Fire! Fire! Fire!

McMurdo is the largest base on Antarctica, is the SAR (Search and Rescue) center for the continent, and has a full fire department staffed by eleven full-time, professional fire-fighters even in the wintertime. Before I came to Antarctica, I hadn't really considered fire-prevention as a significant element of life here...I thought of cold and snow and no vegetation, so didn't really imagine fire as a real threat. But actually, fire is a HUGE deal here because we are so dependent upon secure, heated infrastructure for our survival.


So a couple weeks ago our company safety meeting was on fire prevention and using extinguishers. And then last week the wind died down enough for us to do an extinguisher practice session. It was odd to see anyone, much less firefighters, purposefully lighting a diesel gas fire for us to practice on, but that's what they did. I think that might actually have been the first time I've ever used a fire extinguisher, which seems odd. It was a fun exercise, though, and some people (who are otherwise prone to being dramatic, ahem) got REALLY into it.