A ely Ce aaah.

Part Two —

More than
smoke-eaters |

Training volunteers

This is the second in a series
of feature articles by Terrace
Review reporter Tod Strachan
on the Terrace Fire Depariment.

Let’s make application as a
volunteer. You first talk to the
fire chief, fill out a form, attend
a Tuesday night meeting where
your application is reviewed, and
if accepted at that point you will
serve afew months on probation
before becoming a full-fledged
volunteer of the department.

During the review of your
application you will need to
satisfy a number of criteria. You
will have to be in good physical
condition, clean shaven, unafraid
of heights or confined spaces,
prepared to attend a two-hour
practice every Tuesday night,
willing, able and ready to attend
any emergency at a moment’s
notice, and because you are a
volunteer, have an employer who
is willing to let you leave the
job without notice.

If you were signing up for full-
time work you would have to
become proficient in first aid,
and then CPR, and then as a
First Responder.

So let’s go to a practice or
two. The first few are routine.
You learn how to get dressed.
First, haul on your boots and
turnout or bunker pants. Then
your coat, and a balaclava to
protect your hair, neck, forehead
and cheeks. So far so good.

Then comes the breathing
apparatus. Press the face mask
against your face, pull the rub-
ber straps over your head and
tighten them. Find the loose end
of the air hose dangling from
your mask (you won’t be able to

see it), cover the end and blow

hard for several seconds. If no
air teaks out, that’s good. Check
for any exposed flesh. In there is
none, that’s good too.

Find your Scott air pack in a

fire truck. It’s mounted upside
down for convenience. Slip your
arms through the straps, pull
hard to free the tank, and lift it
over your head so the straps
settle on your shoulders. The
tank is heavy, about 30 pounds,
and you have to do an awkward
jump to lift it high on your back
as you tug on the loose end of
the straps.

Almost done; there’s only the
fire hat. It’s heavy (about four
hard hats-worth), and in addition
to your air tank you feel a little
top-heavy. But it’s the crowning
touch, and after putting your
gloves on and attaching your air
hose to the regulator on your
tank, your ready to go. It only
took 10 minutes — almost
enough time for a pro to get
dressed, drive to the scene, put
out the fire, and return.

But you feel like a firefighter.
You have anywhere from 15 to
30 minutes of air, depending on
your physical condition, and
your gear is rated for a
"flashover" of five minutes. A
flashover occurs when inflam-

mable materials inside a burning ©
‘puilding reach their kindling

point and everything bursts into
flame at once.

Your first training session,
though, is far from exciting.
Walk around city hall a couple
of times to see how it feels,
you're told. You dutifully
waddle the prescribed route and
when you’re done, you sweating
and a little winded. The vision
of excitement and glory you’ve
seen on TV shattered.

Your second practice is a little
more demanding. In addition to
the regular gear, a plastic gar-
bage bag is placed over your
head, Your job is to crawl on all
fours through a maze of ladders,
pails and hoses on the fire hall
floor. Crawi, because in a
smoke-filled building there is
less smoke and heat close to the

Fire practices occur under controlled conditions, but the flames are real.

floor.

I tried something closer to the
real thing — stage three for a
trainee volunteer — during a fire
practice held late this summer.
The buddy system is empha-
sized. In a trial run, you and

compartment on the side of the

ae

%

Reporter Strachan: Breath of fresh air, debriefing after a hot encounter.

another recruit, in my case
CFTK’s Tara Nelson, work with
a full-time member. The pro-
fessional goes first with the
recruits hanging on to the tail of
his coat. Now you’re blind and
crawling on ail three’s; it's hard
work. |

Then you're ready for your
third training session. The night
we tried it, burning down a
derelict house on the south side
of Terrace was on the agenda.
You get dressed, and with great
difficulty force your way up into
the truck. You arrive at the
scene, lights flashing and siren
wailing. Jump off the truck.
Without good peripheral vision
the ground is much closer than
you believed.

You go into the burning house
on three separate occasions. On
each, a safety line is tied to your
waist because your green and
don’t have the usual fire hose to
help you find your way out if it
becomes necessary to retreat,

On your first trip into the
building, there is a great deal of
smoke, and even while crawling

the floor is difficult to see. On
the second and third occasions
the windows have been smashed
and the house is comparatively
smoke-free.

It’s an odd feeling. Standing at
the doorway of a room. fully
involved in fire, flames licking
out the top of the doorway and
burning the ceiling over your
head. But you feel calm. You're
not alone. You're teamed with
professionals, and your trust in
the knowledge of that person
beside you negates any fear,

Lesson number one: As a fire-
fighter you never work alone.
You use the buddy system, and
each is responsible for the safety
of the other. Lesson number
two: Teamwork and trust is of
great importance and that
teamwork and trust is based on
having the right equipment and
the training you need to use it
efficiently. '

But if you’re now beginning to
feel like "one of the crowd",
think again. What you have
witnessed was a small, con-
trolled fire... not the real thing.