- Joined
- Feb 8, 2009
- Messages
- 722
I just recently joined the St. Louis County Rescue Squad when I moved to Duluth. Well one of the perks of this is that I can take whatever class I'd like that is offered at the local Fire School for free.
This was a basic wilderness survival class and was the first weekend of two. The next weekend is in December. This first weekend we focused on Survival Psychology, basic equipment, shelter building, fire craft, and water. We also went over aircraft crashes, and survival scenarios. We had 4 hours of classroom study on Friday night, and about another 3 hours on Saturday before they dropped us off at our own sites. I chose to do a solo, while a few others did teams of 2.
When I arrived on site I walked around, and decided on a shelter site. I found two upright trees that were a nice distance apart for a doorway. I then lashed a pole across the front, and placed two ridgepoles across the beam and up onto a log. I used 2 space blankets, taped them down the middle, and draped them across the ridgepoles, and pulled them down to the ground. I gatherered sticks,and placed them along the sides and top.
Once I had the framework done, I insulated it. They provided us with a round bale outside of the training area, and we were allowed to use it for insulation. The reason they did this was so the classes would not defoliate the forest. They have 4 classes a year, so it would not take long before the all the sites would be clear of materials otherwise. I packed some in for bedding, and placed a bunch over the top and sides, then I covered the entire shelter with a 10x10 tarp to seal it up so there was dead space for the insulation to properly work.
Some of the sites had actual scraps of aircraft fuselage that could be used for shelter building, or as fire reflectors. All of the other sites had old road signs that were supposed to be simulated aircraft wreckage. I had one of the sites with the old road signs, and built up a fire reflector in front of my shelter.
The fire reflector, and space blankets worked great. I could feel the heat all the way down to my feet with the fire being right in front of me. I kept my firewood right outside my door so that I could stoke the fire without getting out of my shelter. Kept me toasty for quite awhile, until I zonked out for the rest of the night.
The shelter was a tad big, it should have been a little tighter around me to make use of the insulation of my shelter for a warmer "micro climate". Otherwise it was a great shelter, the instructor said it tied for the best shelter this weekend. He graded it upon FSR - Fire, Shelter, and Reflector integration. The other students also did pretty well, we all got high marks.
Anyways, here are some pics.
I had a blast, cant wait until the December weekend. That will be a good session because it is also the "Rescue Scramble". Throughout the night the Rescue squad will pluck survival students from their sites and put them into a precarious situation in the training area. Could be a rollover in the ditch, hanging down out of a tree stand, or whatever the Lt's decide. Once you are rescued, you get to link up with the Rescue squad and take part in the rest of the scenarios. These scenarios go all night, or until the Rescue Squad says uncle!
Thanks for looking!
This was a basic wilderness survival class and was the first weekend of two. The next weekend is in December. This first weekend we focused on Survival Psychology, basic equipment, shelter building, fire craft, and water. We also went over aircraft crashes, and survival scenarios. We had 4 hours of classroom study on Friday night, and about another 3 hours on Saturday before they dropped us off at our own sites. I chose to do a solo, while a few others did teams of 2.
When I arrived on site I walked around, and decided on a shelter site. I found two upright trees that were a nice distance apart for a doorway. I then lashed a pole across the front, and placed two ridgepoles across the beam and up onto a log. I used 2 space blankets, taped them down the middle, and draped them across the ridgepoles, and pulled them down to the ground. I gatherered sticks,and placed them along the sides and top.
Once I had the framework done, I insulated it. They provided us with a round bale outside of the training area, and we were allowed to use it for insulation. The reason they did this was so the classes would not defoliate the forest. They have 4 classes a year, so it would not take long before the all the sites would be clear of materials otherwise. I packed some in for bedding, and placed a bunch over the top and sides, then I covered the entire shelter with a 10x10 tarp to seal it up so there was dead space for the insulation to properly work.
Some of the sites had actual scraps of aircraft fuselage that could be used for shelter building, or as fire reflectors. All of the other sites had old road signs that were supposed to be simulated aircraft wreckage. I had one of the sites with the old road signs, and built up a fire reflector in front of my shelter.
The fire reflector, and space blankets worked great. I could feel the heat all the way down to my feet with the fire being right in front of me. I kept my firewood right outside my door so that I could stoke the fire without getting out of my shelter. Kept me toasty for quite awhile, until I zonked out for the rest of the night.
The shelter was a tad big, it should have been a little tighter around me to make use of the insulation of my shelter for a warmer "micro climate". Otherwise it was a great shelter, the instructor said it tied for the best shelter this weekend. He graded it upon FSR - Fire, Shelter, and Reflector integration. The other students also did pretty well, we all got high marks.
Anyways, here are some pics.
I had a blast, cant wait until the December weekend. That will be a good session because it is also the "Rescue Scramble". Throughout the night the Rescue squad will pluck survival students from their sites and put them into a precarious situation in the training area. Could be a rollover in the ditch, hanging down out of a tree stand, or whatever the Lt's decide. Once you are rescued, you get to link up with the Rescue squad and take part in the rest of the scenarios. These scenarios go all night, or until the Rescue Squad says uncle!
Thanks for looking!
Thanks for sharing..
