Marion Citizen’s Fire Academy Week 3

When they handed out the synopsis for the Marion Citizen's Fire Academy, I was immediately nervous about week 3.  SCBA Training.  Self Contained Breathing Apparatus.  One, I have glasses, and you can't wear them under your mask.  Two, I don't like the feeling of wearing a mask.  I'm not claustrophobic, but I've got the symptoms.  Cue the dramatic music.  It was time to gear up.

So much goes into putting on your SCBA.  Tightening the mask, getting a proper seal, securing the oxygen tank, checking your oxygen levels and then remembering to breathe!  We practiced putting them on and taking them off several times, and I felt confident I'd be OK once we got to using them in an actual situation.  I was wrong.

In many search and rescue efforts, vision is zero.  Darkness and smoke make finding people difficult.  We simulated this by putting on our bunker gear, SCBA and then being blindfolded.  We then got in teams of three, down on our hands and knees, and entered a structure to find our "victim".

Our first trip in, I admit.  I had to come back out.  It was just too claustrophobic for me.  I felt awful.  But, I went in and completed a second search a short time later.  It was a stark reminder about what firefighters really go through....much of it without being able to even see.