Placing Your Life In Hands You Can Trust

Notice Salisbury News in the helmet.







The day before yesterday I received a call in which I was invited to join several Fire Departments for what they call a controlled burn in Powellville.

When I arrived I was pleased to see so many Firefighters but what really caught my eye was the younger, (15 year old) Cadets hoping they would get their turn at this fire. You don't actually see many young Cadets in Salisbury like you do in the outlying areas. I'll produce more photos of them in another Post.

I was invited to go into the house and sort of scout out what, when, where and why they were about to do this drill and what rooms they were going to do it in. Hence the early photo I put up yesterday with Wayne and I siting on the couch.

Once they started burning rooms upstairs, we took some shots and then got out of there, hoping to catch a glimpse of each room on fire through the windows. Never in my wildest dreams would I have ever expected one of the Firefighters to come up to me and say, wanna go in?

I stood there thinking, do I really want to do this? This isn't my line of work. I then started thinking about all those comments that had come in challenging me to come out and do their job, I was too much of a pussy.

It didn't take long for me to make the decision to accept their invitation and what made this really cool was watching so many Firefighters come together right away and offer a piece of equipment here, another there, they simply united immediately and I all of a sudden had a helmet, a hood, a lined jacket, pants, boots, a mask, gloves, and air tank, $5,000.00 later I was ready to go!

They had already done numerous drills upstairs and that portion was completed and they decided to do a drill downstairs. Here's how it works. They take diesel fuel and they spray the room they want to train in next. In this case it was the kitchen. The kitchen was designed like most homes, it was its own separate room with a single doorway to enter in and out of the kitchen from the rest of the house. I had the gear on, the air pack was tested and worked fine, it was time to go in.

As I followed Bryan Records through the door, I recognized several faces I knew I could trust and I walked in with complete confidence. They had started the fire in the kitchen and I made sure, (picture 2 & 3) I was up against the couch out of the way so the team in training could come in and do the job. As you can clearly see from those two photos, the flames were everywhere, floor, ceiling, walls, you name it, that room was fully engulfed and as I could hear the Chief's calling out for the next team to come in and put this fire out, there was no response. The decision was made right then and there, this thing was getting hot and it was time to get in there and put it out.

Chief Bryan Records turned to me and said, take the hose/line and get in there and follow my instructions. I truly thought to myself, OK, no big deal, I can stay on my knees OUTSIDE the room and spray it down, just like any other Firefighter would, right? WRONG! I got to the entrance of the room with flames flying out at me and Bryan said, go on, get in there! I thought, ARE YOU NUTS? However, I could certainly tell from the tone of his voice, this man meant business, therefore I went in. He said, "Flash The Ceiling." Flash, (to me) meant to give it a quick shot of water, so I did so. With flames now to the left and right of me and the kitchen truly engulfed with fire, Bryan said, now don't go to heavy but start lightly spraying to your left. I did so and I could quickly see how fast the fire was reacting to the water. In other words I quickly learned that although you see these movies where it looks like they're always using a ton of water, I was told in a room like the kitchen I was in, the fire could be put out with less than 5 gallons of water. Bryan then instructed me to go to the right and put out the fire that had now taken over the kitchen cabinets, I lightly sprayed that area and the fire was out.

At this point, all of a sudden I had time to think. Oh, that wasn't a good thing though Folks. All of a sudden as we were walking out of the house I could feel the pressure of the mask and oxygen flow and I started feeling very claustrophobic. With a little help we calmly took off the equipment, (mask) and I could breath normally once again. Bryan was quick to say, put it back on, we're going back in again. I did so and once inside I realized, wait a minute, this isn't my place. Still feeling the pressure of being claustrophobic I tapped Bryan on the shoulder and said, I'm going back out, OK? He shook his head yes and said he completely understood.

Joe Albero didn't need to be the center of attention a second time as these fine men and women were there to get training and I wanted to make sure that's exactly what they got.

There are some key topics I want to touch base on here so everyone understands and becomes educated towards what had just happened and why it's so important the relationship between the Firefighters and Salisbury News is understood.

If you were sitting there watching this home on fire and someone asks you, come on, we want you inside, throw on this gear. First off, would you do it? It may sound easy and cool but let me assure you, reality strikes you and guess what, THIS IS NO GAME. This is a real fire. Granted, it's controlled in the sense that you're surrounded by professional veterans that now exactly how to read a fire but let me assure you, for someone who's never been inside and instructed to walk right INTO the fire, if I had 2 minutes to have known about what was going to happen, there's no way I would have done it.

The team didn't show up and the fire needed to be put out. The decision was made for me to do so and following a man I obviously trust with my life, I did what was asked. When I was telling someone what it was like to go into a room fully engulfed in flames, (pictures 2 & 3) I said it was like being alive and going into your own crematory.

The lesson learned here is, assess your situation first. Much of that comes from experience and wisdom. Usually, (I'm told) you'll be on the Fire Department about 10 years before you'll actually experience fire to the level I did that evening in real life. What they were trying to describe to me was, you don't just join the Fire Department and jump in and fight fires. This is a serious business and you have to know what you're doing. Trust me, at this point I can't argue that in any way, shape or form. There's also the lesson of respect these Firefighters have towards the home. To think that the kitchen I was in could be put out with around 5 gallons of water, guess what? They were right! There was very little water used to put out a room fully engulfed with fire and you can see so from the photos above. Would I have done it differently with a garden hose at home? OH YEAH! First of all, the lack of pressure would have made it a joke to even try. However, how I would have done about it would have assured my home would have burned even more, even if I was there with a garden hose trying to put it out.

Remember, Bryan started me off by flashing the ceiling. This was done to take control of the fire and not have it be in control instead. Once the flames came off the ceiling, everything toned down and was much easier to get a handle on. Having people behind you in which you know, if something goes wrong, they're right there for you. That's a comfort level indescribable, unless you truly understand teamwork and commitment.

Do I have a new respect for Firefighters. ABSOLUTELY! The invitations over the past several months to come do what they do, I would have never truly understood the meaning of such had I not got into the fire/kitchen like I did. We could have battled for years back and forth and I would have never understood and I admit that. Now, do we still disagree on certain issues, absolutely. However, will we be able to sit down from this point forward and hear eachother out with all due respect, absolutely. An example of one of my beef's with the Fire Department is protocol on how many Fire Trucks show up at a scene of a small fire. I think 8 Trucks at a 800 sq. ft. home is excessive but who knows, maybe they'll be able to convince me I should feel differently about that issue? The lines of communications are now open and Salisbury News, (IMO) is a tool to educate everyone. I've at least been in the fire and I look forward to additional training exercises in which I can learn even more about how things work.

I have been recently invited to more training programs in which I'll gladly participate in. However, although I'll have more to say about my experience the other day in other posts about this subject, it's important everyone come to understand that just because I did what I did doesn't make me qualified to say "I know" just because I was in there. Granted, I know a little more about what these guys do but trust me when I say, little means just that, LITTLE!

I want to thank each and every Firefighter there, especially Chief Records and Wayne Barrall. There are so many names I could put on here but it would taken up several inches of space and everyone knows, this is a longer than usual post for me anyway. To Powellville, Pittsville, Willards, Salisbury and so many other Volunteers that were there offering up their personal equipment to let me get a taste of the real thing, I Personally Thank You! It was an experience I'll never forget and I was honored and humbled to be one of you, even if it was only for a few brief seconds. My hat is tipped to each and every one of you and as I know all of you know, unless you've experienced being in that flame or a room completely surrounding you in flames, they're not going to understand, just like I didn't.

I'll close with this. The equipment I was wearing just to go into the fire cost more than $5,000.00! That's per person. I'd also like to thank Wayne Barrall for providing ALL of the photos above. More to come........

I'm adding onto this post as I'm recalling some topics I wanted discussed as well. You know, once you're in gear, there is NO black and white, yellow or red! Once that equipment is on, just like I had stated months ago in a post, an address has no color. When you're in gear, you're a team and I don't care where you are on the line, if you're there, you're needed! In the last two photos, Chief Bryan Records wanted to take down the two chimneys that were still standing after the fire had burned the house completely down. We hooked up a 1 1/2" line and opened that puppy up as Bryan wanted me to experience just how much pressure was on one of those lines. It took 4 of us to COMFORTABLY handle that line, 4 grown and decent size men! OK, maybe I was the biggest? LOL Nevertheless, the chimney's came down and again, it was a very cool experience.