March Is For Basketball...and Training!

March has proved to be an oh so nice break from the monotonous Winter months, filled with training and various "work'" to be done around the county. Recently, we were able to obtain a piece of property in Blue Ridge(Station 1) to utilize for training before it was to be torn down for a new residence. These types of opportunities do not come along very often and can always prove to be an excellent time to hone in our skills in RIT, ventilation, searching, and various other facets of our job. The particular house in question was a two story single family, more than likely built sometime in the 50's. It's ordinary construction and tin roof proved to be an excellent example of a majority of the residences in Botetourt County. With various shifts and stations to include, we spent around 1 week training in and around the structure.Yeah, I got pictures.

Frank and I practicing some vertical ventilation techniques on the tin roof.  Frank had a hair of a time taming the thick wooden boards that compiled the "super roof." However, according to the Farmer, we were up there "doin' it."

Wall breaching was a large portion of the training, as well as including this practice into your RIT operation.

Captain "Sweet Tea" Johnson was all smiles seeing his guys do such a great job. He's so proud of us.

Pictured here is Jeff "Bigg J" Elmore, after using his superb spray painting skills to illustrate where fire would be located within the residence. Take it from me, I've seen a lot of good graffiti, but I would put Bigg J up against any of your so called "artists." Not up in my house. 

More often than not, this is where the Farmer was posted during a majority of the training evolutions. Apparently, he had to "take care of some stuff" around 4 to 5 times during any given day we were at the house. Must be nice to be so important. 

Even Medic 14-9 from Bedford County Fire & Rescue, located just down the road, was able to attend some of the training! Killer boots Ohlinger. 

All together, it was a killer experience and would recommend it to anyone looking to give their guys some realistic and controlled training. Today, we spent a majority of the afternoon over at the Troutville(Station 2) training facility, located on the fire station grounds, to participate in some extensive RIT training with Roanoke City Fire & EMS. In typical A Shift fashion, we pretty much ran the show. In all actuality, Webb and I had a great time and learned some great tricks of the trade from their instructors. We ran multiple scenarios involving various RIT operations that, needless to say, put us through the paces. With the outside temperature reaching somewhere around 80+ degrees, I don't think I had much sweat left in my body. I believe Webb was paired with the guys from Engine 11, while I hooked up with the crew from Engine 5. We cleaned up. Special thanks to all those City instructors who came out to share their knowledge and experience with the rest of us! On a lighter note, during the training in Blue Ridge, we compiled a simple training video of our own. Any of you who are familiar with Instructor 5 Productions or have viewed any of their Youtube postings, they are Nashville based fire instruction company ran by members of the Nashville Fire Department that specialize in "outside the box" thinking and techniques not commonly used in the fire service. Their lead instructor, Trey Nelmes, from 3's Truck, is quite the character and provides us with quite a bit of comic relief during training hours in the station. This video is mimicking one of his productions. Please note the realistic training evolution and excellent techniques used by Jeff and I in this video. Trey would be so proud...

   Until next time!