Firefighter. Reading Comprehension Test

I’m Jack Gomez, and I’m a firefighter in California. I remember watching an interview with a firefighter pilot when I was a child. He’d been fighting a fire for about five days. He was exhausted, but he was still there, talking about how many lives were being saved. He was so optimistic and committed that I thought that I wanted to do the same thing. And I never changed my mind.

I did a training camp to get my wildfire qualification card – you can’t fight fires in the US without one. I learned how to fight controlled fires, and how to put them out again. I also learned how to use all the equipment. The camp was really hard, but I passed first time – which was a big relief to me! After that I applied for a job, and I was lucky enough to get one.

One of the things you have to do in the early days is the pack test. This consists of a five-kilometre walk while carrying a backpack that weights twenty kilograms. You must be able to complete it in forty-five minutes or less without jogging or running. This shows how strong you are. If you can’t do this, how can you carry the heavy fire equipment, or fight fires in difficult conditions for hours at a time?

You can be out alone in vast forests and national parks, and sometimes the smoke is so thick that you can hardly see. So it’s important to be able to know where you’re going, to be able to map read, and to use a compass. Also, you must know how to put up a tent, cook outdoors, drive a truck, and have other basic survival skills.