The Ultimate Challenge - Fire

The last two weeks were like episodes of fear factor for me, having to undergo my final outdoor module of fire training, in the Fire and Rescue Academy in Kuala Kubu Baru, Selangor. It was an experience that left an indelible impact on me, engraving a deep appreciation of the life of fire fighters.

The training comprised of various activities, the first one being B.A. Gallery for my group. B.A. stands for Breathing Apparatus. The B.A. gallery is an extremely dark room where one can't see a thing. It's a maze-like cage whereby the only way to get out is by crawling, with a breathing apparatus on our backs, and a mask stuck to our face. For your information, a B.A. weighs 25kg. But once I began crawling, I didn't really feel the weight. We entered the B.A. gallery in groups of 3. I was in the centre position, and our medium of communication was touch and sound. We were advised to relax before entering. I didn't think I was afraid, but somehow I could feel my breathing pattern change very drastically...Perhaps it was stress that I didn't feel I had. It was a good experience, as it increased confidence of being in complete darkness. Imagine if there were a fire, and we couldn't see a thing when attempting to escape...that is how we would be.

Right after B.A. Gallery, we had another activity called B.A. Familia. The purpose of it was for us to familiarise ourselves with using the B.A. To me, this was one of the toughest and heaviest. I have a small framed body, and the B.A. does not fit on my back perfectly. The shoulder strap tends to slide a little off my shoulders every now and then despite maximum tightening, to which my instructer said my size requires tailor made stuff. Anyway, we had to run fast with a 18kg B.A. on our back, breathing compressed air in a controlled manner so that it doesn't run out. We ran up and down three floors in 30 seconds. Upon reaching down, we had to do 30 push ups and 20 star jumps. Then we had to run to the field and walk on a moving 'bridge' and after that, crawl under it, and run back to where we started. It felt half-dead but I told myself, "You survived Battle Inoculation in the Army...this is nothing..." ...and I did it. But to tell you the truth, crawling in the Army is actually easier compared to this as the weight and controlled breathing makes everything more difficult.

That were two really heavy activities in a day. After that, we had a supposedly lighter activity - Water Rescue - which is scuba diving in a pool. It looked easy and fun, but for a person who can't swim, the water is not entirely enticing. To get into a pool where my feet doesn't touch the ground sure didn't give me confidence. Fortunately, the instructors were very nice and patient people. The chief instructer called me ' Standard 6 girl' and picked me to warm me up by floating. It wasn't too bad, and the diving suit actually aids floating, which I failed to realize at first. After that, another instructed helped me put on all the equipment and to the base we headed. It was a really cool experience to be underwater and see the corals that the instructers have placed. As usual, my B.A. (size M was the smallest available) was a little loose on me, and there were insufficient weights on me. When we were underwater I found myself automatically floating upwards after stepping on the floor. At that point, I lost sight of my instructer and I thought I was drowning...Ha ha...silly me! I completely forgot that I was breathing through my mouth, and that why I couldn't breath through my nose......But I managed to correct myself, and after a round under the water, my instructor led me up again. It will be an experiece I'll never forget. At the end of the session when everyone went to get changed, my officer happened to spot a few of us on our way to the bathroom, and asked us jump into the pool and swim across before changing into our dry attire. I didn't have sufficient confidence and just sat at the edge with my feet in the water, knowing it will never touch the base, asking him 'Do I really have to do this...I can't swim....." And the officer came behind me, and asked strictly, "Are you going in OR...." to which I quickly answered "I'll go in"....I just left myself down while holding strongly to the edges...It was then that I realized that the diving suit actually functioned as a bouyancy jacket by itself....And that my stern officer wasn't that heartless after all. He came to the edge, asked me to let go completely...then he held me from behind and while I just paddled across...it was a liberating experience.

I noticed that my officer picked on me quite a bit throughout the course. During fire extinguishing, he told my group that I must go last, after all the rest. And he made me come up in front and give an explanation on what the instructor just taught. If I failed to extinguish the fire correctly, it would mean that my whole group would fail...It put quite a little pressure on my. Fortunately, I extinguished the fire correctly in very little time, and we were all happy.We also had Rope Rescue - repelling...Upon reaching, my officer asked me to sing a Tamil song before he graded me.

When we first got our course schedule, I saw that Sewer Simulation was on the third day. I told myself that once I completed Sewer, it would be as if I've completed the whole training, because it is supposedly the toughest. This activity required us to crawl a dark sewer which is about 100m long, with our B.A., and it's not just about crawling in a tunnel. From one tunnel to another adjacent tunnel, a little bit of jumping, climbing and some sort of 'acrobatics' is required. It's not as simple as it sounds. In fact, part of that sewer was used as a challenge in Fear Factor Malaysia. As I began crawling in the darkness, I could feel my breathing change. I tried to motivate myself saying, "You only HAVE to do this once in your life....move on"...But once I got the hang of it, I began saying, "You only GET to do this once in your life...so, move on.." Somewhere in the tunnel, there's a 'Rabbit Hole" where we have to take off the B.A. and crawl because it is tiny. During that time, I accidentally knocked my face mask a little to the side, and a lot of my compressed air leaked out. A lot of was wasted and I ran out of it before reaching the finishing. When I finally reached the end of the final tunnel and saw a sunlight, I was delighted, but that happiness was short-lived. True, that was the end of the tunnel, but the the instructor was waiting to grade us four storreys above. I had to climb up that red ladder, and when I looked up, in that state of exhaustion, it felt as if the climb would take forever! But I took it one step at a time...with my hands and legs trembling, not of fear, but of drained out strength...When I finally reached up, my instructor said, "If Joanna can do it, there's no reason why anyone else cannot do it." And he gave me full marks for that particular activity...But I did feel a little of pressure being used as some kind of benchmark, being the smallest.

After these activities, we finally reached the stage of real fighting with fire. One was called Offensive Indoor Fire Fighting, where we had to wear a special protective suit, and fight fire in a container. It was extremely hot and I have never sweated that much in my whole life. I was excited to be in the face of a real big fire and have an opportunity to hold the nozzle of the hose. Another was Gas Leak, where we had to cease the fire two by two. My partner held the nozzle of the hose and created a water shield for me, while from behind him, I had to crawl and get really close to the fire and turn the valve to cease the fire. That was cool. Besides that, we had Gas Spill, which was a major fire. I could really feel the heat in my face being the second person behind the nozzle holder on the left side. The hose was really heavy, though. I had to support my 75kg weighing male team member from behind, and my weight of 42kg wasn't exactly serving the purpose..I found his weight overpowering the support I was trying to provide, because of the water pressure that was pushing him back, although another girl was supporting me from behind...but the real firefighter gave a hand to ensure everyone's safety.

Apart from that, we had Road Traffic Accident where we learnt how to break the parts of a car to rescue the victim. We had a another session on different ways to carry and rescue victims with the various stretchers. We had Night Confidence were each person had to walk for about 2km alone in the jungle to a specified location. We also had camping, flying fox and river crossing. For me, the heaviest of all was the Hose Operation where we had to run carrying hoses, which weighed about 10 kg, and perform duties of real firemen in a fire, as in coupling hoses and rolling them back after completion...Laborious! But extremely worthwhile.

I could go on and on, but time and the computer availability is my constraint. I shall stop here. Thank you for reading and forgive my errors. Take care.