Fun vs Responsible

Having a new baby has got me thinking a lot about the idea of fun vs. responsibility. Obviously, my fun factor has gone down considerably, while the responsibility has gone way up. This got me thinking about volunteer Fire Departments, and managing social events.

One of the great benefits about belonging to a Fire Department is the social aspect. Summer BBQ's, golf, fishing, after-practice get-togethers and lots of other events are a regular part of the Department's social life, and a lot of these events include the occasional beer. Sometimes, as is the case with golf, they even involve a number of firefighters all going out of area at the same time.

The question is, how do you ensure adequate emergency protection during events like this? Clear OG's are probably a start, at least those regarding alcohol consumption. After that, it's up to the officers to ensure that people are available in the event of an emergency.

It's a hard balance. You want to encourage the department to bond together, but you also need to ensure that you've got coverage, and you usually need to do it without the benefit of a formal schedule. I see this as being a bigger problem for volunteer departments, since the numbers of firefighters available are fairly small, and everyone's work and personal schedules are different.

I know that many of our departments are volunteer - how do you guys (and gals) balance fun times with round-the-clock responsibility?

How Busy is Too Busy?

Once again I have utterly failed to post on a weekly basis. Although I guess this is "a" week, so it's not totally inaccurate. I hope you'll be able to forgive me, I've kind of had my hands (well, arms, to be precise) full.

That brings me to the topic I want to talk about today. How busy is too busy? I'm having a lot of difficulty balancing my responsibilities at home - my wife and baby daughter, with my responsibilities at work and to my Fire Department. Something has got to give, and lately, it's been my attendance at the Department.

Now, I'm not getting the sense from my Chief and Deputy Chief that this is a huge problem. They're both fathers, and they understand what is required of a new dad. I've definitely been catching a bit of flack from some of the other firefighters, though - and I know where they are coming from. We all rely on each other to be available and help out, that's the way a volunteer department functions, and lately, I just haven't been there.

There is a level of personal frustration, too. I want to be a good firefighter, to help out, to be available to assist a group of guys who I like and respect. But when I come home at the end of the day to a tired wife who needs a break, and a little baby… I just can't justify grabbing a quick bite to eat and leaving again. Besides, I only get a few hours with Iris before I go to bed.

So, I think I'm going to have to take a leave of absence from the Fire Department for a while. I don't want my responsibilities there to be an afterthought. If I don't have time, I should make it clear to everyone, instead of finding myself unable to attend practices or help out around the hall, week after week. I'm not happy about it, but it feels better than leaving things so unsettled.

Baby Brain

Well, I'm a father now. What an interesting blend of amazing, awesome and utterly terrifying it is! My wife has been great about letting me sleep in the spare bedroom on weeknights, so I'm not as frazzled as I could be, but I'm still pretty blitzed.

I've heard that being a parent kills brain cells. Our friends with kids have described "baby-brain" to us, but I never really believed them. I believe now, of course. The event that really brought the syndrome home for me happened last week.

Somehow, I remembered that I needed to renew the car insurance, which meant a trip to town. My first trip to town since we brought Iris home, in fact.

I had a lot to do - pick up film, groceries, insurance, books (watching tv while breastfeeding gets old fast, apparently) and a few other things. After stopping at the grocery store, I pulled out of the parking lot and was waiting at the stop sign to turn onto the main street.

I glanced into the rearview mirror and saw Bob Slade, the Nelson FD Deputy Chief, trotting down the road towards my car… in his uniform. Rolling down the window, I blearily said "Hi".

Bob got to the car, smiled and said something like "New dad, huh?"

He knew we were expecting, so I grinned and said, "Yes, a little girl."

He laughed, picked up the package of toilet paper that I'd left on the roof of my car, passed it to me and said, "I could tell." Then he walked off. Bob is probably also a parent.

So I'll ask you to be patient with me in the weeks and months to come. You may have to repeat things, or speak slowly. I have baby-brain, and it's totally worth it.

The Field is on Fire. Again.

Spring has arrived in the Kootenays, and with it, the usual plumes of smoke as people burn off the dead grass on their lawns or start to clean up their yard and burning waste. Grass-burning is a Russian practice, and I understand that it's meant to stimulate the growth of new grass and clean up dead material after the winter.

This early in the year it's not a huge problem - there is quite a bit of snow still lying around, and underbrush is generally still very damp. It does produce a fair bit of smoke, though, which, combined with the dust from road gravelling, makes for a rough season for people with breathing issues. Later in the spring, when things have dried out and there is still a lot of dead material lying around, grass burning becomes much more hazardous.

What I'm wondering is, has anyone out there done any community-wide education on the risks and/or best practices when dealing with lawn-burning? What steps have you taken to get this information out to the public, and have you been able to quantify any improvements as a result of these initiatives? I'd like to pitch an educational drive to my chief, and possibly to our regional district, but I'd really like to hear about anything that has been done in the past.

Also, I'd like to thank Jeff Dean in Kingsville for this link in response to my question about knot-tying websites: http://www.animatedknots.com/. I can now tie a bowline with gloves on and my eyes closed. It just takes a few tries.

The Slow Times

Is it just me, or does it get harder to come to practices the longer you go between calls? Normally, I really like to go to fire practice (course, I've only been at this a year or so), but it's been about 3 months since we had a call that I could attend. I'm finding going to practice is getting tough.

I'm not sure if it's the late winter blahs or what, but I'm dragging ass to get down there. Part of it might be that our training officer is away, so we haven't been doing a lot of the more adventuresome training stuff in a while. I mean, it's been months since we lit anything on fire! How are we supposed to learn without the fire?

I'm mostly kidding here, but I'm kinda annoyed with myself. I like firefighting for a lot of reasons, the people, the new skills, the burning of things, but I thought I did it mostly because I wanted to do something to help the people in my community. Getting bored after a few months of relative inactivity makes me question why exactly I'm doing this. Of course, I have been getting there, and doing the training, and I'm taking a correspondence course on scene management, so it's not like I'm giving up.

I assume it's tough for everyone to keep their enthusiasm up when the trucks aren’t rolling, but it does provide a good opportunity. Sometimes a chance to think about your reasons for doing something is important, critical even. Not to worry, I still get to fire practice; it just takes a bit more willpower these days.

Tied Up in Knots

It's been a little while since we've had a Tip o the Week go out, as things have been pretty hectic around here. Fortunately, it's slowed down a bit, so I can get back to doing what I do best - telling people things about FirePro2. Actually, I'm not sure if I'm the best at it, but it seems like what I do the most, and practice makes perfect, right?

Speaking of practice, and the need thereof, we did a fire practice on ropes and knots this week. I wish I had a picture of all of us sitting in our meeting room, busily tying ourselves up. I used to teach sailing, so I'm good with ropes and knots, but I always have a problem with one big thing. I'm left-handed. In knot terms, it might as well be called bass-ackwards, because everything happens in reverse for me, which makes it entertaining to watch me learn new knots.

Of course, I'm used to being backwards, so I didn't have that much trouble, but what I found a lot more interesting, and wished we spent more time on, was the practical application of each knot - the when as opposed to the how. Each standard knot has a specific application where it is the most useful, and combining the two is challenging for me.

I suppose more practice and experience is the answer, but I'd be interested to hear how you trainers out there get that critical information across, or if there is a good guide book that anyone has discovered.

Radios are like Babies

Up until now, I've been the only member of the Ingenious Software team without children. That's made for some pretty interesting conversations at lunchtime (and many other times) as I've watched my co-workers navigate the wonderful world of parenthood. Soon, I'll be able to join those discussions myself. My wife and I are expecting our first child in May of next year, and we're very excited about it.

I've taken to laying in bed on Sunday mornings (I know… don't get used to it) and thinking about the abrupt change that our life is going to undergo. It occurred to me that being a firefighter is actually pretty good practice for being a parent. You have this noisy, cranky thing that requires regular changing (of batteries, anyways) and goes off at random hours of the night. And when it goes off, it might be a matter of life and death, so you have to move quickly - even if you're still pretty much asleep.

Of course, experienced parents (and experienced firefighters - of which many of you are probably both) know that a child is both infinitely more demanding and more rewarding than a firefighter's radio. In a way, that makes me even more excited about what is coming. In my first year as a firefighter, I've had to learn new skills, move outside my comfort areas and be willing to put myself out there for my community. The challenges and the rewards have been substantial, and I feel like I'm a better person for them.

The idea that parenthood will be even bigger, scarier, more challenging and more rewarding is amazing… and terrifying. Hopefully I'll have as much luck with it as I feel I've had with firefighting. 'Cause I think we'll need all the luck (and patience, humor, love and fortitude) that we can get.