Back to the roots: workplace
It’s been a while since I’ve sat here last. It feels good and right to have rejoined old fire department. It’s got nothing to do with one being better than the other. Anyone who doesn’t have a “home” as such probably will appreciate the importance of a pivotal point in life. For me, it matters more than I originally thought. Anyway, here I am today, again driving this fire engine. It felt really good.
Cup of Coffee?
This morning I went to Veendam to collect our trailer. I called ahead and spoke to one of the guys. What he had to say: “There’s a cup of coffee waitong for you”. Sometimes, it’s the small things that mean a lot.
When it all comes together
This one’s a little bit hard to describe, but there are moments in life that bear a lot of weight, in whichever way. Yesterday was one such moment. I’d been preparing for a “lift” workshop where the goal ist to free a car trapped underneath a truck. Everything until then had been paperwork, phone calls, e-mails and the like. The moment the trailer was delivered, everything suddenly unwound. It was real.
There’s more depth to this story, but this is not the time and place to dwell on it. I am glad it is over, and I am glad it worked out OK. Today was a huge relief. Oh, and there aren’t many things in life that beat chucking big things onto small things. Here’s a link to the pictures.
Growing pains
Here’s one to never growing up. I was really lucky to secure five toy trucks at the supermarket last week, as well as some simple building blocks. Both to be used as practical props during the workshop next week. Man, did this make me happy :) Nice side effect: does your job involve any toys?
Ecto, aptitude test
This is as much a test of ecto, which I’ve just installed, as a wish to show a picture I took last Sunday. These guys are performing a Leistungsprüfung, which is like an aptitude check, with the small difference that it was acted: this is a recreation of a test taken back in 1961, including uniforms, fire engine and the like.
Interesting factoids: the basic Löschgruppe (Team of 9 Firefighters) includes the Löschtrupp (extinguishing team), as it was called then. Today, this attack team is called Angriffstrupp. Apparently, it was then unfashionable, or rather politically incorrect to use the word Angriff. Same goes for the Group Leader, or Gruppenführer. I still find the word Führer somewhat awkward, but have gotten used to it. Back then, this was also a no-no, so that position was called Löschmeister (extinguishing master, literally).
There’s a video of the test here, and some picture here . The aptitude test still exists today, although slightly adapted to modern firefighting. The purpose is to demonstrate that a team is trained and that the equipment is working, also it’s a bit of tradition and comradeship.
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Welcome
Welcome to Irakli West's personal pages on the Web. I am Danish, live close to Munich in Germany, and run FWnetz, an online magazine and training resource for firefighters. In real life, I am Regional Manager Northern Europe for Paratech and currently training to become a specialist in Urban Search and Rescue as well as Heavy Rescue (it's fun, challenging and serves a good purpose)
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