Had an amazing and informative time participating in the Kamloops Fire and Rescue Fire Ops 101 half day session last week. This event was also hosted by the Firefighters union, the International Association of Firefighters.
We rotated through activities - auto extrication, dark room obstacle course search, live fire, hazardous materials, confined space and rope rescue, and fire investigations.
I was a little worried when a pair of incredibly heavy duty cutters broke while I was helping take apart the scrap car pictured above. Our firefighter hosts assured me that the problem was relatively minor, the fix relatively easy, and that it was better the equipment failed in training than in real operation.
I joked about this while being interviewed in this CFJC-TV story and Kamloops This Week also reported the event.
Maybe I shouldn't have joked about the cutters breaking in the TV interview. I am little worried people might be a bit upset that I "broke" a piece of firefighting equipment. I certainly would be upset myself if I wasn't being careful and following instructions. I truly believe I was. It's one of the unavoidable perils of the job that you worry about public perception of events and happenings.
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