FIREFIGHTING
FireFighting
Firefighting is a serious career that takes place all around the world, It’s recognized by the majority of everyone but not everyone pays attention to it. A person who wants to become a firefighter weather they are a female or male will either know they want to be a firefighter right away or they would have a family member who was already in the career who may have brought the idea up to them and made it seem interesting. For example I’m planning on becoming a firefighter and my junior and senior year of highschool I took a firefighting class that brought the cool idea to me of being one. I also have a few family members that are firefighters, and when I was little I thought it was kind of cool. Usually just like any other person would do for a job, you’d go out and find a station that you admire and you might walk in there and have a talk with the captain or the crew and tell they you’re interested and tell them a little bit about yourself, you will then get an application and hopefully fill it out but you want to make sure you apply everywhere. A firefighter has an interesting job weather it be just sitting at the station waiting for a call all day or actually being up close and personal with a roaring fire on a structure building, so I’m going to tell you a little about it.
There is a lot of benefits to being a firefighter, more than you would expect. This is an awarding career because you not only get to put out a fire but you get to help people. All firefighters work as a team and treat each other as a family. No matter what situation you go into someone will have your back, even when it’s pitch black dark I guarantee someone will be there for you.
There is so much more than to just having a hose in your hand and spraying water, there will be people screaming, crying, in pain, or dead and that’s when you really have a heart racing experience most people call adrenaline rushes. You have to have a lot of pride in your work and what you’re doing to be able to put a good reputation on yourself and also on the crew you’re with. If you want this job you better put in a good work ethic because people are going to count on you and watch everything you do, you want to also be a good example and role model for the newcomers that will be following your say so’s. You’re going to want people to brag about you and not sit there and talk smack about you and put a bad reputation on you for something stupid you did.
This job includes sweat and hard work and you’ll be counted on to do the work your assigned.
You actually want to make an effort in this career because it is actually serious and it’s not a joke.
A lot of people will take this career for granted and just think it’s no big deal but it is. Safety Is a big part of this because you are risking not only your life but others lives to. You don’t want to risk more than you can take because it could cause death for you or others. You have to know a lot about your surroundings and a lot about the equipment you carry in order to use it. For example, if your SCBA tank gets low and you hear a whistling sound you better know what that means or else that’s going to be trouble for you. If you have yourself and a crew member in a dark place with no light what so ever you want to hold onto their boot as both of you crawl on the ground trying to find what it is that you’re looking for. When you are at the head of a fire on a structure place and you have the hose in your hand you want to make sure that all your couplings are tight enough so water doesn’t come spraying out. If you don’t have a gasket in any of the couplings or nozzles then you won’t have a seal so you want to be sure to check for those every time you’re putting together either a hose or a nozzle.
Fun fact about nozzles, Akron Brass has been designing and manufacturing nozzles since the early 1900’s offering a variety of specialized fire nozzles to support structural fires, wildland, forestry, Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighting (ARFF), de-icing, CAFS, marine, industrial applications and more. Wildland and structure have two different sets of hoses and nozzles and equipment etc. Structure is of course a structural fire such as a building and wildland is a wildfire such as on land. Fire can be very fatal and can lead to serious injuries so ask yourself this, Can you handle it? Are you up for this? Do you have what it takes? Etc. For example, a Fresno California Firefighter had went onto a roof top poking around with a Pike Pole trying to find weak spots on this house that was on fire as he missed a spot he fell through the roof into a garage as the roaring flames shot up out of the building through the hole the firefighter fell through, soon the crew opened up the garage got the fire out and the man was badly burned but he thankfully survived. That story shows you, you have to be very cautious about what you’re doing.
If you’re interested in this story or video of the man falling through the roof here’s a link to the video showing it all. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECxATL_NQko
For example of another story that firefighters took part in was the 9.11 attack. They took a big part in that, some made it and some didn’t.
My older brother Dillon Scardino, who is 25 years of age is a Seasonal Forestry Firefighter. He’s done about 6 to 7 seasons so far and he’s sent on many wildfires. He’s traveled a lot around the country and has seen some amazing things and then some not so amazing things. He is kind of a role model towards me and I look up to what he does. When he was my age he went to the same school and took the same fire program that I’m currently taking and now like I stated before he’s older and has moved forward with that career and accomplished it in many ways. I hope maybe I can be a little like him in career wise but we will see or futuristic terms. I kind of will set my goals towards wildland fire more likely than structure fire but that’s just my opinion.
In 2016 there have been 60 firefighter fatalities in the United States so far unfortunately. On september 2, 2016 an article was written on the murder that was done of a firefighter named Thomas Taylor. The article says the other firefighter that were a part of that firefighters life are fighting to keep the murder behind bars. http://www.theunionisus.org/on-the-front-lines/2016/9/2/uflac-local-112-again-fights-to-keep-arsonist-behind-bars
In conclusion, As I have read on the ABC7 news website, Sand Fire flames in Santa Clarita have torched more than 35,000 acres by Monday morning. They say shifting winds could make the matter worse. This raging fire has destroyed 18 structures in it’s path in the areas of Sand Canyon. The containment remains at 10%. That’s just a few facts for Fires we’ve all hurd or seen of.
