Congratulations on becoming fire fighters to the 22 recruits! It was a great day at the Tropical Plantation. The Chiefs were there, representatives for Governor Neil Abercrombie and the families of the recruits. Guest speakers spoke about the courage and sacrifice it takes to be a fire fighter and how fire fighters work hard to keep the community safe and they do not go unnoticed. Captain Amos spoke about how it is such a big accomplishment to become firefighters on Maui especially, because they need to go through extra training than those on the mainland and be prepared for any situation from Makai to Mauka and everything in between. Not including all of the tests and evaluations they had to pass.
Watching the video that Kaleo Pua'a put together was really cool. I saw that they all had to work as a team and yes it is physically demanding and no doubt it takes dedication, but it also looked like a lot of fun!
I enjoyed the pinning ceremony where the recruits' family pinned their badges on their uniforms.
Misty and I sold a fair amount of shirts during the event to help fund raise.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Monday October 22nd after class I reported to the Kahului Fire Station.
Classroom
I wanted to know about what fire fighters need to know academically and the secretary, Kim, showed me their thick text book and I was able to copy the table of contents.
It's 20 chapters long and covers pretty much everything.. equipment, knot tying, driving, EMR etc...
The fire fighters go through 26 weeks of training and that includes studying.
The first handful of weeks are focused on EMR and then it moved into FADOP which is driving the trucks.
They need to obtain a Commercial Drivers License to drive the trucks.
Then the chapters proceed with other important information.
Guys who work at the airport are hired by the State and guys who become firefighters are hired by the county.
Fire fighters have two different types of gear: Structure gear and wild land gear.
Structure gear is for commercial building fires and wild land gear is for wild fires.
The Kahului Fire Department is #10 and how the departments are numbered are by when they were built. This department was the tenth to be built on the island.
There is no other like it because there are four companies:
Engine company- engines taken to fight fires
Hazmat Company- for hazardous situations (only one in the county)
Tank Company- truck filled with water for wild fires
Rescue Company- used for ocean and mountain rescue (only one in the county)
We took a trip to the Prevention's building to talk to one of the guys that work there and I will be shadowing him for about a day learning about fire codes and fire safety.
Amos and I also dropped off some equipment that was broken and I was able to meet the woman that purchases their equipment.
I will be receiving a PPE request form so I know what kind of equipment is needed for their jobs.
I also want to know what kind of work out routines the guys training to be fire fighters go through to get into shape.
Tomorrow is the graduation for the guys who have been training for the past 26 weeks and I will be attending as well as helping Kim out.
Next week Tuesday I am planning on coming to the fire department before my class because October is fire safety awareness month and different schools will be going to different fire departments to learn about fire safety from the fire fighters. I want to take a video of this presentation and talk to the teachers of the school to set up a time in the spring when I can come for a visit and do a follow up.
I am now an intern at the Kahului Fire Station on Maui, HI. My mentor is Captain Amos.
Last week Friday October 19th I met Captain Amos of Kahului Fire department at commercial building where they did fire drills. It was very exciting. The fire fighters were divided into three groups: the ones starting the fire, the ones on top of the building poking holes into the roof, and the ones on the fire trucks.
The first three drills the firemen were putting out a house fire. The second three drills the firemen were putting out fires that would take place in commercial buildings for example: Sports Authority.
The groups rotated for each drill.
I learned a lot by just listening to what Amos was telling me and what Kim was saying to the onsite photographers, for what I assume was for the newspaper.
I took notes and pictures.
Fire fighters crawl through this box of wires blind folded with all their gear on, and at the end they have to break through dry wall and they can't cut any of the wires. This is preparation for in case the roof falls and they are crawling through a small space.
Fire fighters need to be familiar with roof construction and different types of roofing. Ex: metal, wood, shingles.
The reason for this is so that if there is a fire they can cut into or poke holes into the roof to let smoke out.
Roofs that are steep require a roof ladder- a ladder that hooks onto the ridge of the top of the roof.
Roofs that aren't as steep don't need assistance. Fire fighters can just stand on it the way it is.
Below you see a picture of a fire truck, this specific fire truck is built to carry these air paks.
The fire room is the room at the end of the hall that they started the fire. Fire moves quickly! Fire fighters need to back the flames moving towards them with water and save people at the same time. Rooms are dark, large and hard to navigate and if they use too much water it will turn into steam.
On the mainland they have 2-3 guys per company which is dangerously short handed. Could you imagine calling in because your house was on fire and only two firemen show up to put out the fire and to save everyone in the house??
On the mainland they usually get firemen from out of state, however, on Maui we cannot because we are on an island, so that's why it is important for us to have several people on hand.
We are behind though because a lot of instructors are on the mainland and it would cost too much to send them to Hawaii so we send our instructors to the mainland with the money they get for training.
During the drill when they set the fire in the fire room in this particular building they need to cool the metal beams because it can expand with heat.
Fire fighters need to learn how to set up ladders with one person, two person, three persons.
They work with the airport because there are situations when they need to work together as a team for things like rescue.
Fire fighters also need to know some medical information too like CPR, First Aid and how to deliver a baby because there aren't ambulances accessible everywhere.
They also need to know basic hazmat stuff and need to know their chemicals because some fires if you use water to try to put it out it makes things escalate.
Fire fighters fight fires in commercial buildings, wild fires, do car extractions at the scene of a car accident, ocean and mountain rescue- if someone goes on a hike and gets lost or hurt they go find them.
There are only two women firefighters in Maui County.
