Firefighting School

Yep, that's me!

 Sorry to interrupt the scheduled blogging of my Alabama trip, but this post is breaking news! Well...maybe not, but I thought it was pretty cool.

Yesterday we went to check out the Firefighters Awareness Day and pancake breakfast. We got there later in the morning, so we skipped the breakfast, but we did see some cool fire trucks, helicopters, and other rescue vehicles. But the real story is that I got to suit up and be a firefighter and go in their training trailer to actually fight a fire. Here's what happened.

For a $5.00 donation anyone over 16 years could have this experience. First you have to drink a whole bottle of water (which reminded me of when I was pregnant and got my ultrasound which automatically triggered my bladder telling me I had to go) and get your vitals taken. I was good to go so I started to suit up in full gear.

Since others had already done this, the gear was kind of sweaty and gross.

They had to make sure this hat would cover all your hair, otherwise anything exposed would be singed away.

Getting my oxygen tank set up. This part made me a little nervous, especially once the mask got on. I kept thinking it wasn't sealed tight enough, but apparently it was, and I had no problem breathing evenly (perhaps yoga helped with that).

All suited up. Notice the trailer behind, the 'Fireblast', is where the action took place.

First they showed us how to use the hose. That is me holding it. Over the shoulder for carrying, and then under between your body and right arm for when you spray.

Getting ready to go in. I went with one other girl who was like me, and then an experienced guide. I am going to go up behind her, so I've got the heavy tool in hand to break down the door (I'm the one in the middle).

Off I go. When we got in it was pitch black. We had to get on our knees to move. Which quite frankly was the hardest thing for me. I have a low pain threshold for being on my knees and the suit offered no padding. I think if I had my old volleyball knee pads, I would have been able to do everything no problem. Anyway, so we are on our knees moving along in the dark. Right away we reach a wall with a door. Here's where my heavy tool comes in hand. I have to smash the door open, which I do. We move through and there is a wall a couple feet in front of us, flames start burning at the top of the wall/ceiling. The girl in front fights them while I pretty much just sit there holding the hose. Once the flames go out, we move around the wall and there is a body for us to rescue. And this guy is heavy! My partner is not much help, but we manage to drag this guy back to safety, and I mean drag. If he somehow survived the smoke inhalation, I don't think he survived our rescue! So then we stop to catch our breath before going in again. Here is where my partner says she can't do any more and backs out. I'm still good and I want a chance to use the hose, so I go back in with the guide. On the knees again, he smashes the door open for me. I fight the same flames at the top of the wall/ceiling. This time there is no victim, so we go a little further and I get more flames right in front of me. I am just supposed to turn the hose on and let it go. Now it is getting really hot! And my mask is starting to fog up. It feels like a really long time, but was probably only three minutes or so of continuous spraying. Finally the fire goes out, and we crawl back along the hose to get out. I come out of the trailer, and no one is outside (it had started to pour when I was in there, so everyone fled for shelter). I got my stuff off and the fresh air felt good. Man was I sweatin'!

I had to get my vitals taken again, and drink another bottle of water. And that was it. I'm really glad I did it. It was a cool experience and definitely made me appreciate what real firefighters do. I asked how long they stay fighting a fire before they switch out. They said for as long as you have oxygen which really depends on how hard you work, but anywhere from 20-40 minutes.

So that was my day at firefighting school. Pretty awesome. Next post, back to Alabama.