Report From Ladder Company 40 Day 63

Hi Team!

I am HOME!!! Yay me? :(

Is that confusing? I missed my family a lot, but I had so much fun in Washougal and I LOVE staying with my brother and his family. I wish I could move there! Does that explain the mixed message above?

Today was another good day. I slept in until about 11:00. That was great. Then I had breakfast with my sister-in-law and my nephews and youngest niece. My brother was sleeping because between work and the Burn to Learn he had been up twenty three hours after coming home from a full shift at work and having one hour of sleep. He was a TIRED fireman.

After I ate I spent some time packing and did a little reading. I spent some time just chatting with my nephews and talking with my sister-in-law. I played hide and seek with my three year old nephew for a while. I was glad to do it because for most of my trip there he informed me that he didn't like me! :( I think it had something to do with not letting him eat candy when it was dinner time!

At 2:00 my Sis-in-law woke my brother so that we could go play with the firehose! This is something I have never had the opportunity to do before and I really wanted to! We drove the squad out to an open part of the property and he pulled the hose out. He hooked it up to the squad and then walked me through starting up the pump. When I did some things wrong, he just let me. Then he talked me through figuring it out. He didn't outright tell me what to do. I attached the nozzle to the hose after he told me how to properly unroll it. There is kind of a trick to it to quickly unroll the hose when responding to a fire. He said I did pretty well for my first time. It only unrolled about half way. We were using a 1.75" diameter hose. It is pretty standard size used for a basic exterior attack, I guess. He finished unrolling it, demonstrating the technique he had talked me through and he was, of course, much more effective at it than I but he has just a few years of experience.

My bro gave me his helmet to wear in case I let the hose get away from me. It would have gone flying everywhere if I had and those big nozzles can really clonk you in the head if that happens. He put me in his turnout coat, although I couldn't close it. I am larger around than he is. He gave me a pair of gloves and then I took hold of the hoze and nozzle while he charged the line. I watched as the hose bulged all the way from the pumper to the nozzle, untwisting the hose as the water charged through. I didn't have the nozzle open yet which was a good thing. Those hoses are pretty heavy when they are charged and difficult to maneuver. He warned me to open the nozzle slowly to a) get the air out of the line and b) to determine the spray pattern before I opened up all the way. It can go from a long straight stream to a wide fog pattern. It was not set to straight stream when I started but it was close.

Ordinarily, two firefighters handle the hose. One controls the hose and the other aims and sprays. He let me try it on my own. It was a challenge! I had it tucked under my left arm and used my right hand to open the nozzle and control it. When I opened up the pressure caused the hose to slide back through my left hand and I had to use my arm to hold the hose against my body to keep control. I experimented with different spray patterns while my brother instructed me on the proper stance to best control the hose. He took several pictures of me playing. It was only in the upper forties or low fifties outside and my crazy nephews were out, one in shorts and a rain coat, running under the spray like they were running under a rainbow. Crazy boys!!!

When I had used probably three fourths of the pumper's capacity of water, my bro and I decided to wrap it up. He made me figure out how to shut down the pump. I tried to get hime to tell me what to do, but he is a teacher by nature. He would only tell me to remember what I did to start it and to read the labels. He did give me a hint here and there. Then he showed me how to properly drain the hose and how to roll it up the right way. There is a right way and a wrong way to roll a fire hose! He asked me if I knew why and when I said no he told me to look closely at the hose and figure it out. Eventually I did. The end that the nozzle goes on should be on the inside of the roll to protect the exposed threads! Conveniently this also makes it so that when the hose is unrolled the correct end is nearest the pumper and the other end is nearest the fire!

After we loaded the hose back on the truck and stowed my bro's firefighting gear, he showed me some of the different couplings and nozzles. He also showed me a combo spanner tool, used for disconnecting fire hoses that have become too tight to unscrew by hand and also used to shut off gas meters and various other tasks. He showed me how the tool was used. It was very interesting. If you're into that sort of thing like I am. :)

When we were finished browsing equipment, we took the squad "back to the barn" and my bro backed her in place. Then started the task of refilling her tank.

While the tank was filling we went inside to have some of my sister-in-laws amazing rhubarb crunch (like rhubarb crisp with the crisp both under and over the rhubarb!) and ice cream. YUMMY! Then I said my goodbyes and headed home.

That was my very fun day! I didn't get much exercise but I had plenty of sleep and plenty of fluids. There, now my report is complete!

My trip to Washougal was amazing and I got to do every fire department related thing I wanted to do this time around. YAY ME!!!

Tomorrow I go back to my routine of walking and stair climbing 3 days a week! I've missed that. (very surprised look on my face)

Until we meet again... Stay Safe!

Hotflash out.