VT Seva Detroit organized the much-awaited Novi Fire Department appreciation lunch followed by a tour explaining – a day in the life of a firefighter, on Sept 30th, 2023, between 11:00 and 2:00 PM.
We were greeted warmly by the team of Fire Fighters including Captain Seog. VT Seva Youth and Adult Volunteers introduced themselves. They gave a brief background of all the Projects, Social and Community Services, and the various partnerships that VT Seva has across metro Detroit and Internationally. They were so happy to hear about our 2023 achievements, appreciated our team’s efforts, and were so glad to host us at their facility.
Despite their busy and often critical schedule, the Novi Fire Department graciously hosted us. The team on site consisted of:
· Captain Seog
· Firefighter Sentz
· Firefighter Marshall
· Firefighter Farahani
· Firefighter Gora
· Firefighter O’Neill
· Firefighter Lis
We helped arrange all the food that we had brought for the appreciation lunch inside the lunch area. We also presented a framed poster as a token of appreciation from VT Seva Detroit, thanking the fire Department for their selfless service and sacrifice.
The team then gathered to begin the tour. We split into 3 different groups for the Firefighters team to swap the teams in 3 different sections of the facility. Old Betsie and EMT, the Tower and the Suppression truck along with the Captain’s Specialized SUV were on display for our walk-through.
The team lead firefighters explained and showcased many tools, medical equipment, detectors, and other essential components of the 3 Trucks and the SUV. Some of the tools were AMAZING to watch – Jaws of Life, Jaw Saw, Sliders, Chalk Woods, Gas Leak detectors, face masks, Oil Dry, oxygen cylinders, and many more. We were simply awestruck with the amount of equipment and tools that they had on the trucks.
Some of the facts were mind-boggling:
The fire trucks can hold 500 to 600 gallons of water and an additional couple hundred gallons of foam to suppress oil spills.
The oxygen cylinders have the capacity to provide 45 mins of oxygen that the firefighters carry as backpacks weighing close to 50lbs
The fire trucks cost $1.8 M
The tower ladder can extend to 100 ft and can easily reach over 6 stories of building
Over 7000 fire hydrants are there within the City of Novi limits
The tablet inside the Firetruck has the entire City’s plan, and every building’s blueprint plan loaded to be handy for the firemen
The firefighters have the AED, Heat Signature Thermal Detectors, Infrared and Thermal Cameras, and Foregas – an advanced system for detecting different kinds of gas, mobile cascade systems, etc. at their disposal.
While on the tour we had the firsthand experience of how one of the teams responded to an emergency. Within a few seconds, one of the Units was off to attend to someone who met with an accident within the city limit responding to the 911 call that came in. The captain along with the EMT and Firetruck were off as soon as they got the call. We realized how much responsibility the Fire Department has in order to execute the critical service to our community to keep all of us safe. HATS OFF to them!!!
These are our volunteers who signed up for the Novi Fire Department Tour & Appreciation.
Adults: Srinath Karnati, Sudheer Koppu, Srivardhan Dingari, Komathy Muhinthan, Maithreyi Rao, Manjunath Rao, Pushpa Esarla, Samyanthan T, Suresh Rajan, Vanitha Gopalan
Youth
Sai Karnati, Amogh Mavatoor, Rishabh Mavatoor, Varshini Barla, Hrudya Kishore, Nikhil Aerabati, Kaustubh Dingari, Hajanthan Muhinthan, Varshan Muhinthan, Adithi Esarla, Yathi Debbata, Nimish Debbata, Nidhi Rao, Neha Rao, Rakshan Samyanthan
We all thanked once again for the amazing service that the department provides on a daily basis and concluded the tour. It was a very inspirational and enlightening day for us.