Recruit Class Get's It Done

March 16 dawned all grey and rainy but that was not going to stop the firefighters from loading up and heading down to the Joseph Sacco Firefighting School for a day of training on their props. We had a recruit class of 6 along with some of the more seasoned firefighters from station 3 and 9 to walk them through all the different scenarios and these guys were ready to go. I was there to do a short story on our training and take a few pictures to post of the firefighters.
The instructors from the school were also a couple of our members. There is the Johnson crew, father and son Wayne, Sr. and Wayne Jr. who took of their Saturday to come out and help operate the gas props. Deputy Chief Warren was in charge of the operation side and along with Lieut. Marshall and other firefighters were ready to put these guys through their paces.
Now the first thing was to go into the maze house and this place is so cool being a two story house set up just like a house you would find out here on the street. One big difference and it's a big difference is there are no windows at all and that means when you shut the door you can't see anything. Go in a closet of your house and turn off all the lights and shut the door and this is what they have to deal with as they crawl around the floor trying to locate the victim's in the house. They go in as a crew of 3 and they must maintain contact with each other the whole time they are in the house. There are instructors everywhere in the dark to assist if anyone has a problem. If you are one of those people who can't stand the dark or tight places then this is not the place you want to be. Now I went in ahead of the crews and found myself a nice spot over in a corner where I could get me some good pictures and listen to all the talk as they were crawling around on the floor. It is so funny to watch them make their way from one room to another find the victim and then find their way back out before they run out of air. Not easy.
The crews are made to do this 3 times before moving on to the next evolution which is the burn building that looks very much like a large ship of the seas. Now this building is the one that we can set fires in and have the crews make an attack. It's also tight quarters going from one compartment to another and you must remember they are crawling along on the floor. No standing. Now they do this at least 3 times and the final time they respond in as if they are a RIT (Rapid Intervention Team) for a firefighter down and trapped somewhere in the building.
Even though this is practice you can tell that everyone gets a little excited even people like me who are just there to observe and take pictures. All during the drill there are our Associates on hand to provide rehabilitation for our members. Nothing taste better than a bagel with cream cheese on it and wash it down with Gator aide. Now that's living. After working for about 5 hours on the props it was time to wrap it up and order in some lunch. Now what do firefighter's love to eat. You guessed it. Pizza….and Papa was in the house.
So it was a good day and not wasted because we had 6 newbie's that were checked out to ride so now it's time for some real fire.
Great Job guys and a big thanks to Captain Tommy Fairfax for the entertainment. I have a new found respect for this guy. He is a chip off his Dad that's for sure.