Hello Fire Sisters!!!

[Michelle Latham]

I didn't even know this forum existed! Well, I just wanted to say hello to everyone! I'm a volunteer firefighter/EMT in Alaska and I LOVE it!
Stay safe!!! :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

[nikp16]

hey there, Michelle! I liked your post in the nicknames topic...

and yes, being a firefighter is great! I've been a vollie for three years now, also a first responder. I hope to take the EMT class soon, just haven't had the time. Amazing how quickly the week fills up.

stay safe,
Nik

[Firebear230]

Hello from Daytona Beach, Florida!!!!! Glad to hear from you. I absolutely love this site. I use it for training, info, and to talk to just about anybody. It can be VERY addictive!!

Well, have fun and stay safe. Look forward to hearing from you again :D

[BFDff630]

Hey wuzz-up sis?I love this site too.It has hepled me out alot.How is the weather up there in Alasks?I've been a firefighter/emt for 31/2years and have every min.of it.(well,almost) Hope to hear spme more from you.

[Michelle Latham]

The weather up here is ... snowy! I love winter. It's my favorite time of the year. I have a sweet husky named Celeste and this is her first winter so I'll be seeing how she handles snow! Firefighting and EMT'ing up here in the arctic sure is interesting! Everything FREEZES SOLID - including fire engines, fire hose, and firefighters! So far I've frozen to the ground when advancing a hoseline, frozen to the engine after using the deck gun, and frozen to a ladder while practicing during training! Sometimes we have to pry ice off of firefighters so they can get back in the engine when we are done! EMT'ing involves a lot of fancy footwork as you try to manuver the patient across glare ice and slick snow. A very common call involves Moose Vs. Car. MVA's are pretty bad due to the incredible weather - sometimes 50 or 60 below zero! When it gets that cold we put a parachute over the car, seal the edges, stick a huge hose under the whole rigamarole and blast hot air inside to keep the patient from dying of hypothermia while we extricate them. It really is challenging at times! I'm just a probie/rookie EMT so I'm still learning how to make decisions in all these areas. Sometimes I say Thank GOD I'm on the bottom of the Totem Pole because sometimes we end up in seemingly impossible situations!
That's why God gave us Fire Chiefs!!! ;)
Stay safe Sisters! Hope to hear from you all again!

[SonicFF]

Hey Michelle - I'm in the old AK too! I'm not on a fire dept. here in Alaska but I was on the East Coast. How are things out in Delta Jct?

Sonic

[Michelle Latham]

Things in Delta Junction are pretty sad. We are all still freaked out about our Deputy Chief Chris getting killed. I cry whenever I'm down there in our fire station. I'm hoping to go down over Thanksgiving break to give my Chief a hand with things. He has lots of chores but hardly any firefighters right now. He's such a joy to be around! I'm glad he's our fire chief. (I'm going to college here in Fairbanks.) Sometimes I wonder if Delta will ever be the same...that place is so sad for me now. That probably sounds silly but ... Chris was my very best friend in the whole world and EVERYONE loved that guy. He was such a good person.
This is probably not what you were expecting to hear but it's the truth. Sorry to be so blah!
Stay safe!!!!
:)

[MOMO431]

JUST WANTED TO SAY HELLO FROM CANTONMENT, FL...I HAVE BEEN A VOLUNTEER FOR 3 YEARS NOW AND I LOVE EVERY MINUTE OF IT...I NEVER GET A BREAK FROM THIS STUFF BECAUSE I AM ALSO A EMERGENCY DISPATCHER!!! I LOVE IT ALL...YALL STAY SAFE..... :D :D :D

[Michelle Latham]

Pensacola? Wow I used to live in Milton! I absolutely loved living in your neck of the woods. Such a lovely part of the world. I would visit Pensacola all of the time - including those suger white beaches.
:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

[nikp16]

Michelle, I'm really sorry to hear about the death of your friend and mentor.

About firefighting in the winter, we get it cold here (probably not as cold as Alaska, though!) and it's a pain when everything starts to freeze up. We draft straight from lakes and ponds, so often we end up having to take an axe to the ice! I'm certified in cold water rescue, where we get to wear gumby suits and "go swimming." Quite a riot to go swimming in the middle of winter...

stay safe, everyone,
Nik

[Michelle Latham]

I know Vermont! I grew up in Massachusetts!!! As much as I love Alaska I still adore New England!!!
It sure can get cold in VT. :D

[skeester1]

You all are killing me with this snow business!! If dips below 70 degees here in Bradenton, Florida- I'm freezing! Just give me warm sunshine!! I can just imagine how difficult vehicle stabilization, during a rool over, can be in those challenging weather conditions. I think it's amazing the differences we all face given our geographical locations. Welcome AK sister. :cool:

[nikp16]

speaking of snow, we had about two inches this morning and it's still falling heavily! :D

lots of accidents over the radio this morning, but mostly sliders. There will be a big rush to the garages today to try to get snowtire orders in!

winter's sleet and snow can be a big problem for fire and rescue, but I admit I prefer standing out in a big snowstorm than sweating my butt off in the summer heat! ;)

hoping everyone's doing well. Maybe a question to get us all talking?

anyone have any suggestions?

be safe,
Nik

[dammitangie]

you know, I have never seen snow :) But then again, I grew up in south central Texas, and seeing as how I now live in east Texas, I don't think I will be seeing it any time soon. I have only been doing this for 6 months, but I am probably going to stick with it for a lifetime :)

[LadyCapn]

None here yet in the Great White North, but as soon as we get it Angie, I'll ship it down for you!!

You mean you have never known the joy of gloves and gear frozen solid? Where you are loath to actually put the fire out cause it's the only thing keeping you warm? Trudging through 3 foot snowdrifts to catch a hydrant? You haven't lived my friend!!!

Nice to meet you all, and I look forward to some great conversation. :)

[832firewalker]

Hey, hey to you all, this here is the southwest voodoo. Just kickin' ash, having fun, hope you all are too....

[Michelle Latham]

We don't have fire hydrants in any of my boonie-ville districts so we have to "catch" a frozen pond or tanker. Speaking of freezing...Have any of you ever frozen to the fire engine or frozen to the ground? heheheh
Have my southern fire sisters ever been chased by alligators?? :D

[dammitangie]

Can't say I have ever been frozen to anything, particularly the trucks :) The most we do here is shoot each other with deck guns and do a lot of loose hose drills. In mid-November, right now in Houston, it's about 75-80 degrees. Sad, right?

[Michelle Latham]

We get about three or four days out of the summer where the temps go above 70. The rest of the time it's either cold enough to wear a jacket or we have wildland fires roaring away and the whole town is blanketed in thick choking smoke. I sure miss "real" summers hehehehe

[fireflyer]

No alligators yet in the central south...though we have had cattle run amuck during a structure fire as their fence burned through and they were curious as to what they were doing. It was in interesting dilema...do you spray the structure to put out the fire or the cows to keep them clear of the scene? :)....but it does get cold in teh winter on occasion. We had a fire one morning and my friend was backing up the nozzleman and when the nozzleman entered the building his glove went in frozen to the back of the nozzleman's tank and left him behind!

[Clyde Cushing II]

Hey Michelle Ann
It's good to see some women in the fire service. My Mother is a saftey officer in my department back home. To answer your question, I have frozen to the hose during a house fire. It was below zero here in far eastern Maine and I found my gloves frozen to the metal cuppling that meets the nozzel. I had ice build up all over my bunker gear and had to pull my hand out of the glove and pull it of the hoseline.

[Michelle Latham]

Hello fellow New Englander! I was born and raised in Massachusetts and even though I live waaay up here in Alaska I still call Mass "home" hehehe

You know the drill about below-zero weather and firefighting LOL!

[Chianti]

Hiya Michelle! I'm a probie EMT in the UK - unfortunately, we don't come under the same 'umbrella' as the fire service over here, but during my training course we did a few practice scenarios with them and BOY did we have some laughs! (They REALLY know how to party afterwards!! :D )

I was really interested to hear your 'snow' stories - we only have to get a few inches over here and the whole country seems to grind to a standstill.

This is an excellent site and although I'm not a 'firefighting sister', I hope no-one minds me joining in?! Take care & stay safe.

Jan :)

[Michelle Latham]

EMS Sisters are always welcome!!

I'll swap snow-stories for UK EMS stories hehehe - I've always been curious about how you guys do things over there in Europe! I used to live in Italy but I wasn't involved in the fire service or EMS then.

Stay safe! (we have lots of snow now - almost a foot - and the northern lights are making an appearance almost every night!)

:D
:D

[ 11-21-2001: Message edited by: Michelle Ann ]

[Fire29_1999]

Hope you don't mind me sticking my nose in here where it don't belong but I do that once in a while usually when I have nothing better to do at 3:30AM. I am jealous we still don't have any snow and the ski resort is supposed to open on Thanksgiving but they had to delay that until Dec.7 because they don't even have any snow at 8500ft at the summet. Winter has got to be one of my favorite times of the year, if you don't get to respond during winter you don't know what you are missing.
Also I can't help but notice that you seem to have lived everywhere, ever in Montana?

[ 11-21-2001: Message edited by: Fire29_1999 ]

[ 11-21-2001: Message edited by: Fire29_1999 ]

[Michelle Latham]

I wish I have lived everywhere because then I'd get to explore the whole world! (A personal dream!) I've never been to Montana even though I've always wanted to visit your state. You don't have snow yet?? Well don't feel too bad because our snow is rather skimpy right now and everyone up here is grumbling. Usually we have MUCH more by now. I guess the clouds are holding out on us!

So far I've seen Spain, Egypt, Italy, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Crete, The United Arab Emerites, Holland, Germany, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, Virginia, Tenn., Pennsylvania, and all of New England and now Alaska. Compaired to those people that roam around the world and the USA in their snazzy RV's, my list is VERY short and skimpy. I'm still hoping to see Mexico, Austrailia, and the north countries like Norway and Finnland as well as some more of the USA. I wonder if I ever will!

What do you do in Montana? Are you a firefighter? I LOVE winter too - that's why I knew I'd be happy up here in AK! Lots of snow and plenty of winter in this place hehehe

Stay safe!

[EastKyFF]

Aha! You're all cornered now and I can pick your brains.

I'm on an all-vol FD in a rural area. We make 150-180 calls a year, including lots of EMS assists. We have basically enough BLS eqpt for an ambulance, including an AED, and we're blessed with about 5 EMT-B's, 3 paramedics, and a nice contingent of 1st Responders.

We run lots of MVC's and do our own rescue, and we are very aggressive on fire attack and run oodles of mutual aid throughout our county. Our equipment is excellent, our training is top-notch, and we keep the place organized, clean, neat, and financially solvent.

Ours is an all-male dept, but it's not a locker-room atmosphere. There are no nekkid pitchers on the walls, no booze, and no history of sexist behavior.

(No, I'm not running for office.)

My question--and I do have one--is this: Why can't we get female members? We have only had one female member in recent history, and she was useless for reasons unrelated to her gender. We always need new members but just don't seem to get women involved.

What do you all suggest? Do we all just have B.O.?

[Fire29_1999]

Michelle, I too love to travel, I can honestly say that I have been in (at least driven through) almost every state in the west ,MN,ND,SD,IA,NB,CO,MT,NV,WA,ID ,OR,CA,AZ,NM,TX,UT,spent four hours in LA once that was plenty, and Canada, Alberta, British Columbia, Manatoba, some of the things I have seen, Grand Canyon, Brice Canyon in UT, Las Vegas, Grand Coullee Dam, Hoover Dam, The Painted Desert in AZ, Victoriea BC,and many more as I have driven through, some day I intend to go back and spend some time at each place I have been when I can remember them. But here in good old Montana I have a glorious full time job helping people by rescueing them in the winter (and summer)with my Tow Truck, I also have a part time job at a local Aluminum smelting plant where I am a relief Security Guard/Firefighter/EMT-B, I also am a reserve member of the City of Whitefish Fire department where we also run the ambulance, and one more thing I also volunteer as a reserve Deputy Sheriff for the county. Some people think I am crazy to do all this stuff, but what can I say I like to help people anyway sorry about the book.

[Michelle Latham]

Cornered?? Eeeek!

EastKYFF - Have you directly recruited women for your fire department? Since your fire department is an all-male department this may be intimidating the women in your community. They might have been told not to join your department because they'd be the "only woman stuck in an all-boys club" and that they'd be miserable.

Or! Maybe the women in your community never really thought about the fire service before and they don't even know you are there unless they need help. Either way I'll bet if you recruited women you would get female firefighters on your department over time. The key: Make it known to them that they are very welcome and that you aren't inviting them simply to shut up some loud-mouth that's crying "discrimination". If you honestly want women on your department let them know that!

I was the only woman firefighter on my Delta Junction VFD for a little while and I got along just fine. It's totally possible! :D

Good luck with recruitment and feel free to pick our brains any time!

[code3firefly]

Hey! I am glad that there are other womenr that support this site! Haing in there ladies and leep those fires at bay!!
Vol and Paid FF in SC :) :)

[dammitangie]

Lt. Brian, I agree with what was said earlier...keep up what you're doing. Don't let people think that it's an "all boys' club." I joined my first department on a whim....just walked in one day and asked for the application. You can recruit, or let it happen. Just don't treat them like delicate females or make them think they have to proves themselves and you'll come out of it with a few good women (hopefully) as well <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

[siouxziep]

Hey all! It's good to see that there are so many women on this site. I've been a volly for 3 years now, and am currently up for a job on a prof. dept. I need to get my firefighter 1 and 2 certification before I can get the job though, and I dont know where to find out when/where test will be. I already have the training, just need the certificate now. If anyone has info on where I can find firefighter 1 & 2 test, please let me know.<br />siouxziep@firehousemail.com<br />Stay safe!<br />Siouxzie

[rhondahiatt]

Hello. I'm in Kentucky and it is cold here, but you guess are freezing me. I really dislike winter time. It is aweful when your turnouts are frozen stiff. We have had to take spanner wrenches and break the ice off our gear. MVC's are bad too. I like the idea of covering the vehicle with a parachut. I have been in the fire/ems field for 12 years. Captain of the fire station, EMT with the local ems. I love it. <img src="smile.gif" border="0"> c-yall.

[nikp16]

Lt. Brian,<br /> Like the others said, I think you're on the right track. I admit I probably wouldn't have tried to get on my dept (all guys at the time) if my husband wasn't already there. Maybe some of the guys could ask around and offer to show anyone around the station, talk to them a little more about the department and such, if the candidate-to-be was a little uncertain about coming to a meeting. Again, it's good to hear depts like yours are trying to get everyone involved.

Captain, it's a pleasure to see you here. I'm heartened to see a number of officers in this forum!

stay safe,<br />Nik

[linzwathill]

Lt. Brian,<br />go after daughters, thats how i got into my all male fire dept. as the first female ever, my father has been in for almost 30 years and i was always going to calls with him when i was young, but then i never thought about joining probably cause i saw no females there, anyways, when i was about 16 and driving, i wanted to go places, so i went to the calls again with my father, 2 years later at the co.'s minimum age, i joined and its a blast, the chief even built me my own bathroom.<br />lindsay

[stillPSFB]

Laughing at all this talk of snow - here in the land Down Under it's just gone 7am and already the temperature is over 100 degs and the hot winds are picking up. We can expect the S#$* to start happening shortly.

Michelle, when you come to Australia, be sure to look us up - normally there is always someone at the station unless we are at a job.

[ 01-25-2002: Message edited by: psfb ]</p>

[PhyerPhyter]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by skeester1:<br />[QB]You all are killing me with this snow business!! If dips below 70 degees here in Bradenton, Florida- I'm freezing!

Kewl!! I have a brother in New Port Ritchie! He is a FF/EMT there. My parents winter in Sarasota and I freeze me big ole male hairy butt off in Alberta Canada. It -20 F this morning....ok my butt ain't that big...aint that hairy either, butt is all man.... lmao (retired 13yr vollie Lt. kinda guy)

[Michelle Latham]

Hairy butt???????????? hahahahahaha! What an image to have this early in the morning!!!

It's about -35F here in Alaska complete with snow and ice and frozen roads. We keep getting these wretched multiple-car MVA's because the roads are horrid. I'm still on injury status so I have to stay behind when the tones go off so I'm not out saving lives but my firefighters and medics have been very busy!

I have good news Fire Sisters and Fire Brothers! I passed my
EMT-Intermediate class!!!!!!! It was a very challenging class but I acctually enjoyed it because it was full of interesting details about how the human body functions. I was a nervous wreck during my practicals because I absolutely DESPISE being watched while performing skills but I somehow managed to pass without screwing anything up!

So, how are things in your necks of the woods?????????

[Medic201]

I thought Michigan was bad...Alaska..wow! Talk about a lot of snow.......

By the way, i'm new here. Hi all!