42 — Wednesday. December 26, 1990 - North Shore News Inside a burning house News reporter spends day as a firefighter THE EDITOR said he had . a hot story for me. He wasn’t joking. said Ramsay. 1 remember being told that when the local fire department came to my elementary school to there’s a fire, - talk to ous about fire safety. | By Surj Rattan never really thought about ik much News Reporter back then, but as [sat on the floor and watched the house fill up with thick, black smoke, that point was driven home for me. Ramsay then opened the back door and the three of us crawled out of the house while other While { eavisioned some juicy political scandal, | was soon iu for a surprise. My assignment: Take a. stroll through a burning house with the boys from the North Vancouver District Fire Department. The fire department had plan- ned to torch an abandoned one- storey wooden house in the 2200-block of Dollarton Highway as part of a training exercise for two rookie firefighters. They in- vited the News along so we could have a first-hand look at what it's like to be inside a burning build- ing. 1 admit I was a little apprehen- sive about the assignment. Fire chief Bruce Ramsay and his crew were waiting for us when we arrived. My first task was to get suited up in regulation fire department gear. I slipped on a pair of yellow pants, a large yellow coat and put on a pair of yellow rubber boots. ! then put on a blue ‘inspector’ helmet. This is good, I thought: a fireman for less than two minutes and already I had been promoted. Ramsay walked us through the firefighters put out the blaze. A couple of firefighters checked See Reporter page 13 A fistful of fine two-bedroom house, which only Memorex® tapes contained an old refrigerator and a sleeping bag in one of the Tit bedrooms. In the cenire of the house stood a barrel filled with 44:55 wood and newspapers. Ramsay said he would set the contents of the barrel on fire and the two of us, along with a third firefighter, would thea sit on the floor and watch the smoke and flames. He told me that it would soon get hot in the house: about 800 F. A couple of firefighters helped strap an oxygen tank on my back and fitted an oxygen mask on my face. We walked into the house, and the front door was closed behind us. We sat near the back door where two firefighters man- ning a hose waited outside. ‘*They're there to protect me, and I’m here to protect you,” Ramsay said. He closed the back door and set the barrel on fire. ‘Now watch the smoke rise to the ceiling,’’ Ramsay shouted through his oxygen mask. As we sat on the floor the smoke began rising and then began getting lower and lower and darker and darker. The smoke became so dark that at one point 1 couldn't even see the ceiling. It also began to get hot. Ramsay told me to take off my glove and to stand up slowly so [ could feel the intensity of the {Each tape is 90 minutes. giving vou over 7 hours of record- ing time. 44-8301 That’s using your head 2925 _ * Weighs only 6 ounces © Padded earcushions SAVE 33% on this AM/FM-stereo headset ra- dio. Features built-in AM and FM loop antennas. For portable sound. 12-125 Choose from up to 200 scanner channels heat. The smoke got thicker and 95 thicker. 5 “This is why we tell people to . stay close to the floor when - SAVE $200. Programmable scanner fets vou a 42.058 VHF and Ub cies. You can munitor action bands. a ion, railroads, publi. ser and more. 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