RIT Training

Last night up at the firegrounds we had RIT training. Aside from when they made us take a charged 3 inch line up 3 rounded flights of stairs, this was the most daunting, grueling and exhausting task they've had us complete to date. This all took place in the maze in complete darkness.

The first time they had this smaller kid as the victim, Eddie and his friend Whelen from Dumont were the first team in. Jack and I, being the second team in, were waitng outside, communicating via radio. Finally, they asked for our assistance. Jack took off quick leaving me fiddling with the radio behind him. Once I finally got a response, he told me he went through the tunnel so I followed, navigated a turn and immediately got caught up in the wires, which apparently they did a good job adding to and dropping them lower. After about 3 minutes of detangling myself, I finally got to the point where we all met up. I helped hold the wires while they dragged the victim using a rope. I helped jack push the victim through the tunnel when I heard Eddie's low air alarm going off and him screaming that he was entangled in the wires.

Jack yelled at me to stay with him by the front door but I said no, and I went back. Jack followed. We found eddie panicking in the wires with his low air bell going and slowly got him detangled. The wire was snug around the back of his bottle and I probably shoulda just cut it off, an idea that DID strike me but I didn't follow up on it.

The second time I was the victim.

The third run, Jack and I were the first team in. Eddie (fatass) was the victim. My leg cramped while crawling over a mattress coil and getting the RIT pack caught up. Jack waited and when we finally got back together, we continued on to find Eddie laying on his back. I found it very difficult to get through to Jack, who looked like he was panicking a little. He was looking for Eddie's straps and NOT listening at all. After a while I stopped and screamed JACK - LISTEN TO ME. He stopped and looked at me. Finally I got my point across that he should secure Eddie's pack between his legs while I secure the RIT pack. We both got done at the same time with a smooth transition of bottles.

As we started dragging Eddie to the beams, I passed through them and started pulling Eddie when Jack's bell started going off, indicating he was out of air. Immediately I had Jack pass over Eddie and leave the building, while I replaced him. Eddie was a bitch to get out and barely helped. I shoulda punched him in the balls to get him moving. Towards the door we encountered a mattress coil which the guy in front of me held up while I pushed Eddie and his father pulled. Once I was right on the kid, I held the mattress up and told him to continue on.

The fourth and final run, I was second team with Whelen, while the kid and his father were first team, Jack was the victim. After what seemed like 10 minutes, we got called in and I helped the one kid secure Jack's pack on backwards, after slowly realizing they took his other pack completely off. This created a great grip on Jack, who now had 2 handles on his shoulders proving great leverage. To me, this was the smoothest run as we got him out in a few minutes flat.

All in all, this traning was daunting, but effective. A few times when I was out of breath, I felt dizzy and disoriented. I could tell how scary that could be in a real and dangerous environment. Also, I controlled my breathing very well and am proud to say my low air alarm never went off all nite. Others, however, had low air alarms left and right which made the situation very scary and realiastic, seeing how a rescuer can become another victim, or freak out and make things worse. Finally, the physical exhaustion made me realize my legs are not nearly powerful enough to propel me on the ground while dragging someone. They tired easily and my thigh cramped up a few times. Also, even though I polished off a bottle of water prior to the exercise, I felt very dehydrated.

Still, there's no better feeling than ripping off my mask once I'm out of there and getting a good, deep breath of cool fresh air.