LIFESYLES

In the hot seat: Officials, media suit up for fire ops 101

By Tessa Roy
Posted 9/29/16

Prying the door off a car wasn’t something I expected to sign up for when I joined the Warwick Beacon - but that’s just what I ended up doing on Friday.

A mock extrication was only part of …

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LIFESYLES

In the hot seat: Officials, media suit up for fire ops 101

Posted

Prying the door off a car wasn’t something I expected to sign up for when I joined the Warwick Beacon - but that’s just what I ended up doing on Friday.

A mock extrication was only part of the duties participants and I had to fulfill that day as part of Warwick’s first ever Fire Operations 101. Fire Ops was hosted by Warwick Firefighters Local 2748 in collaboration with the Fire Department and city to give elected officials and media members a taste of life in the shoe - boots - of fire and emergency medical service officials.

“It’s an opportunity for elected officials, council people, the mayor, state representation, and the media to get a better handle on what we have for equipment, what we do, and to experience first hand what the equipment feels like. It’s something we want to do annually,” said Chief James McLaughlin.

I arrived at Warwick’s Station 8 a little after 8 a.m. District 21 candidate and Councilwoman Camille Vella-Wilkinson, City Council President Donna Travis, Senator Michael McCaffrey, and Representative Joseph McNamara were already attempting to put on their gear.

“Get me the smallest stuff you have,” said one of the recruits noticing I stand at a solid five feet tall. The gear was pretty bulky, as I assume it needed to be, but after numerous adjustments, I made it work. Vella-Wilkinson and Travis joked with each other as they, too struggled to suit up.

It took us nearly half an hour to get on the protective pants, jackets, boots, gloves and helmets. Mayor Scott Avedisian showed up and got dressed as well during this time. Though it may have taken us that long because we were busy getting appropriate sizes, the time it took us to get dressed would not have been conducive to a real emergency response. Firefighters have no time to sort through to find the right sized gear and get people to help them put it on. It has to be ready and put on quickly.

Then it was time for safety walkthroughs - here is where we would begin to learn how easy it is to talk about the things firefighters do but how hard it is to actually do them. Lieutenant Jason Erban brought us over to the training facility, which was funded by a $475,000 federal grant, to give a detailed explanation of our upcoming fate. He showed how to bust open a door with an axe, operate the hose, and walk the path to the fire room. We then got help strapping on air tanks and masks. At this point, all the gear we had on weighed about 65 pounds. I couldn’t imagine how long it takes these firefighters to get used to carrying that much weight. They walked around with significantly more ease than we did.

I knew Vella-Wilkinson and Travis were ahead of me as I saw them before they put their masks on, but couldn’t make out any other faces through my own slightly fogged mask. I just trucked ahead into the heat-controlled fire room we were reassured would have a temperature of “only” 1,000 degrees.

As I walked, and tripped, up the stairs to the fire room, I remembered the time my college roommate chastised me after I came home from covering a particularly heated protest where it was expected people would be arrested.

“You’re supposed to run away from the fire, not into it!” she had said to me.

If only Nicole could see me now, I thought as I tripped again.

We finally made it to the fire room. Flames sprawled across the ceiling and spots on the floor. Whoever had been ahead of me put out most of it, but I got to try my hand at doing so too. I accidentally hit one of the real firefighters with the stream in the process... Sorry, sir.

Throughout each exercise, we were consistently reminded how little we actually knew about firefighting and emergency responding. I joked about my tripping, and Vella-Wilkinson and Travis both said they had issues breathing and had to get out.

“In all honesty, guys, you were going through an uncluttered house,” said Erban. He was right - we didn’t have to walk around debris or household items. The fire we put out was controlled and all that was burning was hay and pellets. It was real fire, but quite unlike a real situation.

After a quick “rehabilitation” (AKA drinking a bunch of water), we moved on to the ladder station. I ended up in the ladder lift with Ward 2 candidate Jeremy Rix. He joked about how much he was sweating and was thankful it wasn’t warmer outside. It was in fact, pretty hot under all that gear, but that’s a small price to pay when it comes to being protected from live flames.

The ladder brought us to the roof of the training building. This operation would simulate how firefighters cut holes in roofs of homes to let heat and smoke escape.

This part was tougher. Though I was strapped to the roof, I kept thinking I would topple to the ground, so I was pretty unsteady. With some help, I managed to cut a hole with a chainsaw, but didn’t realize I wasn’t finished. I still had to clear an area - “smash it like an ex” as someone up there told me - of drywall to let the flames come through. I was given a long rod, which felt surprisingly heavy in addition to everything else I was wearing. Heat and flames rose through the hole as I broke through the drywall. Once it was all gone, I climbed back into the ladder, exhausted.

Even then, they weren’t done with me. We rehabbed again, then moved on to an EMT station. We learned how to remove a person - well, a dummy - from a car. After fitting the dummy with devices that would secure its spine and neck, we had to remove the car door with the “Jaws of Life.” It took two of us each time to maneuver the 30-40 pound rescue tools, but we got the door off and the dummy onto a stretcher. Once again, this wasn’t anywhere near what a real life scenario might have been like - EMTs might have to remove and secure bleeding, terrified, or unresponsive human beings from cars while other doors are being removed. That, and they could be working on a busy road surrounded by other emergency vehicles and nervous onlookers.

The last station, the “easiest,” was repelling off the roof of the training facility to simulate tall building rescues. My energy was pretty spent at this point, but thankfully this didn’t require us to have a distressed person attached to us like a real rescuer would. I was strapped into a harness, then instructed on how to propel myself down to the ground. Thankfully, it was impossible to fall. The pulley I was attached to had a handle that locked in case the rope started to slip too quickly. I had a pretty tight grip on my rope, so that wasn’t much of an issue for me. I put the handle into a position that allowed me to move down at a fairly smooth pace. Rep. District 24 candidate Evan Shanley joined me for this one. His descent was a little choppy, but he made it down nonetheless.

“I think it was a great learning experience to see first hand what they deal with on a daily basis and in emergency situations. I always had respect for firefighters but seeing what they deal with in terms of EMS on a daily basis and all the equipment they have to be able to use. It’s basically like an emergency room they bring to your house,” Shanley said. “I guess part of me didn’t realize the extent of services they had on the go. It makes me feel a little bit better about my family and me. These guys will be there and know what to do.”

By the end of the event, I was in rough shape. My long hair had not been advantageous - it was matted and tangled from being shoved under a helmet the whole day. I was pretty sore from the weight of the equipment and my clothes were soaked with sweat. I felt the same way I did after a strenuous cardio session. Then, I realized it’s Warwick Firefighters’ job to do this every day. And they do it on a significantly larger scale than I did. That had been the point - to show us how hard life can be as a firefighter, EMT, or any type of first responder.

“This was wonderful and very educational. And you can tell there’s nothing easy about being a firefighter. Not even getting the clothes on. I didn’t even go in [the fire room] the whole way because I had problems breathing by the time we got up the stairs,” said Travis. “They did a great job as far as showing what they do, and they did it very professionally.”

Assistant Chief James Kenney was glad to see how much we’d learned.

“It was very eye opening for everybody that participated. All of the dignitaries that showed up had a lot of questions for us after and it was really nice for us to see that and hear that from them,” he said. “You all had that look on your face like, “wow, that’s what that’s all about.”

The career switch was fun while it lasted, but I think I’ll keep my job.

The full list of participants (besides myself) were Mayor Avedisian, City Council President Donna Travis, Senator Michael McCaffrey, Representative Joe McNamara, Representative David Bennett, Councilman Steve Colantuono, Councilman Joseph Gallucci, Councilwoman Camille Vella-Wilkinson, Councilman-elect Steve McAllister, candidates Jeremy Rix, Rick Cascella, Tim Howe, Evan Shanley, Boys and Girls club of Warwick executive director Lara D'Antuono, and Board of Public Safety members Jim Paolucci and Tom McGovern, and Matt Reed from WJAR 10. For the fire department, members of Executive Board of Local 2748 President Bill Lloyd, Vice President Noah Craven, Vice President Michael Defusco, Vice President Michael Carreiro, Vice President Michael Keller, Treasurer Brandon Ingegneri, and Deputy Chief Thomas Maymon were present, among others.

Fire Ops wasn’t open to residents, and will probably stay that way if it’s held again. But there are other ways residents can support Warwick’s Firefighters. The department has its Memorial Sunday this Sunday at 111 Veterans Memorial Drive at 9 a.m. Later, on October 23rd, they’ll also host a 5K run and 1 mile walk at Goddard Park. More information on these events can be found at warwickfirefighters.org.

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