Days 8 and 9 were a Tues/Thurs combo.  They weren’t too bad.  We had a quiz, on which I did better than I thought I would.  We had lectures and things ran pretty smooth.  Not a whole lot to tell except that we covered topics like water supply and hydrants, and other related bits.

Day 7 was the killer.  This was a Saturday and the weather in Pittsburg, California was into triple digits by the afternoon.  It was a scorcher to say the least.

Class B Uniform

As is standard protocol we showed up in our class B uniforms, which are basically what you see pictured to the left (except our cadets looks much crisper than this gentleman.  *I promise to get some pictures of us up soon.

We left our bags in the classroom and met in the parking lot for our morning marching drills.  We marched about halfway around campus to the storage containers where the turnout gear is kept.  We arrived sweaty and hot, but Captain Grillo placed us in the shade of the trees and engine company by engine company we were issued our gear.

First I should note that there are 33 cadets in our academy broken up into 8 groups or “engine companies” of 4 people each.  We make up the ‘battalion’.  The 33rd cadet, Jacob Chavis is the Battalion Captain.  He was chosen for this role by Captain Grillo because of his previous military experience and because he currently works in an EMS/Firefighter capacity at a local refinery.  Captain Chavis has done an excellent job so far.

The gear we were issued was essentially the complete firefighting outfit.  We were all sized for boots, an SCBA (Self Contained Breathing Apparatus) mask and tank, helmet, and of course the full turnout pants and coat.  Prior to the start of the academy, we’d all bought our NFPA approved gloves separately.

When everybody had their outfits complete, we were instructed to suit up.  We were allowed to take our shirts off and wear just our undershirts, but with our pants on, we donned our turnouts and then began practicing the drill every firefighter in the country knows best – how to put on your turnouts FAST!

We practiced taking them off, and putting them back on, over and over again.  The minimum goal is to do it all within 2 minutes, but we’re all shooting for under a minute.  In full, we’re stepping out of our station boots, and getting into out boots and turnout pants.  Then on with the coat, flash hood, and oxygen tank followed by the oxygen mask which needs to be connected to the tank and have the air pressure checked.  then pull the flash hood over the mask, get your helmet on, and pull on your gloves.  Often, pulling on your gloves takes the longest.  They’re tight and by that point, you’re actually a bit winded.  Of course, the LMC equipment is old and not exactly a proper fit for most of us.  If we were hired at by a department, we’d surely have newer (and fresher smelling) equipment than the old recycled stuff we’re using here, and I suspect with a bit of practice we’d all be trimming our time down by a bunch.

As the day reached it’s peak in heat, most of the shade was gone and we were sweating up a storm.  Those turnouts are anything but air conditioned and the on-off routine we were doing had us sweating buckets.  Finally, we were given a break as four of the fastest cadets were brought together for a little friendly competition.  From my own engine company 7 was Daniel Saballos competing against former professional baseball player Brandon Buckley (engine co. 1), Brian Means (engine co. 5), and Scott Pitchford (engine co. 6).  In just under a minutes time, the winner was Brian Means, but all four were amazing to watch.

Though this post simplifies the experience we all shared into a brief and simple explanation of the days activities, it was actually a long, grueling and extremely hot day.  I figure this is a good thing because as it turns out fires too, are hot; and fighting them I can only imagine, is grueling.  Just know if you’re considering going into the fire academy, it’s going to be a challenge from the very start.  Those of us who were there on this Saturday the 29th of August, 2009 will surely always remember the day we got our gear.

It was my hope at the start of this blog that I would be able to write a post for every day of the academy.  That is clearly not going to be possible, but I will try and stay on top of things at least in blocks of days.  Today’s post will be on Day 2 of the academy, but in this posts and future posts  I’ll generally focus on a few things: What we’ve covered in class; class/training instructors;  personal wins/losses (blunders); other highlights.  In addition, I’ll also try and get the quizes we’ve taken so far posted on the quiz page so you can test your own firefighter knowledge.  Remember – anything less than 70% fails.

Day 2 – This was the actual first day of “class”.  Day 1 was our 10-hour orientation.  In this class Captain Grillo covered the history of the fire service from 24 B.C. to current day.  There’s a lot that we covered and I’d love to post the notes here, but that would take a lot of time I don’t have.  That’s a project for later, but I can tell you a few highlights regarding the history of the firefighting and some of the interesting trivia that goes along with it.

• The earliest recorded history of firefighters was in Caesar’s Rome.  The “Familia Publica”, made up of 600 slaves (not like the African-American slaves of American history.  They were more like servants of the commonwealth.) stationed around the city and kept watch nightly for fires.  They put them out by throwing buckets of water on them.
• The Corp of Vigiles eventually replaced the Familia Publica and served Rome for about 500 years.
• The very first fire pump ever was called the Siphona Syringe (invented by Ctesibus and Hero the Alexandrian) which was basically a giant syringe full of water which was pumped by multiple men onto a fire.
• Former Captain of the Romain army, Florian, became known as “Florian, Patron Saint of Firefighters”.
• Dalmatians, the fire service mascot was originally used to keep horse teams on path and calm at the scene of fires.
• Ben Franklin is commonly referred to as “America’s First Fire Chief” as he started the first fire department in Philadelphia, PA.
• Boston, MA created the first paid-on-call Fire Department, let by Thomas Atkins – America’s first Fire Captain.
• The word ‘curfew’ comes from the french saying “couvre feu” meaning “cover fire”.  In Medieval England the curfew bell was rung meaning it was time to cover and extinguish your fire, so that homes would not catch on fire in the night.
• Andrew Gratacap invented the first fire helmet made of leather with the primary purpose of keeping water out of your eyes.
• Cincinatti, OH (1853) is credited as being the the 1st paid, full-time Fire Department.
• San Francisco’s Daniel Hayes invented the 1st hydraulic aerial ladder in 1870.
• In 1973 America’s growing fire problem was finally explored in depth in the monumental “America Burning” publication.  It’s conclusion was that our fire problem which is worse than any other industrialized country, stems from our own apathy.
• 345 firefighters die in the terrorist attacks on 9/11.  6000 people died in total.
• Today there are approximately 33,000 fire departments in the U.S. and 1 million firefighters (two-thirds are volunteer)
• The are approximately 2 million fire calls per year in the U.S.
• A popular saying in the fire service goes “200 years of tradition, unhampered by progress.”
• “Semper Vigilans” is the motto of the fire service.  It means “Always Vigilant”.

Class went smooth.  Nothing significant to tell beyond the