fire squad

16 ~ 18 april 2005.
and so i was among 15 of us sent by mesb for company fire squad training in balai bomba pasir gudang.

it was a series of lectures (theories) and practical training (tiresome but awesome).
we gained some skills for rescuing people from building on fire - basically how to carry people sans equipment - bare handed, alone and with 2 & 3 other assisting.

there was a series of (four total) hose drill. basically, it is a set of instruction of how to coordinate and distribute work (well, not quite) between team members of four. in brief, all the drills require member no. 3 to frequently run along the hose line - need quite high stamina and enthusiasm.
oh, and if anybody do ask you - the rubber fire hose has a coupling at each end, male and female. and the standard length is 100 ft.

the basic hose drill (drill no. 1) spans 300 ft. of hose with a jet nozzle at the end.
we were equipped with hard hats (firemen hats - cool) and fire jacket (well, doing it under the hot sun makes you appreciate your everyday work - you don't have to be as hot and sweaty).
the best part came on the last day. we get to handle the fire hose blasting the water jet under 6bar pressure. it really requires teamwork and coordination.

and there was this oil & gas fire fighting drill - requires twin hose spray as water curtain, protecting the firemen.

well, what i do get out of this, if any, is that i have better knowledge regarding fire safety.
also, i have enormous respect to our fellow firemen regarding the public service they are constantly putting their lives into.