Manning the Pump(er)

I had the opportunity to learn how to run the pump on our engine this week. My initial impression was a bewildering array of gauges, levers and dials. Turns out it's not that complicated… but not that easy, either.

As someone who normally mans a hose (well, a shovel - to be realistic), I'm well aware of the importance of maintaining water pressure to the lines - nobody wants a soft hose at a critical time. My previous impression of the engine crew was that they did a lot of standing around. Turns out that I was right - but they're standing around carefully fine-tuning water flow and planning to ensure that we have the water when we need it.

Tomorrow I start a two-day Firefighter Orientation course at our annual Kootenay Firefighter training event. I'm interested to compare the quality of the training at our department with the "professional" training I'll be taking - I think it will be comparable, based on the skills and qualifications of our training officers. That makes me feel very confident in trusting my teammates in an emergency situation. Now I just have to train hard and make sure that they can trust me.