So close, yet so far….we had a BUSY day at the department today.

First, I missed a fire call. No, not an auto alarm at the high school….nope…not a basement pumpout….it was an Honest To God, Mutual Aid, Smoke Showing, Signal “Real Deal” call. And I missed it. Not a bonafide structure fire, Not a ‘cooker” , but the closest I’ve come to one. Damn that paying job anyway…..

We were offered a recap of the call (chimney fire) during drill. Our chief ran down the “who-did-what's" ….and gave his viewpoints regarding what went right, and what …..well……didn’t.

As mutual aid, surprisingly, my department was first on scene. The house was filled with smoke, but no flames. A team was assembled to a.) Stand by at the woodstove on the ground level and a ladder team was put together to b.) ensure no fire in the chimney and run the brush through the chimney. This was a really old house. Metal roof (wtf??) covered with ice (for a better descriptor…..look up “luge” in the dictionary) and a history of no chimney cleaning and “frequent flyer” status. [Although I missed that call, I did NOT miss the subsequent two overnight calls for the rekindle we all knew was coming…If the Fire Department tells you not to use your woodstove again until you’ve had the chimney cleaned…what, pray tell, possesses you to go ahead and load it up with wood and fire it up again??!!!]

The troubling issue arose during the chimney clearing. Two of our guys were dispatched up a ladder to deal with the chimney. Problem one: this was a really high roof….steeply pitched…and the ladder only reached approximately two rungs above the height of it closest to the chimney. Problem two: the first guy up the ladder felt that he didn’t have enough profile space to attack the chimney without removing his SCBA.

Yeah, I know.

He removed his air pack and mask; and proceeded to “hug” the chimney, while precariously perched on the ladder…and shoved the broom down the chimney. The end result? He got a rush of smoke and creosote blasted at his face and lungs. He’s ok….but every fiber of my being recoiled in horror at hearing how he risked not only his lung health, but also a possible headlong flight to the ground without benefit of ladder assistance, and most likely would have taken the number two guy on the ladder with him.

I brought it up during the discussion (yes, I know, me and my big fat mouth again….) …inquiring as to SCBA protocol for roof operations.
I don’t think I made any friends. I didn’t care. I’d rather see our guys stay alive than win a popularity contest. At the end of the recap, our chief voiced his opinion that the SCBA should have stayed on, which made me feel better for running my mouth. New policies are being put in place, and put into action at next week’s drill.

Then we were given our assignment for drill tonight. We share acreage with the D.O.T. (which is very handy during snowstorms…..priority access to snowplowing etc.). The D.O.T. owns a garage which holds the administrative offices, and they allow us to run our drills in there from time to time.

So, we (the newbies plus assigned officers) were told to run the equipment….and then return after some fake smoke had been given a chance to permeate the DOT offices. Air pack drills…..LOVE em. I don’t get as many opportunities as I’d like.

Split up into teams of two, each team was to utilize proper search and rescue techniques to search the rabbit warren of offices (how does anyone work like that? Desks crammed on top of each other, each desk “area” terminating in a dead end…which has to mean that every time you have to get up from your desk you have to crawl over a co-worker; I’d end up killing someone by the end of day one….) and then report by radio and come back out.

Ron and Carl went in first, and were back out in roughly five minutes, give or take. I was up next with Randy, got hooked up to a radio, grabbed a flashlight, a Halligan and an uncharged hose, we dropped to our knees and off we went:

The first five feet or so into the building was limited visibility, but you could make out some features. Then, feeling my way down the wall on my right, we entered into the first office space (I hadn’t seen the offices prior to the drill, so I had no “internal map” to work from) and “limited” went to “blind”. We worked our way around the office, occasionally getting hung up on a desk chair or stacks of boxes on the floor…and I’m working my way around, went to turn my head to say something and WHAM!! I slammed my helmet directly into a metal desk…managing to somehow turn a computer on while simultaneously biting my tongue and seeing stars. Fun stuff. And I could hear Randy laughing, despite his protestations to the contrary.

We continue working our way around, although at one point Randy was so close behind me I had to tell him to get his head out of MY butt. We’re working our way through the last office space, and as I’m searching the closet with the Halligan when I hit something soft and hear “Ouch!! Jesus….not so hard!!” as a hand grips my wrist…..I jumped up off my hands and SLAM!! Bang my head (again) on the lower shelf of the closet.

One of the guys was playing “victim”, which they didn’t mention as part of the drill and he scared the CRAP out of me. I dropped a couple of eff bombs, more over the surprise of Mike grabbing my wrist than slamming my cranium. What’s that they say about always expecting the unexpected? There’s your sign. I radio in that we have a body and we get the all clear to make our way to the exit. It felt like we were in there for hours, but in reality, it was no more than five minutes. We get to do it again at next week's drill too--next time we'll have our face pieces obscured. That beats a "cleaning drill" by a country mile.

Despite the two head slams….I felt like I learned a lot about how disorienting thick smoke can be and why the S & R techniques are used….and had a blast at the same time. As a friend likes to remind me...."Ahhh, Grasshopper...so much to learn...." and he's right, but what a ride.

The piece de resistance of my day? Getting issued a new pager….buh-bye crappy Minitor II, hello Motorola with call playback and a clip that actually clips.


Until next time, watch your head and wear your seatbelt.