out. It did its job for the most part.
We had one very large burn pan to move. It was so big that 16 of us could not pick it up safely. We did have to pick up and dump out the water. After some discussion, we decided that we needed to pull it across the ground. The problem with that was, 1. there was a short buss in the way, and 2. The ground was both soaked and not level. We found some wood that we could slide it across (making a track). After some muscle power, we got it to it's correct location. We headed inside for lunch, a little muddy, and a lot wet.
After lunch, we got back into our we turnouts to finish our drills from the day before. Again we had wax paper placed in our masks. Our first drill was to crawl up a staircase and crawl across a simulated attic. We were only four feet off the ground, but because we could not see, it made it difficult to find the the first couple of rafters. After I got the hang of it, I crossed it without much trouble.
The second drill was the entanglement tunnel. Picture a tunnel full of dangling rope and instructors above you just waiting to hook you with the ropes in their hand. But before the tunnel, we first had to pass through a studded wall WITH our gear air tank on. Easy solution, go back first. Once the tank is through the studs, turn on your side and make your self as thin and long as possible. I did just that, and pushed right through. Again, remember could not see a thing. I followed the rope to the entrance to entanglement tunnel. Once my partner was ready, we proceeded. I kept my tank against the right hand wall and again crawled on my side (a tip given to me by previous tunnel goers). Crawling like that helps keep the ropes off your tank. I did get hung up once and had to back up. After that though? No problems....I did have a rope pass underneath me and go complete around me. I don't know how that happened, but it did not prevent me from finishing. My partner joined me and we removed our face pieces to see our obstacles. The maze from the day before was nothing more than stacked wood. Nothing like I thought. And when I was crawling over the rafters? I thought I was going at an angle...no straight across. It really is strange how your mind creates images of what it thinks it is going through.
PT with Ralph was great and ended a fantastic and fun day.
Day 22 - Rain had canceled Hamilton County Schools, but Fire school was on at the training center on Amnicola. After chores we got all our gear and headed to the gym for dress out drills. After a few drills, we headed outside to the tower. We headed up the outside stairs and up to the top floor. Once at the top we headed back down through the scuttle hole and back to the C side of the tower. The sent us around to the A side and into the bottom floor. There we did a search and rescue simulation. On all fours we crawled through the dark room, following the right wall, while searching with our left. Right as I exited the building, my low pressure alarm started going off. Pretty good for climbing up and down stairs and crawling around.
The rest of the day was spent in the classroom talking about fire extinguishers. We also had our 1st EMT class during PT. I'll more or less be taking to classes and once. Fire suppression and EMT. Should be a great time.
Day 23 - Today started just like any other day. Chores and a few talks from the training staff. We were then instructed to get gear minus our air packs and head back to the gym. We got in our turnouts and headed out to the drill ground. We were divided into groups and sent on our first assignment. For this task we needed to create a fire tee-pee of sorts. Using palates, wood, paper and straw, our group constructed a stable, but very flammable burn pile.
After lunch, we tested our skills on extinguishers. This was my first time using an extinguisher. It was not difficult and not a problem.
It was fun to see the different types of fires and the appropriate extinguishing techniques. Tomorrow we have our first night drill, which means we go in at 11.
Good for me. I could use some more time.
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