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Duxbury Firefighter Rob Reardon has finished his 11 week Recruit Training Program at the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy in Stow. As a part of that training, recruits are required to be able to work at extreme heights without fear, and still maintain full ability to perform other dangerous and difficult tasks such as rescuing people.
Two such training evolutions that help firefighters to develop confidence working at heights are the cathedral ladder raise, and rappelling down the outside of a building.
The first three photos show Firefighter Reardon at the top of a 40' extension ladder. The ropes that are shown are being held by four other firefighters on the ground, and that provides the only support for the ladder. The recruit is required to climb up one side of the ladder, cross over the top of the ladder, and climb down the other side. This not only helps to build confidence in working at heights, but it also develops teamwork and trust in your fellow firefighters because if any of the four firefighters holding the ropes on the ground should fail do to their job, the firefighter on the ladder is in grave danger.
   Rappelling is another confidence builder in working at heights. The firefighter has a harness around his waist, and that harness is secured to a rope with knots tied by the firefighter. The rope is affixed to a secure object on the roof of the building. The firefighter then drops off the side of the building, and while releasing tension on the knot, he lowers himself at whatever speed he chooses to go. However, a faulty knot, release of too much tension on the rescue knot, or not seeing a window in your path could prove disastrous for the firefighter.
 The firefighters in the picture below are practicing extinguishment of a dumpster fire. Although this might seem a pretty simple thing, dumpster fires can be very hazardous to firefighters. When people want to dispose of something that is not taken at the transfer station, or they may not want to be seen throwing in the pit the transfer station, they head for the closest dumpster. Anything from spray paint cans, which explode, to propane tanks, which really EXPLODE, to old gasoline and other hazardous chemicals can be found in the dumpster. Firefighters take dumpster fires very seriously.
 These pictures show firefighters at the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy extinguishing fires involving LPG (Liquid Petroleum Gas) fires. These fires are very dangerous to firefighting personnel because of the risk of a BLEVE (Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion). A bleve can send the gas container flying through the air for several hundred feet. Even a small container, such as your 20 pound gas grill tank can BLEVE when the tank is exposed to fire above the liquid level of the tank.
LPG is dangerous because as a gas, it is heavier than air. A leak in a tank will allow the gas to move away from the source, but the gas will hug the ground. It can then ignite if it finds a source of ignition, such as the grill itself, a catalytic converter on a vehicle that it running, or someone lighting a cigarette. Natural gas, on the other hand, is lighter than air, and a leak will generally dissipate into the atmosphere.
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