thoughtmechanics

After two years in the Windsor Fire Department, I have decided to turn in my gear. For two years I went on calls, put out fires, went to auto accidents and more, but after having a kid, my time has become much more limited. I’ve decided to put the fire service on hold until things settle down in my life.

I first decided to become a firefighter about 1 year after the 9/11 attacks, but lack of time kept me out of the fire service until May of 2003 after I had been running my own web design business for roughly 6 months. Running my own business allowed me to work from home, making my situation ideal for joining up. I went down to the fire department and asked about becoming a member. One of the first things I learned is that 70 percent of fire departments in Connecticut are volunteer. This completely changed my impression of the volunteer fire service. Admittedly, I had thought of volunteers as being somehow not on the same level as paid firefighters.

So I submitted an application, went through an interview and accepted. The first order of business was to go through a firefighter physical. It’s like a normal physical, but a smidge more intense. They checked my ears, eyes, lungs, blood pressure, etc. The lung capacity test, which consisted of me blowing as hard as I possibly could for as long as I possibly could into a half inch diameter tube, was among one of the more difficult procedures I had to go through. Then I had to go through what’s called a stress test, basically an EKG with a twist. During this experience they attach electrodes to you while you walk, jog and sprint uphill on a treadmill.

Once I got through all that, I was issued a pager and bunker gear; that’s when the hard part began. While a firefighter’s training is literally never complete, all firefighters both paid and volunteer must go through a minimum level of training. For me, this involved going through a program at the Connecticut Fire Academy, where I got my state certification.

The practical training was very taxing to say the least. Throughout my stint at the fire academy, I did confined space training, which consisted of dragging myself blindfolded underneath wires that were six to 12 inches from the ground, crawling through very small diameter tubes and sliding in and out of very thin openings to get between different rooms. I went through live fire exercises, ladder training, and search & rescue training. After getting certified I went on to even cooler training like cold water rescue, and safety & survival, which is a lot of breaking through walls and repelling out of windows.

I’ve really enjoyed my time on the fire department. Becoming a volunteer firefighter is one of the best ways for someone to serve their community. It’s a lot of hard work, but very rewarding.