Wrestling Hose

Last night was the first of our practical hose nights. We got to go to the County training center to do this part. We split the night into two parts: hydrant ops and hose advancing.

The group I was in did hydrant ops first. The instructor showed us how it worked, then gave us each a chance to close off a hydrant, verify that it drained properly, then wrap 5" around the hydrant, simulate the engine departing, and connecting a gate valve to the hydrant and bleeding off the air. It's fascinating how doing a thing makes all the difference, compared to reading about it or even seeing someone else do it.

After a break, we switched stations, and did hose loading and advancement. We worked with Minuteman loads, which are two sections of hose, pre-connected to the engine, each in their own vertically stacked slot. One has the nozzle, the other has loops to ease getting it off the engine. I got two chances to load loose hose onto the engine, (again making it make much more sense than just having it explained).

Then came the challenge: we got to take the hose off the truck and advance it into a building, up to the 2nd floor, lay it out, call to have it charged, and discharge from the nozzle, simulating putting out a fire, then ventilate the room using a fog pattern. For starters, I backed up a nozzle-man, then we switched and I got a chance.

Let me just say that all illusions that my past year of cycling had me in good shape flew out the window. It kicked my butt, solidly. Wearing full turnout gear, helping move the hose up stairs, then moving the charged hoseline around and supporting the nozzle-man wasn't as easy as it looked earlier. Wrestling the nozzle was also a challenge, especially when venting and I was doing it alone (as the instructor showed my support guy the effects of ventilation). By the end of it, I was very winded and fairly exhausted, at which point I had to shoulder-load the nozzle-connected section of hose and drain it, working down the stairs. (The instructor helped me out with the last 3-4 loops, embarrasingly enough.) And, as the instructor pointed out, we didn't have either SCBA on, or an actual fire heating things up.

And as a footnote, this morning I looked at the skills requirements for the Firefigher I, and was even more intimidated. Granted, many of the skills are items from the 3rd and 4th modules of this course, which we haven't gotten to yet, but I'm gonna need to get into better shape for that, too.

The bottom line is that I have quite a ways to go to get into good enough shape to be proficient at this. So yes, I have my work cut out for me.