TC With Multiple Vehicles

A while back Eric and I were dispatched to a TC on the Morongo Grade with multiple vehicles involved. A jaguar had been speeding up the highway and ended up clipping the trailer of a slow moving truck. The dashboard on the passenger side was pushed all the way back into the passenger seat. We never found the front tire of the Jag. Also, there was a motorcycle involved somehow. He ended up laying the bike down and sliding under the trailer. He crawled out on his own. We put him on a backboard and sent him to the trauma center. The driver of the Jaguar signed out but he had a nasty limp and a possible broken arm. The driver of the truck was unharmed.



The best photo I have of what was once a newer model Jaguar.

Possible OD

The call came in about noon for a familiar address. This time we were dispatched for a possible overdose. I remember the address because it was a memorable call the last time we were there. This time we arrived to find the son at the front door. He told us that he thought his mom had chased down about 100 tablets of aspirin with acetaminophen with alcohol. Sure enough, when we found her she wreaked of alcohol. She showed no signs of having taken the pills and denied it. She did admit to the drinking. She was able to answer all the questions appropriately which means she doesn't have to go to the hospital if she doesn't want to go. Just as I was taking her blood pressure MBA and the SO arrived on scene. I missed her blood pressure the first time and then got it on the second try. I had to have Ryan, the MBA EMT, take it just to make sure I didn't mess up. It was 58/32. At this point we informed her that we were going to take her to the hospital. Thankfully she decided to cooperate. If she hadn't, the sheriffs deputy could have made her go with MBA. The MBA medics (a new guy and his FTO) were having a hard time getting an IV. They even tried two jugular sticks and nothing. Found out later they got two IV's en route. One in the wrist and the other in the ankle. I think it's only a matter of time until we go back there.

Timing is Everything

I had just finished grilling some chicken on the BBQ. I walked up to the dinner table and as I set the plate of chicken down...."Medic Engine 461, MBA, medical aid." It gets worse. The call was for a bloody nose. At this point I'm grumbling a little bit since dinner was interrupted. When we got on scene the nose in question had stopped bleeding. The patient has a previous medical condition that lends itself to bloody noses. She just wanted to get checked out before she had her fiance take her to the hospital. Her nose had bee bleeding since the night before. I can understand wanting to get checked out by us first. This we did and sent her on her way, cancelling the ambulance. Then it was back to dinner.

A Probie Down (almost)

We have a new firefighter working with us on Thursdays and Fridays named Grant. Like all new guys that start on our shift (myself included) we welcome the new guy by going out and training real hard. Admittedly we were a little easier on Grant then on other newbies since Erin and I didn't want to be out in the heat either. In his second week with us Grant became dizzy and light headed after the morning workout (no training yet). After laying on the couch for a couple of minutes, during which time I checked his vitals, he felt better. He then got up and sat at the kitchen table and started shaking. At this point I checked his blood sugar. It was in the low forties. No wonder he wasn't feeling well. We gave him a fruit shake and then made him breakfast. This is the second rookie in a row we've almost broken and we didn't even train hard.

Did You Guys Know That There is a Fire Down On the Grade?!

About ten in the morning we were in the apparatus bay when a car pulled up. The driver asked, "Did you guys know that here is a fire down on the grade?" This was repeated by three other drivers. It took a lot of self control not to say something like, "Yeah, we know. We're just waiting so it can get a little bigger." We finally asked the last driver if he had called 911. He said no.

We got dressed and started responding. At this point we called dispatch to inform them that we had multiple reports of a fire on the Morongo Grade and that we would like some help. As we went down the grade we began to see smoke...a good sign. As we rounded one of the corners we saw the fire. It was a small spot fire on the side of the road. There was a CHP unit and a marine unit on scene setting up cones to block off the slow lane. Since the fire was in Riverside county we called Paris (the Riverside county fire dispatch) and asked if they had anyone responding. Turns out that both San Bernardino and Riverside counties had half the world responding.

We were first on scene followed very closely by engine 36 from Riverside county. Eric grabbed the line with Anthony and attacked the right side of the fire. I helped the firefighter from 36 attack the left side. Within a few minutes we had the fire contained. The Battalion Chief from Riverside decided that we had done enough by putting the fire out and released us (with an unprecedented thank you) so we could go back to our own area. We got to play and then we didn't have to do mop up. My kind of fire.


The view as we were leaving.


Crews starting mop up.


The engine in the foreground marks how far the fire spread.


Additional crews for mop up.