I was going to be ready for today's class. Friday's class. Arrive early enough to speak with either Firefighter Warren or Captain Larson about what exactly needed to happen with the class before we started and at the end of day clean-up activities. The list of class leader responsibilities were helpful, but I needed some more specifics and some clarification on things. I was able to track down FF Warren and get what I needed to at least get started on the right foot for class. I found out who on the list of candidates was actually supposed to there. I was just trying to find out who on the list had dropped out, so I could get a good number for who was absent. I also found out that one person had come early in the day to complete their training and another was sick, which wasn't expected at all.
A few of us who were early worked on our knots and chit chatted getting to get to know each other a bit more. This last part was the better of the two.
Each class begins with turn-out and air pack drills. One time today, I was kicking it only to have it pointed out that my pants were still down around my ankles. Usually, when I'm "kickin' it," it's because I've forgotten some part of the ensemble--my helmet or my Nomex or I've put the regulator on before my helmet strap can get underneath it. If I'm fast, it's usually because I've done it wrong.
At Station 4, we broke up into three teams to do a rotation of evolutions (I think that this is what the captain is saying). My team's first evolution was hydrants. We reviewed the steps we had gone over before in the previous hydrant sessions and took it to the next step, where we going to drive to a hydrant. Finding the hydrant is the first task and we had some trouble finding the hydrant we were supposed to be at. This time instead of talking and walking it through, we were actually grabbing the hydrant tools--4-inch adapter, gate valve with 4-inch adapter and hydrant wrench--walking purposefully back to the rear of the engine to grab the flat webbing that is attached to the 4-inch supply line, and dragging it towards the hydrant. Wrap the supply line around the hydrant to form a "U" shape and step on the end to hold it making sure that you are out of the way if the hose somehow gets caught on something and give the GO signal to the engineer. If you can't see the engineer, use your radio. Once the first coupling at 50 feet hits the ground, you can turn your attention to getting the adapter and gate valve put onto the hydrant, and getting supply line connected. The gate valve goes onto the port facing away from the fire to allow another engine to attach and be able to feed the water that way.
The second station we rotated to, was to run 1 1/2" pre-connect to a building and entering the building. We reviewed how the planning is done on the engine in-route to the scene. The available crew is broken up into two teams: Team A and Team B. Our passports, small 3/8"x1 1/2" pieces of plastic with Velcro on the back and our names on the front are passed to the officer of the engine who places them on small placards for each team. This is an effective, low-tech method of keeping track of who is where at the scene. Replacing our passports, which are kept on the front of our helmets, are engine or truck emblems that are attached to our helmets to help command know which team each team member belongs.
Team A, in this case, was going into the building, while Team B was going to be pulling pre-connected hose and gathering tools. Both teams have their air packs on while exiting the engine. Each member checks for aerial obstructions and power lines above, dangerous conditions below, and traffic side to side as they exit. Team A heads directly for building and "masks up" to prepare for entering the building. Team B is pulling the pre-connect hose from each side of the engine in a way that allows all of the pre-connect to be pulled from the compartment and gives Team A plenty of working length to attack the fire within the building. One pre-connect is set up to attack and the other is set up for backup protection at the door. As Team A enters the building, one member of Team B assists in feeding the hose used in the attack and the other member of Team B is at the ready with the backup hose facing the door.
After the simulated attack, the engineer shut off the pump and we discharged the pressure on the hose to begin taking it all apart and loading it back onto the engine. Now, the engine was set for the next group in the rotation and we moved onto the smoke building.
The smoke building is a 40-foot shipping container set up as a typical residence. It has a living room in the front, a kitchen with island, a bathroom and a bedroom in the back. There are three possible victim dummies used in our training: Firefighter Steve, Scuba Steve and Baby Steve. These dummies are placed in various locations by the training staff to train us to look everywhere when we do our searches. Oh, there is a smoke machine in the back that puts out enough smoke to make visibility impossible. Due to time constraints, we were only able to get an overview tonight. Tomorrow, we get to do the searches.
Tuesday night's clean-up process was chaotic at best, so tonight I gather the team first and we decided on who was going to do what in the clean-up. Garbage, sweeping the bays, vacuuming all carpets, cleaning all air packs and masks, all engines and trucks have all their air packs and masks, and making sure that all radios are returned. I didn't realize that we needed to make sure that the radios were set to channel one, shut off and that the charge indicator light was either red or green. Do better next time.
"18-03!" "WHO YOU WANT TO BE!"
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