Day 5...FRIDAY!!!

Today we didn't actually do any burns. Instead we took some field trips. The first one took us to the Utah Air National Guard base on the airport grounds. We got to check out a KC-135 (mid-air refueling jet) up close. Two of the of the Ut ANG showed us around, and we got got to sit in the flight deck, including the pilot's chair. We also got to wander around the cargo deck, and we checked out where the refueler actually sits (or rather, lies down). It's such a small space! The thought of having to crawl down there in full turnout gear plus SCBA and then pull that guy out gives me the willies.

Anyway, here's some pictures from the KC-135.

Here's the plane, or at least the front of it. We weren't allowed to back up far enough to get a shot of the full plane.



This is the design someone painted on the side. Each plane had some sort of 'nose art' of sorts (though it isn't really on the nose, persay). This was the best of the lot though. The next shot is of the UT ANG shield.



Here's a shot of the bed the guy controlling the refueling wand lays in. There's a small chin rest, and a joystick on one side (near the bottom), and a set of buttons above. And a tiny little window to look out of while he controls the wand.


When we were done with the KC-135, we headed to the Delta flight training center. This is where Delta airlines trains their pilots and flight crew. There were a lot of interesting things to see. We learned how the flight crew gets training in fighting fires aboard planes, and how they learn to open and close those huge doors in an emergency and when to open a door and when opening a door will get you an emergency slide in the face (they are stored in the doors and on some older models will jump out and hit you if you don't disarm them first). They had a mock-up of first class, so the flight crew could practice. They also had a mock up of the escape hatch in the tail of some smaller planes. And we got to see how those huge emergency slides can transform into rafts for water landings.

Here's some shots of the class trying to open and disarm the doors and windows in the mock-up room.



Anyway, that was Friday morning. In the afternoon, we had some question and answer time about Antarctica and what to expect, bring, etc.

Days 3 and 4...Scenarios!!

Although we did start the day on Wednesday by doing some more dual-line/dry chem work, since not all the groups had a chance the day before to practice with it.

Then we broke up into teams and did actual scenarios. Incident command, tower control, and 2 crash truck (engine) crews, a ladder crew and the RIT team. If I remember right, we only did 2 scenarios, one of which I was on the engine crew, and got to be on the nozzle, and one when I was on the back-up crew, and stayed outside hauling hose.

The next 2 days were like this...Scenarios for our live fire training. They give us a situation, and the incident commander tells us what he wants us to do. Thursday we did another one and I got to drive. That didn't go so well, but the instructor with me said if I had the time to work on the truck for a week, I'd know my way around it. I wasn't too upset...It's not like we're going to have these kinds of trucks down there. One of the last evolutions of the day on Thursday I was on the engine crew, and we had to go up on the overwing to get in the plane. Through some serious mis-communication, I ended up on the ground instead of going up on the wing with my crew.

If you look carefully in this picture, you can see me. I'm on the left side, obviously the shortest one...Yep, that's me!


After Wednesday, I was feeling pretty tired, so we decided to walk to a place pretty close to the hotel. Our captain came out and walked with us, and when we made like we were going to this place, he shook his head and kept walking. So we all did the same thing. For 2 miles! I was wearing my Birkenstocks, and got a huge blister on the sole of each foot...it was horrible. However, when we finally stopped, we were at a restaurant called the Red Iguana. The line was horrifically long though, so we ended up splitting up anyway. A couple of guys kept walking to the Gateway (only about another half mile or so) and some of us turned around and found a little Mexican restaurant called the Chili Verde. Great food.

There did seem to be a plethora of Mexican restaurants in Salt Lake City, mostly small ones tucked away.

But yeah...so much for the nice quiet slow early night on Wednesday night.

Thursday we went to our instructor's station on the airport. Nice station! Each crew member has their own room, the kitchen is huge, and they have a racquetball court (that they can't use anymore for insurance reasons). We sat in the engine bay and one of the instructors gave us a demo of the flashpoints of different fluids used on planes; fuel, hydraulic fluid, etc.

Here's a nifty video of what would happen if a plane with aviation gas (flashpoint of -50*F) that was leaking into a ditch, and you drove over the ditch and created a spark.





Pretty impressive, huh?

Day 2

The patch for the training division.



This is one of the trucks I got to drive. Once again, we started at 0800, on the bus to the training grounds. This day (Tuesday, for those keeping track) we switched from what we had done the day before. We all got a chance to drive the trucks and flow water from the turret to fight fire. I did pretty well. The turret flows 350 gpm (gallons per minute), and can empty the tank in 5 minutes if there is no outside water supply.

The driver's seat is in the middle of the cab, with the officer's seat to the immediate right, and then the other seats just behind. Most of the size of the truck is taken up with the water tank. The turret is controlled by a joystick with buttons. It's really hard to remember the exact sequence of the buttons that have to be pushed to get water, and the joystick is really sensitive to movement, which makes it even harder. Unfortunately, we won't have these kind of trucks in Antarctica. Our crash trucks are really just big pick-up trucks with tracks instead of wheels and a box on the back with a water pump and hose in it. Nothing as sophisticated as these, which cost $700,000, by the way.

After everyone had taken turns on the trucks and in the plane, we all got together to work with some dual-agent hoses, which we will have down on the Ice. Dual-agent hoses are actually 2 small hoses in one. One hose uses water, the other uses what we call 'dry chem' which is the same thing as in many fire extinguishers. It's basically a white powder that smothers the fire and doesn't let it get any oxygen. The water helps it go farther. Down on the Ice, we will have dual agent hoses, but with foam instead of dry chem (I think...I should be getting the specs later this month).

Anyway, this is what dry chem looks like...just a big white cloud of powder.


And that was the end of day 2. Once again, it was back in the bus to the hotel to eat lunch, shower, and have lecture class time in the afternoon.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Monday night we went to Beni Hana's, a Japanese hibatchi style restaurant. The captain had found out it was my birthday on Sunday, so they got the waitress to give me some strawberry ice cream with a candle and a little paper umbrella in it and everyone sang 'Happy Birthday.' Then they took a picture, which Chris has.

Tuesday night I don't remember where we ate. I think it was down in the Gateway center again.

Tomorrow...Day 3, evolutions begin!

ARFF Training, Day 1

I can't gauruntee that all these pictures are from the correct days, but they'll give you an idea of what we did. We met up at 0800 on Monday morning to head out to the training ground, which was about 4 or 5 miles from the hotel. The first thing we did was get our turnout gear, which was all 'silvers' or proximity gear. Then we did some evolutions with ladders, concentrating on the basics of throwing ladders and the best places to put ladders when you're talking about airplanes.

This is the burn plane we used for training. It is made of steel, and both it and the area around it are laced with pipes that carry compressed natural gas, which can be ignited to create fire. All of this is controlled by the instructors via computer, so they can turn the fire 'on and off.' It makes it as safe as possible, and also is much easier than burning up a bunch of planes.

After we trained on ladders, we split into 2 groups (we had 16 people in the class) and half the class went to do driver training on the big trucks, and the other half went to do actual firefighting evolutions. I was in the second group. Basically they broke us up into smaller groups of 3 or 4, and did Search and Rescue (SAR) work, where we had to go through the plane and look for 'victims' (old turnout gear that had been stuffed so it was a dummy). After the SAR evolutions were done, we did some hose advancement. Let me tell you, it's tough to move a charged hoseline (full of water) through a house, but it's really tough to get it through and around in an airplane that has only a small isle to walk through. In a real plane emergency, there would be melted plastic and luggage and all kinds of stuff to crawl on and through too.

And inside the plane, with fire going, and with fire going outside the plane for the drivers to practice with, and water (turning to steam) we not only looked like baked potatos, we felt like them!

Here's a shot of some people (not me) heading into the plane for a hoseline evolution.


And this is one of the dummies on the wing of the plane after the SAR team removed it.


Now, remember, this is in the desert, 4200 ft above sea level, and the air temperature was about 95*F by noon. With the white concrete on the training ground, and the sun beating down, it was about 150*F, or so the instructors said. Due to the heat, for every minute we were in full gear, we had the same amount of time out of full gear, drinking water and Gatorade and sitting in the shade. Because of the elevation, several of us used a lot more air from our tanks than we were used to.

Any way, around 1230, we headed back to the hotel for lunch, a break (during which most of us showered), and then did paperwork and classroom stuff in the afternoon. Then it was dinner, and we were free till the next day, at 0800.

Mind you, because of the time difference (Salt Lake City is 2 hours behind the East Coast), I was in bed by 2200 at the latest, but up at 0500.

Day 2...I get to drive the big truck!

The start of training

So, as promised, I will start talking about training, and stop talking about trying to get PQ'd, since that should be done by now.

I flew to Salt Lake City, UT on my birthday, July 8th. My flight left at about 1330 (1:30 pm to those who don't know military time. I will use mostly military time in this blog, since that's what I generally use for my time-keeping devices), but because Chris was nervous about getting to the airport in time, we left at 0800, and got there around 0930, even with a brief stop at my house to pick up some things. We got breakfast, and I worried and cried some more, and finally got on my plane at around noon.

The plane left on time (shock!) and I don't really remember most of it, except that I had a layover in Atlanta for a while, during which I read, and that I wanted so much to see the Rockies and their snowcaps (like my mom had told me about), but it was cloudy and my contacts were fuzzy from all the crying I had done earlier.

When I landed in SLC, I met up with 4 of the guys I would be training with, and we headed to the hotel. Once we got there, the people already there were about to head for dinner so we all ran up to our rooms to drop off our bags and go for dinner. I took out my contacts to clean them.

We went downtown to a place called the Gateway, which was built for the Olympics when they were in Salt Lake City a few years ago. It's a nice little mall-ish area with a bunch of restaurants and stores. Down on the street level, there is a fountain that has small jets of water that shoot up randomly. Every half hour, it plays a song (like at 2030, it plays the Salt Lake City Olympic theme, and at 2100, it plays God Bless America).

This is what the fountain looks like from the second level...


And that pretty much ended day 0.5. More to come...

Yes, yes, yes, I know, still no pictures up yet.

BUT!!! I am pleased to report that my medical stuff is done, and the last of it is being Fed-Ex'd to arrive on Monday. I am currently waiting for a call back from the Medical Office to make sure that the dental paperwork is the last to be sent in. With luck, I can get my flight dates sometime in the next week or two. Keep your fingers crossed.

Continuing madness

I just got back from vacation and haven't gotten all my pictures uploaded yet. I promise I'll post some pics soon. Probably next week.

In the meantime, some Q&A about Antarctica.

Perhaps the most asked question I get is "They actually have fires down there?" My answer is usually that Antarctica is the driest, windiest place on earth. Many of the buildings are older, and made of wood. Heat and power is made by fuel generators. Most things are brought in by plane. If something bad happens, what do people do? The same as they do here...call the fire department!

Another question I get asked a lot is about sled dogs. Sadly (or not, depending on your point of view), there are no dogs on the Ice. They were all taken off by 1998 (I believe) and even before then, there were restrictions on the dogs. Things like, the dogs had to be born on the Ice (to limit the contamination from diseases from the mainland), and all the dog waste (yes, that kind of waste) had to be picked up and transported off the Ice, just like the rest of the stuff we have down there. Finally they decided that the dogs were more trouble than they were worth, especially with motorized vehicles around, and they shipped them all off the Ice.

A few more random tidbits of information...Yes, there is running water. From what I understand, water is a bit more rationed out at the South Pole station (about a 4 hour helicopter ride from McMurdo Station), but at both places, you are, in fact, allowed to take showers and wash clothes. There is plenty to do during off-time, including mini-trips called 'boondoggles' which take you off-base, a gym (complete with bouldering wall!), and a recreation group that has all sorts of things, like cross-country skis, and even mountain bikes! There is hiking to do, and all kinds of other things.

Trash is heavily controlled. Remember that Antarctica is basically a giant science lab, and through the international treaty that was signed many years ago, is supposed to be kept as pristine as possible. This means that everyone uses the 'Leave No Trace' rules. Everything that is brought in is brought back out again.

Anyway, if you have any more questions, just ask! I'll save them up and make a post with a bunch of answers (if I get enough questions, that is...)