Week 5. Firefighting

Wow it's been a while. I have already finished my first cruise (5 months) and have done my food service on it. Anyway..on to week 5.

Week 5 is all learning about firefighting. Topics you will cover include:

Shipboard Damage Control
How to Read Bullseyes (locations of compartments and fittings)
Classes of Fires
Equipment for fighting Fires
Survival Equipment
Confidence Chamber (fun, fun)
Fighting a Simulated Fire

Now it has been more than a year, so my mind isn't totally refreshed on this but the week should be pretty busy going to the firefighting building everyday.

Shipboard damage control consisted of a little bit of everything mentioned. You will learn what X-ray, yoke, and zebra fittings mean. A quick rundown is that out at sea, the ship is set to X-ray meaning that doors marked with an X are supposed to be closed at all times unless logged open in a place called Damage Control Central. There is an exception if there is a "Man Overboard" as you need to take the quickest route to where you muster. If a ship is set to Zebra, most likely the ship is about entirely on lockdown due to a hazardous reason or practice for that. You may hear of the term "Battle Stations", but it is called General Quarters on the ship. Someone will talk over the 1MC (speakerphone located all over the ship) and say that it is Genral Quarters and all hands are to man their battle stations.

It is an absolute necessity to learn how to read a bullseye. Here is a picture below and I will tell you what it all means:




The top line is a must know if you are to find your way around any ship.

The beginning number is what deck or level you are on. The quarterdeck will be on the main deck which is always 1. 1 is your starting point. If you go one ladderwell below this deck, you are on the 2nd deck. Going one ladderwell above the 1st deck and you well be on the O1 level. O is the letter and not a number.

The second number tells you the frame of the ship that you are at. By looking at the number 202, I can tell that most likely this is an aircraft carrier as they go up to 250 or so frames. If you were to read 10 or 20, you would be at the front of the ship.

The next number is also very important as you can tell which side of the ship you are on. Even numbers designate port side, while odd numbers designate starboard side. An easy way to remember this is (PESO) Port is Even, Starboard is Odd. As the numbers get bigger, the further you are from the middle of the ship. The zero in that pictures tells me that it is at the middle of the ship going from starboard to port.

The last letter is not as important as the 3 numbers before it. This letter simply designates the type of space it is. The L in the pictures stands for living space.

There are 4 types of fires aboard Navy ships: Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and Delta.

Alpha is the most common being ordinary compustibles like paper.
Bravo is your liquids such as oil and fuel.
Charlie is the electrical equipment.
Delta is combustible metals such as if an aircraft is on fire.

You will learn how to locate and oprate numerous types of survival equipment including EEBD's and SCBA's. It is vital that you pay attention when they tell you how to use them.

Near the end of the week you will have the "confidence chamber" which is a nice way of saying gas chamber. It was one of the worst feelings of my life. I recommend trying to sneak holding in your breath as breathing the gas in will make you gag and your eyes aren't really affected too much.

The last day will consist of fighting a couple of fake fires with your division. It's kind of fun, but it gets hot and sweaty so be prepared!

You will now be ready for your final tests in Week 6!