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.
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.
Wow! You learned a lot on your first day. Excellent work on your documentation and explanations!
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