Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Additional Post 8: Station 166 Quint
During the month of April I was fortunate enough to get an in depth tour of the station's quint. A quint is a combination of a fire truck and a fire engine. It has the capability of pumping water, while still having an aerial ladder. The ladder itself is an astonishing 100 feet long. This fire apparatus was practically built to respond to multiple story structural fires. It comes equipped with a number of tools, one being the jaws of life, which is used to extract people who are trapped within cars. It also has a generator, blower, and rotary saw within its several compartments. The image below shows our stations quint parked inside the apparatus floor.
Monday, April 28, 2014
Blog 20: Exit Interview
Content:
(1)
EQ: What is the best way for a team of firefighters to limit injuries and fatalities while fighting structural fires.
Answer 1: Equipment Checks
Answer 2: Scene Size-ups
Answer 3: After Action Reviews
The best answer to my essential question is by conducting proper scene size ups. I feel like this is the best way for firefighters to limit injuries and fatalities, especially while fighting structural fires, because it allows them to make safe and effective decisions while on the fire ground.
(2)
I first learned about this answer while conducting research online. Soon after learning about my answer, I got to learn more about it while at the explorers program. The firefighters on duty would constantly mention scene size ups to us explorers and explain how they were a good way to learn about the call they were sent to.
(3)
One of the biggest problems with my answer was that all the information that I was originally obtaining was very general. I knew what my answer was but I didn't have much about it aside from the general stuff. I resolved this problem by learning about the different types of scene size ups, such as the 5 and 13 point methods.
(4)
1. My first and most significant source is called Five-Point Size-Up. It is an article that was posted on fireengineering.com. This source was crucial because it gave me more information that many prior articles had given me at the time and also because it mention the 13 point method. From that point on I was able to find my second most significant source, which was a fire protection handbook that went over the 13 point method.
The link below shows my first source:
http://www.fireengineering.com/articles/print/volume-154/issue-2/features/five-point-size-up.html
The link below shows an overview of my second source:
https://www.inkling.com/store/book/fire-protection-handbook-2008-edition-volume-ii/?chapterId=4e29606b4a46439c996a593dd1cfef85
(1)
EQ: What is the best way for a team of firefighters to limit injuries and fatalities while fighting structural fires.
Answer 1: Equipment Checks
Answer 2: Scene Size-ups
Answer 3: After Action Reviews
The best answer to my essential question is by conducting proper scene size ups. I feel like this is the best way for firefighters to limit injuries and fatalities, especially while fighting structural fires, because it allows them to make safe and effective decisions while on the fire ground.
(2)
I first learned about this answer while conducting research online. Soon after learning about my answer, I got to learn more about it while at the explorers program. The firefighters on duty would constantly mention scene size ups to us explorers and explain how they were a good way to learn about the call they were sent to.
(3)
One of the biggest problems with my answer was that all the information that I was originally obtaining was very general. I knew what my answer was but I didn't have much about it aside from the general stuff. I resolved this problem by learning about the different types of scene size ups, such as the 5 and 13 point methods.
(4)
1. My first and most significant source is called Five-Point Size-Up. It is an article that was posted on fireengineering.com. This source was crucial because it gave me more information that many prior articles had given me at the time and also because it mention the 13 point method. From that point on I was able to find my second most significant source, which was a fire protection handbook that went over the 13 point method.
The link below shows my first source:
http://www.fireengineering.com/articles/print/volume-154/issue-2/features/five-point-size-up.html
The link below shows an overview of my second source:
https://www.inkling.com/store/book/fire-protection-handbook-2008-edition-volume-ii/?chapterId=4e29606b4a46439c996a593dd1cfef85
Thursday, April 24, 2014
Blog 19: Independent Component 2
Content:
LITERAL
(a) I, Steven Robles, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.
(b) My mentor, firefighter Cunningham, was the main source that allowed me to complete my independent component.
(c) Done.
(d) For my second independent component I continued to attend my explorers program. While continuing my attendance I was able to learn about new things about the fire service while still reviewing older knowledge in order to stay up to date. Specifically, some newer things I learned about were the different types of fire hydrants, knots, tools, the quint (vehicle that can pump water and has a ladder), and the importance of RIC crews (Rapid Intervention Crews).
INTERPRETIVE
For the majority of my second independent component I was at fire station 166 learning about different aspects of the fire service. Aside from being taught new knowledge, I also spent a little bit of time preparing for an explorer graduations and got the opportunity to attend a yearly banquet for all other county explorers. Overall, this second independent component allowed me to continue to learn about the fire service and understand the importance of being an active participant of events.
Throughout my independent component the other explorers and I were stress on the importance of looking presentable and always keeping our boots shined, we even spent part of one of our meeting learning how to shine boots.
From completing my independent component I also got the opportunity to learn a little about the different types of fire hydrant and how some are better than others depending on the surrounding environment.
At the annual banquet the attendants received a little booklet with all of the explorer post and pictures of them.
APPLIED
Everything that I did throughout my second independent component helped me understand different aspects of the fire service. For example, I got to learn about the different tools on the fire truck and the firefighters also did a good job explaining to my and the other explorers why it is vital to be aware of all the equipment and continuously checking and cleaning them for optimum results while on the fire ground. All that information provided me with a solid foundation for my second answer. Another more important part of this independent component was learning about rapid intervention crews. I learned that these crews are present at every structure fire and are there just in case any firefighter goes down. Their job is to rapidly extract the trapped firefighter. This information presented me with another possible answer to my essential question, due to the importance that ric crews have on structure fire operations. All in all, this component was
a vital source in helping me continue to learn about my topic.
LITERAL
(a) I, Steven Robles, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.
(b) My mentor, firefighter Cunningham, was the main source that allowed me to complete my independent component.
(c) Done.
(d) For my second independent component I continued to attend my explorers program. While continuing my attendance I was able to learn about new things about the fire service while still reviewing older knowledge in order to stay up to date. Specifically, some newer things I learned about were the different types of fire hydrants, knots, tools, the quint (vehicle that can pump water and has a ladder), and the importance of RIC crews (Rapid Intervention Crews).
INTERPRETIVE
For the majority of my second independent component I was at fire station 166 learning about different aspects of the fire service. Aside from being taught new knowledge, I also spent a little bit of time preparing for an explorer graduations and got the opportunity to attend a yearly banquet for all other county explorers. Overall, this second independent component allowed me to continue to learn about the fire service and understand the importance of being an active participant of events.
At the annual banquet the attendants received a little booklet with all of the explorer post and pictures of them.
 |
| The image above shows a part of the graduation were the audience got to see demonstrations put on by the certified explorer graduates. More about my project could be learned from looking at my Independent Component 2 log by clicking here. |
Everything that I did throughout my second independent component helped me understand different aspects of the fire service. For example, I got to learn about the different tools on the fire truck and the firefighters also did a good job explaining to my and the other explorers why it is vital to be aware of all the equipment and continuously checking and cleaning them for optimum results while on the fire ground. All that information provided me with a solid foundation for my second answer. Another more important part of this independent component was learning about rapid intervention crews. I learned that these crews are present at every structure fire and are there just in case any firefighter goes down. Their job is to rapidly extract the trapped firefighter. This information presented me with another possible answer to my essential question, due to the importance that ric crews have on structure fire operations. All in all, this component was
a vital source in helping me continue to learn about my topic.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)