Decisions, Fire, and Extinguishers

Well I signed up for advanced pathophysiology today. I haven't totally made up my mind I want to take it. It will be a summer course. I am already going to be taking an online nurse refresher class for 7 weeks, 2 of which will be clinicals in hospital. I don't know.... I've been taking one or two classes a semester since last spring. It's a lot with 4 kids and providing full-time daycare.

However, this particular class is only offered in the evenings during the summer. The rest of the year it is offered middle of afternoon, which would be tough with the kids schedule. Plus, I'm planning to return to nursing this fall. I think advanced patho would be another great class to have under my belt as a review before returning to nursing.

I will be glad when I finally do return to nursing. I can't wait for this fall.

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On another note, last Sunday was interesting. I got to shoot off fire extinguishers in Level 1 training at the fire academy. I'm volunteering as an EMS-only member, but you still get to learn some basics like the extinguishers. We got to fill the water extinguishers with a hose and then use an air compressor to put in enough pressure. Then we hiked up a small hill with same water extinguishers, as well as CO2 and dry chemical extinguishers. We were going to test out which extinguisher should be used for different fires by first choosing the wrong extinguisher for the job and seeing what happens.

Our two instructors built two fires - one was a combustible fire and the other a diesel fuel fire. We watched as they gave a demonstration on which extinguisher to use with which fire.

The CO2 and dry chemical did not work on the fire of combustibles (hay, wood, etc.). They would put the intense top flames out but as soon as the wind kicked up it would flare right up again just as high and intense as before. Then they tried the water extinguisher and it put the fire out very quickly. Then we got to squirt our water extinguishers at the fire to finish it off - by then it was only smoldering.

Next our instructors used the water extinguisher on the diesel fuel fire. All it did was make the fire shoot up and intensify. It intensified so much that we felt the heat blast - we were some 15 yards away. The CO2 did not do much - it only coated the flames, which hardly were affected. We also got to shoot off the CO2 and the dry chem.

Long story short, look at the labels on your fire extinguisher and decide what type of fire you're dealing with to know which extinguisher to use. Lay public, call 911.

It made for an interesting morning. It was one of the more interesting training classes so far.

Gotta go. I have more training tonight. This is "in-station level" . Looking forward it.