First scenario, I was on attack. This means I was the guy with the hose fighting the fire. Had to do a search of the building, crawling, dragging hose. You want to know what this is like, put a bag over your head and try to crawl from kitchen to bathroom.
I get to fire, instructor says Indirect attack. I open nozzle, it is on fog. Why you ask, before entering building I asked Officer for nozzle setting as I was going to ensure it was right. He said do it at fire, I trusted the guy.
At fire trainer tore a strip off me. Officer then mocks me after the scenario. Friend of officer says its easy, just change stream as you are shooting water. On attack, due to steam issues, the nozzle is open for seconds. Not enough time to change stream.
Second scenario, I am officer. I still had to go first. It was ok. I decided I never want to be officer.
Through the two scenarios I learned that I am ok on air in a dark space and heat.
The flashover chamber was last. This was the one I was really nervous about. All I knew is it got hot, 1200 F above the thermal layer. It can do this in your house. Firefighters stay low, where it is 500 F. That's why we wear the attractive gear.
We were in the chamber for what felt like 1/2 hour. Sitting against a wall we watched the fire go from campfire size to where it started to cause particle board to off-gas. Fire doesn't burn wood or fuel, it burns gas. The gas is created by heat.
As it got warmer we saw the off-gasping start. Then smoke formed at roof and started to build. There were times when the smoke woke stratify with layers of white smoke and then clear space. It was better than 3D.
After a bit it got black, we could not see fire anymore, just smoke. We had to let temperature build for a flashover. It was boring, I was controlling breathing to make sure air lasted. After awhile I wanted to have a nap.
We were sitting there waiting to use water to cool down fire, to allow escape. The training is for what to do to survive a flashover, not put the fire out
There were ten of us, we rotated around and had a chance at the nozzle. When it was my turn I saw the fire. I also saw the flashover. Close to the ceiling was a beautiful fire, it was dancing like the Northern Lights, it would flare towards you and then go back. Always moving. It didn't like the three fog sprays and then the three straight stream sprays.
Their job is to cool the fire enough to let firefighters escape. The fog sprays cool the fire enough to allow the straight stream get through 1200 degree heat and hit some fuel.
I survived. It was hot, but I was nowhere near as hot as I thought I'd be. The scene ended with a steam out, where water is fogged on to create steam. Water drops multiply by 1700 in a normal fire, 42000 in a flash over. Steam burns. This was to show what happens when attacks aren't coordinated.
The phobes all banded together as a unit. They didn't like that our crew was always the first to do a scenario. The head phobe visibly was pissed off. I smiled, karma is a bitch.
Went for supper with firefighters from Mannville. I am still not amused by officer from first scenario. Avoidance was good. Karma got me back, we were at the only restaurant and were getting seated when the phobes came in. The Mannville guys said we should join them. We did. We listened to head phobe talk, he likes to talk. He talked a lot. He was kind of cute in a way. On way back to hotel the Mannville guys said man, can that guy talk.
The facilitator for the flashover was Hugh. He had the nicest smile and no question was too stupid.
Bottom line, training is training. It is where you screw up. It is better to see the results of your screw up in a controlled environment than in a real scene, where people can die.
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