Volunteer Wildfire Services training
A day in the life of trying to keep up with VWS drills.
Channelling my inner Big Lebowski I bend the knee and bowl the world’s largest streamer. But instead of the expected straight red line, my fire hose veers right and flops over within three meters. Well at least I won’t have to roll it up again.
It’s Day 2 of training as a volunteer with VWS and we’re doing equipment drills. My team and I are practicing unrolling and re-rolling our 30-meter-long fire hoses weighing about 5 kg’s a piece. Each hose is adorned with two shin-splintering heavy metal couplings – a fact you only forget once.
Today about 50 wide-eyed volunteers are drilling in GPS and navigation, water pumps and fire hoses, hand signals, radio comms and our favourite hand tools: the rakes and beaters. Our base is a large piece of land next to Imhoff Waldorf School, where a temporary fire pool has been set up. We are also joined by volunteers from previous years, since volunteers repeat the training annually to stay safe on the fire line.
It's also an opportunity to hear the battle stories of more experienced volunteers, who regale us with stories of the Betty’s Bay fire of 2019, the Simon’s Town fire of 23’. Each fire is described in detail; how it started, how it ended, stories of being soaked by chopper water drops, fires jumping double roads, roaring winds turning 90 degrees at the most impossible times… but always, always, the team. Who the Red Helmet Crew Leader was, how the commander decided to tackle the fire, which teams from VWS were deployed, who joined from City of Cape Town and SANParks, how many choppers flew in….
And while we are being drilled in equipment skills, I realise we are also being drilled in what holds it all together. The Team. The Team. Always the team.
While practicing my YMCA of hand signals, I realise that in 6 weeks of being a volunteer I have learned three new languages already; the NATO Phonetic Alphabet, correct radio comms and hand signals. No, make that 4. I have also learned to communicate my emotional and physical well-being on a scale of 1 to 10. Each number literally has a meaning we get handed on a laminated card. For example a rating of 7 means: “I am excited to be here BUT I don’t feel strong or I am slowing down”. And 4 means “I am hanging in there and need to be evacuated BUT I can walk back to the vehicle myself”. It seems one of the most important skills for a wannabe firefighter is, in fact, strong communication.
It makes sense; the environment we will be working in could be smoky or dark. Or both. Everyone needs to speak the same language, and calmly. When a dozen people are on the same radio channel, you need to stick to format. If you’re stationed at the water pump, you need to understand the hand instructions being signalled from the fire line. You can’t look around for someone else to step in. No more swearing in juvenile anger or shutting down in mute frustration when things heat up. It’s time to deal and learn how to communicate.
So over the next couple of months, we’ll be honing our skills in drills and scenario simulations in the lead up to the summer Fire Season. We’ll be hiking and learning and eventually completing skills evaluations, theoretical modules, lectures and tests – about 50 hours of training in total.
And until then – I have a handy little card stuck to my work cubicle. And when I start yelling “Three!!!” during the umpteenth Zoom meeting for the day, my colleagues will know I need to be evacuated, pronto. Preferably to a mountain with a cloud of smoke in the distance.
