Development continues at Bovey Tracy

My development training will continue until such time as I have taken several sessions of different elements of training, and then at the end I have to be assessed again on these to become a competent Firefighter.

So, in May 2018 and June, I took part in two Road Traffic Collision (RTC) sessions, adding to my development training file. In these sessions I was with Harvey, from Totnes Fire Station, but also got to see James and Jamie again from my recruitment courses.

RTC training is not easy, all vehicles are different, scenarios are different, but we have to learn the basics during training, how to manage different kinds of glass, cutting and spreading different makes and types of vehicle, and also, imagining situations whereby there may be only one person or multiple casualties in a car.

It’s hot work, being honest, I think I sweat more in RTC training than any other. The hydraulic tools are heavy and have to be held at fairly awkward angles at times, but this is where teamwork comes in. If it gets heavy, pass it on to someone who is a little fresher. No one works on their own in the Fire Service, we all help each other to get the task completed.

These two sessions were no different, I think I managed to get in all of the jobs required in training over these two Saturdays, chocking the car so it’s stable, managing glass safely, creating space to work in, and everyone’s favourite, cutting, spreading and ramming using the hydraulic tools. I also used the hydraulic pump. I love the practical side of RTC training, but as always sessions contain question and answer before we start the practical, and all the way through it, modular training is great to keep that brain ticking over, constantly putting in a refreshing information.

Both sessions ended and me and Harvey headed back to Station 31, Totnes, put our kit back and I headed for the shower! If you are wanting to join, or are currently in training, prepare to sweat doing this, it’s inevitable!

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!

Red alert and team bonding!

I am sure we can all remember ‘The Beast from the East?’

 

I was certain that Devon wasn’t going to get snow, as a rule we don’t get much interruption from snow, it’s there on the Dartmoor for us all to go and play in, but then we go home and carry on with an un-disrupted life. March 2018, however, was a whole different ball game.

We all got the text through, asking if we could possibly spare some hours to be standby on our own stations whilst the snow came down harder through the day. There wasn’t really much choice and not much of anything else that we could do anyway. We packed up bags, grabbed sleeping bags and food and made our way to the Fire Station.

If there was ever a way to get to know your new friends, this was it. I had been going to drill nights before my induction in October 2017, but spending many hours at a time with the crew, you got to properly bond. You also got to know who snores….it became a bit of an issue for a few of us, and if we have to be on standby again, we know who is sleeping in the appliance bay away from everyone else!

For three days, we ate crisps and biscuits and drank copious amounts of tea, as well as watching, among other things, ‘London’s Burning!’ an absolute classic, and the reason I wanted to become a Firefighter back in 1986…..showing my age now.

We did get a shout during this time, we had snow chains on the appliance, tried several different variants on route, but mostly came up against six foot plus snow drifts, we couldn’t believe how much had fallen while we were in the warm safety of the Fire Station. Another station were trying to access the property from a different side and also not having any success, we had to call for some extra help, in the form of a little gator! I had gone home to walk my dogs at this point as the team went back out and froze in the back of the little gator, going down snow-tunnels in the back lanes to eventually get to the property. They still talk now about how cold it was, and I’m not ashamed to say, I’m glad I didn’t have to do that, I don’t do cold very well!

After three days the snow subsided and started to melt, we returned back to our homes and our beds and Devon returned back to normal.

The diversity of The Fire Service.

The diversity of the Fire Service.

I think, that February 2018 was the month that it first hit me, just how diverse our skills as a Firefighter have to be.

We, of course have to learn a variety of skills, and if you’ve read my blog so far, I’ve noted the main courses that we have to do before going ‘on the run.’ That training continues on throughout your career, I am currently in what is known as ‘development’ and I attend regular training sessions (blog to follow) as well as drill nights, and will eventually have to pass more practical and written tests before becoming a competent firefighter.

I wanted to give you a brief insight at the diversity of shouts in my early days as a Firefighter, and it’s not just the job itself, it’s the time and day. You never know when it will happen.

The first was a Monday night at 21.41 hours.

We were called to a domestic fire, at a static caravan, right out in the middle of nowhere. I had not long passed my BA (Breathing Apparatus) course, and there was a chance that I was going to have a wear. Both myself and Mark prepared for this, only to be told BA wasn’t needed when we got there, but it was my first taste of putting on a set and getting mentally ready for my first fire outside of the controlled environment at BA school.

The second was on a Friday morning at 0400 hours.

Something that I would get very used to over the coming months – an AFA – a Fire Alarm at a very large local business.

After lots of walking, inspecting the site, using the thermal image camera, it was clear that there was no fire and that it was just a false alarm. I got home around 6am, around the time I usually get up. It was going to be a long day!

The third of four, was on a Tuesday morning, 00.20 hours!

We attended a fire out in the open, a small fire, warranting a bucket of water, and I was back home at 01.15 hours. After years of undisrupted sleep, a whole new life was evolving around me, where I knew naps were going to be the way forward wherever necessary during the day!

The last of the diversity was a Wednesday at around mid-day.

We were called to a standby at Dartmouth Fire Station. It was just at the start of the snow and Dartmouth had gone out to an RTC (Road Traffic Collision) so we went to their Station and watched the snow get worse. This was my first standby, I didn’t realise that all we did was just stay at the station and wait, until they came back. A small snowman was left with them as we returned back to our home station!

When that alerter goes off, you just never know, but, as they say, ‘variety is the spice of life!’

Water Rescue

Here we all are again, it’s the 17^th February 2018, it’s cold out, but luckily today we have a day in the classroom.

We were all back at Exeter HQ, the last time we were there was for our written test at the very beginning of our application to become an On Call Firefighter.

It was lovely seeing the guys again and the day went well. We, yet again had brilliant instructors, lots of input to take in and a knowledge check at the end of the day.

Before we left that day we got kitted out with a wooly bear suit (yes, they are as cosy as they sound!) drysuit, boots, personal flotation device (PFD) and helmet. We certainly looked the part, tomorrow would be the big test, outside in the River Dart.

Before I tell you about our training, I need to give you a little background into my life…..don’t worry, I won’t get too emotional on you, but the fact is, for years I have had a fear of water. It all stemmed way back to when I was seven years old and being pushed into the pool at a Brownie swimming lesson. Since then I have tried many swimming teachers and techniques, but my fear was ever-present even when I finally learnt to swim.

In 2017 I found the most amazing wild swimming teacher, Kari Furre, she won’t mind me mentioning her, as I have a separate blog documenting my swimming journey with her. I had already had some lessons with her, and also been using a hypnotherapy app to deal with fears and phobias. Being honest, if those two things hadn’t happened, I would not have been able to take part in day two of this course.

I let both instructors know about my ‘water issues’ and the guys all knew about it and were all supportive and amazing about it. Out of all the courses, this would be my nemesis.

I travelled again with Bill to the River Dart Country Park, it was a beautiful, if not a little cold day.

We met up, had a cuppa, gathered our PPE together, I must have gone to the toilet around six times because of nerves, the guys knew how I was feeling and kept my humour up.

It was time to get kitted up and head down to the river, my nerves at this point were actually making me shake, the rest of the team loved it, and the time came for me to get into the river and self-rescue. I did it, all that I had been taught; I performed, and made it to the eddy on the other side of the river. Obstacle one conquered!

More and more of this, and I gained confidence, I may have even enjoyed it a little when I knew how much control I actually had, and before I knew it, it was lunch time.

The rest of the day we did more self-rescue, used throw-bags, learnt about wading by the weir, which was tough. But it wasn’t as bad as I thought, and I passed!

The time now was to say goodbye to the team, the guys who had become close and trusted friends in such a short time, and this blog is for you guys, Rob (Captain Flash-heart), William (Will, Welfare Willy!), Bill (Billiam), Dan (Danielle), Ryan (Rylan), Joey, James, Jamie, Doug (Evacuate!!) not forgetting Johnny and Mark. I couldn’t have done this journey so well without you all as support, not to mention how much you all make me laugh, so thank you.

Breathing Apparatus (BA) training - part two

January 27^th 2018 – diary entry.

‘Bill picked me up. A day of highs and lows. I messed up a lot today and I’m so annoyed with myself.’

You’ve seen this journey expand if you’ve read the other blogs. BA School is tough; it has to be tough to prepare you for what is to come. The time to mess up is in training, but you have to learn from it, and fast, any continued mistakes mean you fail, and failure is not an option to me, all through my life I have strived to be the best that I can be.

So we are back at Exeter BA School for day 6 of 10. We had a lot more BA wears, more servicing of sets, more experience of fire behaviour and environment and I didn’t have the best of days.

Following a search, I missed the stairs, a ridiculous rookie mistake, but one that haunted me all week. I then had issues with radios, another issue that would haunt me all week, mainly because of the general mickey-taking that some of the guys gave me. Don’t worry, it was all done in jest, and I got my own back eventually!

Back home that evening I tried to relax, I went over my notes, went over the mistakes I had made in my head, mentally beat myself up a bit and decided that tomorrow was a new day and tried to move on. 

Day 7 and it was a better day for me.

I can’t tell you a lot about what we did that day, as it would spoil it for those of you going through the process of being an On Call Firefighter, but we did an amazing exercise, I was the BAECO (Breathing Apparatus Entry Control Officer) and I really like doing that, recording and keeping a check on information. My radio skills picked up again that day and as a team, we all did really well.

A very different finish and feeling to the day than the previous.

Day 8, we did an exercise in the Cold Villa, and also learnt all about Positive Pressure Ventilation (PPV) which as really interesting. It has many uses, but can ease working conditions for Firefighters, give better visibility, safety and comfort.

We learnt Firefighting branch techniques, had lots of practise with them before going into the Attack 2 container. This was the last thing we did that day, and we over-ran slightly, which meant when I got back to Totnes I had to go straight to the sports centre to take my Insanity class. All we could smell for the 50 minute session was smoke, as I sweated it out into the room! Luckily they all found it funny! That’s the thing about being an On Call Firefighter, sometimes our ‘Day jobs’ are affected by what we do, always allow enough time for a shower!

Day 9, and they are ramping up the work more and more, giving us more kit, more work, harder targets to achieve and we did a great exercise in steam. I was feeling confident, we all did some great work and we finished the day with the Attack 3 container. All preparations for tomorrow and the big assessment.

The big day!

We had our written exam in the morning, seemed to go okay, lunch and then our practical assessment.

I got to do my assessment with Joey (Tavistock) and it was tough. We ended up putting the same fire out three times, we would shut the door after painting it down, the assessors would open the door again and send us back to it.

Joey was awesome, I was less awesome, I made a few minor errors that were explained to me afterwards, but we passed, all of us passed, both written and practical. We were on the run properly, time to remove the red diamonds from our helmets and be an active part of the crew. Another part of the journey had begun.