Trevor’s Weekly News Letter

Rodgers, Trevor – Author/Editor May 20th- May 24th

Monday, May 20th Instructor two- the group are in classroom three discussing Pedagogy the art of teaching students, and diving into the Similarities and Differences among young adults figuring out in what way is the most helpful to teach each person. Hazmat Tech B- Our own employee Doug Schick is teaching the students in classroom two abut lower explosive limits detecting on the meter how dangerous it is, if it’s at one hundred then high methane in the air produced. Once the meter gets to ten the sound goes off so you want it to be as lower as possible for the potential threat looming. Some of the other Hazmat students are over in the hangar today wearing their Hazmat suits I saw some them playing baseball with their suits on outside earlier this afternoon. I also got word that big bird flying around last week left the hangar, I guess it changed it’s mind and decided not to make that building its new home. VMO (Vehicle Motor Operators) this group was in the cafeteria classroom middle aisle in the back going over Extrication Techniques. Extrication is the ability to use tools to pick apart cars that were totaled in an accident to rescue people from a fallen car or truck. I spoke with Ken this afternoon and according to him there’s going to be a lot of vehicle training work going on this week, Thursday will be the craziest. The good news is that we have Memorial Day next week so shorter news letter with the day off, hopefully if the weather stays up it’ll be a great time for a barbecue.

Tuesday, May 21st

Fire Investigator- students are in classroom going and the instructor is going over and reviewing chapter 11 with them, today’s topic is on safety.

Rodgers, Trevor “NIPSTA Weekly News Report”

Hazmat Tech B- everybody is in classroom two and the instructor is teaching the students about the liquid valve on a car, and looking out for any signs of leaking. Similar example would be an engagement to a tank of gas at a gas station. NIPSTA Fire Academy- the students are doing Salvage/Oh training in the hangar, one group today is trying to fix the Tempest fan and try to open and close a control valve. Group two is constructing a water chute rolling the cover on the ground and each is student grabbing onto it on one end and rolling it back up safely to put back up on the fire truck. I’m not sure what god’s doing to us this week but hopefully it’s just an anomaly, typically May looks and feels differently than March does but oh well the best we can do is wait for mother nature to run it’s course. Wednesday, May 22nd Fire Investigator- students are in classroom one and the instructor is showing everybody pictures of items on the overhead that were burned up in a leftover fire perhaps. Taking a sample to see if there’s any oil inside this washing machine for example or a dryer machine that had burn up. Elevated Safety- the students are in classroom four discussing Load Sharing Anchors Caution with a picture on the overhead showing a big yellow anchor dangling in the air, I’m rocking my elevated safety T-Shirt today. I haven’t worn it that much since for a while I forgot where I got it from then it hit me, and I remembered that huge SPRAT event going on in the hangar during a previous year that’s how I obtained it. Instructor Two- Our good buddy Ken Koerber is teaching today’s class in classroom three going over supervising during high risk incidents. Supervising others requires skills and training, high risk for example could include high angles/rope rescue or a live fire experience and the type of material being used and presented as well. NIPSTA Fire Academy- half of the students are over by the collapse training prop outside working with the fire hoses laid down on the ground, while the rest of the guys were hanging out in the hangar I assume they were finished for the day. Beautiful summer’s day came and hopefully it’ll stick around this time, it’s been an unusually cold month for May I decided to whip out my shorts today feels good the hot air enjoy while it lasts. I don’t mean to rain on anybody’s parade but it is supposed to drop again on Sunday according to the weather app on my iPhone of course it could change between now and this weekend, hopefully that will be the case.

Rodgers, Trevor “NIPSTA Weekly News Report”

Thursday, May 23rd Hazmat Tech B- students are packed into the hangar wearing their Hazmat suits and waiting for others to put theirs on, then starting the training exercises in the back room of the hangar. Wearing the usual yellow boots, green or blue suits, and the green Hazmat logo T-Shirts underneath at least some of the guys are. VMO/Fire Academy- outside by the collapse training prop Extricating pieces off of the junk cars and using a tractor to lift them up and move them out of the way once their done with one of the vehicles. There is lots of exhaust fumes in the air I could smell it. Thankfully it’s another beautiful summer’s day outside about ten degrees cooler than yesterday but still nice and warm, just the way everybody wants it to be like this time of year. Fire Investigator- students are in classroom one and the instructor is showing pictures of an old cooper that was burned during a live fire. Talking about and showing everybody different photo scenarios depicting what the rooms or machines look life after a fire has come and gone. Friday, May 24th Fire Instructor two- the students are in classroom three and the instructor is discussing about Engine Company Tactics, static bed making sure it doesn’t exceed three hundred feet, using rigs. Working with the fire hydrants making sure the supply line is working. Hazmat Tech B- everyone is outside with the deacon pools set up with the students decked out in their hazmat suits going in the chemical bath and using walkie talkies to communicate with the team just in case something goes wrong such as a toxic chemical spill seeping into their skin. The kind Hazmat guy I was referring to and mentioned a while back before I found out his name is Jim; he’s a father with a daughter young guy with short black hair almost always wearing a green HAZMAT T-Shirt on sometimes wearing an orange helmet on his head as well. NIPSTA Fire Academy- the students are also outside along with the Hazmat group but their training in between the collapse training prop and the trench, training with the fire hoses on the ground and climbing up on the fie truck lift either going into the number four spot or all the way to the top of the roof. There’s a lot of action going outside this morning, so I took a few pictures to capture what went down after the boss arrived.

Rodgers, Trevor “NIPSTA Weekly News Report”

Writer’s Note- This week I’ll be switching gears talking about and dissecting my musical journey with the wonderful and mystical Electric Light Orchestra, Face the Music was another amazing album after their leader Jeff Lynne decided to switch it up some there’s some orchestra stuff going on but not quite as heavily with the old stuff “Fire from High” is a great example of a whirlwind of music for an introduction what a way to kick start a CD. Then the song actual songs are great too, cool songwriting and relatable tracks such as the single “Evil Woman”, the canvas painting inspired “Waterfall” a grand song Jeff Lynne points that as being one of his favorite songs off of the disc, “Nightrider” weirdly enough reminded me of the episode in Hey Arnold called “The Headless Cabbie” a spooky tune Jeff did indeed “Face the Music” when creating one of many masterpieces. Of course whom could forget possibly the first double album of it’s kind during the late 70’s era with Out of the Blue containing the biggest song in ELO’s catalog Mr. Blue Sky this man was heavily inspired by The Beatles to craft his arrangements while still putting his own spin on the songs with the strings for the most part giving it that Electric Light Orchestra feel to it. With the disc being well over an hour, there’s a lot of good stuff in there besides the hit including a track Jeff Lynne made with sound effects of actual rain being recorded in the studio during a cold wet day. Next up came the album “Discovery” one of his shortest albums with ELO but also among the best, I tell myself that “Discovery” was the disc Eldorado should have been trading in the progressive rock for a disco flavor but with better songs to deliver and relate to. One of the bonus tracks on “Discovery” was especially fun to hear called “The Little Town Flirt” about an attractive young lady whom tries to get the drop on unsuspecting men passing her by, giving them the illusion that their somehow special but then moving onto the next guy for her to chat up and have a good round with. The underlying message of the song also warns for young men to be careful around women like that, not to get too caught up in it otherwise the lady could end up using you or breaking your heart if you thought you had something real between the two of you. Some women or girls just enjoy flirting with people but it doesn’t always necessarily mean that they are interested in getting to know you better on a romantic level. I knew as soon as the track was over, to pass it along to my good buddy Charlie because I felt it was a song he would love as well it turned out I was definitely right about that. Then the two albums I spun were the science fiction themed outer space 80’s release called “Time” which used a lot of electronic elements in favor

Rodgers, Trevor “NIPSTA Weekly News Report”

of electric or bass guitars, including an intro using a robotic voice I swore could have been a Dalek from Doctor Who. Many people compared the musical listening experience with “Time” to being on board the Star Trek Enterprise and while I could see that, for me I thought of it more like Doctor Who traveling around in The Tardis but of course their both huge well established long running science fiction television series so I guess you could pick either one and get away with it. I thought it was funny and a bit comical that Jeff Lynne apparently got called into court once when people accused him of creating music with hidden Satan references such as the song “Fire on High” despite the fact that it’s an instrumental track with no lyrics or singing of any kind. Well Jeff mocked those people and followed up his “Time” album recalling those sudden but false accusations by purposely creating a disc with the title “Hidden Messages” on it and like the name suggests he inserted Morse code either apart of the album art work or the songs and music its self. Definitely a more straight forward classic rock and roll record, if “Time” was floating in space then “Hidden Messages” was the album where Jeff Lynne returned back to Earth and deliver more grounded material. The length of “Hidden Messages” exceeded over an hour long, about an hour and 11 minutes or so with only one bonus track left off of it and in fact the track “Beatles Forever” can only be found on YouTube with a less than stellar but not super poor recording since it remained unreleased in the ELO catalog. Just Jeff Lynne doing a tribute to the members of The Beatles as a huge lifelong fan with that song, something fun to do nothing serious meant.

Rodgers, Trevor “NIPSTA Weekly News Report”