Week 2 Reflection

Week two has been a slower week than week one. I made progress on many of my goals including studying for my CDL air brakes test and did a fair amount of operating the Fire Department's trucks. This includes fueling the tanker, and operating the forestry vehicle's pump. I have been enjoying working not only in Andover, but Franklin and Sanborton as well. I have gained a lot of experience on medical calls which is not my strong point. This includes knowing more of what is going to be needed on certain types of med calls and knowing how and where o get supplies. I am still working on this more in Franklin than in Andover mostly because I am less familiar with Franklin's ambulances. I have however been able to learn where a lot of the fire equipment is on Franklin's trucks and about some of the equipment that they carry that we do not. This includes things like high rise bags and piercing nozzles. Getting a look into the daily operation and equipment at other departments has also been a good experience. Every department not only has strengths and weaknesses, but also excels in some ways and struggles in others. For example, Sanborton is staffed during the day which helps them to achieve very fast response times, where Andover struggles during the day time, due to most of its personnel having daytime jobs or being out of town, making them unavailable to respond. What is interesting is Sanborton has at night some of the same struggles Andover does during the day. Thia is not because of a lack of commitment or energy, but rather the logistics of having people living far away from the department. Next week, I will experience cooking at the Franklin Fire house on Wednesday, as well as training in Andover Monday nights and possibly some shifts at New London Fire.