The building is on fire! Let's go in.

Wow.  Last night concluded the inaugural Joshua Citizen's Fire Academy and it was a memorable night.  Since last year when we first started talking about starting this class I knew I wanted to be in it especially after hearing that we would get to participate in a real burn at the Johnson County ESD training center.  I've been there several times and watched real firefighters go into the smoke-filled building, but I never thought I'd get to do it too.

A few weeks ago we were at the same location learning to rapel off a tower there.  I had great anxiety over that task due to a fear of heights, but I never worried about going in on the burn practice.  I probably should have.  Everything was cool up until I got my air mask on and then all of a sudden I felt very alone and cut off.  I don't usually have any claustrophobia issues, but this came close.  The dulling of the senses in peripheral visibility and sound is enough to try to get used to, but when you put that into a smoke-filled room that's many hundreds of degrees then you've got yourself an unusual situation.  Unless you do it for a living.

On my first mission in with my teammates to find and knock down the fire I got a firsthand glimpse into what someone might experience if they were unfortunate enough to be caught in a fire.  I especially thought of children since at that moment I felt like one.  I've heard firefighters several times when talking to an elementary school class tell them not to be afraid of the firefighters that may be trying to find them and save them.  They usually put on their air mask and helmet so the kids know what they would look like.  As we entered the room near the fire last night, on our knees to stay below most of the heat, all of a sudden the glow of the flames silhouetted the firefighters in the room with us through the thick smoke and darkness.  Their figures were eerie and I had to tell myself that my gear was sound and the air I was breathing would be there long enough for me to accomplish the task at hand and get out.  Even though I had walked that room a half hour earlier it was surprisingly disorienting.  At that moment I felt like I was inside a human-shaped pod just barely larger than myself.  The deadly environment outside was only an inch away from my being.

Have I mentioned yet that it was one of the most exciting and amazing things I've ever done?

After my second time in with another team I was able to stay in with our Fire Chief, Wayne Baker, while they stoked the fire up real good so I could get a little more heat action before hitting it with some water.  Following the Chief out after that drove home another observation.  These guys are good at this and well trained.  Even though there were many professionals monitoring everything we did, when I was working with my team of people that I knew had no more training than I did I had a strong sense of not being able to depend on them and the desire to break from them in one particular instance when I knew something was not going as it should have.  Since we had plenty of people around us to help that wasn't necessary, but it underscored the need to train continuously to the point of being able to trust your life to the guy next to you knowing that he is as well-trained as you are.  It can mean the difference between life and death.

I'm extremely grateful for the opportunity to do this and will remember it forever.  The Joshua Fire Department is first class and did an excellent job with all the classes.  The purpose was fulfilled - I'm sure everyone, like me, learned a lot about how the department works and what their job entails.

A.J.