Me? Rescue?

Lately in my part of Oregon we've been having a heightened awareness about the Crook County Fire & Rescue's ability to cover the far western edge of their 450 square mile fire district, which is where I live.  There have been community meetings, meetings with the fire chief and deputy chief, and neighborhood meetings on how to best protect our residential spaces, wooded areas, and so on, zzzzzz.

Bottom line was the fire department needs more volunteers.  So, being as how I recently broke up with OSU and their master gardeners and food preservers programs ( read all about it here), I thought to myself, Self, you're in decent shape for a middle-aged woman - packing twenty extra pounds, but who isn't?  Still, I checked the website for photos of their volunteer people, and it looked as though there were plenty of folks older and fatter than I.  So I filled out an application, despite having watched most every episode of Rescue Me and concluding that firefighters are misogynistic sons of bees (but still better than cops).

I hated just about every character in this show - but kept watching,
the writing was that compelling.  At least the first three seasons.

Nonetheless, my community needs me, right?

Look!  Somebody better put that out!

Yesterday (I kid you not), I received a call from the fire chief about coming down TODAY for the interview process and the physical fitness test.  I had previously received a call from the volunteer training guy who described the physical tasks:  pounding on a Kaiser sled, dragging a hose 100 or so feet, dragging a dummy 50 feet, climbing a 20 foot ladder, and lifting a ladder off and then back on a fire truck.  It didn't sound that intimidating, so I said, Sure!  I'll be there.

Oh.  My.  God.

The interview process was like hundreds  I had conducted myself, so no worries there.  Because I was the only volunteer being interviewed and tested that day, I was kind of the center of attention, which isn't always a bad thing.  The chief and deputy chief were helpful in telling me what needed doing (the addition of a hose maze on the ground to maneuver on hands and knees with my eyes shut still didn't intimidate me), and they let me practice a few things like the ladder lift (gawd) and the Kaiser sled.

Then I learned I had to do these things in sequence without stopping for longer than 10 seconds at any point.  In full regalia.  Helmet.  Fully insulated coat and pants.  Thank goodness they let me keep my own tennis shoes on, and I didn't have to wear a respirator, but jeez!  My body temp was up around 100 before I even started!

These things weigh about 20 lbs each and are HOT HOT HOT.
Some chemist/physicist needs to invent something better NOW NOW NOW.

First was the dummy drag.  It didn't weigh as much as I thought it would, and it wasn't too hard to drag it, so I think they had me do this first as a confidence booster.

Then came the Kaiser sled.

It took me a while to get a rhythm going and even then I was kind of slow, but I managed to finish.  (And by the way, thanks to the chief for provided the positive feedback during each process - it helped.)  Arms a-screaming, we proceeded to the ladder climb.

That's what it felt like with my arms quivering, but it was only about 24 feet.  I made it up and down without incident, and felt like I just might do this thing.

Then, the hose drag.

No, it wasn't charged, but I was still about at this angle when I finished.  I think it was only 100 yards but it felt like 200.  I have a new respect for football players who haul other players on their backs to the goal line, now, btw.....

By now I'm panting and sweating as though I had just run 100 yards with a linebacker on my back, and it's time for the hose maze.  The fire chief told me this would be a bit of a rest, and I guess he was right since I did get to follow a hose along the ground for 100 yards on my hands and knees.  With my eyes closed.  It wasn't terribly hard, but it was on the lawn, in the sun, in that outfit.  With all the sweat running into my eyes, I think I could have kept my eyes open and still been blind.

Mine had a lot more twists and over and under laps than this weenie's.

Then the ladder lift.  I had practiced this, and knew that while the first ladder was relatively light, the second, 24 foot ladder weighed a ton.  And I had to taken them both off the side of the truck, put them all the way on the ground, then lift them each back up and put them both back on.  Correctly.  From the center.  Without dropping them.

All by myself.

First let me say both the chief and the deputy chief demonstrated this for me, more than once, and neither seemed to strain.  They even demonstrated a way I could use leverage to help me get the heavy one off.  I managed to get the first ladder off and on the ground (banging it slightly but not dropping it), and man, that second one.....  I struggled but got it off and on the ground without dropping it.  And when it came time, 5 seconds later, to lift it back up and put it back on, it was a battle.

That nagging voice in my head that kicks in about mile 7 started to whine about quitting when I got one end up but was having so much trouble getting the second end up where it belonged (I could almost feel the grimaces of the chiefs, but maybe they were concerned I was going to scratch the paint on the truck).  I managed to do it, but it was seriously touch and go there -- even so, I know it wasn't up as cleanly as it should have been.  The second, lighter ladder was next and I was so relieved to have finally got the heavy one up, I hurried to place the second before the first could fall off.  Because then I would have cried.  Like a little girl.

Thanks to my dad's fabulous genes, my blood pressure before and after was great, and thanks to my running, so was my heart rate.

And I passed!  So now I get to do the academy training for the next many weekends, and I can start serving my community.  Maybe even do formal EMT Basic training at the community college.

What I will definitely be doing, however, is some upper body strength training.  And that right soon.

In the meantime....