Running Firefighter

In general, firefighters are supposed to be the guys that nothing phases, and when they show up, everything is under control. Think about the times that you have seen a firefighter responding to a call. How often is he running? He may be moving quickly and with purpose but usually not running. This post is about one of the exceptions to this.

Our tones went off about 1100 in the morning. We stopped working out and jumped into our turnout pants. As we started responding we were informed that we were responding for a premature baby not breathing. At that point my pulse quickened. Not only is there now a life on the line but it's a kid, a young kid. This is both good and bad from a medical standpoint. Kids don't die (usually) unless there is something stopping them from breathing and if you can correct that problem, they bounce back. The down sides are that it's a much more stressful situation (you can have hysterical family there adding to the stress you're already feeling) and you don't run that many pediatric calls so everything may not be quite second nature.

As we pulled up to the scene my Captain said go get the kid and he'd grab the equipment. As I exited the rig I saw a woman (who turned out to be grandma) standing in the door way bordering on the hysterical. On a call you never know if dispatch got things right until you get there. Grandma being outside was not a good sign. I ran up to the house and inside I found mom holding her infant in her arms by the kitchen counter. The baby was very cyanotic, limp but breathing. The poor baby was using all of her muscles that she could to breathand she had retractions.

The mom said that she was born 3 month premature and was originally due to be born the following week. The baby had only been out of the hospital for a few days. She also said that she was burping the baby when she choked and stopped breathing. She did back blows to try and clear her airway and it worked. As I held the baby I stripped of the onesie. The baby did not look good. We placed her on some high flow oxygen and started getting some vitals. By the time that the next responding unit showed up I thought she was looking great. The paramedic walkinginto the scene thought she looked horrible until I explained how bad she was and that she was on the up swing. The AMR medic showed up next and we had to repeat the process. We quickly loaded her up and I jumped into the back of the ambulance, just in case things went south. We checked her capnography, pulse ox, and heart rhythm. Everything seemed to be checking out good. She started to really pink up (return to normal skin coloration) too. By the time that we got to the ER she was still having some respiratory distress but she was no where near the critical patient that I first saw.

Matches and Lighters

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AMR On Scene

Every once in a while AMR will be posting near the my station and get to the call at the same time as us. When this happens I'm more than happy to let the AMR crew take the lead. Not only do they get to have a great assistant but I don't have to do any paperwork (the most hated thing about being a medic). This time we had been toned out for a 78 year old woman feeling weak. When we got there she informed us that she had called her MD at Kaiser and he said to call us. He then called for her. She didn't want to go to the hospital. After explaining that if she had been worried enough to call the MD and he thought it was serious enough to call us maybe she should get checked out. She finally agreed and went to the ER.

Line of Duty Death, Firefighter Frizzell Jr.

Frizzell Jr., Kenneth

Cause of Death: Vehicle Collision

Age: 55

While returning from a structure fire incident and coming down and near the bottom of a very steep hill, the tanker apparatus Firefighter Frizzell was operating struck a telephone pole and crashed off of the roadway. Firefighter Frizzell, the only occupant of the truck, was reportedly ejected and died from injuries sustained during the crash.

Night Light Fire

We were toned out for a fire in an apartment. Because it was a high occupancy area everything my department has was rolling on the call. When we got there we were met by a 20 year old girl who said that something caught fire upstairs in her apartment. As I followed my captain up the stairs he came to a very abrupt stop, then started backing up. Seems the girl forgot to tell us that she had two dogs. The small one was locked up but the larger mutt (about 40 lbs) was at the top of the stairs and was very pissed at the intruders. After we retreated the dog retreated into the spare room. We quickly shut the door. Now, unable to find the fire, we asked the girl where, exactly, was the fire. She said it was the night lite in the bathroom. Sure enough, it had shorted out and probably smoked a bit. She quickly grabbed her phone, ran out of the house and called us. As a firefighter I have to say that this was the smart thing to do. Get safe and call for help. As an animal lover I wonder why she abandoned her dogs in what she thought was a burning house. As an average guy I wonder what made her call 911 for a small smoking night lite. Put the thing in the sink, cool it off with water, then throw it away.

Line of Duty Death, Firefighter/Chaplain Holst

Holst, Richard

Cause of Death: Collapse

Age: 60

After smelling smoke and reporting a fire at an eating establishment located near his home, Firefighter Holst walked around the burning structure to investigate. While performing his Fire Police duties, Firefighter Holst collapsed and was transported to Huntington Hospital where he was later pronounced dead. The official cause of death has not yet been determined

Automatic Aid Structure Fire

At about 0300 we were toned out on an auto-aid response (some fire departments have an automatic aid agreement so that a neighboring city's apparatus will respond automatically to certain calls. At our department we are dispatched to structure fires in our neighboring city) for a structure fire in an apartment complex. When responding to a structure fire there are a couple of phrases that we listen for to let us know that it's the real deal and not an alarm such as "multiple calls received", "flames showing", or from one of the responding units, "we have smoke showing." This time we were told by dispatch that flames were showing. As we were approaching we could hear the reports from the first in engine. "Two story, multi-dwelling structure with flames showing. We are starting initial attack." The second in engine grabbed the hydrant for them. Just as we were pulling up we heard that the roof of the first apartment was collapsing and that the fire had extended through the attic to the next apartment. We were assigned to RIC. Usually RIC is one of the most boring assignments on the fire ground but one of the most important. Our job is to be ready in case one of our brothers goes down, gets lost, or in some other way gets into trouble while in the burning building. Our sole responsibility is to the other firefighters. If everything goes right, it's boring. If not, you're in a race against death and he has a head start. After we were assigned to RIC we grabbed all of the equipment that we might need and made a cache. We then went around the building to see what we might need or encounter. I managed to get into a neighboring apartment and went over the layout so that we would know what we were getting into if we were activated. I heard being on the RIC team is described once as watching a buddy have sex. You wish it were you instead of him and if you have to get involved you know that things really must be screwed up. In all there were 5 departments that responded to this call. The fire was under control without any major problems and after a couple of hours we were released. We were asked to cover their city while they finished cleaning up the fire.

While covering the city we got toned out for a medical aid. It was for a man that had fallen a week earlier and now couldn't move because his back was out. He was a guy that was very pushy and wanted to tell you what he thinks you need to know, not what I really needed to know. He was very obnoxious. I finally had to cut him off and tell him that he had to answer my questions before I could treat him. Once he realized that he was not in control of the situation things went a little smoother. I ended up starting a line on him and giving him 5 mg of Morphine. Once AMR showed up we loaded him up and sent him on his way.

After the call we stopped by Starbucks (it was now 0700) and got some coffee and hot chocolate. We were soon released from service to our neighboring city and were able to return home. Only getting a couple of hours of sleep isn't so bad except when it's your first day of a 96 hour shift.

Line of Duty Death, Firefighter Hall

Hall, Tedmund "Ted" Hall

Cause of Death: Vehicle Collision

Age: 47

Incident Description: Captain Hall and Firefighter Specialist Quinones suffered fatal injuries when they drove off the side of a treacherous road in the Mt. Gleason area, south of Acton. Investigation of the incident continues, but heavy smoke and fire conditions are thought to have contributed to the accident.

Line of Duty Death, Firefighter Quinones

Quinones, Arnaldo "Arnie"

Cause of Death: Vehicle Collision

Age: 34

Incident Description: Captain Hall and Firefighter Specialist Quinones suffered fatal injuries when they drove off the side of a treacherous road in the Mt. Gleason area, south of Acton. Investigation of the incident continues, but heavy smoke and fire conditions are thought to have contributed to the accident.

Line of Duty Death, Lieutenant McCarthy

McCarthy, Charles "Chip"

Cause of Death: Caught or Trapped

Age: 45

Lieutenant McCarthy and Firefighter Croom were killed while searching a burning commercial structure when the main floor collapsed and trapped the firefighters. Investigation into the cause of the fire and firefighter deaths continues.

Line of Duty Death, Firefighter Croom

Croom, Jonathan

Cause of Death: Caught or Trapped

Age: 34

Lieutenant McCarthy and Firefighter Croom were killed while searching a burning commercial structure when the main floor collapsed and trapped the firefighters. Investigation into the cause of the fire and firefighter deaths continues.

LAFD Engine Responds To a Water Problem

Luckily the crew weren't injured. They were backing up when it happened because they thought the ground might be unstable. I think they were right.