No different than high school or college students, 10 McComb firefighters at the station on Parklane Road anxiously killed time awaiting a final exam on Friday.
The group, enrolled in a driver/operator pumper course, took a written exam that morning but spent the afternoon waiting in the classroom until they were called individually for skills testing.
In the meantime, they joked around with each other. They traded playful barbs, boasts and insults. They even compared cell phone ringtones, though that got some to tease firefighter Kris Smith that he wouldn’t be passing.
“I pay attention,” Smith retorted, bragging, “I got this, baby.”
But lest you think they’re wasting time on taxpayers’ dime, try to answer this sample test question: What is the total pressure loss for a hose assembly if you have two 21/2-inch attack lines each 200 feet and equipped with fog nozzles, each flowing 225 gallons per minute and wyed from 300 feet of 3-inch with 3-inch couplings supply line?
Confusing? The group of firefighters, which expects results back today, likely didn’t think so.
And, put simply, they had ample motivation to make sense of any questions they had.
Though the course covers skills that many already had some familiarity with, passing it provides certification through the International Fire Service Accreditation Congress that is required for promotions later on.
“It’s to get them prepared if they want to be promoted,” said Chief Jean Frye.
The class is normally offered at the Mississippi State Fire Academy in Jackson. But McComb firefighters had enough interest to make an on-site course happen locally this month.
“Pretty much everybody had a basic knowledge of it,” said Sam Marsalis, another firefighter in the class. “Now we’ve gotta prove we can do it.”
The group spent much of the last two weeks practicing their driving skills in the First Baptist Church parking lot and studying in a classroom at the fire station. Coursework covered everything from hydraulics to proper positioning of vehicles.
The goal: A broader understanding of how a team of firefighters works, beyond the individuals who charge in with the hoses.
“As a firefighter, your main thing is you go put the fire out and that’s it,” said Douglass Glass, another firefighter-student. “As an engineer, you pretty much have their life in your hands. If you mess up, they’re pretty much screwed.”
But knowing how that dynamic works means others can step in to replace others in an emergency.
“It just ups the experience on each person,” said Damon Green, who helped instruct the course. “Most of these guys are newer guys, between one and five years … . Now, they’ll be qualified to work a pumper truck in (the engineer)’s absence.”
