Go Flames Go

Bloggin' has taken a back seat recently -- I've been away quite a bit getting the training that's preparing me for my new career on the ferry. Here you see me and my six classmates lined up at the Justice Institute fire school (I'm #2 in front). That portion of the training was especially exciting, as we were given the chance to handle water and other extinguishing equipment on some live fires. It was a nice balance of a controlled environment versus growing fire situations -- and had a lot of relevance to the stuff we're studying at the Denman department. It seems the timing of all this is geared right up my alley.

That fire training last week took place in Maple Ridge in record heat of 30-35 degrees. So there we were in full turnout suits, wearing masks and air tanks, while the rest of the folks in the lower mainland were hugging their air conditioners and going to the beach. It was no picnic, but all the training was well-focused under the direction of two outstanding instructors, so my mind wasn't too fixed on the outside temp. However, we did fewer drills with less frequency that we might have in normal weather. Friday was the big final evaluation exercise, and it cooled off considerably, down to the low 20's -- so we eventually caught a break.

My class was a very nice crew who worked well together. We went through some taxing activities together and got along great. There were a few other fellas from the Comox Valley, including Mike who sent me the above photo. I may as well share a couple of other shots while I'm at it:

The whole class received a lot of praise from the instructors, and we all got our certificates, so I'm ready to go to work! That should be happening soon...

There was a break over last weekend between the two components of the course I'm talking about (firefighting, then three days of life rafts/flares/abandon ship/etc mostly videos). So I came home Friday night to enjoy a few sleeps in my own bed before returning to Kyle's couch for the remainder. Saturday morning was supposed to be a nice long sleep-in, but no -- the Denman fire pagers went off about 7:30am. Bethy and I rushed to the hall and rode to the scene with the Deputy Chief. A car crash had interfered with a hydro pole, so it was mostly a scene protection job waiting for the Hydro crew. My task was to be a traffic cone with good manners, while Bethany played her usual role as morale officer telling jokes and drinking coffee with the boys. That lasted maybe two hours before we cleared away.

Many thanks to Mike for the photos, and Kyle & Steve for letting me crash again!