A Whole Heck of a Lot....

So these past few weeks have been pretty busy. I started a job at home depot and I've been trying to get used to my new classes. Well let us just say I am trying to get used to one class.

So I recently got a job at Home Depot. Six weeks after I applied there. I know right, one heck of a wait. I got hired on as freight crew. Yep that's right I stock shelves. I spent 4 days straight doing orientation. Sitting there and watching videos and taking online quizzes for that long can be rather boring. But I learned how to use a "Home Depot Saftey Knife" which is like a utility knife, but for 3 year olds. Seriously doesn't cut through much of anything. I did go in on Tuesday and learn to drive a fork lift, OP machine, which i forget what the exact name for it is but it is used to get heavy objects up to the top shelves. If you're afraid of heights I don't recommend that machine. It gets awfully wobbly the higher you get. I worked on a few more machines and I became certified to drive 4 of them. It is fun tooling around on each machine but it can be nerve racking.

I am the youngest guy there by about 20 years so making work friends, not so much. I basically work by myself stocking shelves and I wish I could use my iPod, but oh well. My boss is pretty cool. I think he's part of the mafia. I mean he had his hair slicked back. OH! He also had a prison tattoo on his hand. So yeah, he's pretty hardcore. His favorite phrase to say is, "The numbers don't jive man." That means that the SKU product numbers don't match. It's a pain in the behind.

School is going well. We are week three into our second set of classes. One of them is basically a continuation of fire 101 but for school administrative purposes it has to be divided into two classes. The other class we are talking is Incident Command systems, that's cool. We are going through scenarios and learning how to do scene size ups and do tactical worksheets (see picture).

We learned to do pitched roof ventilation which consists of using a roof ladder, a chain saw and a big hole in the roof. We touched on punching ceiling and walls but we will do more of that tomorrow. I will have pictures of it then.

For our final we are going to participate in something called the Silver Nozzle Competition. Basically we are going to practice first floor search in front of the school. The paper and local news crews are going to be there. So that will be cool.

We started a Fire & Rescue club and I was voted treasurer. So I get to handle the money. Also we are getting a new faculty administrator that will hopefully push the program further. We were asked by the school administration to select one of the students to be on the hiring committee as a voice for the students. Some people told me to do it, so I will probably volunteer for that.

Other than that not much is going on. I'm impatiently waiting to go to Japan. It's coming in 47 days! I really can't wait. I'm going to see my sweetie and hang out with her and her family in Japan, I really can't wait. I am kind of nervous though. But I'm sure it will pass with time. Anyway, that is about it, stay tuned for the continuing saga of Smoke Before Fire!

Ladders Are For Climbing....

So I was reading in my fire fighting book that a ladder is a device used to move up and down from one height to another. Deep I know. It was a good thought to start out our new training exercises: second story search and vent. What that consists of is:

• placing a ladder
• busting out a window
• bringing the window to just under the the window sill
• cleaning the window up of any attached glass
• going in as a crew and searching the floor for victims
• If a victim is found extricating them safely and quickly

The first few runs we went through and practiced without our air packs and a fully charged hose, just to get used to all the steps. Then we added a charged hose. Then our air packs. Then we added radios to practice speaking over them correctly. Then we added the incident command aspect to it. Scene size up, crews needed, assignments etc. At first it was kind of chaotic because everyone wanted to run through it as many times as possible. Some people struggled and we had some problems running through each scenario at first but that is the point of the class, to run out the kinks so that we can start doing it flawlessly. By our third time we had everything down and it couldn't have gone more smoothly.

I've been busting my butt in all my classes. I'm sitting in the A range for most of my classes and I have been doing really well on my Fire 101 tests. It's just been a lot of work, but I guess that is to be expected when you try to push four years of school into two.

I volunteered for a local cause last weekend. Women in Gear is a program that tries to get girls and women into the trade programs such as welding, fire fighting, etc. We had a good turn out. We let the girls try on our turn out gear, showed them crew integrity and let them try victim/patient rescue scenarios. We explained to them some of the training we are doing and how we go about getting into shape to do it.

Other than that nothing too exciting is going on, we're trying to start a Fire & Rescue Club so we can have fundraisers and do other things that require a club for. I don't know what that consists of but I hear we need a club to do most of it. So we are working on that. I have set up the Facebook page for us to post pictures for everyone to see. It's good for putting all the pictures up rather than having to put just a few up on here like I have been. It will give you more an idea of what we do.

Anywho, I'm off to upload pictures to Facebook. Stay tuned!!!!

The First Snow

September 30th - 6:00am. I awoke in a daze. There was a sound near my dresser that sounded like a mouse or small critter clawing their way out. I turned on the lights and couldn't find anything. I went and made coffee. Then I came back into my room. The sound was still there. Then I discovered what it was. It was raining. It looked like a dark and gloomy day. Nothing too exciting just your general run of the mill gloom. Well okay that isn't true. It was cold. 39 degrees cold. Which in Montana is yes, shorts weather still. But there was wind. The biting wind that accompanies the rain and cold. I left my house and went to my car. As I was driving along I looked up at the mountains to the west of me like I normally do. What I saw should not have surprised me but it did! SNOW! I was stunned! I drove to school amazed. We got to class to take our test but it turned out that our instructor was snowed in at his place in Butte with the reports of a downed electrical power line. 10 inches in Butte. To the left here is a picture taken by my roommate from the top of Mcdonald's Pass.

After sitting around trying to figure out if we were going to take a test or not we ended up bagging that and going to the Smoke house. We practiced inner search techniques with patient rescue. Dragging a dummy is fun, but a lot of work. We went through a few tanks of air. We had some back ups but 15 people rotating bottles on a consistent basis makes having a bunch of bottles over having a few bottles a thing of paramount importance. So once we drained the bottles we ended up going back to the campus. It was cold and rainy and wet over at the smoke house and it felt good to be in our turn out gear. Back at campus I got my pack and went to English. Then it was time for PT.

We were going to be doing calisthenics by cards. Here is an example. Each suit equals a work out. Push ups, sit ups, etc. So say if hearts was push ups. For every hearts card that was drawn you would do 10 push ups. However Dave (our instructor) decided that we would just run. So we set out to run from campus, up and around the capital building and back. A two mile run up the mountain and back. It wasn't bad. The cold kept us from over heating. We were supposed to go as fast as our slowest person however a lot of people did not like that pace so they ran ahead. I went at a comfortable pace. I didn't want to over do it and I have nothing to prove. I'm just wanting to get in shape. From what I gather, in fire fighting, it's not how fast you can run, but how far you can run.

After that I went home and thawed out. Took a warm shower and started doing homework. Today October 1st is the only sunny day we're supposed to have a for a few days. After that it's supposed to rain and storm and be cold. But it sounds about right for this time of year. But that will help me keep my butt studying. I have big projects coming up. But anyway enough procrastinating, time to get my English Project done. Stay tuned for more news as it develops on Smoke Before Fire.

* Here is a photo taken outside of my house of the snow the day after it happened.*

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. - *

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.

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.

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...

A Few Hiccups

Alrighty, well here we go, round two. It's been an interesting week so far. First I sent my girlfriend off to Japan for a year and I hope nothing but the best for her. Second, she's not even gone for four hours and I'm almost arrested.

Here is how it went down. I was out for a walk listening to my ipod and this cop drives by. I cross the street towards the apartment im staying at and the same cop parks his car behind me flashing his lights blocking the entrance way towards the apartment so cars cant get in and out. Here is the dialog from my best recollection of how it went down.

Officer: Hi I am officer so and so (forgot his name) and you look like a suspect we're looking for.

Me: Huh, well I don't think I'm the guy you're looking for but I'll do what I can to help.

Officer: Can I see your license please, you don't have a criminal record do you.

Me: No officer, not that I am aware of. So what happened?

Officer: We'll get to that in a second. Where were you friday night?

Me: Um, okay. well sir i was over at my girlfriend's cousin's house for a family dinner.

Officer: Well we're looking for a guy that approached a Dominos employee and tried to steal his car.

Me: Well i assure you it wasn't me officer I haven't been in a Dominos in years.

Officer: You didn't have to be it happened in the parking lot.

Me: You mean the suspect and not me right.

Officer: I'm still on the fence like that, do you mind if i take some photos?

Me: Um, sure I guess.

*this is the point where he made me stand profile views, and front, walk towards him, he then flashed his flash light on my shoes and my pants, give him the place that I am living and give him two alibis as to where I was friday evening*

Officer: Alright sir, I'll just make sure these alibis stand up. I'm sorry for the inconvienence I just have to eliminate everyone.

Me: Well I thought it was my boyish good looks.

Officer: It's definitely something, have a good night.

After that I continued walking into my apartment all shocked like. I so far have not heard anything back. I saw the police blotter thanks to my friend Ali and here is the description of what happened.

* On West Mendenhall Street at 3 a.m., a pizza restaurant employee said they were approached by an assailant who demanded the employee’s car. The suspect told the employee that he had a handgun and might use it. The employee got away and flagged down a police officer. The man remains at large and the investigation is continuing.

So yeah the guy threatened to use a handgun. I don't like guns. In fact I loathe guns. So that was that hiccup.

*This just in, a picture of the guy is there, I look nothing like this.*

So unless I am picnocio and have bad hair like that one corrupt illinois governor I think I'm the wrong guy.

Other than that, I am just gearing up for some moving here in 4 days. My little sister is going to come with me. Pictures will be soon to follow. I recently received my nomex pants so my legs will be fire free, and people can't call me liar liar pants on fire.

That's about it for now. Stay tuned for some more zany excitement.