Corridor 9

Early June I posted some information on a CAMEO (Computer-Aided Management of Emergency Operations) class I attended. Unfortunately, when I rebuilt my server I lost a bit of information from June.

In this class I learned how to use some of the most powerful programs out there today for emergency operations. While this software is able to be used at virtually any incident, it’s primary use is for HAZMAT incidents. The three programs CAMEO, ALOHA (Areal Locations of Hazardous Atmospheres), and MARPLOT (Mapping Application for Response, Planning, and Local Operational Tasks) allow us to gather information about a chemical, it’s specific properties, dispersion rates and areas, as well as overlay those dispersion rates and areas on a graphical map of the affected area.

For those out there who need the plain English definition: We find out what chemical is involved, make a graph of hazard zones, and lay that graph over a county map to see exactly who would be affected, and what would happen if the wind direction changes.

Over the past few shifts I’ve been inputting data into the program about existing companies and their chemical inventory. This allows us to quickly anticipate the problem that may arise if a spill was to occur at one of those facilities. Naturally the quicker we could interpret this information, the quicker we could evacuate those who would be affected.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been working through Rick Warren’s book Purpose Driven Life. I have been able to see some areas in my life that really need improvement, and since I began reading I have made a concerted effort to change those areas in my life.

Yesterday I witnessed a video at work about the fire service given at a conference. The video talked about Pride, Valor, Honor, Integrity… unfortunately words that haven’t been in the forefront of our minds until lately. Over the past few years, there have been some problems with the administration and a lot of firefighters, myself included, didn’t feel like doing anything more than was absolutely necessary. That has changed a lot lately.

I’ve learned that there are always going to be people at any job who just want to skate by. I’ve understood the fact that there will always be officers who don’t care about doing things the right way, just like there will be firefighters who don’t care about doing anything at all. The question that I had to answer was; do I want to be like them?

I’ve always had a love for the fire service. Approximately 15 years ago I attended Daytona Beach Community College where I became a certified firefighter. I had pride in my profession then… why did I lose it? I can blame it on the environment, but thats only part of the problem. If I don’t have my priorities right, and realized that everything I do is for God’s glory, then I’m not going to do my best.

And that’s exactly what I need to do; my best.

Today was quite an eventful day. While working an extra, I was on the nozzle for one of the more dangerous fires the city has seen in quite a while. One of the local businesses downtown rents its upstairs floors out as living space, and on the top floor of a 4 store building today we had quite a large fire.

Being at the downtown station, we usually have 2 fully staffed trucks that will respond to structure fires but today that wasn’t the case. Our second truck had been training out at Station 3 on the Hazmat truck. That only left me, another firefighter, and our officer to cover the initial response for the downtown area.

We’ve always talked about a fire downtown and how hazardous a situation this could become due to the construction of the closely spaced buildings. As we were toned out, the engineer of our truck looked out the window and saw the smoke rising from what appeared to be the roof of the building. As the scene of the fire was so close to the station, we actually arrived before we were fully geared up to make entrance. It didn’t take long thoubh before we grabbed the longest preconnect on the truck and made our way through the front door, to the back of the building, and up 3 flights of stairs.

Upon reaching the 3rd floor, I called back for water and made an the interior attack. The black acrid smoke billowed out the windows as we entered the kitchen area. Because the fire was getting such a steady stream of oxygen, it was burning hot and fast and as I entered the room I could see fire on the roof rolling over my head and walking up both walls.

Since the fire had self ventilated I wasn’t too worried about getting steam burns so I put the nozzle on a wide fog and opened it up fully to cool off the ceiling area, let the steam do its magic, and push some of the smoke out the window. This cooled off the room considerably and really helped improve the visibility. We finished extinguishing the hot spots before making our way back down the stairs to a rehab area since we knew that our work was far from over. It took members from the entire department a number of hours to overhaul the affected fire area, place salvage covers over filing cabinets and computers to protect them from water damage, and make sure there were no more hot spots that could rekindle later during the day.

In all, we were exceptionally blessed by a number of factors; the building construction had been updated to include sheet rock walls, the fire station was so close to the scene, and the fire ventilated out the nearest window versus spreading through the attic. These factors coupled with the wonderful amount of teamwork by both on-duty as well as off-duty personnel all made this a successful operation.

I’d been thinking about designing my own decal for the fire department for some time now. One of the local Realtors in town have graphics on the back of their vehicles describing their company, name, and phone number. I thought I’d like to do the same, only add a bit of flair to it.

Well… one of the guys at the department decided to go to one of the local sign companies to get a graphic. Unfortunately, I didn’t like the design as well as I thought I would so I figured it was time to get off my butt and design the graphic I’d been thinking about all along.

It ended up a bit different than I initially imagined, but I think it’s totally cool! I probably won’t get the flamed one, but I needed to design one that someone at the station wanted. Now all I have to do is go get it printed out.