Fighting Fires in Halifax

In order to work for NCL, it is a requirement to complete a basic safety course. Included in the course is first aid, firefighting, lifeboat/liferaft training, emergency procedures, etc. We started our training last week, have more this week, and then we finish with us having to flip a liferaft over in the water once we get to warmer waters (Bermuda).

Lucky for us, having Halifax as a port meant that we got the opportunity to go to some special training facility to FIGHT FIRES! When Lisa and Katelyn did their safety training, they simply got to crawl through the crew bar that was filled with dry ice as smoke. Lucky us got to fight a real fire. Well… a controlled propane fire. Nonetheless, it was fantastic.

We broke into two groups and our group got to fight the fire first. We were then broken into further teams of four when handling the hose. The first person in line has to turn on the hose and cool down the door with water. Person 2 then goes to feel the door then cracks the door while person 1 aims the hose through the crack to the fire. Person 2 then opens the door, gets back in line and then all 4 walk the hose up to the fire and put it out. We then had to continue through to a second fire. Person 1 kneels beside fire 2 and puts it out with the hose. Once both fires are out, person 4 leaves first then pulls the hose as people 1-3 back out, guiding each other with one hand on the back of the person in front. We then rotate through the line until everyone has had a turn being in all positions. We had a riot!

We then had a dinner break of subway! Mmm…. Happy Thanksgiving! lol.

The second activity was not as fun. It was SUPER scary. We were put into a mock ship that had doors and holes and crawlspaces. For anyone who gets claustrophobic, this would NOT have been the activity for you. In pitch black, we had to feel our way through holes that were only slightly bigger than us with our tanks on, go up and down ladders, and the worst part - crawl through a hole on your stomach in a space not tall enough to even kneel. While dragging your body on the floor, you’re reaching up to feel and find the next hole to crawl up into. I found the first hole only to realize it was still shallow at the second level. It was a series of 4 of these levels of dragging my body and feeling for the next hole before we reached the top. During this time, our tanks were purposely low on air so we had to feel the added stress of warning bells and a vibrating mask telling us that we were low on air, while dragging our bodies through tight places in the pitch black. STRESSFUL!

It was a good day though. Definitely an experience to write about! I must say to Uncle Wayne and to Kay (and any other firefighter reading this) - I have a greater respect for what you do! WOW! Not easy work. Thanks for doing what you do.

To everyone back home, Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you’re all stuffed with turkey and feeling pleasantly plump! I’m thinking of you all. Have a good one!

---

---