Carrying what had to be 50 pounds of gear, gulping air through an oxygen mask and dragging a hose down a pitch-black, smoke-filled stairway on the way to put out an actual fire in the next room, I quickly realized something.
I am not cut out to be a firefighter. And those that are — those that do this for a living — are true heroes.
I, and fellow 4th District of South Milwaukee Alderman David Bartoshevich, had a chance to experience this at FIRE OPS 101, a crash course for elected officials and members of the media hosted by the Professional Firefighters of Wisconsin at the Madison Fire Department’s Fire and Safety Education Center on the Madison Area Technical College Truax campus.
It was a day I’ll never forget.
It started with a chance to practice our extrication skills — my chance to use the “jaws of life” and a hydraulic “spreader” tool to literally take apart a junker car. Later, I got to practice ventilating a burning house by chopping and chainsawing a few holes in a roof. I gave CPR a try and watched some of my teammates perform a search and rescue operation. (Full disclosure: I begged off that assignment because of this nagging fear I have about crawling on my hands and knees in dark, confined spaces, wearing only an oxygen mask to breathe.)
That brings me to the burning home. It’s almost impossible for me to describe the feeling I had walking through that door and being greeted by the thick smoke and blackness … breathing thanks to a cannister of oxygen on your back … knowing that there were stairs in front of you that you couldn’t see …. four other people behind you feeding you hose … and a fire in an adjacent room that was waiting for you if you could feel your way through the dark.
After a stumble on the stairs … and losing my helmet due to the fall … I avoided the couch in the middle of the first room and slowly crawled into the second room … where the fire was burning. And there I waited, on my hands and knees, for the other team members to catch up to me. I then sprayed some water from the hose (to see what it felt like) and happily got the heck out of there.
Never before had I been so happy to see daylight. I about ripped off my oxygen mask and thanked God I would not have to do that again.
It was frightening and fascinating at the same time. It was also enlightening, much like the entire day was.
Making the day even richer was South Milwaukee firefighter Brian Bieganski, a member of the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 1633. He was terrific as our team leader, making sure we got the most out of the experience by answering any and all questions about the successes, and challenges, of the South Milwaukee Fire Department. His depth of knowledge was impressive. From the intricacies of structural design to sharing some of his real-world firefighting stories, Brian provided invaluable perspective.
IAFF Local 1633 firefighter Mike Landgraf was also an instructor at the event, joining dozens of firefighters from around the state in ensuring that newbies like me didn’t kill ourselves.
So, what did I learn from all of this? Of course, I learned how hard it is to be a firefighter — just how physically and mentally demanding that job can be.
More importantly, however, I learned just how complex the scene of a fire, car accident or other emergency can be, just how many simultaneous moving parts there are once a firefighting crew arrives. Hose crews. Ventilation. Search and rescue. Medical services. Everybody on that scene has a job, and each one is vitally important to ensuring that lives are saved.
It is a lesson I will take with me every time the City Council ponders the South Milwaukee Fire Department budget and its staffing needs … a lesson forever seared in my mind by those five minutes inside that burning building.
(Check out some other media coverage from the Capital Times and NBC 15 in Madison.)
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