Clean your helmet or the chief will clean it for you.

So. Tuesday. There I was, fire all around me.
Got to go interior and then lead a few crews in, so that was new and unusual. We had a decent little trailer fire that had fuel tanks all around it and fire blowing out the windows. There weren't a lot of our guys there, so the chief ended up putting me in charge of the Charlie Side. Now, I've lead a crew in and done my fair share of instruction, but never have I actually been told, "Jess, you're in charge." It was a new experience... and besides some minor radio miscommunications and running out of water while I was in there, it went really well!
I was officer on the first in engine and we made entry pretty quick. With the Medic 1 in front and me behind, we got a knock on the fire until they ran out of water on the outside waiting for the tankers to come. When we went back in one of the guys jacked the nozzle from me, which pissed me off, and I got stuck humping hose at the doorway. Whatever, later he got stuck sitting on a tarp while I got to rip apart the building with a chain saw. So anyway, my helmet got blackened and man, that stuff does not want to come off! My formerly spotty-yellow lid is now a dark grey color. The chief threatened to give me a new helmet if I don't find a way to clean it up, but man I've tried everything from smoke out to WD-40!
As of this weekend I have finally (FINALLY!!!) finished the rescue tech class. I'm now allowed to respond to the rescue truck for accidents, medical calls, and whatever else they throw at me. For the last 2 years I've been training myself to tune out rescue calls, now I have to remake my state of mind.
In other news, today was my Anatomy and Physiology Midterm which was a miserable experience all around. I totally and completely bombed it, you have no idea. The thing that really irritated me was the fact that I studying all week until 3 in the morning and lost a ton of sleep over it and I STILL failed it! *grumble* Alas, passing was not to be.
It was a rotten day today, I had a shift last night that was bombarded by CO calls and fire alarms. It interrupted my studying something fierce, but that's to be expected. It couldn't be a structure fire or a big accident, something worth my time, no it had to be false alarms.
Upcoming schedule looks booked, I've got my EMT midterm Saturday, a 5 page paper due in English, a shift Thursday/Friday, Training tomorrow, a fire education thing, A&P, and Jujitsu on Wednesday, and a Hockey game on Saturday. Only two more months until I disappear in the Bahamas on a well deserved vacation. . . Florida, here I come.
-Jess