Blog #2

 During the first week of my senior project, I worked with the Shaker Heights Fire Department. There are two stations, and I worked with Station 1 on Chagrin Boulevard. There were three different units that consisted of about 10 firefighters and paramedics. I worked from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. during the week working on both the ambulance and fire truck. I got to know people from different shifts because each person does a 24-hour shift and then takes two days off. Each member of the station was extremely welcoming and loved teaching me about the equipment they used on their calls. Every Monday everyone has to check their gear, so I got to replace batteries on equipment in the ambulance and chain saws on the fire truck. They also had to make sure their air tanks were working. One of my favorite parts about being at the fire station was the environment. Everyone knew how to make each other laugh, but when calls came in, everyone became more serious and focused. In this environment, I also learned there was a lot of downtime when calls were not coming in. That downtime was spent cleaning cars, bathrooms, or bedrooms, taking classes from John Carrol professors of exercise science, or (for the newer members) studying road maps in order to familiarize themselves with Shaker Heights. I was able to go on one call on the ambulance, but I spent most of my time on the fire truck. I liked the fire truck because we got to wear headsets in order to hear each other talk over the sirens. Overall, while many of the calls were not emergencies, everyone acts as if they are. I really liked learning about how to respond to different situations and experiencing the fast-paced work environment.