:: Day 15 ::

So this evening I saw a mouse.  A very big mouse, I might add.  A few minutes later, I saw a big bird which I am guessing was probably a hawk.  He swooped down near a tree, paused for a few seconds, then flew away again.  As he was flying away, I heard, "Squeak, squeak!!!"  Yea...I came to that conclusion too.

This morning was a very early morning for us.  I got lots of rest so getting up wasn't too bad.  We met in the classroom at 6:00 AM, then headed to the storage unit to put on our gear.  At the "fire field" we started with rescuing the mannequin, Manny, from a smoke-filled shipping container.  The smoke was being generated as is the smoke at any rock concert or theatrical production.  It was nontoxic, but we treated it as tho it were toxic and donned our SCBA's (Self Contained Breathing Apparatus).  The weather was so cool and nice this morning.  74 is the temperature I heard.  Definitely an answer to prayer.  It also rained for the first time since I've been here!!  Soon it turned into a T-storm with lots of lightning, so we headed inside and watched videos about fires until it passed over.  When we went back out, it was definitely warmer, but still quite pleasant compared to what it would have been like if it was 100 degrees outside.

For a few hours, we did some hands-on practice of putting out small fires with portable extinguishers, and also bigger fires with a 1 1/2 inch hose.  I have a slight phobia of masks, or anything covering my face that either makes me breathe the same air, or makes me breathe hot or limited air.  The SCBA was okay as long as the oxygen was attached, because then the air I was breathing was cooler, and it felt easier to breathe as much as I needed.  But I was praying about it, and everyone was very helpful in reassuring me and being there for me when the mask had to come off.  lol  I put it on before going into the fire in the container, but then stood in line for too long.  I was so hot, and was just getting more and more anxious about it being on my face.  I was remembering the one time I passed out, and I didn't want it to happen again, so the mask came off for a while.  An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. :)

 ^  Manny looked a bit lifeless.  ^   I tried to help him out. :)

I'm on the far right...

Our group just after getting all our gear on!

We didn't have our masks on in any of these pictures.  We saved our oxygen for when we were going inside the container.

Kari and Kelly are modeling the SCBA's :)