Ladders, Chainsaws and Credentials, Oh My!

Wednesday we started going over Roof Ventilation and how to do it. We went over various ways of doing roof venting. Then we whipped out the chainsaw and pike poles and went over how to use these tools. Afterwards we went out into the engine bay and "practiced" how to sound a roof then cut the roof.

Friday we went out to the smoke house and practiced what we had learned on Wednesday. We only had 5 boards so only 5 people got to cut. That's okay though because the rest of us will get to cut on Monday. In this post are a few pictures of us without air. One of me on the ladder sounding, and one of us practicing group integrity.

We all got credentialed to get on and off the airport because that is where our training facility is. It's not exciting i don't get my own badge and card to open the gate, but it does mean that I am not considered a terrorist. That's pretty sweet. I do however at some point have to get my student ID turned into a name card. Meaning I have to wear it. But oh well.

Other than that nothing else exciting is going on. So stay tuned until next time!

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!!!!

Holding My Breath... Again...

So it is cold again, not really that cold but it's snowy and we had a winter storm warning from Sunday to Today. We met at the smoke house this morning for some evolutions. Four people didn't show up so we had to change teams around a bit. We are slowly adding stuff to the mix. This class or set of classes as we divide the semester in half, will just give us the basics of what we need to know. We won't do an actual Fire Fighter I course until next fall. I don't care just because I enjoy being out at there working. But anyway, back to the story, we divided amongst ourselves which added to the general chaos of today. After spending some time trying to figure out where everyone was going to be we took some time to figure out who was all gone.

The group is fading fast. Some won't make it because they won't show up, others won't because they make poor decisions and so on. But the smoke house today was filled with smoke today. It was a good time. We did Primary Searches and threw a victim variable in there. The first time I went through I was on the initial team that found the victim, just to see how it would be with the smoke. Then I was on the RIT team. That was a hoot. The picture to the left is me in full gear waiting to be called in. Next I played the victim. I got tossed around worse than a crash test dummy but it was fun. We all had a laugh when one of the fire fighters ran in without his helmet.

Instructor: *taps guy on shoulder* Um... where is your helmet?

Fire fighter: *Feels around on his head.* Ah F%$#!

We all had a good laugh at that. The guy who I wrote about throwing a temper tantrum ended up doing it again, this time towards an instructor. After that failed attempt at a Primary Search our instructor grouped us up and started lecturing us about having a poor attitude. Then the kid started to talk back and finally after listening to it enough three of us snapped and told him to shut the heck up and listen. Seriously, attitude in this field is everything. Well attitude is a lot of it for most fields, but in a field where lives count on you, and people count on you to protect them and their belongings it's even more important. One bad attitude can mean the difference between life and death. So the rest of us were a little less than forgiving about this second tantrum.

After that we went to the school and received our shirts and hat. Tomorrow I'll post a picture of me fully outfitted up. I'll probably look dorky but that is okay. Anyway, I threw some pictures up of our training today. Enjoy!

Holding My Breath

-------***Radio Transmission***------

"I.C. this is Engine Crew 41..."


"Engine Crew 41 this is I.C. go ahead..."


"We are on the Bravo Charlie corner of the structure with downed fire fighter Holt who has a low air warning. Requesting Scott 30 minute tank and an extrication."


"You have a downed fire fighter Holt from Engine crew 41 in the Bravo Charlie corner, you're requesting a Scott 30 minute bottle and extrication..."


"Affirmative..."


"We are sending in a RIT team in with a 30 minute bottle and to get you guys out of there hold tight..."


"RIT Crew inbound with air bottle and extrication..."


"Affirmative..."


Laying there I did the best I could to control my breathing. After all once the air was gone I would either be sucking mask or worse. I could be sucking in the contaminants in the air around me. It seemed like forever as I laid there with my crew telling me that a Rapid Intervention Team was inbound on our location. I don't remember what happened. All I knew is I was down, couldn't move. They were there in what seemed like an eternity. I was told slow my breathing and as they undid my air pack I would at the count of three have to take a deep breath in and hold it as they shut off my oxygen and changed the air pack. I slowed my breathing down the best that I could, not knowing what was going on around me other than my pack moving around. The one fireman that told me to slow my breathing counted to three.


"1...2...3..." tapping my shoulder at each count.


I sucked in as much air in as I could until I couldn't pull in anymore. I pushed back the thoughts of not making it and not being able to breathe again into the back of my mind. I was going to get air again. I was going to be extricated. What seemed like minutes passed which in actuality was about 40 seconds, I was tapped and told to suck air in. I heaved a sigh of relief. I could breathe again. 

-----************-----

Then the training exercise was over. I got up and dusted the dirt of the engine bay off and popped off my mask. Our instructor Grady looked at all of us and said good job.

"Now that is what a RIT team response and bottle switch over is supposed to look like. Get used to radio chatter because that is what we will be practicing from now until you graduate..."

We had a test today that we were supposed to have on Wednesday. I rocked it and then we went over the chapters we are going to be tested on next week. After that we learned about the Incident Command System and general radio talk. Then we were set to our groups and we were told to have a man down so we could practice radio chatter and RIT team response involving a downed fire fighter with a low air warning. The downed fire fighter had to hold their breath until the next bottle was attached. I was the first downed man in my group because I can hold my breath the longest. We practiced that and rotated through that.

After that we left class with the announcement that we would be filling the smoke house with smoke on Monday. Which I am really excited for,. What I am not excited for is the Winter Storm Watch that will be taking place on Sunday.  This next week I start my CE hours for my EMT-B certification. I have 24 hours to do which I can do amongst six, four hour classes.

Other than that just doing the counting down thing until December. 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.*

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. - *