Fire Fire!!!

Over the last few days everything seems to have just blurred together into one big blob. Work, do laundry, eat, sleep....

A couple of days ago we did have a structure fire on my shift (A shift). Now let me clarify structure. Most back yard sheds are larger that this particular structure. It was a generator building out at Willy Field that it appears hadn't been properly dewinterized. Basically there was still plastic and duct tape covering the opening of the fresh air intake (I think). Not much of a structure, but there were open flames that got into the wall spaces. It was mostly put out by extinguishers by the time my ARFF vehicle, Red 5, arrived on scene. It was a speedy response, say about 50 minutes. The story goes something like this. "Station One stand by for tones... Respond to Williams Field for a generator fire. Smoke is coming through the roof of the building." Willy field is a packed snow runway that isn't yet open. Everyone kind of froze for a second because it's not a typical response for this time of year. We had to grab a crew of six, drive out to the Sea Ice runway in the van, Scat 1, to get into the two ARFF vehicles, Red 2 & 5, drive back through McMurdo town, past Scott Base, out onto the ice transition and out to Willy Field. The Captain and another FF had gone to Scott Base to pick up smoke machine and got the tone right there. They headed straight out and were there long before the rest of us, but all they had in their truck was an extinguisher. When I arrived I stepped out of the truck and thought, "Oh yeah, that smells like fire!" At that time is was still smoldering and in a few spots reigniting. We pulled the rubber hose from Red 5 to foam a couple of the areas and as the foam was switched on the hose broke under the tank right where it connects. I'm up on a ladder waiting for agent and I turn around to see a huge pool of foam gushing out into the rear of and underneath Red 5. Needless to say, I was able to get a small amount of the foam that was in the line without pressure to tinkle on the smoldering areas. After that we tore into walls doing salvage and checking for unseen extension. It was sort of a cluster, but still great fun to get a little dirty and play in the ash.

From there we came back for a quick ten minute lunch and then out to the Sea Ice runway for a standby. As Red 5 was now out of service we had to use one of the ancient beasts, Red 4. This thing is such a POS and I'm certain is one of the original Navy apparatus out here. It was terrible. I know that I've complained about being cold down here but this was the worst ever. There are hardly any seals left around the doors and the wind and cold blow through it like broth through a sieve. I was so far beyond misery and had passed the shivering stage of hypothermia. Never have I been so cold. Andre who was sitting in front of me thought is would be great fun to take pictures while he was getting in and out of the truck and rolling down windows to take pictures of the outdoors. I truly thought I might kill him.

The next morning we had a grease fire in the galley, but got cancelled before entering the building. Two fires in one day. Yeehaw!

It was American night at Scott Base again on Thursday (every Thursday) so we went en mass to hang with the Kiwi's for the evening. Good fun was had by all and I got a super large t-shirt (the only size they had) from the New Zealand Fire Service.

Yesterday was pretty much all busy work at the firehouse. After the ARFF vehicle had supposedly been repaired we had to go to the poo plant (aka waste water treatment plant) to pick up thirty buckets of foam to refill the tank. In searching for the foam we came across the "cake room" where the clean poo all ends up. No smell whatsoever and big bins with little sprouts growing out of the poo. Odd indeed. It seemed that the Caff system on the vehicle was still leaking and in trying to figure out what the trouble was had several major spills and explosive sprays of AFFF to clean up each time. Very soapy like and not the easiest thing to mop up. It turns out that there is one specific way that all the valves and things have to be turned on and off in a certain order. There was no one down here who knew the inner workings of this vehicle as it's very different than the other ARFF vehicles. After two days, lots of analysis and phone calls to the manufacturer and I'd guess about 15 buckets of foam down the drain they seem to have it figured out.

I also took it upon myself to try to detox SCAT 1 which has reeked of poo. Not real poo, but Petroseal (animal protein foam) that got spilled outside on the ground and then tracked into the van. Emily joined me in scrubbing by hand the entire interior; floors and all, with bleach and water. It was pretty wretched but we survived and came out of it with a little Chlorine poisoning and a much better smelling Scat. Chief was super happy as it's primarily her Chief-mobile. Poo free is good.

Today has been like most of the others. Go to the mall, do laundry, computer work, and such. Emily has really sick with the flu and I'm not feeling super great myself. I hope that it passes me by soon and I start to have a little more energy again. Have I mentioned how heavy the air is here at sea level? Even though it does have more oxygen it's much more work to breathe. Then again, it might have something to do with the wind too. It's weird.