Firefighting and Alaskan Deployment

Today we started our 2-day shipboard fire-fighting course. A few hours of classroom discussion and about 3-4 hours of practical. The first part of the hands-on part, was fire fighting with Co2 extinguishers. then we donned full bunker gear, air canisters and entered the mockup to fight a fire and get some "hose time". It was hot, fun, sweaty.. Tomorrow we work more on technique and timing to meet the Coast Guard requirements needed to pass the course. After tomorrow, we are out of school until June, but deployment begins...

Bunker gear fits, now it's time for my SCBA, (self contained breathing apparatus)

The mockup trainer in Seattle where thousands of merchant mariners learn how to fight fire each year.

I also talked with my new boss today and he told me that my first cruise will begin next Friday (April 5th) and that I'm heading to Western Alaska on the tugboat "Polar Endurance", and that I won't be back until the early part of May. Originally I was told that the first cruise would only be a few weeks to Southeast Alaska, but apparently the info was incorrect and I'm heading across the Gulf Alaska, pulling barges and most likely coming back with a ton of refrigerated containers full of fish.

I did a little research to see what ports we might be stopping at, and it appears that this run is supposed to hit Anchorage, Dutch Harbor, Dillingham, Naknek, Port Moller and Bristol Bay... but that hasn't been confirmed as of yet. This info came from the Northland Services website, which is the company that coordinates all the freight that we tow. Hopefully I'll have the Chance to come home for a week or two after this trip and see the family.

Polar Endurance, my home for about a month...

I'm excited for the trip, but also bummed about the fact that I'm going to be gone so much on this initial cruise and not see the family for a while. Originally, I had anticipated that the class sessions would be 8 weeks, so I guess this isn't so bad, relatively speaking. It's still a large pill to swallow right off the bat, regardless. Once I graduate, the job will have long work sessions, balanced by long time-off sessions. But for now, most of my time-off from work, is going to be filled with classroom. We will figure it out...

 

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