Lucas: Backdraft

By day, I'm a massive computer nerd. But when the pager goes off, I'm a volunteer firefighter here in New South Wales. In real life, it's training, teamwork, checking equipment and a lot of cleaning. In my head? It's a 1991 action movie and Ron Howard is directing.

My Life, as Directed by Ron Howard

SCENE
1

The pager. I'm three hours deep into fixing a bug. My pager goes off. Everything goes into slow motion. A wind machine appears from nowhere. My hair moves dramatically. I close my laptop like a man who has seen things.

SCENE
2

The gear-up. Boots. Pants. Jacket. Helmet. Every buckle clicks in slow motion, with a dramatic guitar sting. In reality this takes about a minute. In the movie, it takes four minutes and a montage.

SCENE
3

The stare. I look at the fire. The fire looks at me. There's an understanding between us. Orchestral music swells. Somebody behind me says my name in a whisper.

SCENE
4

The walk away. Job done. I walk towards the camera, not looking back, soot on one cheek in an extremely flattering spot. Behind me, something unnecessary explodes. (In real life, nothing explodes. That's the whole point of the job.)

SCENE
5

The helmet comes off. Steam rises off my head. Actual, real steam. My hair is somehow perfect. A crowd of onlookers needs to sit down for a moment. Roll credits.

🔥 The Steamy Details

I am literally steamy. Turnout gear is hot. After a job, steam genuinely comes off me, like a freshly opened dumpling.
I'm very good with a hose. That's not a joke. It's a qualification.
The charity calendar people have called six times. I'm thinking about it. I'd want to be Mr. Avocado. Sorry, Mr. August.

Training night at the brigade: carry a heavy hose up stairs, carry it back down. Repeat until sweaty and glistening. Peak cardio.
Rescuing cats from trees: the cat is always fine. The neighbours watching from the footpath, less so.
Brigade BBQs: I'm always on guacamole duty. Nobody asked me to be. I just am.
Pay: $0. Being called a hero at the bakery: priceless.

Backdraft: The Actual Science

Okay, serious bit for a second, because the real thing is genuinely fascinating (and genuinely dangerous).

A backdraft can happen when a fire burns inside a closed space, like a sealed room, and uses up most of the oxygen. The flames die down, but the room stays incredibly hot and fills with unburnt fuel in the smoke. If someone suddenly opens a door or breaks a window, fresh air rushes in, and all that hot fuel can ignite at once, very violently.

Warning signs firefighters look for

Smoke puffing in and out of gaps, like the building is breathing
Thick, dark, yellowish or brownish smoke
Blackened or stained windows, often hot to the touch
Very little visible flame, despite clear signs of a fire
Air being sucked in through gaps and cracks

If you ever see a building like that: don't open the door. Get away and call Triple Zero. Leave it to the professionals. And their wind machine.

Stay Safe, NSW (seriously)

All silliness aside, here's the stuff I actually want you to remember:

In an emergency, call Triple Zero (000).
Test your smoke alarms every month by pressing the test button, and replace them every 10 years. Working smoke alarms save lives.
Have a home escape plan and practise it with everyone you live with. Get down low, get out, and stay out.
Living near bush or grass? Make a bush fire survival plan before the season starts. The NSW Rural Fire Service has great guides, and Fire and Rescue NSW has heaps of home fire safety info.
Know the Fire Danger Ratings:

Moderate

High

Extreme

Catastrophic

Check the rating for your area during the fire season, and follow the advice from the NSW RFS.

Want to join? Volunteer brigades all over NSW are always looking for new members, and you don't need to be a hero (or a computer nerd) to start. The NSW RFS website explains how to volunteer.

Disclaimer: Real firefighting looks a lot less like a movie and a lot more like teamwork, training and paperwork. The slow motion is not real. The wind machine is not real. The steam, however, is very real.