Name: Robert Rainville
Age: 33
Volunteer: Chief of East Hampton Fire Department
I started here thirteen years ago and have been hooked ever since. I joined because I was bored and wanted to do something with my spare time. I gained my closest friends through the firehouse; it’s just been a great place to be. I started off as a firefighter which did not have any sort of rank, just doing the fun stuff. Then I moved up to a lower level officer, 3rd lieutenant. In that position, I did line work, teaching the newer people the ropes, and coming up with new monthly drills for our department. I continued to move up the ranks. I became the captain, then assistant chief, and now the chief of the department.
This job takes a lot of time, a lot of sacrifice to your family and your life. Since we are volunteers, myself and the rest of the guys and gals still work normal jobs. I work my job during the day and I am lucky enough to be able to leave for fire calls which is rare, but I am very thankful. Having said all that, I have had to go through a lot of training and experience in order to be a chief. I have had basic training like playing with fire, cutting up cars, taking firefighter 1 —260 hours or something like that—as well as firefighter 2. All this has to have to be done on the weekends or when I’m not working your regular job. By knowing how the guys work and knowing what they do, it helps me coordinate things better, and basically be the one calling the shots. This helps things run smoothly and safely. You are also coordinating any other towns coming to the scene; knowing how many guys are on each truck; knowing what trucks are where; there’s just a lot on your shoulders; making sure everything gets done safely and smoothly. At the end of the day, I just try my best to make sure the job gets done properly and make sure everyone can go back home to their families safe and sound.
Radio:
The thing I use the most, and the most important piece on my rig, is my radio. In this line of work, communication is the key to success and safety, and I use it for just about everything. If you can’t talk to the other guys on the fire scene, you are basically shooting yourself in the foot, and things can become very disorganized and chaotic. It’s not the most interesting and badass thing, but that’s how the job gets done.
AED (Automated External Defibrillator):
The AED (Automated External Defibrillator) is probably the other most important thing I have in my truck. This is used during CPR, and used during the resuscitation of a person. This is used to shock someone’s heart rhythm back into place so they have a regular heartbeat. Some people just think it just brings them back to life, or back from the dead, but that’s not the case. You also have to meet a certain criteria in order for the machine to shock you, so it is not used on every single person.
The AED (Automated External Defibrillator) is probably the other most important thing I have in my truck. This is used during CPR, and used during the resuscitation of a person. This is used to shock someone’s heart rhythm back into place so they have a regular heartbeat. Some people just think it just brings them back to life, or back from the dead, but that’s not the case. You also have to meet a certain criteria in order for the machine to shock you, so it is not used on every single person.
Med Bag:
With our AED we also have a medical bag and an oxygen bag. That medical bag can help with anything from major bleeding; with tourniquets, clotting stuff, and big bandages in case of any sort of bleeding emergency. It also has things to help you breath and help open your airway. The oxygen bag is used to help people who have low O2 status, and just need a little bit of oxygen to help them breathe better, or even someone who is having a panic attack. This can help someone just calm down when they are having a bad day. Lastly, everyone’s favorite, it has a couple Band-Aids.
With our AED we also have a medical bag and an oxygen bag. That medical bag can help with anything from major bleeding; with tourniquets, clotting stuff, and big bandages in case of any sort of bleeding emergency. It also has things to help you breath and help open your airway. The oxygen bag is used to help people who have low O2 status, and just need a little bit of oxygen to help them breathe better, or even someone who is having a panic attack. This can help someone just calm down when they are having a bad day. Lastly, everyone’s favorite, it has a couple Band-Aids.
Co Meter:
Next, we have our gas meter. This is used by the first in officers or any of the other officers that get on scene first. It will alert you if you have any sort of harmful gas inside the house. It also detects carbon monoxide which is extremely helpful because it is an odorless and tasteless gas but can cause a lot of harm to people. Also we can use it if you have a furnace issue.
If we call us because your carbon monoxide detector is going off, normally what I do when I first get to a scene, I will make sure everyone is out of the house and then place the meter inside the door a couple feet and put it on their couch or shelf. This will help me figure out if we have no issue, a small issue, or even a huge issue, and the meter will usually go off right away. It’ll start buzzing, alarming, and making all sorts of fun noises and letting you know there is some sort of harmful gas in the air. This also allows me, if there is a problem, to notify all incoming personnel and give them a heads up for what they might be walking into.
Thermal Imaging Camera (TIC):
I also have a thermal imaging camera (TIC). That TIC is used to detect any sort of heat coming from anything. There is heat coming off of my hand, and my truck, and the camera shows this in different colors and shows the exact temperature. We use these in fires to “see through” the smoke and find the bulk of the fire or the exact location of a fire. It also helps us find any trapped occupants.
The way I personally use this is a little different. Since I am usually in command, I am not going inside the building. So I am first on scene and not going inside, I can use the TIC to look on the outside of the building and see where the fire could be, and what part of the house is giving off the most amount of heat.
Extinguishers:
So the fun thing, and the thing everyone knows firefighters for, is extinguishers. Obviously we use this to extinguish fires. We have a lot of different ways to actually use these things. I actually used one of my extinguishers not too long ago on a brush fire that was right at the base of someone’s house. The kind of extinguisher I used was what we call a water can, just a can with pressurized water. It can also be used to simply clean yourself off after a dirty call or something like that.
The other kind of extinguisher I have in my rig is an ABC. This is the most common kind of extinguisher and the one most people have in their house. They have a chemical in them to put out fires that normal water can’t put out as easily. I actually used this not too long ago on a lithium ion battery fire inside someone’s house. I think having this on my rig can definitely help protect people and their belongings and stop a fire from spreading into something way more major.
Daniel Miller is a staff writer for the Blue Muse Magazine.
Headline Photo Courtesy of Daniel Miller
Really engaging interview, Daniel!