Day 25, 26 - Carries, Drags and Crawls....

Day 25 - Looking back now, by far the easiest day of three so far. We started the day with dress out drills and then a trip to the drill ground. On Air we waited for our assignment. My partner and I's assignment? Take the stairs to the fifth level and grab the weight. Away we went. On the fifth floor we found four 30 pound dumbbells. Each of us took two, one in each hand. When we got to the bottom, Captain did not want us to bring all the weight down. He told us to take a walk. We walked the course and headed back to the tower, where we carried a 30 pound dumbbell up to the 5th floor, and then back down. It was a great way to jump start the week....

The rest of the day was spent in the classroom. We discussed search, rescue, and spent some time in the gym practicing our rescue carries and drags.

PT was a little different. We did a few stretching exercises and headed back out to the drill ground. Here was the rotation:

Run up and down the tower (to the 5th floor) hitting every step along the way. Complete 20 pushups at the bottom (and on the instructors count. Back up and down the tower hitting every other step. Complete 20 more pushups. After that, jog over to the balance beam, Go up and over the fence, and then run up the ramp and down the steps (3xs). The rotation ended at the pull up bar (which I'm happy to say...I did three) and a sprint back over to the tower.

We did this entire rotation 3 times.

Day 26 - After our chores we were gathered in the classroom for announcements. Lieutenant came in and broke down the day.

We started in the gym, practicing our carries and lifts (no turnouts or SCBA). We only had to carry or drag from red line to red line (not very far). We had four stations (Extremity carry / Chair carry ; Webbing / MAST drag ; Blanket drag ; Underarm lift drag). After we completed all the stations, we were told to put on our turnouts (no SCBA). We then did the same stations, except this time we had to drag / carry from baseline to half court. After that, we had a break and headed out to the resource building.

Out at the resource buildings, the instructors had set up a mini maze for us to go through. We put in our smoky wax paper blinders and headed two by two through the maze. Captain walked us blindly to the back of the building, where we were released on a right hand search through the building. Once we had found the downed victim, we retraced our steps and head back to the beginning. My partner and I did well, and got back quickly. We got to take off our mask and see the others finishing up. Some folks really can get themselves lost.

After lunch, we headed back to the gym. We put our turnouts back on and this time...we put on our air packs. Using the same stations, we performed our drills. This time going full court. I quickly sized up my group, and grabbed a guy similar to my stature. I picked him up and hauled him all the way across the gym floor. Tired as I was, I did it. I completed the rest of the stations without much trouble...doing the chair carry twice was not much fun.

After that the ushered us outside so they could prepare the gym for our final drill. The baby rescue....

As the first few groups went in, we all sat around and chit chatted. After 30 - 45 minutes it was getting close for us to go in. I noticed that not everyone had made it out with the baby. About that time, Captain came flying out the door, saying he needed four of us in the hallway. Four of us took off for the hallway. After we got to the hallway, we all dropped down to our knees to get our face pieces ready (blacked out and all). As the doors opened for the first group to head in, you could hear the chaos. But, before I could recognize much, the door was closed. 5 minutes later the door way breaks back open and (from what I heard...remember my vision was gone) two firefighter came out pulling a third. We were called in. We both popped in our regulators and made our way. As we entered the room, you could hear was our missing firefighter's PASS alarm and his low pressure cylinder alarm. As well as the instructors yelling, basketballs being bounced around us, and other folks talking out of their voice boxes.

My partner and I headed down the main pathway. My partner was completing a right hand search. I was was on the other wall so that told me that we were in some kind of hallway. We followed it quickly. It opened up, and right at the entrance was our downed firefighter. I quickly alerted my partner and crawled over to the firefighter's feet. We proceeded to push and pull him out. The only problem was that he was on his stomach. Every time we moved them, the instructors would scream things at us. We knew we needed to flip him over, but as we attempted to flip him over, Captain told us that flipping him was not okay to do at this moment. We continued to push and pull him out..eventually getting him out.

Once everyone had completed the task, we got ready for Ralph. He was waiting for us....