Update!

An overdue and much needed update to my own blog was probably called for, to be perfectly honest.  I’ve neglected it so much that it’s kind of gotten a little sparse and sad.  And for that, all two of my followers, I am sorry. :(

Apparently Andrew and I are restarting our little Gamer Haven project in a new venue.  Be sure to go check it out over on my other blog that I’m contributing to!  Peace.

Lessons Learned

Okay, so tonight was my next to last night that I’ll be formally meeting with the volunteer firefighter certification class that I’ve been enrolled in for several months now. We wrap things up next week as far as class hours go, and then we’ll begin preparing for our written examination. Tonight’s class talked about Salvage and Overhaul, and it also went into a bit of Fire Origin and Cause investigation, covering basic arson detection for the first responder.

Here’s some of the things I took away from tonight.

Salvage and Overhaul:

• Salvage is one of the most important things that you can do as a firefighter for someone.
• It’s good PR; a department that is willing to go back to a fire scene, or help clean up before leaving a scene, is always going to be remembered positively.
• You should always look in closets, or what’s left of closets, etc.
• Salvage can take place at any time during the course of fireground operations; if there’s a car in a garage, you can throw it in neutral and push it out, for example. That’s considered salvage.
• There’s always the possibility you could save something of sentimental value; your grandfather’s rifle (rifle barrels apparently will not melt?), photo albums, etc.
• Overhaul is the biggest step you can take to make sure you’re not back at the scene in two or three hours to fight the same fire you just put out.
• Always check voids in walls. If it feels hot, don’t think twice; take the wall out and look.
• The Thermal Imaging Camera is your friend, but don’t use it as a crutch.
• NEVER remove anything that you think could be the cause of the fire, especially if the fire could be ruled as suspicious/fall under investigation.

Arson Detection:

• Knowing what to look for is always important.
• When you go onto a scene, check entry and exit ways to see if they had been secured.
• It’s up to the Chief of the Department to determine whether or not an investigator is needed.
• There’s always a cause to a fire, be it by an an omission or an act. It’s our job to look for the signs while fighting it.
• Preserve the evidence as best you can in the case of a suspicious fire. Never remove anything that could be considered evidence; let a fire investigator actually do that. Maybe try to mark it where it is, by putting something noticeable over it.
• In the case of someone wanting to enter the scene of a fire like this, personnel should escort people into the area, and out of the area.
• Tell-tale signs of a suspicious fire are the finding of liquid trails, charred pieces of material leading from one room to another, etc.
• Look for burn patterns on walls and the like; it can be an indicator of how the fire burnt the area, and how hot it got. Intense heat could mean something was used to accelerate the fire’s growth.

And that’s all I got. I’ve gotta start studying!

So Far: The Weigh-Ins

So, up until recently, I was using Facebook to keep track of my weigh-ins on my goal toward weight loss.  I just came to realize that perhaps I may need to keep track of it another way, too.  So, from now on, when I do a weigh in, I’ll accompany it with a blog post, too.  Of course, I’ll still post it on Facebook.  But… until then?  I’d like to track it here too…

To sort of recap:

January: 318.0lbs.
February: 310.0lbs.
March: 306.0lbs.
April: No Change
May: 302lbs.
June: No change
July: 299.6lbs. – Most recent!

I think I need to step up my game.

New Blog~!

Okay, then.  I’m just posting this as a sort of test to see how well it goes over.  I’m probably going to start keeping one of these things from now on, just to keep track of how things go with life and the like.  I may even try to make it into something interesting!

Watch out for me!