Basic Life

Lady Knife the Firefighter

Since working in the BSP area, I’ve been briefed before on the standard safety and precaution regulations set by Brunei Shell Petroleum. They are very particular about this and it’s good because, let’s face it, nobody wants to lose an arm or a leg or a head even while working. Think of the paperwork.

The only time I’ve witness a fire demonstration was when I was in school, and that was like far, far, FAR away from the fire, in a crowded side of the school. One of the teachers would be brave enough to step up and grab the extinguisher. Execute the three ‘P’s, Pull, Point and Press.

Then there was a time when my boss of Dee Jay was smoking in his office and tossed the cig into the waste paper basket without putting it out entirely. We were all wondering where the smell of burning came from before realizing it was from the office. The boss was out at the time. I didn’t see the fire, but then one of the guys came in and put out the fire.

Those are the two scenarios of fire fighting I’ve witnessed.

However, this is different.

First we have a small lecture in the conference room. Interesting stuff, like if I am crawling along in a dark room, I should feel the wall with my palm up and not down. Close all doors when you evacuate the building and how to open the door properly so you don’t become a barbequed kebab by the time you get out.

We had to put on the standard training clothes before moving on to the physical part of the course. I’m glad of this when I saw what we had to do. We had to go through the smoke room. It looks like a normal building from the outside but inside, its pitch black and narrow, with steps, tunnels and various obstacles. It felt like scout endurance course but only in the dark.

I’ve been through something like that before, when I was in a scout leader training camp. We were blind folded and had to walk through the bushes and what not with only a rope to guide us. Along the way, the first person would shout out body count, 1,2,3, and so on. We lost two people from a group of 7 that day. XD

So this time I was a tiny bit worried cuz I was the last one in a line of 7. Worse, I was in a group of giggling ladies from a salon also in the BSP area. You can only imagine what happened in there. There was a lot of giggling, talk and a lot of shushing from my part. (worse, they were all talking in Chinese, giving out instruction in Chinese “Start crawling here!” when they clearly forgot that there are two malay girls in the line as well. Sheesh.) I was hit in the head by someone’s shoe but didn’t mind, cuz at least I didn’t get stuck or left behind. It took us four minutes to get out. Real fire fighters take 45 seconds.

Then all that’s left is the proper handling of the fire extinguishers. Pull, Point and Press. That’s what I did…only the fire didn’t go out like it was suppose to…instead it reignited. *Ack!* Spray, spray, spray some more. Finally it went out.

“This, ladies and gentlemen, is a good example never to turn your back from a fire. You need to make sure to put the fire out once and for all and just back away but always facing the fire.”

*sweat*

There was a lot of rain during the outside fire extinguishing exercise. So in the end I’m all wet and tired but it was lots of fun. So now, when any fire breaks out, my advice, do what I would do, be the first one out of the building. Don’t hero, please.