Training down on the ice

I haven't written anything recently, so I feel a bit guilty. I finished my first week on the ice, today. One week down, 24 more to go. Thus far its been what I expected it to be like. Long hours of darkness, bitter cold and same old McMurdo charm. Our crews are coming together nicely, and it should provide to be a good season. Many of the leaders here are happy with the crews, so that restores my faith in my gut feeling of this being a good season. It is strange that now I'm the experienced Antarctican, it is a new role that I play this year. It is nice to know what to expect and sort of help the new people along. I provide the good helpful hints and tricks to them from time to time. So for the next couple of weeks I'll be on town schedule, which basically translates to less internet time. I feel wicked tired at the end of the day, so I usually hit dinner and I'm in bed before 10pm. I attribute the tired feeling to the sun being down and also being around -60 all week. Working out and going through some pretty dry classes aren't really helping the matter either. Being outside for more than a couple minutes is pretty painful on the lungs, I have come to find. The cold dry air sucks the wind out of lungs and makes it hard to breathe. But, I'm getting used to that feeling. I can hardly wait for the "warmer" summer weather though.

The training that we have done thus far has been pretty much review. The picture to the left of this is our scba familiarization drill. Basically we are blacked out (can't see out of our masks) and we are told to change our air bottle. It is pretty hard, you have to really know the pack well and how it is set up. All week we have been going over our standard operations and just getting everyone up to speed on our gear. One of our Lt's pulled a very well known (to us returnee's) prank on everyone. They call it "confined space training" and they got all of us all the day room and turn on the tv. After everyone was gathered, our Lt got all serious saying that this training could really help our firefighting skills. The movie he put in was R. Kellys "Trapped in the closet", which if you don't all know, has nothing to do with firefighting, but it was hilarious. I think it was the biggest viewing of this prank to date.

We have also been doing some area familiarization. The buildings down here, have no rhyme or reason in how they are numbered. I'm fortunate to know many of the buildings because I worked down here last year but its still a daunting task to memorize them. So for one of our trainings, we drove around town pointing out the buildings by name and number. I was able to get some get shots of the town from observation hill, from the area of the old water plant. As you can see in the photo, McMurdo looks pretty cool next to that sunset. What is really cool about Winfly is that most of the buildings aren't open yet. In our part of town, the walk from our dorm to the chow hall is pretty freaky. The other dorms are dark because there are no lights on, and the darkness at 7am is very similar to midnight back in the states. The cold winter walk and crunching of snow is very peaceful, but at the same time I feel that I am walking through a rough part of town. I joke about getting mugged because it is so dark. In the next couple weeks, the snow will be removed from the buildings and sleepy McMurdo will awaken for the summer. I'll try to update this the best I can, but I'm not sure how intense the training schedule will be. So I hope this all satisfies your craving for news from me. Take care and Stay safe.

What a desolte place this is..

So I touched down in McMurdo yesterday. The weather was a warm -45 degrees F, and it was of course windy. It was cool to see a "fog" of sorts come from all the heated trucks down at the airfield. Since it is so cold down there, anything that gives off heat, creates a fog. It is very crazy. I had the "sledge hammer to the chest" feeling when I walked outside and breathed my first breath of Antactica air this season. It is just how I remembered it feeling.


We landed at Pegasus Field yesterday and, this year we will be using a different runway than last year. I hopped onto a Delta and rode into town after saying hello to a couple of the firefighters who were on duty down at the airfield. Of course the Delta's heater broke in the passenger section, so we all had a fun time of steaming and breathing out vapor in our breath for the whole bumpy 45 minutes. It is VERY dry and cold here, when you breathe in you almost cough because it is so harsh to your lungs. It is very cool, literally.

The firehouse is living in a dorm all together this year, and thus far its been fun. Most of the shift is on the 2nd floor, the first floor is made up of couples either on the fire department or have firefighter significant others. What is the most strange thing about coming back here, is seeing everyone that I left behind and how it doesn't feel that I left here at all. It literally felt like I didn't skip a beat. With the exception of moving dorms, I really feel like my time back home was just a dream.

Seeing darkness around here is very crazy. Last year, I only saw a very brief sunset, now I see stars and the whole deal. Looking outside and seeing a dark McMurdo is very different that really hits me hard every time. The winter-overs are another different thing to deal with down here. They all look really pale, and I look very tan compared to them. I mean in retrospect I have seen sun, they haven't. The sun down here is out only a couple hours, but its so cold, you don't really have time to suntan. There is a tradition that when you fly down here you bring fresh fruit to the winter-overs, they haven't seen anything fresh in 6 months since we left. One of our FNG's firefighters ate his apple on the flight down, rookie mistake. I brought a couple apples for some people, the way their eyes light up when you give them something fresh is pretty crazy. They grab it and sometimes can't put together words. There is a couple T-3 cases out here. T-3 is due to a lack of Vit-D one can get amnesia and have problems thinking. This can be cured by vit-d in the system, but a couple of the winter-overs have suffered from it.

Anyway, today is my first day of work. I'll be training for the next 3 weeks down here. I'll try to keep you guys updated as best I can. Take care and stay safe. I'll try to stay warm.

FYI it is -65 f, with wind chill, and its 7:25 am...and dark outside.











PS:These were my seats on the flight down! I love me some cargo.

NZ

Hey y'all. I'm in NEW ZEALAND...which is still better than Old Zealand. I am just posting this up real quick letting you all know that I landed safely. I was wicked lucky and on my flight from LAX to Sidney I was moved to an emergency exit row. So I was able to stretch out for the 14 or so hour flight. It was pretty awesome. So Hopefully I just earned myself a ton of frequent flyer miles, DIA->LAX->Sidney->Chirstchurch. Anyway, I have to go. I'll post more if something exciting happens...but I wanted to let you all know that I am in the future...and awaiting my flight to the ICE. Take care everyone.

ARFF Complete, its all south from here...

So Today We took out final ARFF FAA/IFSAC Certification test. Well, some of us took the IFSAC. Unfortunately Since I do not have Fire II Cert. from Proboard and MA won't let me get it through their fire academy, I only took the FAA test. So I don't know what that really means in the big scheme of things, but it was a fun and cool class none the less. MA won't let you go to their Fire Academy to earn certifications unless you are on a Fire Department. Since I live in a city that only has a full time department, I can't earn that cert. No worries, If I get a Fire II cert within a year, I can always test for IFSAC. We'll see.

The past few days we did a quick tools class, which really is just the same as the tools class one gets in Fire 1. It really isn't anything cool or special. Except, that we had free reign over the parking lot. They have cars and truck and RV's to chop up. So we did a little of that. As you can see




We also did a quick driving course to familiarize us with the trucks. They had us "cool" tanks by applying water and had us flow foam into a pit filled with red dye. If you made the foam pink, you knew that you were applying the foam wrong, and you were churning up the "fuel" rather than covering it. Here are a couple photos of that stuff.

So the very next day after tools, we did an active simulator fire. Basically, we were broken into 4 groups, each group did 3 attacks on the simulator. The groups were made up of 6 people. The "Tower" dispatches both units to a plane crash, unknown fuel amount and unknown if passengers are trapped. As part of the drill, you roll up and put out the fire along the outside of the plane. Then once you knock enough of that down, you move in for a interior attack. The teams are broken down to 4 people, 1 on hose, 2 on rescue, 1 as interior command/hose. You have to throw a ladder, and then open the side door of the plane. The crew goes in and fights the fire along the inside of the fuselage, rescues the 185 pound victim, shuts off the "engines" and vents the airplane. Outside the rigs pump the water and one of the rigs cools the fuselage exterior, so it gets cooler inside for the crew. Don't get me wrong I love to be in a hot fire, (tower knows what I was going to say here, got to keep this blog pg-13), but the fuselage is one giant cigar tube. If there is fire in it, it is really hot because it does not vent like a house does. Airplanes are more airtight. I don't have any footage of the inside, yet. I hear rumors that the DIA guys have a camera on the inside so you can see what is going on. But here are some pictures to hold you guys all over. Enjoy. Tomorrow I do Raytheon Orientation...and Saturday is the big travel day. So if you have my cell phone number, hit me up. Phone goes off for the next 6 months Saturday.


Interior of plane

Red 1 attacking the Fire

ARFF, the sound THE BIG DOGS MAKE!

Hello All, Monday I completed Day 5 today of the ARFF training we are doing. You didn't miss much on my last day of training (Saturday, Sunday we had off). It was all power point lectures, which frankly are not that interesting. Monday was really the most intensive day thus far. I'll take you though it. Step by Step. This will have A TON of photos, so I'm sorry if your computer is slow.
So This image above me, is the Metroliner drill. Basically it was a drill of a "Crashed airplane" with 1 occupant missing. There was a fire lit on the rear of the plane, of motor oil and diesel. The fire was in an old half 55 gallon drum. So in this drill, one has to go up the ladder on the wing, knock down the fire, make entry over the wing, search the plane and rescue the 185 pound dummy. It was one of the hardest drills, and my group got assigned this drill first. It was pretty cool. My group worked fairly well together, and I think we all learned something. It is really hard to get into those over the wing doors with a pack on. When I first went into the plane I dove in, head first. Much like a seal. I really wish I had a photo of that. Leaving with the dummy was really tough. It wasn't so much the weight that was the issue...but his material made him really easy to fold up and get caught on seats and junk in the plane.


The next drill we did was a piercing nozzle into a side of a plane. The photo above shows us practicing the techniques before the drill. For the real drill we were on our SCBA's (air tanks) and in full gear. The piercing nozzle allows for one to put out a fire without entering the environment. This method is just how you see it depicted in the picture. One strikes the back of a sharp tube into the side of the plane and attaches the hose connected to said tube to a main water line.

The next drill was a landing gear fire. Basically we had to attack a landing gear assembly and put out the fire using our hose line. It was also an exercise in protecting the fuselage and cooling the wing down.
This photo I just thought look B.A. I was a communications major.
After rehab and lunch, we then did a under the wing, engine fire. As you can see it was pretty intense. What was really crazy about it was that we were right between two other drills, that you will see further down. We were constantly getting hit with heat and also being misted by water too. In this drill we had to cool the plane and simulate using foam and dry chem on this type of fire.
This drill was right next to us. It was a fuel pit fire, that we had to simulate putting out as well. We took a hand line and charged the fuel pit fire. It was pretty neat. Here is another photo of it:
As you can see, they really kicked it up a notch for our group.
The Final drill was driving the STRIKER to a high engine and rear engine fire. The Striker they have there is worth just $1 million, and they use this one exclusively for training. Don't even think about applying to Denver Fire...I call dibs. But seriously, It was cool to drive it and pump and knock down the fire. It is like driving a tank into battle. It has more electronic gizmos then you can imagine. Such as Infared camera's, radios, GPS...I could go on but you get the picture. So for that drill we had to drive around the course and then knock down the fire. We each got a turn driving and putting out the fire, as well as riding in this monster of a truck. It was very cool.

This photo just looked awesome so I decided to put it up. That was training. It was wicked cool. Our next live burn is Wednesday. After that, its a final exam and then Raytheon training/orientation...then ICE? I'll keep you all informed. Hope you all enjoyed the pretty pictures. Stay safe.

ARFF Day 3

Day 3: Today was aircraft familiarization. Which means we looked at a lot of bungholes and wings and noses. Yes, this post is pg-13, I just like saying bungholes for shock value. But seriously, today was one of the toughest classes because all of the information was so concentrated. It was really neat to learn about the differences in Airbus vs Boeing and such...but realistically the Antarctic Fire Department isn't going to be seeing a 747 or even an Airbus 380 land in Mactown anytime soon. We learned about where some danger areas of the plane are, and how to operate the doors and other controls. It was a very informative class, don't get me wrong. After class, we took another tour of the two planes used for training here at DIA.

Fedex donated one of the planes to DIA ARFF and the other plane is used for flight attendant training and other random training at the airfield. We were given free reign to open up all the doors and mess around the plane. The only thing we had to avoid was the landing gear switch on the Fedex plane...because the fedex plane, is still fully operational.

The platform to the left of this paragraph is the DIA ARFF (Denver Fire's) stair platform. It is automatically dispatched to incidents where they think they have to do a mass evacuation of the plane. I can't imagine responding in that thing though. Must be pretty comical. "Stair 1, we are en route!" or something to that extent I'm sure. But the Apparatus here is really neat! They also use hummers, so that they can go fight fires in the subway tunnels under the airport. As you can see here the Hummer looks pretty B.A.

It was really cool to see what the cargo area looks like and even to walk around a cargo jet. Though it is very similar to walking around an empty LC-130. Taking off those over the wing doors was a challenge. Let me tell you, they are heavy. So overall, Day 3 was pretty intense with the training. But I learned a decent amount about airplanes, their controls and how to spot potential problems with certain aircraft. So see y'all tomorrow. Take care!






Mom, I was safe. Don't worry. Hey everyone look at me on the wing!

Day 2

Today, was airport familiarization day. I think that this has been one of the more informative classes I have taken in a while. At least at a fun, trivia level. I have always wanted to know what the signs meant when I have been flying for the past god knows how many years. Today I learned not only the signs but also what the lights mean. It was cool to get a deeper understanding of airport operations at a "normal" airport as well. The Pegasus runway and the Willy Field Iceway, aren't typical airfields. I defiantly wish I was able to take this class last year, because now I understand ARFF much better.
After lunch we took a tour of DIA airport. They even got us a bus to tour around in. I think this was my favorite part of the day because I got to see my favorite plane, the boeing 777. I have had a wicked interest in this plane when I first saw it made 10 years ago when I visited my brother in Seattle. As you can see the plane is huge! This plane has a range of over 8,000 miles and can fly at a speed of 555 miles per hour. Not bad if you ask me. We were able to crawl around it and explore it a great deal. This was neat because it gave everyone a better understanding of what the inside of this type of plane looks like. Being able to have full acess to this plane was really cool. I went around the cockpit, business class, first class, cargo, coach, and even the underbelly of the cockpit where all the electronic are located. It was really cool.

After that tour, we stopped by two of the firehouses on the DIA grounds. DIA is approx. 52 or so square miles large. There are a total of 4 firehouses, each located very strategically. This is so that they can reach the middle of any of the 6 runways within 3 minutes, for the first due engine. And within 4 minutes for the 2nd due truck. This is a very interesting concept, that I never really thought of. Due to this FAA regulation, it is very tough for big airport to be full functional without a big ARFF Department to back them up. It forces the airports into needing ARFF and more or less securing ARFF's future and funding. We then took a tour of where the plane crash was last year at DIA, surprisingly no one died from that accident. And then we went back to the classroom and watched some of the responses that they do here. They have mounted camera's on all the rigs as well as heat cameras to record incidents. Watching and actually walked through these calls really showed me how effective ARFF can be, when it is well executed.

DIA hopes to have 12 full functional runways, and they are designed to be one of the most fuel efficient airports in America right now. I hope you all found this as fascinating as I did. I did my best to explain all of this. Anyway, I'm off to Dinner now. Talk to you all later!

First Day of Training

So today was the first day of training for our Winfly group. I would compare it to like the first day of school, you're second year. And well it is just that for me. My second year to the ice...yet first day with my new group. We have a decent amount of returnees, and old friends that I worked with last year. It was cool to meet a couple people who I heard of, and had already left the ice before I went down last year. Its cool to be a part of a group that has seen and understands what we will be doing down there. There are many FNGs in the group as well. FNGs (pronounced Fin Gees), is a term used to describe the new people going to the ice. These are the people who are really excited to go down fro their first time. Many Returnees to the ice, often use this when they want to describe the group of new people, and it can be in either a negative or positive light. It is usually just a term to group all the new people as a whole. Thus far, I do enjoy the crew that we have.

Raytheon is putting all of us up at the Red Lion Hotel in Colorado, which is neat. I defiantly enjoy my room. I have two queen size beds to choose from. I should have brought a roommate. Oh well. Breakfast isn't too bad here at the hotel. After breakfast, we boarded our shuttle and left to head to DIA (Denver International Airport). Our classes will be at the DIA airport training ground. The training will be around 60 hours of ARFF (Airport Rescue Firefighting), and also a bunch of Raytheon stuff as well. The DIA Airport is run by Denver Fire...unlike Boston where Massport controls Logan. The Denver firefighters at the Airport aren't paid more than the structure Denver Fire guys in the city. Which is an interesting concept.

Today was an easy day. Mostly it was just paperwork, orientation and some quick skill evaluations. I will be wearing proximity fire gear, the silver ones! They are pretty cool, but HOT as all HELL. Literally I felt like a baked potato today, it was 90 degrees. I'm really tired, so this is a quick entry. I'm alive and in Denver. I'll write more tomorrow, I promise. Its a school night so I have to go to bed. See y'all later.

Seattle n' Stuff

Hello all, and welcome to the pre-Antarctica portion of my blog. I am going to Seattle for my brothers wedding, and thus I left the East Coast. I flew from Boston to Las Vegas and then to Seattle. I will be heading to Denver for training with the rest of the Fire Department after this mini adventure on 8/11. I will be spending an extra day in Seattle, rather than fly home to be in Boston for a brief moment and fly to Denver. This is through no fault of my own but rather RPSC. Yes, I did just throw them under the bus. I was informed originally that I would be leaving on the 10th for training. But like many things with Raytheon, a surprise came up and I'll be leaving on the 11th. I shouldn't have really been surprised, many of you might remember my almost endless "I'm leaving, I swear" for a period of maybe 2-3 weeks last year. My flights last year kept being pushed back and all that jazz, which made for some good "going away" parties almost every week. Thanks for all the beer and gifts last year my brothers! (Shout out to: Brandon, Scott, Aaron, Bill, Lee, Alex Davis...and the rest of the Beaver crew)

I was fairly impressed with my packing skills this time around. I was able to fit mostly everything in my new backpack and everything that I could not fit in that pack, I placed in my "Genco" loaned duffle bag. Shout out to Brandon Genco, he likes the ocean. I am more used to traveling by myself this time around, and I am finding it slightly more enjoyable. I was able to ship myself several things before I left, so in a couple weeks I should have a surprise package down there. This of course is assuming the mail makes the last winfly flight. At the very least, I packed for 2-3 months, incase my mail gets delayed. You know the whole "Be prepared" thing is very stuck in my mind. You can thank my super awesome Eagle Scout training for that.

I am excited to meet the new crew that I will be working with next week, but I will miss my old crew. My old Captain and Lt. will not be coming down this season, which sucks, because I really enjoyed working with those guys. Shout out to Shields and Bevans. I'm happy that I will actually do my ARFF training at an Fire Department, here in the states. Last year, my ARFF training took place on the ice, and it really was brief. Like many of you know, most of firefighter training can be summed up in the simple phrase or rule, "Put the wet stuff on the red stuff". As long as you follow that, you should be all set. To be fair, I'll also share with you the key EMT rules as well. "Get them breathing, and stop that bleeding." and "Air goes in and out, blood goes round and round. Any variation in that, is bad."

I hope you all found that entertaining. You can ask Dan Bedford or Tower, I have tons of those phrases and sayings for advice. So anyway, I'm going to do this wedding thing. So sit back and hang tight, next week is training and then this blog should be off and away.