Fire!!! Fire!!!

Last night was Family Night for the fire academy. Family members were invited to watch the cadets as they went through the drills they have learned for putting out different types of fires. We arrived at twilight, in time to see Scott standing around with the other cadets as they waited to begin.

Once they suited up, we had a hard time distinguishing Scott from all the others. Luckily, his disproportionate "Porter" body helped. We just looked for the tall one with a large upper body and bowed legs. However, once they started wrangling the hoses and crawling on the ground, it was way to difficult to figure out which one was Scott. I thought this shot of the reflective tape was pretty cool.

Scott was on the first team to go out. They had to put out a "tree" fire first. I think this will probably be the main type of fire Killeen FDP will battle. Fort Hood is ALWAYS setting grass fires out on the ranges that result in massive cedar trees simply exploding. The cadets worked in teams of 3. In the picture below, Scott is the last one holding the hose.

The team had to slowly advance while the other cadets fed them the hose. I thought it was a little crazy that, at first, the water seemed to make the flames grow.

Once they got close enough, they had to drop to the ground and crawl in towards the "tree". They did this 3 times so that each member of the team was in a different position, performing different duties. In this shot, Scott is the one on the ground to the left. I don't have a clue what he is doing down there. Maybe turning off the gas line?

Anyway, next to the tree was a metal thing that looked like a water heater. They followed the same procedure of working in teams of 3, and rotating positions.

After they put out the water heater, they had to put out a dumpster fire. It was pretty scary because at one point, they had to use a metal bar to lift the lids on the dumpster and the flames just roared out! The next thing we knew, they were leaning over into the dumpster with the hoses and the flames were completely surrounding their upper bodies.

We were pretty far away from the dumpster, but we could still feel the heat from the fire. I didn't use the zoom on the shot above so that the distance would be a little more evident. The shot below shows the team advancing on the dumpster to lift the lid.

The next thing that was set on fire was a car. It was my favorite to watch because the flames were always in the background as the cadets walked around the car, spraying the flames. Once they got the outside under control, they had to move to the interior.

The last fire was a propane tank. It was fairly contained compared to the other fires, but the flames were much higher.

Each cadet had to take a turn feeding the hose to the team that was actually fighting the fire. In the shot below, Scott is the one to the left of the idiot without his helmet.

After the demonstration, Scott came over to talk to the family and, of course, I had to get a picture of my baby boy. We all had a blast, but I think Scott thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it. I guess all of those years of sending Scott out to cut down cedar and then burn them had more of an impact on him than I thought...

I created a fireman!