Another step forward in emergency problem-solving

[bae]

Just got home.

Several months of 3-day-a-week training at the Technical Rescue Academy, and today was the final field practical exam, starting at 7am, each evolution done as a team of two, responding to calls all over the region, run for time and correctness:

- rapid intervention team search + rescue of a downed firefighter in a commercial building, full gear/SCBA, blacked out, instructors adding stress

- search & rescue for lost person in forest, reporting party on-scene, anxious and not-so-reliable

- call to a "fall from cliff onto beach", area semi-vague. search/locate patient, access/assess patient, develop lowering system for gear/rescuers, lower Stokes, package patient, develop raising system, get patient into ambulance

- vehicle crash - evaluate/report scene, stabilize vehicle, extricate patient with cool tools.

We all passed with flying colors, and they gave us these two stickers for our helmets so our officers can find the certified people in the dark, and then we had a BBQ:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-MLGQj5DoVxY/U1L5Tc5UitI/AAAAAAAAKPU/0VKAwvbMgSA/s640/Awesomized.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-IpfSaAowjG0/U1L5SO_SHHI/AAAAAAAAKPk/HvdOcIu0NQ4/s640/Awesomized.jpg

[Lainey]

Well done, and congratulations for completing all of that training. Your neighbors are lucky to have you in their 'hood.

[JaneV2.0]

Good work, bae--quite an accomplishment.

[razz]

That is a lot of work that is needed so that the group is not surprised by diverse emergencies. Well done!!

[Gardenarian]

That's great Bae - congrats!

[new2oregon]

Bae, thanks for all the hard work you put in to rescue people.

[happystuff]

Congrats, bae!!!

[Spartana]

Woo Hoo!!!! Congrats Bae. Good to know that there are brave and caring people like you out there willing to go thru the training and put yourself in harms way to help others. Especially as a volunteer - both fire fighter and coast guard auxillarist. You rock!

[bae]

And to think I used to get by with a granny knot:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-6noKnjnGr1E/U1QkY_ZC70I/AAAAAAAAKP4/zP53iWmGulE/s640/Awesomized.jpg

[Spartana]

Oh knots...how I love them so :-)! Still on occasion practice my old knot tying skills but AM rusty. Only one I use regularly now is a clove-hitch.