Safety, Syndromes, and Sirens

May 20, 2015

I had hurried back to “Campground LoDore” the night before because I needed to get up early to drive the two hours to the Utah side headquarters of Dinosaur National Monument. The Monument Superintendent had scheduled the start-of-season training and potluck day and Ranger Mike and I needed to be in attendance. There were well over 50 staff on hand to get an introduction to Monument procedures and protocols, safety training, etc. I got to meet more of the personnel that I’ll be working with throughout the summer including the “River Rangers” that start patrolling the river today.

Some of the training was redundant to classes I had taken through the American Red Cross on topics such as blood-borne pathogens, fire safety, customer service, integrated pest management [We have deer mice, white-footed mice; rice and cotton rates, brushy-tailed rats,and pack rats], infectious animal disease precautions (Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome, Tularemia, Giardiasis, Colorado Tick Fever, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and OH JOY, THE Plague.)

Staff got to practice discharging ABC class fire extinguishers onto contained fires. P.A.S.S. for fires was the acronym of the day: Pull the extinguisher pin, Aim, Squeeze, Spray the base of the fire with fire retardant.

Fire Extinguisher Practice

My highlight of the day was fast driving the law enforcement outfitted 4-wheel drive Jeep back on the muddy roads to Campground LoDore. Sorely tempted was I to play with the radar, light bars and Yelp/Warble/Thunder/Wail siren. Oh well, better to be a mere driver than wearing plastic handcuffs while in custody in the back seat. Been There, Done That.                                           No, not really.