In the dead of night... Boredom strikes.

I'm a creature of habit. . . Which is odd, being a first responder, because I never seem to be doing the same thing. Every day that I go to work, I have no idea what to expect, and I dig that.
It's been a really bizarre few months, I've been working pretty much non-stop since August between the Fire Department and an Occupational Health and Safety company that I do contracts for.
Right now I'm in the process of certifying for Firefighter 2, finally! There has been an obscure series of circumstances that have kept me from getting this certification in the last 4 years, but the time has come.
I was thinking about it the other day, and it's been months since I've been on a structure fire. Pretty much every time I'm on shift these days its a silent night. I did save a guys life the other day, though! That was pretty cool. I was riding Engine and we got there 5 minutes before the ambulance. We resuscitated our patient with CPR and an AED... All BLS! Is was an excellent example of fast action and quick response working out.
In other news, I've found my niche. I've been following around the Fire Investigator for our department for the past 6 months like a puppy-sponge. IE: I follow him everywhere absorbing knowledge... and he can't kick me to the curb 'cus I'm just so darn innocent. and fluffy. But I digress.
So, now I know what I want to be when I grow up. I'm taking the classes to certify as a Fire Investigation/Building Inspection Officer right now, and I LOVE it. It's really neat, because a Fire Investigator's first job is to find out whether or not a crime has been committed. From there on, they get to follow every step of the investigatory process to completion. They get to interview witnesses, interrogate suspects, go to autopsies, collect evidence, do forensics and crime scene photography... It's like being you're own detective agency, except with fire! Plus, I can still be a firefighter and an investigator, so it's the best of both worlds. Being a firefighter/investigator means that I can show up at the fire first in, put it out, then find the cause and origin. Having the knowledge of a firefighter on scene will be super beneficial because I will see have seen the fire in action and won't have to piece together the puzzle afterward. Most importantly, I'm looking for a challenge. At this point, I can fight a fire... It's not hard anymore. I still love it, don't get me wrong, but I would really like to be able to put my brain to work a little bit more... And I feel like the investigation side is a great fit.
To follow-up on the past few months... I didn't get onto AFD. I made it through the written and physical, but I didn't make it through the interview. Let's just say I'm not surprised. I'm almost done with my degree and that will be really nice to have. Also, married life is awesome. I just got back from Vegas again a week ago, we finally finished cleaning out my grandmother's house. I'm really looking forward to things slowing down in the near future. I've had 80+ hour work weeks the past 3 months with pretty much no days off, plus college, plus additional training, and a bunch of recertification problems that I'm still dealing with. Hopefully, I can go back to my easy life of just one job and college soon and enjoy the holidays with my little family.
That's it for now. I'll try to keep up on this thing, but we all know how that goes.
-Jess

I've said it once, and I'l say it again...

Man I love being a turtle.
Not really, what I was going to say was yeah, I'm a terrible blogger. I go through phases, and I'm trying to do this one again.
You should see my journal, I bought it in Seattle and I write in it pretty much whenever I'm in an airport, which lately has been once a month or so.
This year has been busy, so rather than go back and explain where I've been and what I've been doing, I figured I would just pick right back up with where I'm at. So... Here goes!

I just heard my husband say from the kitchen, "Oh hey, while I was cleaning the other day I found Princess Leia's hair."
...
Now what's odd about this is not that he said that, but that after a few seconds I knew exactly what he was talking about, and this followed:
"Oh, where was it?"
"Under the fridge, I think it had something to do with a certain Newt."
So that's my life. We have lego magnets and Princess Leia has been bald for months, our Cat, Rebecca -- but everyone calls her Newt (get it?? get it??), has a habit of tearing them off and playing with them in the middle of the night.
Alas, we have come to realize that all of our pets are insane.

In other news, I am testing with the big bad Anchorage Fire Department in 3 days. I've passed my written and have been selected to go through the second step in the huge process and go to the Physical Ability Test (PAT). If I pass it, which I intent to, it's on to a behavioral analysis test (BPAD) and an oral board. If I pass that it's on to a Chief's interview. If I pass that it's a psych test. If I pass that it's a psych interview. If I pass that, I get accepted into the academy and the real work begins. If I pass that, then I get to be a probationary firefighter on AFD for a year. If I pass that, then I'll be an Anchorage Firefighter. *wipes sweat off forehead* Needless to say, not many people make it through on their first try, but I'll give it a go.

I just got back from 120o weather in Las Vegas. I headed down there to clean out my Grandmother's Estate... I got some nifty stuff! Like a record/8-track player. I've never even seen an 8-track, but after half an hour or so I was playing Neil Diamond 8Tracks and Beatles LP's. It. Was. Awesome.
I also learned how to gamble, as I recently turned 21... Also, awesome. I had a blast hanging with my mother playing black jack until all hours of the morning. It was a good time.

Well, that's just about it. I'll try and keep up with this whole blogging bit, but no promises.

Until next time,
Jess

Firefighter wedding pictures

Out of retirement and blogging again!

I just realized how long it's been since I made an entry and I apologize to anyone who actually reads this. I got married last month and it has taken up an absurd amount of time!
In other news, dare I say it?, it's been really slow at work lately! Haven't been on a fire in 5 months which could be closely related to planning a wedding and therefore not working as much.
In any case, Wednesday I'm leaving for a road trip down the west coast for a few weeks and when I get back I'm working for a week straight. . . Hopefully something postable will happen.
Until then,
Jess

News Article on our fatality

I was the first Water Rescue Member on scene for this.

Worker dies in icy water

BY TODD L. DISHER
Frontiersman
Published on Thursday, February 18, 2010 6:42 PM AKST
HOUSTON — Unable to escape the cab, a man died Wednesday night when the tree cutting tractor he was operating broke through the ice covering a muskeg swamp.

Jack E. Forshee III was running the hydro-ax machine for Alaska Hydro-Ax Land Clearing, cutting trees for Matanuska Electric Association in a power line easement a mile and a half off the Parks Highway near Mile 62.5.

The emergency responders got the call from the other member of the two-man crew just before 5 p.m. Willow Fire Chief Lance Barve said the rig broke through the ice and the cab was almost completely submerged. The doors were blocked by the ice.

Due to the lack of road access, members of the Mat-Su Dive Rescue Team were driven in on snowmachines. Barve said they were using axes and chainsaws to try and break the ice around the cab. After 50 minutes on the scene, the driver was still trapped.

About 6 p.m., the call came over the radio that the operation had turned into a body recovery.

Once that call is made, said West Lakes Fire Chief Bill Gamble, everything slows down. Safety of the responders becomes the primary concern, he said, and a more methodical approach is taken to get the worker out.

The other worker on the crew — whose machine also broke through, but in shallower water — was uninjured.

Cliff Silvers, the chief of the water rescue team, said the swamp was invisible under the snow cover. Unless the water sources are marked before the winter, it is impossible to tell where they are, he said Thursday morning.

The water in the swamp is high in iron oxide, Silvers said. Iron oxide means weak ice regardless of the temperature, he said.

“The simple fact of that heavy of a machine and that rotten ice, it just fell through. It’s just one of those one in a thousand things,” Silvers said.

When they got the call, Silvers said, they were severely limited by the location of the incident. Snowmachines were the only access to the site, which limited responders to basically hand tools, he said. In fact, Silvers had to command his team over the radio from the Parks Highway.

Frank Kirk, the water rescue deputy chief on-scene, said he and the first divers arrived at the site about 45 minutes after the call came out. About three or four inches of the front portion of the cab was out of the water, but inspecting the other machine told them the roof was eight to 10 inches thick. The windshield was made of half-inch thick bullet-resistant material, he said.

The ice around the hydro-ax was two feet thick in some places, and the water underneath was eight to 10 feet deep, Kirk said. The other crew-member said he attempted to clear the ice sheets away from the door, but even the team of rescuers could not move the ice, he said.

Surface rescuers were eventually able to cut a portion of the ice away from the door. A diver felt his way around the zero-visibility water, found the door handle, and opened the door.

If an air bubble had been released, revival efforts would have been done immediately, Kirk said. No such bubble was seen.

The body was brought to the surface about an hour and a half after the call came in, Kirk said.

While the water rescue crew was working, the medics on-scene were relaying information to the medical director at Mat-Su Regional Hospital. Based on how long he had been under and the temperature of the water, the hospital pronounced Forshee dead about an hour after the call came in, Kirk said.

The body was taken to the state medical examiner to determine the cause of death. Hypothermia can be fatal in as little as 45 minutes, Kirk said, and drowning can happen much faster.

Pulling ceiling with a chain saw and other fun adventures

It's structure fire season right now. We've had 6 fires in 2 weeks, it's been keeping us on our toes. My most recent adventure began at 1:30 in the morning and went on until 7:00.
Sunday night after the superbowl after I picked up my parents from the airport and was headed home, we got a page to send some tankers to a fellow fire service area and help fight a fire. By god, this house was built like a tank. In the ceiling where one would normally find sheetrock, was 3/4" plywood. Have you ever tried to go through plywood with a pike pole?!? It was ridiculous! By the time we got there, the fire had gutted the entire house, but it was still structurally sound. After a while we got sick of trying with the poles and just got out the stihl. This house was classic "Alaskan Construction" which means it was very custom, and in this case, overbuilt. From a homeowner's standpoint, the house was a dream, there was insulation in every crack and crevice and in an earthquake, the thing wouldn't even shutter. From a firefighter's point of view IT WAS A NIGHTMARE!!
Well, that's all for now, just thought I'd share the news to you fellow firefighters out there... Just be grateful you don't live up here. Alaska: The land where your tools don't work.
-Jess

Just Call Me the Savior of All Things Cute and Fuzzy

Slew o' Structure fires the last few days!
Two of awesome note:

First fire was last Saturday evening where I got to rescue two cats, a dog, and a chinchilla. However, among the fatalities at the afore mentioned fire were two hermit crabs, two dogs, and a snake. I was there far longer than I should have been helping out with the investigation, but in the end it was a very good save as we stopped the fire from spreading to the rest of the house and kept it contained to the room it was in.
Tonight, just moments ago we had another fire. I was on the first in crew and for the first time in a while,I was the senior most firefighter, aside from the officer, on the engine. When it came time to pull the line and put out the fire I was actually doing something, rather than backing up the senior firefighter. Among the more disconcerting events of the fire was my first serious close call. I was up on the ladder, about two stories high, trying to pry off a piece of siding when the ice that had built up beneath the ladder from the hose stream caused the entire ladder to shift halfway off the wall. I was locked in at the time, and if that ladder had gone down, I would have gone all the way to the ground with it. Luckily, I was able to grab the hole I had just cut with the saw and keep both the ladder and myself in place. The Chief said "That's the kind of thing that keeps you young!" I'm not sure exactly how to interpret that, but lets just say I don't want to go flying off the side of the wall anytime soon. Otherwise, the fire was an awesome save! The crew got in just in time to stop it from extending into the attic space and burning off the roof. We stopped it on the outer edge of the wall and saved the people's home! It was really great!
Now it's 4:30am and I've got an hour and a half left on my shift... I'm hoping for a peaceful end to my shift, but can't guarantee anything.
Until Next Time,
Jess