Week 14: Day 3

0700 PT....it's starting to get cold out!!!

We spent the entire day on the pad doing practicals in preparation for mid-terms next week.

Station 1: Ropes and knots

We practiced tying knots on objects (Axes, saws, fans, ladders, pike poles, hoses) to hoist them up to different levels of a building.

For midterm testing, we have 2 minutes to tie each knot (4 total)....which usually takes place after we've finished all other stations and are exhausted!!

Station 2: Flaking hoselines

You have to pull 200 ft of attack line (1 3/4" hoseline that is used to fight an interior fire) off the back of the engine, and then spread it out making large loops in order to get ready to charge the hoseline with water and then make entry into the building. You also have to remove any areas that might kink when the hoseline is charged.

For midterm testing, we have 2 minutes to complete this task.

Station 3: Dressing drills

You are fully dressed in your station clothes. When they say go, you have to remove your station boots and put on your fire boots and bunker pants, your hood, and coat. After buttoning all your gear, you grab your shoes and jump into the engine. Once in the engine, you have to strap into your airpack (which is in the seat) and buckle your chest and waist straps. Then you buckle your seatbelt (which is a pain because of the tight space in the older engines), and put your face piece around your neck. Once you are done, you hit the ceiling of the engine to let them know you are finished.

For midterm testing, this has to be completed in 1 min 45 seconds.

Station 4: Advancing a charged hoseline into the building, locating a victim, removing the victim, performing CPR on victim.

For this station, you flake the hoseline (see station 2 for description) and then enter into the building. Once inside the building, you crawl into the middle room and load the room with 50ft of hose. (You have to have 50 ft of hose for each floor of a structure you plan on searching). Once the room has 50ft of hose, you then advance through the structure into the back corner and locate the victim. Once you locate the victim, you have to "package" him....simply put, you have to put your webbing on the victim in order to prepare to drag him out. (The victim is a 165lb dummy). Once you package the victim, you then drag him from his location into the middle room you loaded the hose into. From there you switch and your partner takes over.....dragging him from that room to the front steps. Once outside, you both lift him from under his arms and carry him out to the grass about 100 feet away. Once on the grass, you assess and perform CPR.

For midterm testing, we have 30 seconds to package the victim, 3 min 30 seconds to get him to the grass, and then perform CPR.

Station 5: Ventilation

We practiced climbing onto a roof, and then using an ax, making cuts through a roof in order to open up the ceiling and allow for ventilation of the structure. This will not be on the midterm....but they wanted to make sure we knew how to make inspection cuts and louver cuts. An inspection cut is a small triangle that allows you to see if there is fire, smoke, location of rafters, etc. The louver cut is a 4 sided cut, spanning 3 rafters (using the middle almost like a hinge), which allows you to open a large section of the roof.