FTV Fire Fighting Training

Out at sea, the cadets and crew are all we have. It is very important that in an emergency situation we all know how to react. On board a ship your coworkers and friends are your EMTs, firefighters, medical personnel, and all emergency response that you need. If we are out in the middle of the oceans 100's of miles away from land we cannot call the fire department to come and save us. This is why we, as cadets, all go through fire training.

Starting in orientation we all take basic fire training classes were we learn how to use fire hoses, and fire extinguishers. We also learn about the different types of fires and the correct way to put them out.

On Seaterm the freshmen engine and marine transportation cadets go through more fire training. This is so once they learn all of these skills they are able to assist in any emergency situations that we may have on board.

Training includes learning about the buddy system and searching a smoke filled room. In a real fire there would be a large amount of smoke preventing fire fighters from seeing. To simulate this situation, a piece of wrinkled wax paper inside the face masks locking their view. During this exercise the cadets must scan the parameters of the room without losing their team. In the middle of the room there is a water bottle they must find which the victim of the fire is. All of this is done on their knees to simulate how to avoid the hot flames above them. You can see this is a very important class for our cadets to take.