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.