ARFF Training in Denver

Today we spent the day at the Denver International Airport Fire Training Academy completing our annual FAA required 8 hour certification burn.  We had about 3 hours in the classroom meeting each other and reviewing aircraft fire fighting stradegies and tactics.  Then we suited up in our "silvers" to go play with some fire.  We ended up with a good size group of 12 of us, so we all got some decent fire time.  The interesting challenge for this group is to work together in emergency settings without ever meeting each other prior to this.  Paula and I have worked together allot over the years, and there were two returning firefighters that have worked together for a season, but other than that most of us can't even rememeber each others names yet.  Even with all of that challenge, we came together as a decent group by the end of the day.

So now we are packing up the hotel room and getting ready to fly for many many hours to New Zealand.  The basic schedule is:

Sunday - Leave Denver to Los Angles and then leave for Sydney, Austraila.
Monday - None.  We miss Monday due to the fact that we cross the international date line.
Tuesday - Arrive in Sydney and then fly to Christchurch, New Zealand.
Wednesday - Training and clothing issue in NZ.
Thursday - Fly to McMurdo if weather is good.

Here are some photos from the burn day.





Paula's crew making entry.