M.F.T.U

What does Jamie do at work? I am glad you asked. Many of Oregon's fire departments are volunteer. Jamie helps the departments in his area provide training for their fire fighters. He teaches them in a class room or provides hands on training. One of the things they need most, is interaction with fire. So, he brings it to them.

Meet the M.F.T.U. (Mobile Fire Training Unit). It is a semi trailer that gets hauled all over the state, that, when set up, can provide many different fire fighting strategies. In the picture below, the trailer was set up to practice ventilating a roof and is three stories tall. They can use it for a one story house, with a bedroom, simulate fires on a second floor, or fires in a basement. Jamie worked with fire departments with this trailer for several months at the end of last year. It kept him very busy, since most departments do evening training.






I brought the kids over when the trailer was in Jefferson. I thought they might like to see what dad does, and get to see a couple fire trucks. They did ventilation the first day and fires the next two. They weren't very interested in ventilation, since it was three stories up and they couldn't see it. But they found other things to do...

...like play in a fire engine...


...or watch the football field...



But here is the fun part.





Jamie has a control room at the front of the trailer where he turns on the fire, fills it with smoke, or shuts it all off. There is also a window in there where he can watch. I took the kids in there to watch a couple attempts. JJ made us all laugh when the first fire came up in front of the window. He got a little scared, but as soon as the fire fighters came in and sprayed the fire with water, he thought that was neat, and immediately wanted to see it again. Now when we have a camp fire, he asks where the firemen are.