Weblog: Herbicide Test and Fire Suppression Course
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This morning was our herbicide test. It went well; they seem to have simplified it significantly from what our instructor told us was going to be on the test. I'm sure I passed, and there's a good chance I got a high enough mark for the five year certification (otherwise it's a one year certification). Apex pays a $200 bonus for passing the test, and $300 if I get the five year ticket.
It occurred to me at lunch that, this being a university, there must be Internet access somewhere. Obvious, no? But I didn't think of it before. The library does have Internet access using a bunch of terminals that seem to connect to a Windows 2000 Terminal Server, which means no floppies, which means no ability to upload web site updates. Actually the day I got here I tried to plug my laptop into the RJ45 jack in my room's wall, but no dice getting the network up.
After lunch we went for a fire suppression course. It was supposed to be an 8 hour course, and the instructor (the same as for the herbicide course) actually showed up at 8:30, but because of the herbicide test it was compressed into the afternoon. I didn't know this, but all forestry workers have to know how to fight forest fires, because we can be called up at any point if the real fire fighters need help, and we're expected to do our best to control a fire if we find one. Because of the short time, the instructor blazed through the slides, entirely skipping over many of them. Then he did a quick demonstration of a water pump outside, and then we had to write the test. I doubt I, or anyone else, passed. A bunch of the material on the test hadn't even been covered. We didn't have any written material, and didn't have any study time whatsoever. I don't know how Apex could have expected us to get our S-100 certification this way. It would be kind of exciting to end up fighting forest fires, though chances are we'd just be digging trenches and spraying water on anything that smoulders after the fire has been put out.
I have no idea if we're even allowed to do the work without the certification, though I doubt it's going to affect our jobs. That also makes me wonder about the legality of our herbicide work, which I think we'll be starting right away, because the results from the tests won't be available for a month. One certified herbicide applicator can supervise up to four uncertified applicators, but in our case many of the formen don't even have their certification.
I discovered that there is a big network of trails behind the university. Tomorrow we don't have anything to do until 1pm, so I'm looking forward to exploring them then. There's a geocache in there somewhere, too.
Posted on Thu, 29 May 2020 at Prince George, BC, CA (altitude 805m) (map/google earth)
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