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The Love Trap
Jul. 22nd, 2014 09:15 pmToday my work had mandatory fire extinguisher training at the fire station. I put out a fire on a stove with dry chemical extinguisher, and then again with a fire blanket. It was a persistent fire, but I defeated it. It is surprising how unthreatening fire is when it is isolated to a single stove, outdoors, in the middle of an otherwise empty concrete yard, with four firemen on hand. It is disconcerting, however, that the fireman doing the practical demonstrations put on all his yellow safety gear to do it, then handed the extinguisher over to us in our normal clothes.
The fire blanket was fun. We had to rip it out of its bag and then place it over the fire. 'It's not for beating fires,' warned the fireman. 'Although I did once see a man beat out a toaster fire with one of these. He said he didn't think it was very effective, and I said, "You're supposed to take it out of the packet first."'
I got Brownie points for being able to name the points of the Fire Triangle that the Chief Fireman drew on the whiteboard as Fuel, Oxygen and Heat. 'That's right,' said the Chief Fireman. 'That's what civilians need to know. But we in the Fire Brigade know it as the Fire Tetrahedron,' and he draw dotted lines on the back of triangle to make it into a 3D shape. The fourth point, according to the Chief Fireman, is Some Sort of Chemical Reaction. That's technical talk right there. It occurs to me now that he could have just drawn a four-sided object and called it a Fire Square, but I suppose a Fire Tetrahedron is more exciting.
They also did a brief spot on What To Do If You're Caught In A Bushfire While Driving. Park on open ground, stay in the car and cover yourself with a blanket. I knew that. What I didn't know (or, if I have been told this before, I didn't take it in) is that fire goes much, much faster uphill than down or on the flat. So don't go parking uphill from a fire, everyone. That's just asking for trouble.
The fire blanket was fun. We had to rip it out of its bag and then place it over the fire. 'It's not for beating fires,' warned the fireman. 'Although I did once see a man beat out a toaster fire with one of these. He said he didn't think it was very effective, and I said, "You're supposed to take it out of the packet first."'
I got Brownie points for being able to name the points of the Fire Triangle that the Chief Fireman drew on the whiteboard as Fuel, Oxygen and Heat. 'That's right,' said the Chief Fireman. 'That's what civilians need to know. But we in the Fire Brigade know it as the Fire Tetrahedron,' and he draw dotted lines on the back of triangle to make it into a 3D shape. The fourth point, according to the Chief Fireman, is Some Sort of Chemical Reaction. That's technical talk right there. It occurs to me now that he could have just drawn a four-sided object and called it a Fire Square, but I suppose a Fire Tetrahedron is more exciting.
They also did a brief spot on What To Do If You're Caught In A Bushfire While Driving. Park on open ground, stay in the car and cover yourself with a blanket. I knew that. What I didn't know (or, if I have been told this before, I didn't take it in) is that fire goes much, much faster uphill than down or on the flat. So don't go parking uphill from a fire, everyone. That's just asking for trouble.
