FIRE FIGHTING

Then we were into Fire Fighting. This was on INTENSE course. It 7 of the hardest days I have spent to date. Basically it was the 12 week rookie firefighter course crammed into 7 days. Not an easy task.
I had been pretty ill. 3 weeks without a day off work and playing hard on weekends in between had seen me become a bit run down. (But you all know me, I do like to play!) I started getting a sore throat during boating and should have seen to it then. But I had no time to be sick so I just let it go. I ended up with an infected throat, mild chest infection and a bad cough. Not good when you are kitted out in full Oxygen Cylinder and BA, (Breathing Apparatus), heavy woolen firefighter suits, steel capped boots and working leather fire gloves. The gear you wear weighs about 20 kilos. While wearing that we were crawling through smoke and fire filled buildings that were so black you could not see your hand 5cm in front of your face. Try to imagine the obstacles, debris and hideous stench of the smoke and the panic and confusion that occur. All while searching for a body – not fun at all. Add to that the fact that if you start to rise more than 1 metre from the floor you are in danger of burning off the tops of your ears from the intense heat. All the while there are two big, burley fire fighters screaming at you that you are going to die in 10 minutes if you don’t move your arse and get the hell out! This was seriously scary and exhausting stuff!