memory revisited #8: my first fire fighting training

masa muda2 dulu.. (ahakz).. den pernah join fire fighting training, special utk combat fire in oil n gas field. so satu hari ini, team kami punya turn la. our team consists of 20 org operators, 2 senior operators (supervisor) and of course me, the youngest process engineer, who insist on working on shift. hehehe..


so, on that fateful afternoon, kitorang naik fire truck, nak pi stesen yg terletak dlm plant jugak. sampai2 situ, kitorang kena tukar baju pakai baju fireman. tuh dierrrr... takde toilet pompuan. den dah la malu2 kucing2, kek mano la den nak tukar baju nih. the guys of course la selamba badak je tukar baju dlm bilik tuh. pastuh jaydee tunjukkan toilet kat belakang, suh tukar baju. he said, dun worry, i'll stand outside while u change. n the rest of the guys, of course, sengih bagai kucing jumpa ikan. dem...


siap pakai baju fireproof, suar pon fireproof, helmet secured, gloved secured, kitorang naik truck ala2 fireman. aih. berdebar2 jantung den. the guys dah byk kali poie trianing, but for me, this is my first. dari jauh, den nampak kat training ground, api menjulang tinggi dengan kepulan asap itam. mak aih, tinggi api tu mcm bangunan 5 tingkat. nak lemah lutut dent gk api beso camtuh.. dr jauh bleh rasa bahang beb..


smpi2 je, kapten bg briefing. hari ni punya task.. is to isolate the pipeline that leaked gasoline, so that the fire will be put out. maksudnya, senario hari tu ada gasoline yang bocor dr pipeline, menyebabkan kebakaran. so kena tutup main valve (kepala paip) yang menyalurkan gasoline tu. valve tu pulak, letaknya betul2 bawah api yg tengah marak tu.


so senior operator kitorang start briefing..


"hari ni task is simple, cuma nak isolate the valve from main pipelines. mcm biasa, kita pakai forward motion, one step at a time. we will create a water curtain to shield the leader who will crawl beneath the fire towards the valve"


oooohhh.. scary beb. cara nak matikan api tu, satu team akan pegang hos bomba tu, dan buat water curtain, mcm buat water spray la supaya api tu akan tertolak kebelakang n tak marak ke hadapan. supaya leader boleh merangkak ke bawah api yg menjulang tu dan tutup valve. almost too crazy to believe it..


"so, in an event of emergency, the highest ranking executive will automatically be the commanding officer. in this case, we have Evelyn as our commanding officer, and hence, she'll be our leader."

Oh...My...God...

the guys dah start sengih2. and im like.. what the hell? how am i going to crawl beneath the fire? 

masa tu, lagi sekali, lutut den cam nak jadi jelly. degupan jantung den gile mcm nak melompat dr dada. adrenalin rush beb.. tp muka menten selamber. den just senyum2 jek. dlm hati bagai nak mati.... hahaha..

so, kitorang bagi kepada dua kumpulan, each team akan handle one hose. caranya, hos tu kena kepit kat ketiak kanan, dan bila kapten cakap "LEFT FORWARD", semua orang akan ambil satu langkah kedepan mula dgn kaki kiri. n kapten akan trus cakap forward..forward..HALT. bila sebut HALT, kapten akan set nozzle hose tu supaya water curtain terbentuk..

"FORWARD.. FORWARD..FORWARD.. HALT!! EVELYN, GO IN NOW!!"

and thats when i stepped out from the line and merangkak kebawah api yg tengah menjulang... masa tu, i was so dem scared, i dont have the time to think. the water curtain, air daripada hos tu menahan api dari marak n menjilat tanah.. n i was supposed to crawl n get the valve. so den pon dived into the fire, berdoa agar water curtain jgn pecah.. n berdoa.. jangan plak tetiba air habis..

giler panas toksah citer.. telinga den rasa berdengung.. i cant see anything because nak bukak mata sgttttt panas, n water everywhere... den meraba2 jek, terpegang besi panas.. uwaaaaa.. even pakai glove pun, rasa panas tu masiht erasa. raba2 lagi, rasa mcm valve, cepat2 pusing wpun rasa tangan mcm nak melecur.... tetiba, rasa kaki den kena tarik n sentap dengan ganasnya...

dem.. the guys suka suki jek tarik den mcm tarik anak ayam. siap sembur den ngan air tu.. wakakaka.. dem btol la. they were laughing so hard ok.. actually, i didnt get the joke.. and diorang cepat2 tanggalkan my helmet n my glove, to check for burns.. they tot i dah jadi ayam panggang kot. haha.. n then.. i heard them cheering.. siap bersorak bagai menang bola.. n jaydee told me, i was the first female ever attempted that particular training. muahahaha.... actually, i dont hear much of what they said, sbb masa tu, telinga den panas sgt smpi earwax cair beb.. haa.. tahi telinga buleh cair. bila den cabut ear plug, ewwww.. melted earwax.. :P

gambo bawah ni  lebih kurang sama mcm training yg den citer nih. protective water curtain during fire source isolation.. imagine la kene merangkak kat bawah tu..n masa training kitorang dulu, the fire is much bigger..

 

actually, as the commanding officer, me no need to be the leader.i can always appoint someone else. but as usual, i was too naive to realize that, and i was too shy to say no, and was too proud to say im scared.. really, i always have problem of saying no to others..

have a nice week!