I can now proudly add 鈥榮moke eater鈥� to my resum茅 after having joined Sicamous Fire Rescue (SFR) as recruit for a behind the scenes look at firefighting. 

I arrived at the Tuesday night, May 13, practice with trepidation and the certainty this would not go down like some slick episode of Chicago Fire. My nerves only intensified when my trainer Lt. Ken Davidson joked 鈥� I think 鈥� that 鈥渨e鈥檙e going to rake you over the coals.鈥�

Prior to letting me anywhere near a live fire, Davidson and Capt. Jarrod LaRoy took me through the whole recruit procedure, albeit abbreviated for time, where one of the big lessons I learned was that firefighting doesn鈥檛 just start and stop at the flames.

After acing the job interview, they geared me up, which is a process in itself. I was completely outfitted in the heavy pants and jacket, boots, balaclava, mask, helmet and gloves that left me about as agile as the Tin Man.

We loaded into the trucks, which isn鈥檛 as easy as the crew makes it look when you鈥檙e wearing the equivalent of body armour, and headed to the burn building. A practice exercise that Davidson said, rightfully so, 鈥渘ever gets old.鈥�

After the pallet fire built up to a suitably intimidating size in what is essentially a shipping container, Davidson and I breached the building with myself leading on the hose. It wasn鈥檛 until the steam from an initial shot of water to the ceiling cut my visibility that a moment of panic set in and I鈥檓 pretty sure I sucked back half of my oxygen tank before regulating my breathing and clearing my mask.

While I had been expecting some kick back from the water pressure, the hose was actually not hard to handle and I was able to attack the fire itself with Capt. Chris Wilson directing me and urging me to get closer!

When all was said and done and I had a moment to process with the crew as I was jacked up on adrenaline, you couldn鈥檛 wipe the grin off my face 鈥� nor the sweat. It was such an incredible experience, and I was part of the team.

That wasn鈥檛 the end, however, because as I said, it doesn鈥檛 end at the flames. Final clean up had to be done, oxygen tanks changed out for full ones, hoses hung to dry and the trucks reloaded in preparation for the next call. Then we got to relax. 

That鈥檚 when it really registered that I had put out a fire, that I could do it thanks to SFR. They gave me the knowledge, support and opportunity to prove to myself that I could, or would, do this thing that was so far out of my comfort zone that I almost cancelled, but instead had the most exhilarating experience. While my arms might have been sore for a week afterwards, the sense of accomplishment is here to stay.