Antarctic Fire School
At the Rocky Mountain Fire Academy, Denver, Colorado
for the Palmer Station summer 2003-04 crew
It's 90F in the shade, 115F out on the blistering concrete, and we're in full bunking gear -- the protective clothes worn by fire fighters. Underneath the coats, SCBA equipment, hoods, gloves, boots and pants, we're swimming in sweat. It's the last day of training and it's time for our final exam. Our instructor, Levi, lights a fire in the Burn Building and we divide up into teams of three. Our mission is to enter the building with a charged fire hose and extinguish the blaze. Inside the building the temperature on the floor is 600F, and at the ceiling it's 1100F. Needless to say, we stay low.
The training we've received this week is similar to what real fire fighter recruits get, but condensed to the essentials and a lot less arduous. At Palmer Station there are no professional fire fighters, so if the station catches fire it's up to the crew to put it out. For all of us, the class is a strong reminder to prevent fires in the first place. Fighting a fire on the Ice, without any professional backup, could be very dangerous indeed.
A large part of the class is simply becoming familiar with the equipment. There are also classes on the causes of fires, prevention, methods of fighting fires, plus teamwork and confidence-building exercises.
The above photo shows a coordination exercise to prepare fire teams for using high-pressure hoses.
Two teams extinguish a simulated propane tank fire. This turned out to be the most difficult and dangerous thing we did all week. During the exercise the wind picked up and whipped the fire around to the front, slightly toasting the instructor and forcing a hasty retreat.
I threw this photo in to show that nobody is excluded from the training. Kerry is about half my size but she did everything the big guys did.
We spent one day at Denver International Airport's fire-fighting training facility learning fire extinguisher use. Palmer doesn't have to deal with possible airplane fires (the Polies do), but they lit off their airplane fire simulator for a cool group photo.
For me, this was the worst 15 minutes of the week. This tube is called the wormhole, and it is a series of narrowing concrete pipes ending in a 25ft section of pipe about 18 inches in diameter. The idea here is to "worm" your way through the pipe while wearing your bunking gear. As you can see, there isn't much room -- especially for guys with broad shoulders or spare tires. I'm claustrophobic, so this thing was pure hell.
Now this was fun! Rappelling out of a 5th story window in the fire tower.
Don't look down.
Presenting the 2003-04 Palmer Station fire team.
Top row: Chris, Jeff, Cheech (Ken), Glenn, Barb, Mike, Steve. Bottom row: Tim, Andy, Levi (instructor), Marge, Kerry. I'm standing in the middle, arms crossed, looking rather severe.
Copyright 2003 60South.com