FRIDAY! FRIDAY! FRIDAY! Did I mention its Friday? and I'm happy about it? What a crazy week. 2 huge exams, and a trip to the burn tower. I tried to spend last weekend studying but I was suffering from a serious lack of motivation. I think I spent more time looking at my books than actually reading them. But all is well. My test Tuesday wasn't as hard as I was expecting... I received a 93%, which I was happy with since I didn't go nuts studying for it.
Wednesday was our first trip down to the burn tower. KCFD allows our class to use their training facility down off front street. We arrived there at 8am and got to work right away. There were five stations set up that we rotated through. The stations consisted of a fire attack, rehab, ventilation, ladders, and a maze. The maze station was just that.. we, while in full gear (including air tanks) and blind, had to make our way through a maze designed to simulate being stuck in a debris field (wires, tunnels,stairs) there was a portion with a tunnel so small you had to take your air pack off and push it ahead of you to make it through. It was quite challenging but really fun... finally paid off to be small :) The ladder station was just practice for raising and climbing. We went about 35' up which doesn't seem like a lot but it sure felt like a lot when I was up there in the wind. We had to use a leg lock (stick your foot through and under the rung below you) and lean back just holding ourselves with that one leg. Ventilation was just practice using axes and chainsaws. The rehab station was for the group finishing the fire attack to rest and rehydrate. Now, on to the real fun stuff... being the class president my squad is afforded certain luxuries...i.e getting to go to fire attack first. The burn tower is basically a 7 story cement block. We were only in the first floor of the tower in one room. The fire was made using a stack of wooden pallets lit with torches. So, we were in attack groups of 3. The chief asked if we were ready and I said yes sir and he said "then why the hell is the nozzle still on the ground?" All three of us proceeded to stare at each other for a second in hesitation until I reached down and picked it up. We crouched up next to the door of the tower and clipped in our regulators. Chief explained checking the doors for heat and then we went in. My heart was damn near beating out of my chest. Not out of fear but out of pure childlike excitement. The funny thing about wear an SCBA is that you become keenly aware of your breathing because of the noise made when you inhale and your regulator releases the air. So my heart is racing and im breathing like I just ran a race...when in reality I crawled about 40ft. We come to the next door and I again check it for heat... its warm (through my fire gloves) so I turn around and yell "we got heat, we got heat" to my crew so they know we had a fire and that I was going to open the door. I open the door and there it is...my first live fire. It wasn't huge, probably like the size of two big campfires but it was still so exciting. And hot. We are required to crawl at all times but chief gave us permission to stand up briefly to feel the difference in the thermal layer. I was instructed to go in the burning room and spray water on the right wall (we couldn't totally extinguish the fire since the other groups had to go after us) so I begin to crawl in and my backup man proceeded behind me. I couldn't for the of me get the nozzle pointed to towards the right wall...I felt so weak... and as i struggle to get it turned my backup man keeps inching me towards the fire. We're talking like less than a foot for this giant pile of burning wood. And in my mind I didn't think something seemed right but what did I know? not much. I was my first time doing this. So the chief backs us out and then explains that the backup man cant follow the nozzle holder into the room because it makes it impossible to get the hose turned properly. SO, I felt better knowing I wasn't a weakling and I wasn't the one doing something wrong. He then looked at me and asked if I was ok...hinting at the fact that I was too close to the flames. My other chief followed us out and again asked me if I was alright...and he's not known for being an overly caring guy so I really knew I must have been too close. Anyway... sorry to make a long story long. The burn tower was great... great to finally get out of class and great to finally get some real fire.
After a long day at the tower I had to drag my butt home and study for the first big fire exam. 12 chapters... 6 weeks of information. Barf. Wednesday-Thursday Im pretty sure I singlehandidly supported the coffee industry. Maybe like 7 hours of sleep over the two days. Sit down to take my test this morning and I don't know the first question. Awesome. Im thinking all this studying was for nothing. 100 question test... and I was only confident about like 75 of my answers. My anxieties didn't get the best of me in the end though. I scored a 90% (highest in the class, holler :) Super solid week!!!!!! Have a great weekend!
Off to see my besties tomorrow!!!!
Love
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