Fire School - Watching the Master

I wasn't scheduled to teach last night, but I was in the area of the Training Center so I decided to stop by to listen to [Lowenstein] teach. Lowenstein is an excellent instructor, and a recent winner of Fire Instructor of the Year. So i decided to drop in during a break, sit at the back of the class and try glean nuggets from his teaching style.

Imagine my joy and happiness when one of the Holy Triumvirate was also there. He was lounging on the steps to the ministage at the front of the classroom as though he were posing for the centerfold of 'Pudgy Old Retired Firefighter Monthly'. Ugh.

The class was one of the fundamental classes that is absolutely critical to understand. Fire Behaviour. The name says it all really. I was glad to see that Lowenstein was the lead on this and HT was simply doing Pilates and Yoga at the front of the class.

My favourite moment in the class was when someone asked about drywall. The question was along the lines of 'is drywall fireproof?' Lowenstein started to answer, but was interrupted by HT. HT waxed lyrical (lyrical in the sense of Vogon Poetry) with a longwinded answer discussing the different ratings in terms of hours, composition, texture and other crap so convoluted I was rapidly losing the will live and wanted to choke myself with the nearest chair. Once HT paused for breath (a belly that size holds a lot of hot air), I interjected "the answer, as far as the State Test is concerned, is Yes."

HT glared at me, Lowenstein smirked and the class laughed, knowing that they were spared.

Sometimes, just sometimes, I totally rule.