Training Update - May 18

Just to remind you - the Woodland Fire Training that WolfskinVFD will be hosting is 8 hours a day on the weekends of June 3-4 and Jun 10-11. The controlled burn will be either Sunday the 4th or Saturday the 10th, as I understand it (depending on which day the GA Forestry Commission decides is the best).

Our area is heavily forested, and we have periods of considerable drought in the summer and autumn, so this is an important training event for all firefighters who can make it.

For that training event, you will need to register and you will need your own equipment, including boots - contact us for more information.

So the first part of our training session was to be sized for bootware. Then a few of us had had recent CPR training but for the rest of us it had been awhile so we decamped to Mary's house where, as a professional, she had set up to do a CPR training session.

Mary did a great job. There were seven of us to be refreshed and recertified, and that's a pretty sizeable group to go through all the exercises individually. Mary handled it perfectly. I had had my training quite a few years ago and was no longer confident in the procedures, which have been considerably updated. That earlier training was fine, but Mary's was full of a lot of situational scenarios and clues and hints that the earlier training hadn't covered.

The poor mannikans had their chests pumped and their plastic lungs filled over and over, and by the end of it they were probably more tired than we were, and all they got for their trouble was a clorox wash. On the other hand - they didn't have to take the "short test". (Which we all passed!)

-Wayne

Training Session Thursday May18 7pm

This is an important training session - please be there! I should also remind you of the woodland fire training on June 3-4 and June 10-11. We are not only hosting, but have to have the right equipment, and that will be measured at this training session. If you can't make it, be sure to get in touch with WVFD by Wed May 17 9pm.

The woodland fire training should be a lot of fun.

From our training officer Ed,

Hello everyone-
Training this Thursday will be an important mix of
items, depending on what you need. Primarily, it will
cover CPR recertification. Boot measurements (for the
wildland fire class) will also be taken as well as the
actual registration for those planning to attend the
class June 3-4 & 10-11. We are the host for this class
so let's have a good turnout! Back to the boots - if
you will be in the class, but can't make training on
Thursday, PLEASE call or email me by Wed., 5/17 at 9pm
with your boot size. We have to place the order on
Friday in order to get the boots by class time. For
those not needing CPR training, there will be truck &
station maintenance. Thanks.
Ed

-Wayne

Business Meeting May 4

Two things:

First and foremost, we have a business meeting 7pm on Thursday May 4. Please do attend, and we always love to see our civilians there too, and thank you John Fuller - your presence and input is always valuable to us.

Second - Ed and I arranged to meet last night to practice on driving the truck, in this case the yellow Margarita one, the more difficult one to drive. Ed's good at this, and was great at helping me along. I have to tell you that I've no experience whatsoever at driving heavy, manual, lugging trucks and this was a great informal practice. We drove twice up to Corinth Church, practiced backing up and turning around and all that stuff. We did the battery and the air brakes and everything. If you think all the firefighters know just what to do and how to do it, all you have to do is look at me.

So if anyone is anxious about your lack of prowess as a fantastic firefighter, don't be. There's plenty of us who are willing to arrange special times for shy people (like me) who get intimidated and want to practice in a more informal environment. Just let any of us know, and emailing wolfskinvfd@yahoo.com is a good way to start.

Ed and I had a great conversation about photographing plants, as we were making our two round trips to Corinth Church and delaying all those nice people driving behind us. Ed asked if I could identify a wildflower if he brought it in, and I said, maybe, but we can sure find out. Turns out one of our new firefighters, Pat, is pretty darn good at plant identifications too. So if you thought firefighters were limited to fighting fires and trying to drive trucks, there's quite a bit of talent here you didn't know about!

See you at the Thursday meeting.

-Wayne