9 / 11 - "May we never forget."

May we never forget those who fell ...

May we never forget those who carry on ...

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,

That saved a wretch like me, 

I once was lost, but now i'm found, 

Was blind, but now i see.

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, 

And grace my fears relieved;

How precious did that grace appear

The hour i first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares

I have already come, 

'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far

And grace will lead me home.

When we've been here ten thousand years

Bright shining as the sun

We've no les praise to sing God's praise

Than when we first began.

May we never forget ALL the reasons of this tragedy ...



May we never forget ALL those who died during these last 10 years , in the USA and worldwide ...



Don't forget ALL those who still suffer in their body, 
                 ALL those who still suffer in their heart, 
                 ALL those who still suffer in their soul, 
in the USA and worldwide ...


Let us decide to work together on a better world, on a peace world...
                                                                                                   ... to live no never one such tragedy.


Psalm 46
1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea ; 3 though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult. (Selah) 4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. 5 God is in the midst of the city ; it shall not be moved ; God will help it when the morning dawns. 6 The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter ; he utters his voice, the earth melts. 7 The Lord of hosts is with us ; the God of Jacob is our refuge. (Selah) 8 Come, behold the works of the Lord ; see what desolations he has brought on the earth. 9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth ; he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear ; he burns the shields with fire. 10 "Be still, and know that I am God ! I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth." 11 The Lord of hosts is with us ; the God of Jacob is our refuge. (Selah)

We HAVE TO work for the Future, now...

God blesses the WORLD.

Rescue apparatus : VSAV

The meaning of the name :

VSAV is the abbreviation of Véhicule de Secours et d'Aide à Victime meaning "vehicle of rescue and help to victim".

The crew :

The regular crew is formed of 3 or 4 firefighters : - the driver (conducteur) needs the authorization of the prefect of the department (for us department means Morbihan) after having gone a medical checkup

                                                                       - the chief of apparatus (chef d'agrès) must have at least the rank of chief corporal with the special training to be the chief of this apparatus
                                                                       - one or two team member(s), that depends of the number of firefighters which have the fire station. In Pontivy, there is one team member during the day from monday to saturday and two team members during the night and on sunday.

In smaller fire station with less staff they are allowed to take the departure with only the driver and the chief of apparatus.


Inside the apparatus :

   1. The stretcher

The stand of the stretcher offers different positions according to what the state of the victim requires.

Box to control movements of the stand

      Regular position

The stretcher offers a different multitude of position according to what the state of the victim requires.

   2. Apparatus for breath and heart


Vacuum cleaner for mucus
(aspirateur à mucosité)









                       

Semiautomatic defibrillator

  (Défibrillateur Semi-Automatique)

Multi-parameter to checked the blood pressure (on the left), to keep track of the oxygen saturation (in the middle), to check the heart rhythm (on the right .The red "ladder" in the middle moves at the rate of heartbeat)
(multi-paramètre)


   3. The chair (la chaise)















   4. Apparatus to protect the spinal column

• the plank (la planche)

• the 'spoon" (la cuillère)

• The cervical-thorax splint (L'attelle cervico-thoracique)

• The shell mattress (Le matelas coquille)

With the pump, we take off the air inside the mattress so micro-balls "snuggle up to itself" returning the stiff mattress.

EPI (Equipement de Protection Individuelle) vestimentaires / Personal protective clothing apparatus

There is a basic uniform, used when we work with the VSAV (ambulance). To work with fire, we just add others apparatus on it.

The basic work uniform :

This work uniform is called F1. It's composed of  : a jacket, pants and boots (or a kind of boots with laces) like on the left picture. Under the jacket, we wear a tee-shirt or a polo shirt (like on the right picture). When the weather is hot, we are allowed to work without the jacket (except if on the scene we could cut ourselves as for a car crash for example)

The urban fire work uniform :

We keep our basic work uniform (without the jacket) and we put on it ...

the F1 helmet, a cowl under it, a fire jacket, fire pants on top of basic work pants  (we call it surpantalon meaning "on top pants"), a work belt with rack tools for fire gloves and a special hand multispanners (we call it polycoise meaning "a tool with different spanners in the same tool"), orange fire gloves.


The F1 helmet

F1 helmet includes protecting glasses
against  projections of  various things.

F1 helmet includes a facial screen against fire heat.

F1 helmet includes a flashlight anti-explision
and a "bottom wing" (bas-volet) to protect the nape of the neck
against the fall of ardent elements.

Fire gloves


There are two kinds of fire gloves depending of the mission.

Leather clearing gloves

Textile attack gloves
(better fire resistance than leather clearing gloves)

The cowl

Worn under the helmet at any time, it's put under the SCBA to protect the facial skin against burns by the heat of the fire.

The work belt

It has various functions : rack tools (leather clearing gloves and the hand multispanners), barrier against the heat to protect the top of the body).

Watch out ! It's not allowed to use it as a belt of auto-protection against the falls (it's not enough secured to fill this function).

The hand multispanners

As its names indicate it, this spanner is used for various works.

1. Help to link hoses
2. Open doors and caskets which hide the installations of gas, electricity ... 
3. Close some gates of gas
4. Open some doors of elevator

The wildfire work uniform :

It's the same uniform as for urban fires, except the helmet.

The F2 helmet is used for wildfire or to cut trees fallen because of the bad weather or  to work on car crash.

Its color is red to be seen by firefighting aircrafts when they release their water (the color of helmet from the rank of sergeant is white)









The ceremonial uniform :

The enlisted men wear their basic work uniform with the F1 helmet (without the "bottom wing"), the work belt (without rack tools) and a red piece of fabric called plastron around the blow.



Our pants have on both outside side a red line (all firefighters in France have that). It's a decoration called Légion d'Honneur (meaning Legion of Honor). This decoration was established by Napoleon 1st on May 19th 1802. Since this date, it reward military or civil eminent merits returned to he Nation. It's the highest French honorary decoration.

Each French department has his own patch for firefighter uniform. This is the Morbihan's one.
At the top it's written Sapeurs-Pompiers meaning Firefighters.
Behind on the right there's the drawing of a Breton symbol called Hermine meaning Ermine.
In the middle, there are a green circle and a smaller blue circle inside with two sails of sailboat. It's to explain that our department is by the sea and there's a gulf (we call it Gulf of Morbihan) ; so the green circle means the earth and the blue circle means the sea.

In the Morbihan, we add a decoration called fourragère ( = lanyard ?). Colors are blue, white and red. The first time this decoration was given it was in 1948, to firefighters of the department who fought great fires in the city of Lorient during WWII. These fires were owed to the English bombardments to destroy the German submarine base established in this city. As in many bombardments during WWII, the buildings sheltering the French population were got very often hard. At the end of the war,  it was decided to decorate the firefighter corps of the department. Since that date, each firefighter at the end of his/her first year of duty receives this decoration.
This decoration rewards an act of courage and devotion.