Training reinforces confidence in firefighters

Since graduating from the Region No. 9 Fire Academy, most of the firefighters have continued their education and become Emergency Medical Technicians and now they have taken additional class time and hands-on training to become certified to fight wild land fires in our region.

This training teaches firefighters how to size up temperature, topography and wind conditions so that they will remain safe. Under the watchful eye of Chief Robert Ladd, District 8 chief training officer, we all had numerous chances to hand dig dry lines, apply “wet lines” and deploy up to a 1,000 feet of hose and of course pass the fire shelter test in under 25 seconds.

Safety is number one, as it is on all fire calls, but we sure learned what it means to “Look up, look down, and look around!” when out in the field.

After completing our written exams, we spent the entire day south of the Palouse Highway, digging trenches, setting back fires, clearing “ladder fuels” which can easily take a fire from the ground up into the tree tops.

Then it was on to learning about “anchor points” and using natural barriers to work the line of the fire to avoid spread. Oh, and did I say, then we did a lot more digging.

Every member of a crew gets 10 feet apart and either uses a shovel, an adz, a McLeod (looks like a combination rake and hoe), a Pulaski (combination axe and adz) or a combi-tool (combination shovel/hoe/pick) and you simply start where you are clearing a physical barrier down to mineral soil that the fire cannot cross.

Under the supervision of Capt. Mitch Metzger and the lieutenants, we cleared hundreds of feet of line through stumps, rocks, brush and grass until we were good and tired. Since there are no fire hydrants south of 46th and Highway 27 we learned how to use 3,000-gallon fire tender and attack trucks to draft and supply water to remote areas.

It’s amazing how many different fuel types there are and how quickly they can dry out and ignite under the right conditions. I feel confident now that we passed our final exams and memorized the standard firefighting orders as well as the 18 “Watch Out” situations, our seasoned District 8 career firefighters are capable of protecting the lives and well-being of rookies like me, as well as rescue our citizens and minimize loss of property in our 110-square-mile district.

So if you see us out and about in those yellow shirts and hats, we’re just trying to prevent another firestorm.