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.

Day 3 –  Union City Fire Department Captain, Ricky Hurtado ran this evenings class and packed our heads full of information on the topic of fire behavior.  I can’t begin to transcribe all the notes I took that night, but I can comment that Capt. Hurtado was an excellent instructor and knows how to lecture so that you don’t fall asleep.  He’s interesting, full of knowledge, but grounded and effective in connecting with his students.  I look forward to seeing more of him in the academy.

Day 4 –  Here was a biggie.  Day 4 was a Saturday and retired Chief Joe Robinson was with us for 10 hours (not counting breaks and an hour lunch) of fire prevention and investigation education.  Whooooo, it was a long day at information station!  The most amazing thing about it is how Chief Robinson can pull it off.  Anybody who can effectively lecture on a single topic for such a substantial amount of time is a dedicated man in my book.

As an instructor Joe Robinson (who I’ve discussed in other parts of this blog) is a downright wealth of information packed into a single human being.  He gave us such a massive information dump, there would be no way to retain it all, had it not been for his extremely organized and to the point Powerpoint presentations.  Chief is also a very courteous and laid back guy with a subtle sense of humor.  It seemed obvious to me that he enjoys teaching and appears to be doing a good job of keeping busy while loving retirement.

Day 5 –   Another of my previous fire instructors, San Jose FD Captain, Don Torres, ran Tuesday’s lecture covering ICS (Incident Command System) in a through and to the point manner.  He had to as there was a ton of information to cover in only 4 hours.  Taking notes was a challenge, but my approach was write down key words and points and review them later.  Most of all I wanted to make sure I was hearing what Mr. Torres was saying.

If you happen to be a student at Los Medanos College, I highly recommend taking ‘Building and Construction for Fire Protection’ with Captain Torres.  He’s a fun teacher who appears to me to be at the top of his game.  He also let us know that we could earn our ICS-100 certification through FEMA online.   FEMA offers a study at home course and certification for this and other progams.  If you haven’t done it, you might want to spend some time on that.

Day 6 –  Communications was the topic and Dave Watson (also known as “The Punisher”) of Walnut Creeks Engine 1, was the instructor.  This was an interesting night because unlike all the previous days, this evening was broken up by groups of us going to the 911 dispatch center in Pleasant Hill.  Dave had Firefighter Nick Grillo assisting him that night.  Grillo (Captain Mike Grillo’s son) accompanied us to the dispatch center while Watson stayed back and lectured/Q&A’ed with the remaining cadets.

At the 911 center, the very friendly (for some reason I expected them to be grouchy) dispatchers explained what all the bells and whistles did, and details about how dispatchers work.  I was amazed to learn that their schedule is just like the firefighters.  They’re currently working 48/96′s which basically means they’re on for 48 hours straight and off for 4 days afterwards.  Some love it, other hate it.  Either way, it’s pretty amazing.  When we were there, there were only 3 dispatchers working (and I assume there was one sleeping somewhere).  Very interesting experience.

Listening to the calls come in, you get a better understanding for why firefighters struggle with the information they’re given by dispatch.  It’s simple – dispatch is essentially relaying the information they’re given from whatever panicked Joe calls in, and often they have to relay that information super fast in order to get to the plethora of other calls that may be flooding their lines.  It’s a tough job and one I hope to become more acquainted with in the future.

Before I conclude Day 6′s wrap-up, I should do my own relay job and tell you what Firefighter Dave Watson told us about his “Punisher” nickname.  The story is a simple one, and not so focused on the nickname itself.  Apparently during the last LMC academy, Watson must have been pretty hard on the group because that night they dubbed him “The Punisher”.  The next morning Dave showed up for work at the fire station and everybody there knew all about his new nickname.  Not even 24 hours had passed and he was getting phone calls from others in the service joking with him about his new tag.

The moral of the story Watson explained goes like this…. “Telegraph, Telephone, Tell-a-firefighter”  The point here being, news travels fast; really fast!  Especially in the small world of the fire service so think before you act or speak.  He joked that firefighters are worse than high school girls when it comes to gossip and if you make a mistake, everybody will know within hours if not minutes.  Fortunately for Watson, being nicknamed “The Punisher” is pretty cool, but it’s definitely something to keep in mind.

To begin the orientation, Captain Grillo gave us a brief intro to the names, departments and specialties of the many firefighters (with a wide variety of titles and roles) who will be instructing us over the course of the semester.  He also introduced us to Brittany Sylvia who is a previous LMC Fire Academy graduate, and now helps run the physical training aspect of the academy.  She claims anything she’ll be having us do, she’ll be doing right along side us.  I believe her.

Aside from getting the obvious certificate of achievement for completing the fire academy, and the likely achievement of earning our Firefighter 1 cert. (3 fire courses and the academy), we’ll also be getting two other significant certifications.  The first is a State Fire Marshal certification in Wildland Interface, which is highly valuable in California.  Second Captain Ed Macumber will be certifying us as HazMat FRO (Hazardous Materials – First Responder Operations), which is also huge!

We reviewed our textbook (BIG, Expensive, and the origin of my blunder) and it was explained that anything less than a minimum of 70% fails the academy.  That’s referring to the 10 quizzes we’ll be taking plus the midterm and final.  Also, there about 400 hours of class time of which we may miss a maximum of 18.  More than that and we’re out.

We reviewed a lot more “little details” and then headed outside to learn how to march.  Only 2 or 3 people in this academy have prior military experience which is surpising, and it made learning how to march all the more exciting and new.  I have to say, aside from the 90° sun beating on my bald head, it was actually a lot of fun.  Also, I now know where my boots are going to be giving me blisters.

Before the marching actually began we learned about grouping our battalion into formations and different stances.  At one point during Capt. Grillo’s explanation of standing “At Ease”, he called me a “short-cutter”.  I was completely bewildered at why he would call me this, except that at times he picks on random people to tease them.  Still, this seemed a little harsh for teasing.  I decided I would ask him at the end of the day.

The marching can be tricky at times.  If for a moment you lose your cadence with the other cadets, it can be very hard to get back into it without being spotted.  The key as I see it, is to keep a strong focus on the beat of the feet, while maintaining a comfortable awareness of where your surrounding cadets are.  Once that’s in place you’re better off if you just fall into the zone and rhythm of the march.  That’s when it becomes fun.

Fortunately, we were a worthwhile troop and without too much trouble, our marching convinced Captain Grillo to let us conclude before the heat caused us to completely sweat stain our brand new uniforms.  Back in the sweetness of air conditioning, we got a quick lesson on how to shine our boots, which it sounds like we’ll want to do before every day of the academy.  Finally, Brittany concluded class with some candid Q&A and were excused.

Once we were excused, I approached Capt. Grillo and asked him “Sir, do you really think of me as a ‘short-cutter’ or was that just a joke?”  His lack of immediate response was telling and crushing, and finally he replied.  He told me he got a call from “a bookstore” telling him that “one of his students was trying to take a shortcut”.  Again, I was baffled, but quickly realized what he must be referring to.

A week prior to this, I had gotten on our textbook publishers website and filled out a form for a “review copy”.  Doing this same thing for my EMT class, I connected with that publishing companies sales people who told me about a student price I was able to get through them.  This saved me a lot of money, and I was hoping to repeat the experience.  As it is, I am currently dirt poor.

Unfortunately what happened, was rather than informing me about money-saving options for purchasing their textbook, the salesgirl called Capt. Grillo and told him that one of his students was trying to take shortcuts.  The salesgirl did email me asking if I was employed by the school.   I responded telling her that I wasn’t an employee.  I told her I was a student, and a very poor one at that.   Lastly, I explained that I was simply hoping she may be able to help me out with the cost of the book.

I don’t think this is the message she delivered to Capt. Grillo.  I told the Captain that I was looking for a student discount and that the last thing I’d want him to think of me as was a “short-cutter”.  He told me “OK, prove me wrong” and walked away.  I hate this.  I hate that a misunderstanding or a lack of knowing the whole story has now reduced my reputation to that of a short-cutter, and on the very first day!!  I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me.

I ordered my text book on Amazon and am worried it won’t be here soon enough.  We have our first quiz in less than a week and I need to study!

Los Medanos college runs a good fire academy, though there are of course the true “elite”.  Butte College is known for having possibly the best fire academy in California (though maybe it’s the best in Northern California).  One thing about Butte is that you don’t need your EMT cert to go there.  This is because they put you through their own EMT certification, not to mention an intense, rigorous, and very well respected academy.

I am quite happy to be attending LMC regardless.  Lately I’ve been told by a few people including Mr. Grillo that upon graduation of the academy, doors really begin to open.  This is the kind of thing I want to hear as it is easy to get down on the idea that the economy is in the tank and nobody is hiring.

Just two days ago I was at L.N. Curtis & Sons buying gear for the academy and I met Sharon Oliver, Training Officer for the Alameda Fire Department.  Myself and a fellow cadet spent some time talking to her and I’m quite glad we did.  She too had some very positive and motivational words for us.  She reiterated what Captain Grillo told us, that opportunities will abound after graduating from the academy and that fire departments will never stop hiring.  She went to reassure us that while there are a few layoffs taking place right now, it won’t be very long (1-3 years is the impression I got) before a good healthy hiring upswing takes place.  She highly recommended we get our paramedic license under our belts.

In the end, I feel better.  I’m excited for the academy and I’m more excited at the prospect of what may come when it’s over.

Just recently I met a 24 year old guy who in the last 5 years has applied to over 150 fire departments, has had about 75 interviews, made it to the chiefs interview with two of those departments and was hired by none.  Like me, he’s got a degree in Fire Technology from Los Medanos College and has his EMT certification.  Unlike me he’s already been through the fire academy, has worked as an ER-Tech, and he’s been on far more ride-alongs and station visits than I have.

He sells memberships at a gym in Brentwood which is where I met him.  He seems to have resigned himself, at this young age to selling gym memberships and anything else where he can make a buck, but he made it clear to me that he’s given up on firefighting.  Nobody will hire him.

He’s young and that may have to do with it.  Fire Departments are often looking for slightly older and more mature candidates, but he didn’t seem immature to me.  I even noticed how many times I had used curse words when it became apparent that he wasn’t using any at all!  He’s a white guy, very well built and about 6 feet tall.  He sure seemed to me to be a guy who knew what the road to firefighting was all about; knew it all too well even, and unfortunately he’s one of the “fallen”.