Firefighter Schumin is on his way!
July 26, 2006, 9:09 PM
Wasn’t today an exciting day at work!
Not long after my first break, one of our cart pushers reported that there was a mulch fire in the parking lot. One of our CSMs, knowing I’m on the safety team, came up to the service desk and got me, and handed me a fire extinguisher. I quickly found out what was going on as we were walking out to the parking lot to the fire. I ended up ripping off the tag and pulling out the pin on the way out the door.
We got to the mulch that was on fire in the parking lot. It was on a traffic island about a third of the way down the lot. After chasing off some very stupid teenagers who were trying to put it out by stomping it out in their flip flops (very dumb teenagers), I went to work. Since I had already pulled the pin, I went about it as I’d seen in the past, staying low, aiming for the base of the fire, and sweeping side to side. And I got the fire out, too. It seems that what I’d learned had sunken in fairly well, as I’d performed flawlessly despite having never actually used a fire extinguisher before.
I used up the entire extinguisher on it, just to be on the safe side. It’s just as well, too, since you can’t reuse a fire extinguisher that’s been discharged until it’s professionally recharged. But like I said, I got the fire out.
A few observations about the whole thing… it had been more than three years since the last time I’d seen the agent used in dry chemical fire extinguishers. This was back when someone had discharged a fire extinguisher in Potomac Hall in a study lounge (no fire alarm resulted from that). And I also remember all the dust from the time in 2001 that a resident on my floor discharged a fire extinguisher at 4:00 AM, setting off the fire alarm as a result. I remember how the dust smelled when I walked through that. This time, however, I was upwind from it, so all the powder from the extinguisher blew away from me. I also didn’t recall the contents being such fine particles. But I guess they were. And you also wouldn’t believe how big of a cloud that the fire extinguisher made in the process. The cloud made by the extinguishing agent was bigger than the smoke from the fire. But in the end, it was “Schumin 1, fire 0”.
This also goes to show that the information you learn on children’s educational programming really sticks with you when presented right. What do you mean, you ask? Well, I learned how to use a fire extinguisher on Today’s Special. The episode was Fire, and in one part, Sam was showing us all about his trip to the fire academy. Besides seeing firefighters receiving professional training, one instructor showed Sam how to use a portable fire extinguisher. His presentation certainly helped me today. I followed it to the letter.
So watching Today’s Special all those years certainly helped me today.
Web site: The movie of the instructor showing Sam how to properly use a fire extinguisher
Song: "It's one of the coziest feelings I know/To sit snug and warm by the fire's rosy glow!" - Jeff, Jodie, Muffy, and Mort singing about fire
Quote: "Looks like it's out!"
Categories: Today's Special, Walmart