Now it was on to another Base to be trained in our chosen field. As the Fire Fighting School in Aylmer was full I had to wait until a class graduated before I could attend. In the meantime I was transferred to Trenton, Ontario on Contact Training. I would work in the Fire Hall and assist in menial tasks... Uh huh...you got that right, wash and polish trucks, not to forget all the brass and chrome. There was more brass nozzles and couplings than I thought was possible and it all had to be cleaned and polished. Fire hose had to be washed and rolled up and placed in dryers or strung out on racks. Did I tell you about the Fire Hall clean up. Nah...I'm sure you know what that entailed. I was lucky, my Contact Training only lasted for three weeks. The message finally came through that I was to report to Aylmer, Ontario to commence my training as a Fire Fighter. I was quite excited at the prospect of starting my training. The training course was 16 weeks long.
Late spring, what a wonderful time to be in Aylmer, Ontario. The snow was all gone and it was promising to be a good summer. Now here I was, about to begin my basic training as a FireFighter. Its been 40 plus years so putting things in their proper order may not happen. One of the practical training periods was
to drive two ton gravel trucks through the countryside.
If you don't pass your drivers test you don't become a firefighter and you don't get to drive a beautiful red fire truck.
But driving these vehicles would come much later in my career. First I had to make it through basic training. There was classroom training on Fire truck pumps, centrifugal and rotary, extinguishers, ladders, ropes and knots, rescue and of course always, these classes were followed by practical exercises.
Probably the most exciting and scarier exercises was the " fire pits ".
Although this picture shows personnel using fire extinguishers to control a small fire in a pit, the actual size of the big fire pits
was in the order of 25 feet by 20 feet and about 12 inches deep. The pits were half filled with water. On top of the water gas and oil were poured. Of course the gas and oil floated.
The mixture was then set on fire and allowed to pre-burn for a few minutes. Flames reaching 20 to 30 feet in the air and giving off thick black, oily smoke was definetly a little intimidating.
The instructor, with a trainee on either side equipped with fog nozzles similiar to the one shown then advanced on the pit behind
a cone of fine water spray produced by the nozzles. The idea was to push the fire back into a corner. The men on the nozzles would work together using a sweeping motion and push the flames into a corner were it was extinguished, or rather it burned itself out.
Well, that was the plan, but sometimes there were backflashes and the fire got behind us. In that case the only thing to do was to bring the nozzles close in to our bodies
and back out. Then advance again until the fire was out. AHA !!! a new twist...another instructor would occasionally throw a thunder flash into the pit
causing us once again to become engulfed in flame. Same procedure, back out and try again.
Did trainees ever get burned. Yes, occasionally. One of the fellows I was in the pits with got a burn
on the inside of his thigh and I got a burn on my forearm. A scar which is still visible today. These were minor. I do not recall of anyone getting seriously burned. We had very good instructors and extremely keen trainees on our FireFighting Course (# 195).
Oh..I guess I forgot to tell you, we did have protective gear on. Not like that which can be seen in the picture (upper right), but helmets with a long peak. Worn normally it protects the back of the neck, but in
fire pit training the peak was turned to the front to protect our faces from the flames. We wore a knee length fire coat ( if memory serves me correctly I think they were called "Petch Coats"), hip waders and mitts. Since those days back in the fifties there
has been many changes to the types of gear worn. It now looks like that worn by the men in the picture and, substantially more protective.
I'll not bore you with any more training. Suffice to say that it was exciting. I graduated 7th out of a class of 14.
FF Course 195
Our course was the last to go through the FireFighting school at Aylmer, Ontario. The FireFighting school was moved to Borden, Ontario in the autumn of 1955.
As a new FireFighter I was able to select North Bay, Ontario as my first Posting. In July of 1956 I was transferred to Tofino on Vancouver Island. RCAF Station Tofino is closed now. The Radomes have been torn down and replaced by an Observation Platform. The beautifully long sand beach "Long Beach" has become a Provincial Park. In 1956/57 you could walk for miles on hard packed sand and not see a soul.
Go to this site to see some beautiful pictures of Tofino and its beaches.
My next transfer was to 4(F) Wing - Baden Soellingen in southern Germany. The base was situated between the Schwarzwald "Black Forest" and the Rhine River. Across the Rhine was France. The Base was about 16Km from the resort town of Baden-Baden, about 12Km from Iffezheim and an International Horse racing track. We were a short drive from Strasbourg, France and a couple of hours drive from Basel, Switzerland. I was fortunate enough to have had two tours in 4(F) Wing. ( 1957-1959 and 1964-1969 ) Of all my postings the ones to Germany had to have been the most exciting.
When my first tour in Germany was over I was transferred to RCAF Stn Portage La Prairie. It was here that I took up golf seriously. In 1961 I was transferred to RCAF Stn Fort Churchill. I arrived on a cold January evening. Snow, Polar bears, more snow. During the summer there were mosquitoes as big as sparrows, and in the winter, so cold, that ptarmigan had to tow ravens to get them flying. I was then transferred back to Germany. This time for 5 years. In 1969 I returned to Canada and CFB Rivers. In 1971 I was transferred to CFB Edmonton, retiring there in 1976.
While in Edmonton I had two interesting temporary postings. One to Thule, Greenland and Alert NWT. This was for the purpose of re-supply of the Base at Alert (24 hours of daylight and I had the midnight shift). I then had a three week tour in the Mojave Desert at a place called Bicycle Lake. One of the highlights of this tour was a flight over the desert "Low level" to Death Valley. You know you are low when the aircraft must climb to get over the sand dunes.
As a professional Fire Fighter assigned to an Airbase there was an assortment of Crash/Rescue vehicles to drive. Not all bases had the same types of vehicles. Since my retirement in 1976 many new vehicles have been added to Base Fire Departments. The following are some of the vehicles I was privileged to drive/operate.
Visit the "FIRE HOUSE 651" the Online Home for MOC 651 ... and DND FR Group Fire Fighters.
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