Cubs and the community.

I think that if you have read my blog story so far, you will realise that I love being in the Fire Service. It was one of the best decisions I have ever made, giving me the thing that was missing from my already busy life.

There are so many opportunities to do things, not just emergency work, and doing things in your local community is one of them.

When I was at school, I got a certificate for ‘outstanding helpfulness’ and this was mainly due to the fact, that as soon as anyone said in assembly, ‘Can anyone……?’ my hand was the first in the air, without even knowing what they were asking for sometimes. I just love to be busy, so when asked at drill night, ‘Can anyone help out with the cubs visit on Tuesday?’ I, of course, said yes.

Tuesday arrived, and so did the cubs, lots of them! We showed them around the Fire Engines, told them a little about what we do and eventually got them all lined up outside to ‘squirt some water!’

They absolutely loved it, we showed them the different branch settings to change how the water came out, so maybe some future Totnes Firefighters in the making from that group? Who knows?!

I did let my guard down a little that evening and forgot who I was there with, and Rabbit decided, that with all the kids watching, he would turn the branch on me and absolutely soaked me! They thought it was hilarious, and I’m sure I would have done if I wasn’t going straight out afterwards for a date!

The first insight into community work for me, it’s certainly a varied job.

Development Training

Saturday April 14^th 2018 and I was up early, dressed in uniform, collected my fire kit and headed up to Bovey Tracy Fire Station.

So far on my journey I have trained and worked with my colleagues at Totnes Fire Station. I have trained with the guys who I did all my initial courses with, and now I was on to a whole new adventure….training with others in development to become competent Firefighters.

I’ve said many times through this blog, that we are constantly learning, and the weekly drill nights keep a lot of our skills fresh, but at this early period, regular training and assessment are necessary to ensure that we are all safe and competent in all aspects of the job. This is the difference between being an on call firefighter and whole time. They are constantly practicing their skills, we have to rely on shouts when we are on call.

I arrived at Bovey Tracy and immediately saw a familiar face, Jamie who I did my initial courses with was there, and I met a few others, who I would get to know more over the development period. Being a Firefighter is all teamwork, but the team changes. You could be on a fire ground at a shout with anyone from any station and work with them. My first BA (breathing apparatus) wear was with a guy from Buckfastleigh who I had never met before. It happens.

I also saw Chris Boston, who was in charge of our training that day, the last time I had seen him was at my interview! Now was the time to prove to him that he didn’t make a massive mistake by letting me in!

The training was great. We did combination drills locally utilising the local landscape, open water at the back of the Co-op car park, using light portable pumps and the main pump to get water to a branch and ground monitor. I was surprised at how much information I had retained, and went home happy that finally, the skills are sinking in, becoming normal. It’s that difference in thinking about how to do a job, and just getting on with it because it’s second nature. I wasn’t at that stage, but the more training goes on, it gets better.

Proof, that you can teach an old dog new tricks!