When I came into work today, I had no idea that by the end of the day I would have put on a firefighter's uniform, helmet, boots and gloves,then used hydraulic rescue tools to open up a 1999 Lincoln Town Car like a can of tuna.
And at this point I'm not sure which smells better - a can of tuna or my sweat-soaked clothes.
I get to blame this misadventure on Chief Tom Garrett. He told my editor the Troy Fire Department was doing training at a scrapyard in Green Island and said I would have the chance to be in the car when they were opening it up and to handle the equipment.
I've done a lot of things with this job - whitewater canoeing, being rescued by a German Shepard in an anti-terrorism training exercise, flown in a WWII bomber, and I even did some coverage of the fire at the scrapyard where this car rescue training was taking place - but I had never got into full firefighting gear and held a Jaws of Life-like apparatus before. Until now.
I'll admit I'm not the strongest person. In fact, really, I just started working out again after about a month hiatus due to getting re-situated with moving,etc. But the hydraulic rescue tools we used were heavy.
I also learned how to break open a window pretty easily which has all kinds of uses, some of which could be thought of as legal.
The guys at the training were really nice and even humored me when they saw my pink painted toes and dark pink Nine West open toed flats. One of them said they had the same pair and same color toe nails. I almost believed him.
As I sit in the air conditioned office, my clothes slowly are becoming a little less damp...though still a bit smelly. I have to commend anyone who wears that outfit for long periods of time.
And I take solace in the fact that I probably already burned a decent amount of calories today, via sweating and carrying heavy equipment, so I can take it a little easy at the gym tonight.
(You can see a video of these shenanigans here and here.)