In July, two of the Chittenden English classes taught by Beverly Keim had a whole day together in downtown Burlington… Read more about the class’ day together in Beverly’s reflection, below:
In July, two of the Chittenden English classes I teach had a whole day together in downtown Burlington. Although it was a damp day, we had a great time.
In the morning, we met at the Central Fire Station in the middle of downtown, where the crew that was currently on shift generously led us through a fascinating tour. They showed us the different features of different trucks, and we learned about a variety of things the firefighters do beyond fighting fires, including carefully extracting people from accidents and providing EMT services. We were interested to learn that every firefighter for the City of Burlington is also a fully licensed EMT. Our group had the chance to try on the oxygen tank backpack that firefighters wear when inside a burning building, and we discovered for ourselves that the oxygen backpack is quite heavy but still only a part of the 75-100 pounds of gear in all that is worn on a firefighter’s body while doing their most strenuous work!
It turned out that this visit occurred at a particularly lucky time. A training session was happening in a special training room located in the basement of the fire station. Our group got to see and enter the room, where we learned much more about how firefighters train to enter burning buildings where it is dark, hot, and often very loud inside.
A final treat to see that was almost hidden away in a space of its own in the basement was a vintage fire wagon dating from the mid-1800s. Back then, the fire wagon had to be pulled either by horses or by the firemen themselves, and it had to be hand-pumped the entire time it took to put out a fire. This visit gave everyone a clearer understanding of and deeper appreciation for the services provided by firefighters.
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