Monday 1st of June and it's time for my fire fighting course. My friend will come to have breakfast with me and then he will drive me to Karholmens fire fighting field. He was late and I'm not surprised. But he had time for a glass of milk before we left in his car.
He also handed me a USB memory stick with the pictures he took outside my hotel Friday night. Not a nice sight and, well, I can't say that I'm proud of the pictures. But when my friend went through the trouble to copy them to the USB stick I can as well put them online so you can enjoy the eyesore.
Please bear in mind my jet lag and the taxi drivers driving skills left more than a little to wish for. Jet lag and motion sickness is a killer in combination.
Friday night in Göteborg
Luckily enough my friend brought his camera. You never know when there is something worth having on picture. Tack Björn! Well, never mind, we took off for the fire fighting course at 8 o'clock Monday morning and it took us about 20 minutes to get to the fire fighting training ground.
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Well, time for a new refresh fire fighting course. 5 years since last time and time has turned quick. Nothing I have been looking forward to, but it has to be done.
My friend dropped me off about 20 minutes after 8. We had a wee bit problem to find the place. It don't look like it did five years ago. I had been at the fire fighting training ground for a few minutes when I saw a guy that I recognized. I asked about his name and we had been working on the same ship as ABs more than 20 years ago.
We started the day in the classroom and the Teacher explained all the parts in the breathing apparatus and how they works. This took us until 11 o'clock when we went for lunch.
The lunch restaurant, Fältet, yeah, I think that's the name. This must be the worst restaurant I had ever been eating at. And it was the same at my last fire fighting course 5 years ago. And all the participants at the fire fighting course thought the same.
- Feels like shit after eating here.
I was going to the restaurant with a Captain I was working with on Bro Nelly. He told me that he had been eating here back in the 70's when it was Torslanda airport.
Approaching the fire behind a water shield
Gas fire
After lunch the action started. We were to groups, one group had yellow helmets and one group had blue helmets and I was in the blue helmet team. After lunch the blue team started with gas fires.
Gas fire
Fire extinguished
As you understand I had no time to take the pictures so all the credit goes to the Captain I was working with on Bro Nelly back in 2001.
Fire extinguished
When we were ready with the gas fire we moved to the smoke diving area of the training ground and the team with the yellow helmets relieved us at the gas fire fighting area.
Ready to enter the building
Entering the building
Smoke diving
Smoke diving, we enter a building filled with smoke and we are doing a search for people (dummies) in the building. Believe me, it's not easy to smoke dive trying to find people in a smoke filled room.
Entering the building
Feeding the smoke divers with a fire hose
Smoke diving
It's very important to have the fire hose with you. If you lose the fire hose there is no way to find your way our again. Walking around in a room with furniture and you don't see f@ck all so finding someone lying on the floor is very hard. Next to impossible for us amateurs.
Heavy foam
Medium heavy
Fighting fire with foam
After the smoke diving it was time for foam, two different kinds. Heavy and medium heavy foam and as you can see on the above pictures you can see that we reach much longer with the heavy foam. But we use the heavy foam to take down the fire so they can approach the fire with the medium foam and extinguish the fire.
Heavy fire
Reaching the fire with the heavy foam
Fighting fire with foam
When we have taking down the fire with the heavy foam and thus decreasing radiant heat so the guys with the medium foam can come close and put out the fire.
Radiation heat is reduced so they can reach the fire with the medium foam
They put out the fire with the medium foam
Fighting fire with foam
When we were ready with the foam it was time to change and return to my hotel. I got a ride back to the hotel by one of the guys living at the same hotel. Quite a few of the guys at the course living at the same hotel as I do.
My friend should pick me up at 4 o'clock in the afternoon when we finished the training. But we finished at 15:30 and I called my friend.
- No need to come and get me, I have a ride back to the hotel.
- OK, I see you at your hotel at 4 o'clock, he said.
I just got out of the shower when my friend called.
- I will be down in 3 minutes!
When I came down I told my friend that I wanted to buy him dinner. But is off to Germany tomorrow and we needed to leave his motorcycle in the garage before 5 o'clock.
- We just got the darn motorcycle last Friday, I said.
- Yeah, but I want it back in the garage when I'm in Germany.
When we had left his motorcycle at the garage we went to buy bags for my shoes. I don't like to have my shoes in plastic bags in my suitcase and we went to buy some good stuff. We found Victorinox bags and we could take off to the Thai restaurant for the dinner.
- What the hell??!! Closed on Mondays.
My friend suggested an Italian restaurant at Scandinavium and we took off.
Monday night in Göteborg
We were just about to arrive to the restaurant when we had the police after us. And when we stopped outside the restaurant the police came running against us. Embarrassing, everyone at the restaurant was looking at us.
We ordered our food. No “Low carb” food on the menu but its summer holiday so we indulged. Deep fried Mozzarella, blue mussels and pizza. Not very healthy, but it was delicious. My friend needs the energy because after dinner we took off to Hovås and his mother.
- She needs help to move the lawn.
- Great, I will get a few pictures of you doing some hard work, I said.
I was drinking diet drinks and taking pictures
My friend’s mother started to sandpaper the garden table and I had to react.
- Hey! It's your son’s job to do the heavy job sandpaper and oil the table, I said.
This is not what I want to see
That’s more like it! Atta boy!
I was drinking diet drinks and taking pictures
It was almost 9 o'clock in the evening when we left Hovås. My friend drove around showing me Hovås and the houses were all the beautiful girl had lived when he was young some 40 years ago.
A quick stop for a Ramlösa and my friend took me back to my hotel. And what do you know? The Police stopped him again. And I could see the Police pointing at us when we approached. At least they sent the beautiful Police woman to us. Alco test and no problem and I were soon back in my hotel room.
My friend will leave for a week holiday in Europe and when he is back I will be on the ship so I will not see him in a few years again. Last time I meet him must have been 2005 or something like that. But it has been very nice to meet him and we have had a very good time here in Göteborg.
Tuesday 2nd June and it's the second and last day at our fire fighting course at Karholmens training ground in Torslanda, Gothenburg Sweden. I meet the guy I had been AB with 23 years ago at breakfast and I got a ride with him to Karholmens training ground. Last day, really nice.
We started the day in the classroom and we had an early lunch.
- So we will start earlier. Be dressed and ready quarter to 12.
Back to the restaurant and today the food was even worse. But today I expect the Thai restaurant to be open and I can wait until dinner.
Team “Blue helmet” was ready to start 15 minutes before the hour and now we had to exercise the use of handheld fire extinguisher. We started with the CO2 extinguishers.
Fighting fire with a CO2 extinguisher
Fighting fire with a CO2 extinguisher
Fighting fire with a CO2 extinguisher
When we were ready with the CO2 extinguisher it was time for the powder extinguisher. No end to the excitements.
Powder extinguisher
Powder extinguisher
After the handheld fire extinguisher exercise it was time for a drill were we should extinguish a
Back draft
a phenomenon in which a fire that has consumed all available oxygen suddenly explodes when more oxygen is made available, typically because a door or window has been opened.
fire in a building and save 3 persons inside. By now I was pretty feed up and I just wanted to return to my hotel. But there was more excitements coming up. When we were ready with the fire fighting and search for bodies we had to get dressed in our breathing apparatus again.
They have a “backdraft” container used for training the fighting of, yeah, back drafts. Back drafts are a very dangerous phenomenon. It's so hot so everything solid turns in to gas, but lack of oxygen prevent the gases to caught fire. If oxygen is added the gases explodes. One way to prevent a back draft is to cool down the gases with water spray. But when the explosion comes you must have to use your fog fighter and catch the flames in the protective water shield.
Back draft is coming against you
Stay low, because the gas is lighter than air and the explosion will be above you
Stay low, because the gas is lighter than air and the explosion will be above you
Well, I was there with my camera for all of you to see the excitements. Well, this was the last drill and we could pick up our certificates. Captain from Bro Nelly took me back to my hotel before returning home. 5 years until next fire fighting course.
And it is time to join M/T Tärnvåg, and luckily enough she is arriving to Go:teborg on the 3rd of June. So it is just to click HERE and you will end up in the middle of that adventure.
But hang on, let's have a look at the slide show below from the fire fighting course before we swing over to the next page! Might be worth it!
OK, it has come to my knowledge that we have senior citizens visiting my web page. How hard can it be? So it's not very easy for them to see the blue coloured links to the next page.
Jiffy (also jiff)
noun [in SING.] informal a moment: we'll be back in a jiffy.
ORIGIN late 18th cent.: of unknown origin.
So as you understand, in a jiff pretty much depends on your internet.
So I put a “Next” button here and I hope that there isn't any problem to understand how to use that one. So just CLICK the “Next” button on your left hand side and you will be on the next page in a jiff!
Marunong ka mag-tagalog? Walang problema! Magpunta sa kabilang pahina pindutin ang “NEXT” button sa itaas
Faites vous parlez le français? Pas de problème! Pour arriver à la page suivante faites s'il vous plaît un déclic le bouton “Next” ci-dessus!
Haga usted dice el español? No hay problema! Ver la siguiente página sólo hacer clic el botón “Next” encima!
Farla parla l'italiano? Non problemi! Per vedere la prossima pagina lo scatto per favore giusto Il bottone “Next” sopra
Sprechen sie Deutsch! Kein problem! Wenn Sie die folgende Seite sehen wollen gerade klicken der Knopf “Next” oben!