Week 10: Day 4

No PT...too much to get through.

We ran more maze drills, except this time one recruit went in the entrance to the maze and another recruit went in through the exit. We met up in a large room where we ran through drills, connecting each others air back up, to our air supply, etc.

We also ran some dressing drills in which we would get dressed, jump into the engine, put on our SCBA and seatbelt to simulate getting ready to respond to a call. For midterms, we have to do it in 1 min 45 sec. For finals, we have to do it in 1 min 15 sec. My first time, I misunderstood one of the things we had to do, but was able to complete it in 1 min 36 sec. After clarifying some of the things we had to do, I was finishing around 1 min 4 sec.....so as of right now, I do not need to worry too much.

Towards the end of the day, we went up to the police shooting range and prepared to be exposed to CS (tear) gas. The purpose of the exercise was to show us (without causing permanent damage) what it is like in a toxic/dangerous environment and the effects of popping your regulator in order to breath. If you do so in a fire, you will breath in superheated gases that can damage your respiratory system, either killing you or leaving you wishing you were dead. It also shows us what victims are going through waiting for us to save them. The exposure wasn't the greatest...but it wasn't horrible. Breathing CS gas in, it completely takes your breath away and causes you to violently cough. All exposed skin begins to burn. Water and cool air help slightly...but the effects wore off after about 20 minutes. We then cleaned everything down in order to decon our gear.