I'M ALIVE !!!!
JUst....
sooty, bruised, achey, dehydrated, sore. My collegue in the picture, failed the course. I was gold star girl !!! 93% in exam & found 4 out of 8 dummie casualties in todays torture test ..out of 9 of us. temperatures one day in the smoke house got to 300 degrees C, hot enough to melt the instructors helmet around the edges.Pitch black, smoke to floor, this was all real smoke & fire, & if the air supply failed or you got lost, ...real nasty. The fun one was when the threw kerosene into the fire room (we in there at time) so we could see what being in a flash over was like....flames swam across ceiling & down walls, very beautiful, surreal...& hot.
worst bit was 'the crawling gallery', small metal cages & pipes that you have to wriggle through (8" gaps etc) whilst wearing the full mask, cylinder & kit...in pitch black again. I didn't like that. nope.
the good bit was that one of the intructors was gods gift to lady firefighters. a good incentive to excell if ever there was one. sadly i couldn't swish my hair due to soot & sweat encrustedness, & my face went into purple blotches from the air mask every day. not very gorgeous. Still, lots of good boozing with the other lads.
I am now going to languish for 3 days in a tepid bath (Noooo more heat !!!! evah please !).
Thanks for all your very nice & appriciated support comments. cool.
Sooty Bou'
