Saturday, September 26, 2009
Montana State EMT License
Good news, I just got my Montana State EMT-B License, so I can now be a practicing EMT here in the state of Montana. I received a shiny certificate that I could put next to my other one. I may do that. I'm not sure. But the good news is, I will be more likely to be hired on a volunteer company now.
Smoke House Awesomeness
So there I was a week ago. Sitting, and thinking about my trip to Bozeman. When my instructor told us that we would be going to Butte this upcoming Wednesday to try the smoke maze there. Well, that got changed to Friday because the instructor wanted to make sure we got our weekly dose of PT in. So yeah, standard week, up until today. This morning was like any other morning, talk to my sweetie, made breakfast, then I drove to school. I got there, turned in my paper that was due, then brought my bunker gear to one of the vans that we had borrowed for our college field trip. Yeah that's right, a college field trip. Well anyway, we start loading stuff in the vans, then something happened that ended up making the whole trip extremely more hilarious.*
Student One: Hey, can I put my stuff in here.
Student Two: Nope, looks like we're full, you'll have to carry your stuff in your lap!
Student One: Well F#$% this I'm not going,. I quit this F#$%ing program.
Student Two: What the hell did I say!?
After that we were ordered to pile into the vans to meet our instructor in Butte (he lives there). As we were driving off, Student One was seen throwing everything he had. Sunglasses, His EMT Book, etc. He threw a giant temper tantrum. Then he got into his truck and drove to Butte himself. Claimed that we had left him. We spent a lot of the car ride ribbing on each other and poking fun at the situation. Nothing too crazy but generalized good times.
We got to Butte and toured the Whalen Tire Fire, and a few other burned buildings. After that we drove back to the maze building to get ready to run through it, but it turns out we decided lunch was more important. Now since the first day of school our instructor, Dave, has been talking about this sandwich in Butte that is supposed to be delivered from God himself via the wings of a unicorn or something. Anyway, it's called the Wop Sandwich. It's like a deep fried porkchop sandwich that is supposed to be amazing from The Freeway Tavern. It was pretty good. Afterwards, we went back to the maze to get started.
We donned our PPE and SCBA gear and got ready to go in the maze. I was the ninth person or so and people weren't allowed to speak of what happened to them in there. When it was my turn I was a wee bit nervous but more excited. I got in and the first thing that I had to do was crawl. See it was pitch black in there, so the other way we could figure out where to go was to feel around. I had to climb up two stories, the first time it was hard because I wasn't used to compensating for the extra weight my turnouts and pack added. But I got it figured out and went on my way.
I was going along fine, then something happened that scared the crap out of me. One of the things that the second year students did was come from behind us, and turn off our airpacks. I'll tell you this, nothing causes you to panic more than trying to breathe air in and having nothing come back but your mask suck in back at you. I started to freak out just a little, but then I checked my pack and turned my air back on. After that I got through the maze pretty quick.
We then went in again in teams of two, this time with the goal of finding something. That something, piping cuplinks. We had to feel around while staying in contact with our partner. I found the cuplink, then led us to the back door. We were told not to go that way and we were to go back. So we found the actual exit, and that was that. We were told to pack our gear and get ready to go back to Helena. But first we had to take pictures. The one below is of all of us, taking by a first year student in my class named Angie.
So once we were done with the snap shots, we packed in the vans and drove home. Nothing too exciting happened. We mooned the guy who drove his truck there when he was passing us. We also continued to joke around and have a good time. We got back, put away our SCBA's then went home. Thus ending the smoke house field trip. Stay tuned to Smoke Before Fire for more late breaking news.
* - There are a few more fires popping up here. It's really smoky out and it's making it difficult to breathe for some, itchy throats for others. News on the fire can be found here. - *
Student One: Hey, can I put my stuff in here.
Student Two: Nope, looks like we're full, you'll have to carry your stuff in your lap!
Student One: Well F#$% this I'm not going,. I quit this F#$%ing program.
Student Two: What the hell did I say!?
After that we were ordered to pile into the vans to meet our instructor in Butte (he lives there). As we were driving off, Student One was seen throwing everything he had. Sunglasses, His EMT Book, etc. He threw a giant temper tantrum. Then he got into his truck and drove to Butte himself. Claimed that we had left him. We spent a lot of the car ride ribbing on each other and poking fun at the situation. Nothing too crazy but generalized good times.
We got to Butte and toured the Whalen Tire Fire, and a few other burned buildings. After that we drove back to the maze building to get ready to run through it, but it turns out we decided lunch was more important. Now since the first day of school our instructor, Dave, has been talking about this sandwich in Butte that is supposed to be delivered from God himself via the wings of a unicorn or something. Anyway, it's called the Wop Sandwich. It's like a deep fried porkchop sandwich that is supposed to be amazing from The Freeway Tavern. It was pretty good. Afterwards, we went back to the maze to get started.
We donned our PPE and SCBA gear and got ready to go in the maze. I was the ninth person or so and people weren't allowed to speak of what happened to them in there. When it was my turn I was a wee bit nervous but more excited. I got in and the first thing that I had to do was crawl. See it was pitch black in there, so the other way we could figure out where to go was to feel around. I had to climb up two stories, the first time it was hard because I wasn't used to compensating for the extra weight my turnouts and pack added. But I got it figured out and went on my way.
I was going along fine, then something happened that scared the crap out of me. One of the things that the second year students did was come from behind us, and turn off our airpacks. I'll tell you this, nothing causes you to panic more than trying to breathe air in and having nothing come back but your mask suck in back at you. I started to freak out just a little, but then I checked my pack and turned my air back on. After that I got through the maze pretty quick.
We then went in again in teams of two, this time with the goal of finding something. That something, piping cuplinks. We had to feel around while staying in contact with our partner. I found the cuplink, then led us to the back door. We were told not to go that way and we were to go back. So we found the actual exit, and that was that. We were told to pack our gear and get ready to go back to Helena. But first we had to take pictures. The one below is of all of us, taking by a first year student in my class named Angie.
* - There are a few more fires popping up here. It's really smoky out and it's making it difficult to breathe for some, itchy throats for others. News on the fire can be found here. - *
Monday, September 21, 2009
Pluggin' Along
So school has been going well. We have been doing evolutions Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Also we have had two tests in Fire 101. So far I have scored a 100% and a 96%. The second one might change to 100% because one of the questions we had said one thing while the book said another. So we will see. Either way I'm doing well. We had a contest today for our 1 minute and 2 minute PPE/SCBA drills today. I didn't win the PPE 1 minute drill, but managed to don (put-on) the gear in 43 seconds. I got third place in the SCBA 2 minute drill with a time if 1 minute 43 seconds. It would have been faster but people kept talking to me and tugging on my gear. So that was a bit distracting. But for my hard earned efforts I won five dollars. Over the past few weeks I have been making some friends in my department (classmates). I mean I don't see them outside of school but I have a few I hang/talk to during class.
So classes are going well. I talked to one of the instructors of Fire 101 to see if I could get on a volunteer crew. I told him that I am EMT-B certified and that my state license was on its way. He said that was good because the company was very selective about who they hired on. So I have an in. Other than that, not much is going on. We are going to be down at the smoke house on Wednesday to try out Offensive Fire Tactics and what not. Then friday we are going Butte to do the smoke/fire maze and feel what a house fire feels like. I'm pretty excited about that. Then this weekend I will probably stay here and start on my second Costumer Service (Fire 120) Project. That seems fun, we are to make S.O.P.'s for the fake fire department we made in the first project.
Other than that not much is going on. Spent the weekend in Bozeman. I went to get new tires for my bravada but turns out the size of tire for my car is rare and that makes them more expensive. But now that I have them, they make my car look beastly. Speaking of my car, I have decided to name it after the late Patrick Swayze being that he was a movie bad ass. My car which had been nameless for 10 months will now be called.... (pause for dramatic effect) The Dirty Dancer. It just sounds epic.
So yeah, school is school. Life is life. I'm plugging down the 91 more days until I go to Japan!!!!!!!! I can't wait. New culture, warm place during Christmas, seeing my lady. It's going to be good. But stay tuned until next time for another dramatic episode of Smoke Before Fire.
So classes are going well. I talked to one of the instructors of Fire 101 to see if I could get on a volunteer crew. I told him that I am EMT-B certified and that my state license was on its way. He said that was good because the company was very selective about who they hired on. So I have an in. Other than that, not much is going on. We are going to be down at the smoke house on Wednesday to try out Offensive Fire Tactics and what not. Then friday we are going Butte to do the smoke/fire maze and feel what a house fire feels like. I'm pretty excited about that. Then this weekend I will probably stay here and start on my second Costumer Service (Fire 120) Project. That seems fun, we are to make S.O.P.'s for the fake fire department we made in the first project.
Other than that not much is going on. Spent the weekend in Bozeman. I went to get new tires for my bravada but turns out the size of tire for my car is rare and that makes them more expensive. But now that I have them, they make my car look beastly. Speaking of my car, I have decided to name it after the late Patrick Swayze being that he was a movie bad ass. My car which had been nameless for 10 months will now be called.... (pause for dramatic effect) The Dirty Dancer. It just sounds epic.
So yeah, school is school. Life is life. I'm plugging down the 91 more days until I go to Japan!!!!!!!! I can't wait. New culture, warm place during Christmas, seeing my lady. It's going to be good. But stay tuned until next time for another dramatic episode of Smoke Before Fire.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Physical Training
So I was awake this morning at five a.m. That was fun. I arrived at the school this morning, to find a few people waiting for Physical Training. I was kind of out of it, and while I am not the most happy of morning people, I was doing alright. The one kid in our class who talks all the time anyway, was chatting up a storm. A few people were hung over I was not. Our instructor was late, so we all thought about leaving but then he showed up. The first thing we did was figure out what we wanted to do for our six tests. See we have six areas that he will take a baseline on then after that he will measure on if we improve our times and reps. I thought we were going to do the baselines today but we didn't. We started off after that with a mile run. A mile run when it's 43 degrees in the dark is a wee bit chilly. I pulled that off in about 10 minutes. Which is fine because I will improve on that.We were then set to see how many push ups and sit ups we could do in 2 minutes time. I did 60 and 50 respectively. I could have done more but I'll get there. By that time, the hung over boys were starting to get sick to their stomachs. The next thing we did, was drag a tire 150ft. Which let me tell you, was no easy task. It was a standard fire engine tire and unless you get a momentum it get's to be a struggle. The hung over boys ended up puking after that.
By that time everyone was dead tired and some people had to get back to their kids, so we cut out early. So now I'm just sitting here watching Back to the Future:III debating on starting my homework.
Side Note - On a side note as I was starting my laundry this morning I looked out the living room window to see six deer, just grazing outside. It was crazy to see. I have two photos here that show just how close they are. It was like how I explained in a previous post about how the deer are rampant here. They don't mind people and mostly keep to themselves. As you can see in the pictures They looked right at me. They didn't spook at all and just went back to eating, hell one went to relieving itself. Deer have no shame.
So yeah. So far it's been an interesting Saturday. I think I may go for a hike, or I may rest today and go for a hike tomorrow. There is a huge fire up near Holter Lake which has been blowing into Helena and causing the air to be somewhat harder to breathe. I mean the smell of the logs and stuff remind me of camp fires, but the implications of the fire don't help. You can read about it by clicking here.
Other than that, it's a homework, tv and studying day. I have a job interview on Monday for Home Depot which i hope will let me get some physical work in but we will see. Stay tuned to Smoke Before Fire as these late breaking stories develop.
By that time everyone was dead tired and some people had to get back to their kids, so we cut out early. So now I'm just sitting here watching Back to the Future:III debating on starting my homework.
Side Note - On a side note as I was starting my laundry this morning I looked out the living room window to see six deer, just grazing outside. It was crazy to see. I have two photos here that show just how close they are. It was like how I explained in a previous post about how the deer are rampant here. They don't mind people and mostly keep to themselves. As you can see in the pictures They looked right at me. They didn't spook at all and just went back to eating, hell one went to relieving itself. Deer have no shame.
So yeah. So far it's been an interesting Saturday. I think I may go for a hike, or I may rest today and go for a hike tomorrow. There is a huge fire up near Holter Lake which has been blowing into Helena and causing the air to be somewhat harder to breathe. I mean the smell of the logs and stuff remind me of camp fires, but the implications of the fire don't help. You can read about it by clicking here.
Other than that, it's a homework, tv and studying day. I have a job interview on Monday for Home Depot which i hope will let me get some physical work in but we will see. Stay tuned to Smoke Before Fire as these late breaking stories develop.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Something To It
So yeah, I write to you guys today, Wednesday the 9th, to tell you of all that has happened since our last installment of Smoke Before Fire. There hasn't been much excitement since I last wrote here. Well that isn't true, a lot has happened since then. But I will get to that shortly.
School is good. We've started going over the books we bought so they aren't a waste of money. Not that they aren't if we don't read them, but getting some class use out of them is nice. Today I dropped a few hundred bucks on my PPE (Personal Protective Equipment.) The boots, Nomex hood, and gloves are mine to keep because the chance for leaving body fluid in them is higher than the turnouts. We watched a movie on PPE gear and what not, then we did drills for the rest of class. The goal is to get the turn outs on in under a minute (state and national time.) Everytime we didn't get it on in under a minute after a few practice drills resulted in 15 push ups. I had 30. Then we did it as a group and the first time we tried to do it, for anyone that did not get it in under a minute we all had to go again. Then the last time was if everyone did it in under a minute we wouldn't have to do 20 push ups. Let's just say I did 50 push ups total. Which isn't hard but doing it in full PPE gear gets to be warm, and rather tiring. To the Left and Right here are pictures of me in just my turnout pants, and one in my full outfit. I have to get new pants because as you can see in the one in my suspenders the latch is broken. But I am doing that tomorrow.Other than that school seems pretty straight forward. Technical Writing is good. They are teaching us how to write to the point and not write in essay format. Which I prefer because I hate writing so many word essays or so many paged essays. I ordered for my passport and I'm looking forward to Japan, it'll be warm in the Helena December cold. I can't wait.
Other than that not much is going on. Helena is plugging along, and so am I. Stay tuned for your next dose of Smoke Before Fire.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Getting there...
So I started school this past Tuesday. It'll be my third attempt at school, but this time it's what I want and feels right. Helena is slowly starting to warm up on me, I've found my way around and even the malfunction junctions it has can't make me get lost. I've figured out that the easiest way to get to and from places is usually to take the interstate. Everything seems to be coming together.
So school started this past Tuesday and I've been plugging along. My first class was Customer Service. Our homework was to read the book for the class, which I have started but haven't finished. I'll probably read it when I am done with this. Our professor gave us two assignments for the class. One is to act as a Fire or EMS chief and figure out how our pretend department would handle Customer Service. Our second assignment will be to write out S.O.P.' s (Standard Operating Procedures) for a detailed account of how we want Customer Service handled. They are due on the 25th of September and the 22nd of October respectively. Shouldn't be too bad. That was my one class of the day.
Wednesday was not bad either, I have Fire 101 first at 9am and it's a 3 hour class. We spent the first day going over the syllabus and watching a documentary called "9/11." It isn't a Micheal Moore America is lame documentary but one that started out with a rookie fire fighter getting on the New York Fire Dept. Well, the rookie got on with the crew that was first into Tower 1 after the plane crashed into the tower on September 11th. It was kind of shocking to watch and see what happened in there, but it was good. Friday we are going to work on the engine we have which I'm really excited about because it'll be my first shot at getting to know what's all in a fire engine.
I then had Technical Writing, which is pretty self explanatory. It'll be a very involved course with a lot of writing but I'm not too worried about it. The text isn't hard reading and the assignments seem more busy work than they do hard work. I'm supposed to have Physical Training on Saturdays at six in the morning but this week being the labor day weekend we won't be having it. But I've been running a mile in a little under 8 minutes, about 9 minutes consistently. I can do the 25 push ups and 50 sit ups in about 23-25 seconds for the push ups and a minute thirty or so. So I'm where I need to be starting out. When we work out we're going to do the baseline test first so we know where we sit officially and can get better from there. Again a lot of work, but none unexpected.
My uniform for August/September weather is really toasty. I didn't realize that Nomex was so warm. It's comfortable. I get my turn out gear Wednesday September 9th. I can't wait, you'll get a picture of that when I get it. To the left here is a picture of me in my uniform. Notice that the shirt is just a standard navy blue T-shirt. We ordered our shirts today. I ordered 2 t-shirts, 1 long sleeve, and a ball cap. I don't know when we get those, but that is okay.
So all in all, classes are going well so far and they will be time consuming, but I have a goal in mind and I plan on accomplishing it and I have my celebratory vacation to Japan for winter break planned. I got the ticket and put in for my passport today. The gentleman helping me said it would probably be about four weeks. Once I get that, I'll be officially set for Japan! I can't wait, I have somebody very special and important there waiting for me.
Helena seems to be warming up to me. I have places that I go to, landmarks if you well that have grown on me. Rileys Pub is one of those places. This place has great bread bowls with Irish Stew. Another is the Staggering Ox. They have a good philly steak there. The deer here are ridiculous. I almost hit one last night coming home from Rileys. Well, almost 4, it was a doe and her three fawns. Every where you look they are just hanging out. All the gardens and plants in peoples yards have mesh or wire to protect them from the deer. I guess they are a real problem.
Other than that not much is going on. School, homework and life. Oh! Actually a sequel to one of my most favorite movies is finally coming out. The Boondock Saints: All Saint's Day after years of being rumored is finally coming out October 30th! The trailer can be seen here. Go there and enjoy. I'm so excited I could pee! Which reminds me...
So school started this past Tuesday and I've been plugging along. My first class was Customer Service. Our homework was to read the book for the class, which I have started but haven't finished. I'll probably read it when I am done with this. Our professor gave us two assignments for the class. One is to act as a Fire or EMS chief and figure out how our pretend department would handle Customer Service. Our second assignment will be to write out S.O.P.' s (Standard Operating Procedures) for a detailed account of how we want Customer Service handled. They are due on the 25th of September and the 22nd of October respectively. Shouldn't be too bad. That was my one class of the day.
Wednesday was not bad either, I have Fire 101 first at 9am and it's a 3 hour class. We spent the first day going over the syllabus and watching a documentary called "9/11." It isn't a Micheal Moore America is lame documentary but one that started out with a rookie fire fighter getting on the New York Fire Dept. Well, the rookie got on with the crew that was first into Tower 1 after the plane crashed into the tower on September 11th. It was kind of shocking to watch and see what happened in there, but it was good. Friday we are going to work on the engine we have which I'm really excited about because it'll be my first shot at getting to know what's all in a fire engine.
I then had Technical Writing, which is pretty self explanatory. It'll be a very involved course with a lot of writing but I'm not too worried about it. The text isn't hard reading and the assignments seem more busy work than they do hard work. I'm supposed to have Physical Training on Saturdays at six in the morning but this week being the labor day weekend we won't be having it. But I've been running a mile in a little under 8 minutes, about 9 minutes consistently. I can do the 25 push ups and 50 sit ups in about 23-25 seconds for the push ups and a minute thirty or so. So I'm where I need to be starting out. When we work out we're going to do the baseline test first so we know where we sit officially and can get better from there. Again a lot of work, but none unexpected.
My uniform for August/September weather is really toasty. I didn't realize that Nomex was so warm. It's comfortable. I get my turn out gear Wednesday September 9th. I can't wait, you'll get a picture of that when I get it. To the left here is a picture of me in my uniform. Notice that the shirt is just a standard navy blue T-shirt. We ordered our shirts today. I ordered 2 t-shirts, 1 long sleeve, and a ball cap. I don't know when we get those, but that is okay.So all in all, classes are going well so far and they will be time consuming, but I have a goal in mind and I plan on accomplishing it and I have my celebratory vacation to Japan for winter break planned. I got the ticket and put in for my passport today. The gentleman helping me said it would probably be about four weeks. Once I get that, I'll be officially set for Japan! I can't wait, I have somebody very special and important there waiting for me.
Helena seems to be warming up to me. I have places that I go to, landmarks if you well that have grown on me. Rileys Pub is one of those places. This place has great bread bowls with Irish Stew. Another is the Staggering Ox. They have a good philly steak there. The deer here are ridiculous. I almost hit one last night coming home from Rileys. Well, almost 4, it was a doe and her three fawns. Every where you look they are just hanging out. All the gardens and plants in peoples yards have mesh or wire to protect them from the deer. I guess they are a real problem.
Other than that not much is going on. School, homework and life. Oh! Actually a sequel to one of my most favorite movies is finally coming out. The Boondock Saints: All Saint's Day after years of being rumored is finally coming out October 30th! The trailer can be seen here. Go there and enjoy. I'm so excited I could pee! Which reminds me...
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