bustin' a nut Every second Wednesday night of each month is fire training for me. This past one we did a fire fighter competition with both us volunteers (as am I) and several (6) professional fireman (FEMA). The exercise is such (pics ahead): 1) using a sledge hammer to move a pole – I think the pole measures about 8 inches by 8 inches by maybe 6 or 7 feet. It's moved about 15 feet but that is a guess. 2) Carrying a “hose packâ€. It’s 200 feet of hose. This is picked up outside, carried inside, taken up and down some stairs twice and then returning it back outside. 3) Moving to a fully charged hose line and hauling it about 200 feet. 4) Moving a 250 pound dummy about 75 feet. 5) Hauling a rolled hose up and down using a rope over the rung of a ladder. 4 times with controlled motion. 6) Carrying a fan about 75 feet. 7) Then picking up an electrical hose reel and moving it back to where the fan was. All this is done while wearing all our gear and breathing air. All of us volunteers finished but some of the pros quit without finishing. Not all but a couple. This exercise really takes its toll. I can't even say how exhausting it is. I did okay with the sledge hammer but the hose carry was another matter. I ended up dropping it at the top of the stairs. This isn’t me but it kind of shows the hose pack. Here is the hose line that we had to drag. Easy enough at first but the farther out you go the heavier it gets. One guy collapsed when hauling it. Here is me starting out with. The body drag was harder. My gloves suck and I could not get a good grip. By now my bad knee was protesting muchly. Next up was the hose haul on the ladder. Again, that is not me but shows the setup. My time could have been better. While this is hard on nearly every part of our body, maybe the hardest is the hands. Even now, 4 days later, my hands are still sore. Two other guys I spoke with reported similar results. One said he couldn’t use a pen and another said he had trouble eating using utensils. Fun times.
So are you a professional firefighter or a volunteer? You might have said, but I forget. It's hard to believe some people do something so back-breaking and vital and don't get paid.
That's a ***** dude. My wrists are both bad right now, I think I have been juggling too much. I am pretty sure I have this. Anyway, heal up and keep saving lives.
Ouch. Kudos to you. So you don't get paid by the city or anything? I always thought that was a bit weird, why do people who provide such an essential service not all get paid?
I'm glad to see your department maintains physical fitness standards. A lot of the guys I work with are volunteer firemen, and pretty obese. One guy's gut is so big he can't sit at a desk right. I hope my house never catches fire.
There is no city. We are a very rural area. Although we do have a major highway in our first due. But no, no pay. Helping people is it's own reward, as I posted in my blog. Our fire depts motto is "Neighbor helping neighbor". It's a community thing. We don't really have standards. But we do have some hard training which sorts people out.
I'm not suggesting you're in it for the money or anything, I respect your selfless service to the community. I just think that if you're providing a service to your town (or rural area, whatever) they ought to be paying you.
Thanks. But "they" is government (at least to me) and that means higher taxes. I am not a fan of that. No lie, it's not an easy thing what I do. But life could be worse.
Did yall ever hear those Corn Nuts commercials on the radio? Bust a nut, bust a nut Grab a bag of Corn Nuts and bust a nut Lightly toasted and hard as heeeeellllllll Enjoy yourself, we won't tell
Which is why they're called volunteer depts, or like in my language, "vapaapalokunnat, standing literally for "free fire departments", first, because it's a free-will choice to join and second, it's, you know, pretty much free in terms of paychecks to the locals. :smiley:
That's true I suppose. Yeah, twenty hours a week... that's half an extra job... We don't have those, we do have Nibble Nobbies' Nuts ads though...
No, just the slogan if I recall correctly. The only ad I could find on Youtube is British: http://youtube.com/watch?v=aVTqvD1PZS4 That's quite disturbing.
Yup. Sometimes more, sometimes less. We have two big fund raisers yet to do this year then things will slow down some.
On occasion we need to hammer away at something. It just reminds you how hard it is when wearing all the gear. Fishnets make my butt look big. :cry:
