Winning the Fight Against Fire

[mserskine]

https://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/activities/bethel/winning-fight-against-fire/

[Tortuga]

Fantastic article!

I was on the ERT at a local oil refinery and I've had a lot of industrial fire training. Overcoming the fear of fire while maintaining a healthy respect for it is essential.

[tekmantwo]

Nice article,  thanks for sharing.

 

In my work career as a weldor and heavy eq mechanic I have been involved with more fires than I can remember.  I am well familiar with people freezing when faced with an emergency.

 

Practical training such as this takes the initial 'freeze' out of the issue and folks have their training kick in. It's a muscle memory kind of thing and training provides something to do instead of just standing there in panic.. 

 

One particular episode that I was involved in was on a jobsite, the fuel truck driver had tried to drive up a small hump on a dirt road and he wasn't in the right gear and the truck stalled.

 

There was 5 thousand gallons of diesel fuel on board. When the truck stopped it rolled backwards a bit and backfired up through the carb, spewing gasoline into the engine compartment. 

 

The driver panicked and ran for help, even though we were on a dirt spread and the closest help was about a quarter mile away. He completely forgot about the fire extinguishers that were mounted on the truck,  he just panicked and ran.

 

When he got to me and my work partner the fuel truck had already started burning into the cab of the truck and by the time we got there, me on a D8 Cat and my buddy in his service truck it was going really good. 

 

I used the dozer to push dirt around the truck to try and control the fuel if the tank ruptured,  which it did. Let me tell you,  5K gallons of fuel makes a nice warm fire...I was a little spooked about getting as close to it as I was,  15 foot distance was way too close to be if it blew up.I did get some minor burn on my face and neck and hands but it wasn't bad, kinda like a sunburn. It was a cold day and I was wearing a light jacket.

 

I got the windrows pushed into place with minutes to spare,  when the front of the tank ruptured it made a nice flaming river that stayed inside the dikes but it was way hot even 100 feet away,  where we were standing on the other side of the D8 watching. 

 

The next day the melted pile of junk that used to be our fuel truck was still hot, our  'Gray Ghost' was no more. ..

 

The fuel driver lost his job, my work bud and myself got some really nice jackets, complete with our names embroidered on the front and a little bonus money for our actions. 

 

All of this could have been avoided if only the driver hadn't panicked and had used the truck radio to holler a Mayday and also used the fire extinguishers that were mounted on the truck. 

 

A little bit of training goes a long way,  it eliminates the panicked indecision and provides a positive reaction to an emergency situation.  

I  am not surprised that Jehovah is teaching his people how to act in these scenarios,  that's kinda what He does....