The Knowledge Of The Probie

The first time I ran into the trash line issue was during the summer of 2023, which was June or July. What is a trash line? For Wales FD it is a front bumper line on our engine that is shorter than any other pre-connected line on that truck. For us, it is 150 ft of an inch and three quarters, typically it is used for trash fires, car fires, and any small fire that we don’t need to go far with the line. The front bumper line is known as a scorpion pack, which is not normally taught to firefighters during fires 1 and 2. Wales Fire went for a small brush fire that was down a small camp road. Trying to deploy the side preconnected lines was going to be hard–they are 200 ft long. The officer in charge decided to deploy the front bumper/ trash line and use that line for the brush fire. They got the fire out in a matter of no time at all maybe 30 minutes at max, we used water backpacks to hit some of the hot spots that were left. At the same time, they were doing that I was asked to roll up the hose that we used for the fire. When they got done hitting the hotspots, they cleaned the hand tools they were using and put them back in the engine compartment.

Then we all cleared the scene and went back to the station, when we got there they asked me to pull three rolls of 1 3/4 off the hose rack and repack the front line. So I did sort of do that I got the hose off the rack and brought them over to the truck, but left them rolled up, not rolled out. I did not know how to pack the scorpion lay, and I did not want myself to look stupid. Speaking that I was no more than two months out of my fire academy, thinking I had already forgotten something from school. So I did not ask how to pack that line, I just assumed someone else would do it as I went and rolled out the dirty hose and washed them. That took about ten minutes to complete, while I did this the rest of them were just sitting around talking. Then My lieutenant, Lt Deforge got up and walked to the front of the truck and saw that the trash line had not been repacked yet. He looked over at me and asked why haven’t you repacked the trash line yet? He knew that I did not learn it yet because it’s not something that is taught in Fire 1 and 2. I answered him by saying that I did not know how to, He asked why not. I replied I didn’t know, and then he let on that it was not a skill that was taught in the class that I had just taken, It was something that they found on the internet that worked for the engine 31 trash line. I was so nervous when this was going down that I could feel my heart racing, it felt like I had just finished running a mile at full speed. I felt so foolish that I didn’t ask how to repack the line. He quickly showed me how to repack the trash line, and we continued doing what we needed to do. I finished washing the truck, it got very muddy from a tanker dumping their water thinking they were over the porta tank when there was not.

Then during the fall of 2023, I think it was October we had a junior training on all the different types of hose lays, for example, there is Minute Man, Triple lay, flat lay, accordion, and horseshoe are normal packs. Donut rolls, and scorpions, are not taught in Fire 1 and 2 but they are mostly used for fast deployment of trash lines. So when Lieutenant Deforge got done showing us Jr Firefighter Voye, and myself Jr Firefighter Thibeault how to pack the lines and deploy them, he asked me to repack the trash line. I stood there for a second and had to ask again how to repack the scorpion lay again because I had already forgotten how to, I felt so stupid, and I later learned that the other Jr forgot as well. Now I have seen it enough that I can pack it without issue, now that I look back I think that It was me being forgetful.

“Firefighters Competition” by Ken Mist is licensed under CC BY 2.0.