Today I had the practical exam for my New York State Certified First Responder class. On Thursday, January 15th, I'll have a written exam. If I pass I will be a Certified First Responder and I will be able to go on calls for the Varna Volunteer Fire Company and be a bit more active in helping out.
When Arjan and I made lists of things we'd like to accomplish in 2008 - becoming an EMT or a CFR was high on my list. The class for CFR started in September and met about twice a week (Thursday evenings from 6pm to 9pm and Saturday mornings from 8:30am to noon). Our last class was on Saturday, December 20th.
There are volunteer opportunities all over for all kinds of different service. I choose this one because it really fit with where I live, what I enjoy doing, working with others, and a quick showing of results when helping out. The volunteers I've met carry pagers and respond to calls day and night, in good weather and in bad (and we have a lot of bad weather). I'm happy to join them any way I can.
The photo here is from a fire training exercise in March of 2007.
Details online: http://www.varnafire.org
