Sleepless in Midland

The arson trial, the guilty verdict, the execution, and the Texas Governor

Texas Governor Rick Perry replaced the head and some members of the Texas Forensic Science Commission (TFSC) in September, and some are crying foul -- CNN, for example. Before the shake up, the TFSC had hired a consultant to investigate and report on the case against Cameron Todd Willingham who had been convicted and executed. And there's the lingering feeling among death penalty opponents that Governor Perry was trying to sweep the whole thing under the rug. Examples here and here.

The Willingham case

It happened a couple of days before Christmas in 1991. The wife left the house that morning while Mr. Willingham and the three children slept. A fire broke out, Mr. Willingham got out of the house with minimal injury, but the three children perished. Mr. Willingham was accused of deliberately starting the fire, and he was tried, convicted and executed.

Was Mr. Willingham guilty? At this point it's hard to say. The consultant hired by the TFSC reported that a State Fire Marshal made some conclusions that, based on the available evidence, would not be sound by today's standards. But Mr. Willingham's story had some holes in it, for example, he said escaped the fire through the kitchen door. However, the first firefighter on the scene said there was a refrigerator blocking that door. And there's this:

Fireman Franks also said that after the fire, Mr. Willingham came back to his house and poured a large bottle of British Sterling cologne on the floor from the bathroom to the room in which the twins had died and said that if any more samples were taken from the floor, those samples would have cologne on them.

What should a juror make of that behavior? Was he trying to contaminate the scene? There was a jailhouse snitch, too, who said Mr. Willingham confessed that he had deliberately set the fire to cover up an injury he caused to one of the kids.

The jury was convinced, but who knows what really happened? Anyone interested should read the consultant's report and the Corsicana Fire Department's response.

Texas Forensic Science Commission

Back to the shake up at the TFSC. The TFSC was created in 2005 by H.B. No. 1068. It established a nine member commission with the following duties:

Sec.4.DUTIES.(a) The commission shall:
(1) develop and implement a reporting system through which accredited laboratories, facilities, or entities report professional negligence or misconduct;
(2) require all laboratories, facilities, or entities that conduct forensic analyses to report professional negligence or misconduct to the commission; and
(3) investigate, in a timely manner, any allegation of professional negligence or misconduct that would substantially affect the integrity of the results of a forensic analysis conducted by an accredited laboratory, facility, or entity.

Put simply, the TFSC was created to oversee crime labs. And it was probably a legislative reaction to all the reports of bad science coming out of the crime labs in Houston and elsewhere in the state.

However, the TFSC seemed to have gone off track a little bit when it got involved in death penalty politics. Before the shakeup they had not established any policies and procedures to accomplish their legal duties. And the hiring of the consultant to scrutinize and try to disprove the Fire Marshal's testimony in the Willingham case may have been beyond their authorization.

It shouldn't have come as a great surprise, then, to see the shakeup. And the new presiding officer, Williamson County District Attorney, John Bradley, maintains his independence from the governor. And they will issue a report on the Willingham case, eventually.

So those of us out here in flyover country should just sit tight and wait for their report. Some mistakes were probably made in the investigation, but nothing is going to bring Mr. Willingham back to life, and the TFSC is not going to rule or even opine on his guilt or innocence.  And there are plenty of other reasons to critize the Governor without trying to build up an issue on this case.

Great So. Cal. wildfire photos

Boston.com maintains a remarkable collection of news photos, and this exhibition of photos from the recent California wildfires is very impressive. It's slow to load but worth the wait.

Only downside: As an amateur photographer, looking at the quality of these photographs is very discouraging.

Thanks to Anna W. for the pointer.

Fire Department Open House 8-22-09

The Midland Fire Department held its annual open house yesterday, and there were some significant improvements from years past. This one was much more hands-on and user friendly whereas the previous ones were for the lookers, not necessarily for the doers, particularly youngsters.

There were things to watch, such as the firefighter challenge, the car wreck extrication and a rescue from way up there. But by a long shot the most popular things were the activities kids could do themselves.

[Click on the thumbnails for a larger pop-up.]

They could dress up like a firefighter with boots and bunkers. They could target practice with a fire hose. And the snorkel lift took them high in the sky for a view from the clouds.

There was free cotton candy. There were free soft drinks. There were free hot dogs. And there were blood pressure tests, perhaps for adults with hot dog eaters remorse.

But by a long shot the most fun was had by the kids who stayed long enough to run, splash and play at the water party at the end of the day when firefighters turned on the hoses. There was plenty of gold under that rainbow, and what a great time they had. Eat your heart out, Schlitterbahn.

Photos - Airport Disaster Drill 2009

What a disaster!

Yesterday emergency responders experienced an airport disaster drill at Midland International Airport. See No Rain Delay for Airport Disaster Drill 2009 for more details, and today 88 photos from the event have been posted in an on line photo album.  The link is below.

But first an important message from the management. The people in the photos have been made up to look badly injured, and many people may not have seen anything this gruesome since Halloween. The management takes no responsibility for any heart attacks, strokes, brain freezes, faints, vapors, or any other condition that may result from viewing those images.

Proceed with caution to Disaster Drill 2009 Photo Album.

OK, just kidding. The people are smiling, laughing and talking, and it was a good time for all the volunteers. But the makeup really does look convincing, don't you think?

No Rain Delay for Airport Disaster Drill 2009

Every three years the Midland International Airport conducts a full scale mandatory disaster drill, and this was the lucky day. The previous drill took place on a bright, sunny day in June of 2006. But today the volunteers weren't so lucky, and for the first time in months, rain fell on this drought zone practically the entire time.

It was a bird strike -- a vulture was sucked into the right intake of a Boeing 737, and down the plane came for an emergency landing. The right landing gear was incapacitated, and the plane skidded to a stop engulfed in flames. That was the scenario, and the original plan was to have all the volunteer "victims" out on a runway to test the local emergency responders.

Remarkably, 120 volunteers showed up for the job at the CAF hanger at around 6AM not knowing whether they would have to work in the rain. Your trusty blogger was there, too, camera in hand. Badge 007 at your service -- licensed to shoot. (Check back later for photos.)

As the volunteers signed in they were given a card with a green, yellow, red or blue dot and a description of their symptoms. Then they went to moulage stations where they experienced the most remarkable makeover emerging with realistic looking cuts, burns, bruises and blood. The makeup wasn't so easily removed, either. One victim was covered with black makeup to denote burns, and he really had to put some effort into getting it off.

The rain didn't let up, and wise planners moved the exercise so that the volunteers were bussed to an empty hanger where they could lie down on reasonably dry cement.

It began as an emergency call on the radio which alerted all the local emergency services, and the first responders were the firefighters from the airport fire station. One Triage Officer began examining each of the passengers and tagging them. Eventually another Triage Officer arrived, however, they were so far ahead of the ambulances that one person could have done the job himself.

Each tag had three perforated lines so that parts of the tag could be removed with the remaining portion indicating the category for that particular patient. The bottom line was green and said "Minor" so the follow up responders could look at that and move on to someone more in need of attention.

Moving up on the tag the removable lines were yellow for "Delayed," red for "Immediate," and black for "Deceased/Expected." Therefore the ones who got the most attention from the first responders were the reds and yellows who were placed on body boards and moved onto a pad of the corresponding color. The red ones got a ride in the first ambulances, then when they were all removed the yellows got their turn. And today they were taken to either Midland Memorial Hospital or Odessa Medical Center Hospital where hospital staff were also put to the test.

One high tech aspect of it was the bar code on each tag which was scanned at each point where the patient ended up.

As luck would have it, only 11 of the passengers drew the black tags, and the dearly departed were replaced by sand bags to denote their removal to the coroner. May they rest in peace.

Re: the 2006 drill see It Was a Disaster (Drill) and Airport Disaster Drill 2006 Photos.

Please check back later for photos of disaster drill 2009.

Updated: See 88 photos at Disaster Drill 2009 Photo Album.

Happy 100th Birthday Midland Fire Department

The Midland, Texas, Fire Department is a century old this year. It began in 1909 as an all volunteer fire department. Their first fire truck cost a thousand dollars in 1912 and was powered by one hay eating horse. Today they have trucks costing $800,000. Here's more from the news release:

The Midland Fire Department was first organized on a volunteer basis in 1909 in response to two disastrous fires, which almost destroyed the downtown business district. Initially, the department's equipment consisted of a Hose Cart stored in a shed at the courthouse. In 1916, the city purchased its first modern engine from American LaFrance which was delivered June 20, 1917.

Today the Midland Fire Department employs 174 firefighters and 22 administrative and support staff. What was once a small volunteer department is now a professional fire and EMS service with nine stations (including a Crash/Rescue station at Midland International Air Terminal), 11 fire engines, two ladder trucks, nine ambulances, and several other special purpose apparatus.

This afternoon at a ceremony in the Central Station garage the department unveiled a commemorative coin, and each firefighter will get one. According to military folklore, members of a unit which had its own coin would use them on occasion to determine who picked up the bar tab. Tap tap tap, someone would rap his coin on the table, and each of the others would then show his coin. If someone couldn't produce a coin he got to pick up the tab. But that was another time and place. Our sober firefighters will no doubt use their coins to reflect on the department's long and proud history.

Fire Safe Cigarettes

Firefighters have been battling cigarette makers for years over the fact that a cigarette will burn down to the filter whether it's puffed or not. Just the other day we saw the results of what was probably a cigarette tossed from a car window. See Don't flick your butt, previously.

The Coalition for Fire-safe Cigarette says, "Smoking-material fires killed 800 people and injured 1,660 others in 2005. Ninety-three percent of the deaths and 78 percent of the injuries were in home fires." Maybe 2005 is the last year for which they have stats, however a firefighter told me that the number of fires caused by cigarettes has been declining. That makes sense as more smokers quit and those who smoke usually do it outdoors.

I first learned about this issue in the early 80's when the manager of a building in which I was a tenant asked me to be the junior fire marshal of the floor. Cool. I even got a plastic badge! In reality I was selected because I just happened to be around when the fire department showed up to put on a program about fire safety. The firefighter conducting the class told us that firefighters had been trying to get the tobacco companies to add something to cigarettes to make the flame go out when people stopped sucking on them. The firefighters got the cold shoulder, and he said they learned that the cigarette manufacturers were adding something that made the cigarettes keep burning. Hard to believe, isn't it?

Finally the firefighters' efforts are starting to pay off. If the companies wouldn't do it themselves, maybe a law might make them do it. Texas is one of several states that has enacted such a law, and it can be found in Chapter 796 of the Health and Safety Code. Goes into effect on 1/1/09 after which retailers can sell out their inventory of the old cigarettes, but wholesalers can only deliver Fire Safe Cigarettes.

Here's a U.S. map showing which states have enacted fire safe cigarette legislation.

So, what's a Fire Safe Cigarette? They accomplish this by adding bands of paper around the cigarette in two places. The added bands have lower permeability so that the flame does not draw air through that portion of the cigarette as it burns. And the cigarette is supposed to go out if no one puffs it.

Well, I just had to find out for myself whether they work. So I bought two packs of cigarettes, one the fire safe kind and one the old kind. Look at the bar code on the pack. If you see "FSC" above the bar code then the pack is supposed to contain Fire Safe Cigarettes.

I conducted two tests. Lit the cigarettes and left them alone. The old style cigarettes burned for 13 or 14 minutes and went out when the tobacco had been burned. One of the FSC burned about three minutes then went out. The other burned for about four or five minutes before it went out. You can see the results in the photos. The last photo shows what was left of the four cigarettes after the experiment along side fresh cigarettes to give an idea how much was burned.

 

Can a smoker taste the difference? I doubt it -- cough -- but someone else will have to conduct that experiment. -- cough --

Smoke safely.

Don't flick your butt

Texans know this already, but some visitors may not.

Dry grass catches fire very easily, and all it takes is a lit cigarette tossed out a car window.

Texas is a great state, please don't burn it up.

Arson at the Texas Governor's Mansion -- arson at GHWB house. Too similar for convenience.

Newsroom Stew links to the Dallas Morning News article. Excerpt:

Department of Public Safety officials won't say whether the men – 22-year-old David McKay and 23-year-old Bradley Crowder – are suspects in the June 8 arson, which gutted the governor's mansion. But a high-ranking state law enforcement official said Wednesday that the men, who remain in custody in Minnesota and stand accused of manufacturing Molotov cocktails for use at last week's convention, are under investigation in Texas.

These two have not been tried, and as Stew says, they are presumed innocent until found guilty. But it is interesting that investigators are looking into the connection. And if they find a connection, I hope they continue to look for similarities of the 6/8/08 fire in Austin with the arson fire at the George H. W. Bush house in Odessa on 12/27/07. (Did they return to West Texas to roast some some Xmas holiday chestnuts?) For review, see Who would do such a thing?, infra.

And as I said in Arson at the Texas Governor's Mansion - a coincidence?:

A fire at a house of historic value. A possible political motive. An accelerant on the front porch. A lot of coincidences.

Thank you, Firefighters

Those of us who read the letters to the editor in the newspaper inevitably run across a very sincere letter from a grateful citizen thanking some unnamed firefighter or EMT for helping that person in a time of distress. Those letters are always touching. And I'm sure the readers of those letters share those letter writers' feelings of gratitude for those dedicated people who do that difficult work.

Last week the Midland Fire Department held its annual awards banquet to hand out honors to the MFD employees who have accomplished something above and beyond their regular duties on the job.

There were awards to people in other departments -- Street and Transportation -- for their help with various aspects of fighting fires. Also, those unsung heroes, the unpaid members of that volunteer group, the Midland Citizen Fire Academy Alumni Association, got an award for their willingness to drop everything and go help quench the thirst of hot, exhausted firefighters as they fight a big one.

A MDA representative was given 15 to 20 minutes to show her own slide show and hand out her own awards to the local union members who helped collect donations for the MDA in the annual "fill the boot" campaign. To this outsider it seemed odd that so much time was allowed at a city banquet for what was essentially a union activity. But when the Chief got up to explain how much the "fill the boot" campaign meant to him when he was among the ranks it all made sense.

And the food? Food, food, glorious food!

The Midland Country Club sure can put out a spread of edibles. That's some mighty good eat'n, my friends!

Fire Department Open House 8-23-08

The Midland Fire Department is having its annual open house on Saturday, August 23, 2008, and it's sure to be as entertaining and educational as it always is.

Kids love it. Last year one of the fire crews turned the hose on full blast, and the children had a heck of a time playing in the water. It sure looked cool on a hot afternoon.

You can see photos from previous MFD open houses on these pages, click 2006 and 2007 to see them.

They will probably have that new $800,000 Platform Truck there for us to see. And if they turn on that 2,000 gallon per minute hose then those kiddos are sure to get a good soaking.

Midland Citizen Fire Academy Alumni Association will probably be showing off that redecorated ambulance they use to help supply resources to thirsty firefighters in a hot one.

They typically have an junk car available for the rescue crew to rip apart with their saws and jaws. And that's great fun to watch. But the most exiting thing to watch is the rappelling demonstration. The guys get carried up in the snorkel, then they glide down on a rope ever so smoothly. Dang that looks like fun. I sure wish they would let spectators try that.

Here's the news release. It's from noon til 5:00 pm at the Central Fire Station located at 1500 W. Wall Street, Midland, Texas.

After action update - photos:

Oldest Midland Firefighter

He was the second paid firefighter in the city of Midland to pull up the boots and put on the bunkers. He was E. D. (Doyle) Fitzgerald, and he passed away the other day at the age of 102. Here's a link to his obituary.

In the early days, like most communities at the time, the fire department was an all volunteer effort. But as the city grew the elected officials recognized the need to hire some full time people. And Mr. Fitzgerald was the second such firefighter to be put on the payroll.

The city bought its first modern fire truck in 1917 for the princely sum of $5,800 consisting of a payment of $1,160 within 10 days after delivery followed by four annual payments of $1,160 plus 6% annual interest. Engine One and Engine Two can be seen at the Midland Fire Department museum.

Thanks to Asst. Chief Eddie Klatt for the heads up about this.

A new truck for the Fire Department

They can get people out a window on the 8th floor of a burning building. It's an impressive vehicle with the long reach of that 100' platform ladder and a basket that can carry a thousand pounds.

 

That brand new $800,000 fire truck rolled into town the other day, and this morning firefighters were making sure the water flowed at the advertised rate of 2,000 gallons per minute.

The manufacturer, Pierce Manufacturing Inc. of Appleton, Wisconsin, says it can flow water even in a 50 mph wind at ladder angles ranging from -8 to 75 degrees from horizontal.

And check out the flag on the grill.

Fires, all the time, everywhere

The conditions were just right for the perfect fire storm:  a wet growing season, a dry winter, a high wind.  It seems that hardly a windy day goes by that we don't hear about a huge grass fire somewhere in West Texas.  (Perhaps today's moisture will provide an uneventful day for the firefighters.)

So what starts these fires?  Electrical lines get blown down.  Welders get careless.  And  cigarette smokers flick their lit butts onto the roadside and are long gone before the tobacco embers ignite the dry grass.  Jonathan Gurwitz wrote a delightful opinion piece about the flick, that careless cigarette toss out the window.

Tired of reading?  Here are some fire scene photos.

That one in the far right, above, is my favorite from this batch.  There's something strangely alluring about random symmetry.

These photos were taken at the grass fire near I-20 and Odessa South Loop 338 on February 25, 2008.  Read about it here.

West Texas Wild Fire - 2/8/08

There was a huge wild fire last Friday that started North of Midland and was blowing this way.  Fire crews and volunteers came from all over to help out.  Once ignited the dry grass goes up in tall flame and is gone in no time.  Add a high wind and the fire races along.   Here's a local newspaper report:  Grass fire burns 9,000 acres

To see the dry grassland during the winter one just can't imagine how much flame and smoke it could produce.

These photos were taken from the road at least a half mile away from the fire.  And there was a new feature to West Texas firefighting which you can see in the last photo:  a water carrying helicopter.  It had a long hose trailing beneath, and it would suck water from somewhere, a stock tank or a swimming pool, perhaps.  Then it would fly to the fire and dump water on it.  The fire was out in no time.

People on the scene said the helicopter was owned by the Texas Forest Service, and I would like to learn more about it.  If anyone reading this can enlighten us then please leave a comment.

Updated 2/16/08:  See some amazing aerial photos of the aftermath at Eric's.

Updated 2/2108 -- City news release:

The City of Midland will honor the over 100 people who responded to the dangerous grass fire on February 8, 2008, in north Midland.

Firefighters, dispatchers, emergency management, police officers, and other city and county officials will be treated to an appreciation lunch on Friday, February 22, 2008, at 11:30 a.m., in the Emergency Operations Center, 601 N. Loraine.

The group of emergency responders worked together quickly to put an end to a potentially dangerous and costly situation.  The fire burned north of Midland and caused the evacuation of nearby neighborhoods and businesses.  Thankfully, no one was injured during the blaze.

Those responding were recognized by Mayor Wes Perry during the February 12 City Council meeting.

YEAH!  Give them the credit they deserve!

A recycled ambulance for the MCFAAA

When we last visited Kathy Hart she was distributing cold water and Gatorade to hot thirsty firefighters at the scene of a traffic accident and hazmat spill.  See Unsung Heroes .

She's the president of the Midland Citizen Fire Academy Alumni Association which is a small group of volunteers who work without pay assisting the fire department.  Firefighters wear thick rubber boots and bunkers when they work, and even on a cold day they can easily get overheated while fighting a fire.  So it's important that they keep hydrated.  And that's where the MCFAAA comes in.

They keep a supply of drinks on hand at all times, and when the pager goes off they take off.

Until now they used a van for hauling stuff to a fire scene.  But today Fire Chief Conley presented the group with a recycled ambulance for their use.  The 1998 Chevy ambulance was used as an emergency ambulance until recently, but because of it's age and mileage it had been retired from service and was headed for auction.  There had been talk for a long time of providing a better vehicle to the MCFAAA, and when this ambulance was taken out of service Midland Fire Department Captain Drew Peters sent an impassioned email to the people in charge about the possibility of dedicating the old vehicle to the new use.  And the decision was made.

The markings have been changed so as not to mislead people into thinking it's still an ambulance.  And it will be equipped with the things the group might need to help the firefighters, a coffee maker, a microwave oven, for examples.

But before they will be able to use this vehicle it's drivers ed for the people who would get behind the wheel.  The vehicle is about the size of a recreational vehicle.  So the driving course will teach them general driving skills for an over sized vehicle, how to back up, how to drive in a confined space, how to maneuver a narrow course, and the always popular parallel parking.

Good luck crew, and thanks for all you do!

Fire Department Open House

The Midland Fire Department had its annual open house Saturday, and the people in attendance got to watch the firefighters demonstrate their skills.

They rapelled down a rope, they ripped apart a car,  and they had a haz-mat hose down.

The airport fire engine can put out a tremendous amount of water in a very short amount of time.  They emptied the tank with a spray on the lawn, and the kids had a cool time.

Our Courageous Firefighters

We take them for granted.  We might see them working around a fire station, or we might see them at an open house.  And we often see them speeding down the street, lights flashing, siren blaring, on their way to answer an alarm.  And there are thousands of those each year in this community of around a hundred thousand residents.

This past week the Midland Fire Department participated in the nationwide third annual Fire Fighter Safety Stand Down in which they suspended all non-emergency activity and instead focus totally on firefighter safety.  Good timing, given that early in the week nine firefighters lost their lives in a fiery disaster in Charleston, South Carolina.

How did that happen?  The final investigation will tell us details.  In the meantime, the coroner's office said they died from a combination of smoke inhalation and burns.  [Link .] But it was a 50 year old building for which city boards had granted a variance which would have required a firewall when an addition was added in 1996.  Also, sprinkler systems weren't required 50 years ago, and the building didn't have them.

See a long news roundup at Charleston.net, beginning with West Ashley Sofa Super Store ablaze, roof collapses, smoke visible for miles and including articles titled: Fire began at store's loading dock and Super Sofa Store building had long history which contains this sentence:

Of the 22 firefighter deaths that occurred nationally in 2006, all perished in buildings without sprinkler systems, according to the National Fire Protection Association.

The major fire disasters from the history books have all led to new regulations addressing the problems that led to the loss of life and property in those particular cases.  And there will surely be some new regulations arising from the Charleston fire.

Within the last few years the two-in, two-out rule has been implemented locally, meaning that firefighters are trained to go into a burning structure in pairs and then only when there are two more firefighters outside available to come in and haul the first two out, if necessary.

But in spite of the rules, training exercises and practice, firefighter deaths still occur too frequently.  And hopefully, events like the Fire Fighter Safety Stand Down will help to eliminate future tragedies like the one that occurred in Charleston.  But they need our support.

Firefighters are a courageous and dedicated bunch.  We should all be grateful, and here's a short message from the heart to firefighters in Midland and everywhere.  Thanks for all you do.  And be safe out there, ok?

Citizens Fire Academy

The Citizens Fire Academy ended recently with a small graduation ceremony at which those of us who attended were able to say "Thanks!" to the firefighters who put it on.

The program was very educational.  And the portions where we had to actually do the work ourselves brought home the fact that our firefighters are smart, strong and highly skilled.

In the early days, the Midland Fire Department consisted of volunteers, and with most structures made of wood, fires were difficult to control.  Two fires in the early 1900s almost destroyed the downtown business district, according to research by Assistant Chief Eddie Klatt.  Then after World War II the need for paid employees became apparent, and gradually the department grew from one fully paid fire fighter to its present staff of 172.

Many of the early developments in fire fighting were direct results of lessons learned from the disastrous fires in the history books:  the Chicago fire of 1871, the Boston fire of 1872, the Baltimore fire of 1904, among others.

Fire fighting units came from miles away to help fight the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904, but their hose connections weren't compatible with the threads on the hydrants.  That led to standardized hose couplings, and fire trucks carry adaptors to hook up with non standard connections.

And the Chicago fire stimulated an emphasis on fire prevention by fire departments.  Most states and municipalities have building and fire codes based on model codes that have been developed over the years in an effort to prevent or contain any potential fire.

Inspectors and Investigators

The fire inspector, armed with a pencil and a flashlight, works to enforce those codes and prevent fires.  And his goal is to be so successful that the fire fighters get to spend their entire shifts sitting around the station getting bored because there are no fires to fight.

They also investigate fires to try to determine the cause.  If someone set it intentionally then it's arson, and that's a very interesting topic.  Some of the tell tale signs of arson seem irrefutable, and they often raise the question:  Why else would that clue be there if someone didn't intentionally start the fire?  I plan to write more about that subject in the future, particularly in light of the recent Grand Jury indictments and arson charges reported in the Midland Reporter-Telegram.

Bunkers weigh you down

Much of the time consisted of actual hands-on doing the stuff that fire fighters do.  But being citizens, we probably had it ten times easier than a real fire fighter cadet would have it.  Nonetheless, it soon became apparent that my expectation of 30 leisurely hours of class time were sorely misplaced.

I couldn't estimate the weight of all the protective clothing and equipment they have to wear, but it's heavy!  They wear tall, thick rubber boots with steel soles.  The bunkers have a thick outer layer of flame resistant, water repellant Nomex and an inner moisture barrier to protect the skin from superheated steam.  And there's the hood, the helmet, the mask, the gloves and the SCBA (self-contained breathing apparatus).

There's also the personal alert safety system or Pass Device.  If you saw those films of the immediate aftermath of the twin tower collapse on 9/11/01, then you may have heard that chirping noise.  Those were Pass Devices worn by downed fire fighters, and they serve as a warning whenever a fire fighter hasn't moved in 20 seconds.  By itself it's just a loud but tolerable noise, and you just shake your bootie to get it to stop.  But to firefighters in a fire it's a terrifying sound, because it means a fellow firefighter has stopped moving.  Everything else becomes secondary, and finding that person becomes priority number one.

"Find my baby!"

One of the exercises we did was a search for a baby, a doll actually, while bunkered up and blindfolded.

It was a simulation, so there wasn't any fire to contend with in this exercise, but we had to crawl in teams of two on the floor of an unfamiliar building looking for the doll.  Out team found it after about ten minutes.  Party's over, right?  Nope.  Then we had to find our way back out.  And that's much more difficult than it might sound even though we were retracing our path, or at least trying to.  A bath room that we bypassed on the way in and forgot about became a brand new adventure.

Lesson learned:  Memorize every item encountered on the way in because it won't feel the same on the way out.

Hazmat

There's a very expensive hazmat truck on duty at the fire department.  The other vehicles carry all sorts of equipment for fighting fires.  But the hazmat truck carries items used for examining a substance and determining potential consequences of a leak or spill.  It has a computer on board with some amazing software: mapping software called Marplot, a chemical database called Cameo, and Aloha software that allows the user to draw a plume for a chemical or gas leak based on the weather conditions.  All of that software can be downloaded free at EPA should you wish to map your own hypothetical chemical plume.

Fighting a fire

We had a not-so-dry run before we actually did any real fire fighting, (see Fighting Fires -- Handling a Fire Hose).

The training field has a building in which they stack hay to burn for teaching purposes.  So we bunkered up while they started the fire.  And the two person teams crawled in with the hose and put out the fires.  It was all very exhilarating.  Exhausting, too.

Here's a quiz.  How long does it take to suck up a 30 minute air tank?  The answer depends on how hard a person breathes, and for me it took about 15 minutes.  Calm down, slow, slooooow ...   Pacing is the key.  Real fire fighters have it down.

And I learned that I ain't one of them.  But, it was a very educational experience, and it was a thrill to work with such dedicated people and to see that they are so well trained, fit and efficient.

And here's hoping that fire fighters get to sit around the station all day and night not receiving any fire alarms.

Previously in this series:  Fighting Fires -- Handling a Fire Hose and Fighting Fires at the Airport.