Ring the Alarm!

I've mentioned several times that as part of my job as an Exercise Physiologist, I train local firefighters to keep them in shape. I've also been lucky enough to sometimes ride along on either the medic or the ladder when they get a run. It had been awhile since I'd had the chance to go on a run with them and when I did ride with them last time, it was a medic run to a nursing home. Well, the other day as the guys were in the middle of doing a cardio circuit, Ladder 72 got a run for a reported fire with smoke seen from the back of the house. I jumped at the chance to go with them to see an actual fire. I've been working with this department for 3.5 years and have yet to be there training when they get a real working fire.

Ladder 72

They firefighters immediately stopped their workout and ran upstairs to get their gear on and hop on the truck. We were off with the lights flashing & sirens blaring. It never gets old to be riding in the back of the ladder or medic, I love every time I'm given the opportunity to ride along. When we got on the scene, it was clear the house was not up in flames and in fact, if there was a fire, it was a very small one. The guys told me to stay in the truck since they didn't see anything and didn't expect to be there for very long (and it was cold outside!) I, of course, took the opportunity to take a few pictures with my phone.

Where the other 2 firefighters were sitting on the truck in comparison to my seat....there's not a lot of room
View out the front windshield of the other fire engine and medic that also came on the call
View of the firefighter's seat who is in charge of driving for the day

One of the firefighters came back to the ladder to grab the fire extinguisher and told me to hop out and take a look. The house was under renovation and when the worker's were working on an electrical outlet on the back of the house, the electrical outlet caught on fire. It was a very small fire and in fact, it was already out by the time I got to look at it, but after using the infrared camera, the fire captain in charge saw that it was still very hot there so they needed to use the fire extinguisher just to be sure it was out. After double checking with the infrared camera again, we packed up and headed back to the station. Although I was hoping to finally see a real fire, it was still neat to see the guys in action and to go on some sort of run other than a medic run.