![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Firefighter Intern: Day 69 and 70
Mar. 16th, 2019 07:54 amFire, water, and government know nothing of mercy. - Proverb
Because we had both the New Guy and the Paramedic intern needing training, there was very little chance I was going to be on the Medic units this week. I spent most of the morning doing house chores, and some of the annual training that our station requires. I did some online training on Marine Fire Safety Awareness, Confined Space Awareness, and Defensive Driving. After lunch, we got some training in Infection Control, wearing BSI (Body Surface Isolation) gowns and surgical masks, getting sprayed with chocolate sauce and then removing our gear without getting chocolate sauce on ourselves. (Chocolate sauce is similar in texture and consistency to arterial blood.) Also, after lunch, I cleaned out my Intern locker, as it's my last day of the term, and I'm off duty next term to take care of some other priorities.
Before dinner, The Duty Officer and I actually chased in U482 a younger female patient complaining of chest pain. I was generally helpful, but there were a total of five paramedic-level staff there, so I mostly helped back up different apparatus and help load the gurney. That was my only call all shift. *smile* I went to bed and had some trouble sleeping, but slept uninterrupted all night.
In the morning, we were informed we were going to be spending all day at a slash pile while it burned, because it was too close to a house to burn unsupervised by a Wildland apparatus and crew. We took Heavy Brush 482 and U482, set up a defensive position on the house, and lit the pile. It was my first time with a propane burner setting up a backfill fire, and we spent pretty much the whole day watching the slash pile burn. We had perfect fuel and weather conditions, and the slash pile burned exactly as we wanted. We practiced setting up a trash pump to move water if we needed it, and setting up a containment pool to store 500 gallons of extra water, and bringing in Water Tender 486 and replacing our water reserves. We also practiced setting up and deploying a progressive hose lay off HB482.
Once we were done, we put the wildland hose we brought back (we left most of it and the containment pool until the slash pile burn is completely out, probably several days) back into hose rolls, and I moved my turnouts to another spot, because one of the paid staff wanted my spot. I'm now the first spot closest to Engine 488, our second-out engine.
We slept all night without interruption, although again I didn't sleep well.
Progressive Hose Lay: A hose lay in which double shutoff wye (Y) valves are inserted in the main line at intervals and lateral lines are run from the wyes to the fire edge, thus permitting continuous application of water during extension of the lay.
Because we had both the New Guy and the Paramedic intern needing training, there was very little chance I was going to be on the Medic units this week. I spent most of the morning doing house chores, and some of the annual training that our station requires. I did some online training on Marine Fire Safety Awareness, Confined Space Awareness, and Defensive Driving. After lunch, we got some training in Infection Control, wearing BSI (Body Surface Isolation) gowns and surgical masks, getting sprayed with chocolate sauce and then removing our gear without getting chocolate sauce on ourselves. (Chocolate sauce is similar in texture and consistency to arterial blood.) Also, after lunch, I cleaned out my Intern locker, as it's my last day of the term, and I'm off duty next term to take care of some other priorities.
Before dinner, The Duty Officer and I actually chased in U482 a younger female patient complaining of chest pain. I was generally helpful, but there were a total of five paramedic-level staff there, so I mostly helped back up different apparatus and help load the gurney. That was my only call all shift. *smile* I went to bed and had some trouble sleeping, but slept uninterrupted all night.
In the morning, we were informed we were going to be spending all day at a slash pile while it burned, because it was too close to a house to burn unsupervised by a Wildland apparatus and crew. We took Heavy Brush 482 and U482, set up a defensive position on the house, and lit the pile. It was my first time with a propane burner setting up a backfill fire, and we spent pretty much the whole day watching the slash pile burn. We had perfect fuel and weather conditions, and the slash pile burned exactly as we wanted. We practiced setting up a trash pump to move water if we needed it, and setting up a containment pool to store 500 gallons of extra water, and bringing in Water Tender 486 and replacing our water reserves. We also practiced setting up and deploying a progressive hose lay off HB482.
Once we were done, we put the wildland hose we brought back (we left most of it and the containment pool until the slash pile burn is completely out, probably several days) back into hose rolls, and I moved my turnouts to another spot, because one of the paid staff wanted my spot. I'm now the first spot closest to Engine 488, our second-out engine.
We slept all night without interruption, although again I didn't sleep well.
Progressive Hose Lay: A hose lay in which double shutoff wye (Y) valves are inserted in the main line at intervals and lateral lines are run from the wyes to the fire edge, thus permitting continuous application of water during extension of the lay.
