A Simple Question

We heard the radio come to life dispatching several units to a reported brush fire. It was just at the edge of what we consider to be our response area. Even though we are further away we have the fastest route so we routinely beat the closer units. My captain looked up and asked a simple question, "You want to go?" Does a bear poop in the woods?!

As we screamed down the freeway we could see a small header. It didn't look like this was going to be a big fire. Approaching the scene we could see several CalFire engines. Looked like they got the call first. We reported in and were assigned the left flank of the fire. The guys doing the progressive hose lay had already been through but the fire was starting to skunk its way across the fire line.

I grabbed the reel line and stretched it out as far as it would go. After about 30 minutes of mop up we were cleared from the call. We fought very little fire (it was only a couple of acres total) but it was still better then sitting around and doing nothing.

PALS

I just recently went through my PALS re-certification class. It's several hours of going over the things you more than likely have forgotten about how to treat kids. The statistic that they gave on pediatric emergencies stuck with me.

10% of all medical emergency calls are for pediatric patients. 1% of those are critical.

So for all you EMS types out there, take a minute and go over some of your peds equipment and protocols. When's the last time you had that critical 1 out of a thousand call?

Award

I was given a blogging award by Hydrant girl, although I don't know how 'stylish' my blog really is. To see the actual award go down the left side of the page.

So now I'm supposed to tell you 7 random things about me:

• I can function on a steady stream of 3 hours of sleep per night. I didn't say I was nice to be around but I can function.
• If left to my own devices I'm a fairly picky eater but if you cook for me I'll eat almost anything. I figure if I don't like it, I should have cooked.
• I've had more than my share of traffic violations, mostly speeding tickets.
• I don't like being cold. Seriously. I'm a shorts and t-shirt kind of guy I prefer the beach to snow.
• I've worked for more fire departments than ambulance companies.
• I'm a horrible speller and my wife usually spell and grammar checks my posts for me....although it's often after I've originally posted it.
• In the past I've said thank you and just ignored awards that came my way. Not sure why I played this time.

I know that I'm supposed to pass it on to 15 others but most of the blogs have already been given the award by someone else. So take a gander down my blog rolls. There's some great reading in there.

Smoke And Flames

I was on an OT shift at station 53. Our steed was the departments newest engine. She was also a fire magnet, having had several structure fires to her name in just a few short weeks.

That night there was a MMA fight on pay per view so we decided to head over to station 54 for dinner and the fight. We enjoyed steak and Caesar salad.I mean it was really good. During dinner we switched on the fight. Just as the second round of the title fight started the tones went off. We, on engine 53, didn't even wait to see if we were going to be on the dispatch. We immediately jumped up and started running for the engine parked behind the station. The race was on to see who would get out of the barn first! Even though we had twice as far to run we pulled out first.

As we turned down the street dispatch informed all responding units that we were responding to an auto repair shop with multiple reports of smoke and flames showing. Music to my ears. We were the leading unit with an three other engines, two trucks, two BC's and a heavy rescue all bearing down on us with lights flashing and siren whaling.

Up ahead we could see traffic starting to slow down. There were several police cars trying to control traffic, both auto and pedestrian. One of them waved us on through and I couldn't help but think that trying to direct us was kind of like trying to direct a herd of stampeding elephants headed for water after a long time in the desert. It would be better just to make sure you were out of our way. We're much bigger than you.

About a block out we could see 25 foot tall flames. A bunch of panicked civilians directed us down a side street to where they thought the fire to be. Unfortunately, there was a canal separating us from the fire. As soon as we figured this out we directed the rest of the convoy to the right location. By the time that we turned around and got on scene most of the first alarm assignment was there.

Engine 54 wrapped the hydrant and laid in dry. I jumped off, grabbed the hydrant, connected the 5" hose and waited for the engineer to call for water. It seemed to take forever and a day for the engineer to make the connections on his end of the hose line. Finally, I heard my captain on the radio, "CHARGE THE HYDRANT!!!"

Once that job was finished I double timed it in full turnouts and BA to the fire. When I arrived I saw a long warehouse type building that had been divided up into four rental spaces, each with a roll up door and a man door.

Roll up door number one had been cut and smoke was billowing out of it. There was a 2 1/2" hose line snaking its way into the structure. As I approached the engine I saw the firefighter from station 55 pull another 2 1/2" line and my captain was stretching out a cross lay. The guys from the rescue were starting to cut the second roll up door. I took my place between the two hose lines on the ground, about 10 feet from the door, and decided to mask up.

As soon the door fell free a huge fireball exited the building coming straight for us. The firefighter that was on the nozzle of the larger line wasn't masked up and quickly handed me the line. I wasted no time, started beating back the flames and made entry into the shop. My captain followed me with the smaller hose line.

The entire shop was filled with flame. About five minutes after entry the fire was mostly out. Now we took our time looking for hotspots. After the smoke cleared we could see several things. First, the roof had partially collapsed in the rear section of the occupancy, thankfully without anyone on or under it. Second, the fire had completely destroyed the wall separating the first and second businesses. And third, we saved almost all of business number 1, 3 and 4, including the cars inside the shop.

Four hours later we were released by the fire investigator. It was time to hit up 7-11 and get a slurpee to celebrate a job well done.

The next day I noticed that tar from the ceiling had melted and dripped all over my turnouts and helmet. Battle scars.

Hose Play

This is what it looks like when you burst a hose line 4 stories up in the drill tower and all the water comes back down the stairs.

Okay. Maybe not quite. But it was a lot of water to walk through trying to figure out where the burst was. Stupid hose.



Calm Mom

It was just before 2130 hours when we were toned out for my third OB/Gyn call in just as many shifts.

We arrived on scene to find a woman in her mid 30's sitting in a bathroom that was covered in blood. She told me that she had had a child 8 days prior via c-section. She had been discharged from the hospital 3 days after that and had had no complications until she woke up from her nap. She discovered that she was bleeding rather seriously and wasn't sure what to do.

When we arrived she was on the phone talking with an RN (assumption on my part) that was asking some inane questions. I finally had to take the phone from her and told the RN we had it under control.

My patient wasn't feeling any pain, weakness, lightheaded, or nausea. She was just bleeding. The patient refused any treatment but did consent to being taken to the hospital. Thankfully she was very mellow through the entire ordeal. The situation could have played out much differently.

¿Como Está Usted?

We left the Christmas party that was just getting going at the station to respond to a medical aid. In fact, my wife and kids got to see me leave as they pulled up. We had our BC's son with us. He is interested in a career in the fire service and has an EMT license. I told him that this was his call. He looked slightly panicked when he realized I was serious.

As we stopped the engine the slightly petrified ride-a-long made his way across the parking lot to the car where our patient was seated. As I approached with the drug box and monitor I could see that he was already way over his head. Luckily for him my captain was a medic as well. She was there, struggling to perform an assessment in Spanish.

As I moved in towards the patient I informed my captain that I spoke Spanish. Her reaction was a fairly typical one that I actually love to get. Accompanying a look that conveyed her feelings well she said, "Sure you do."

Hehehe. I had the last laugh when I saw her face the moment I started speaking with the patient. It's the look of total disbelief that turns into awe as they realize this white guy does in fact speak Spanish.

As for my patient. She was 20 weeks pregnant, dehydrated and having minor abdominal pain. She and her husband decided to go to the hospital on their own.

Gravy Train

Every night around 1930 hours phones start ringing. We call it the gravy train. It's a phone call asking if we want to pick up an overtime shift for which we've signed up.

At some stations the guys simply wait and see if the phone rings. At other stations the guys follow the staffing list to see where they may fall. They know where and with whom they will be working when that call comes in.

I think I'm getting that call tonight. We'll see.

Round Robin

The other night we were having a relatively quiet evening until about bed time. Then we had a medical call.

After the call we returned to the station. I jumped off the rig, slipped the plymovent onto the exhaust and slipped out of my bunker pants. Just as one foot cleared the boot the tones went off again. Another medical.

After the call we returned to the station. I stepped out of the engine, placed the plymovent onto the exhaust and climbed out of my bunker pants. Just as one sock hit the floor the tones went off again. A citizen assist.

After the helping the person off of the floor we returned to the station. I shook my head as I left the apparatus, hooked up the plymovent and took off by gear. Just as I set up my gear on the floor in case we had another call, to my disbelief, the tones went off again. Another medical aide.

After this call we returned to the station. I jumped off the rig, slipped the plymovent onto the exhaust and waited around for a few minutes in my bunker pants. After 5 minutes I once again slipped off my turnouts. Just as one foot cleared the boot the tones went off again. A fire alarm.

I swear that sometimes there is a hidden camera in the station and someone is messing with my head.

Water Flow Alarm

After a long night the tones went off again at 0500 hours. Way to early. This time the engine and the truck were responding for a water flow alarm at Home Depot. We thought it was just going to be a false alarm until we heard that the alarm was sounding in 14 different zones though out the store.

When we arrived on scene we found the store open for business with customers scurrying outside. As we looked through the doors of the store we could see that the floor was covered in water. The truck crew decided to cancel us and we headed back home. They ended up getting off late because they were dealing with the problem.

What had happened is one of the delivery drivers had tried backing up to the back door and sheared a hydrant. There was a slight down hill slope headed right into the store. The guys on the truck shut off the hydrant and then squeegeed the store clear of water.

The guy that backed over the fire plug was no where to be seen.

Funny Tag Lines

I was sitting by my wife while she blog hopped and I saw the tag line to In Pursuit Of Martha Points. It reads, "Earn points for decorating, lose points for house fires."

I told my wife that I thought that was funny because it was just the opposite on my blog. And yes, I realize I probably just lost a man card for posting about Martha Stuart.

Kitchen Fire

Have you ever had to wake up and figured, by how disoriented you were, that it must be far into the middle of the night, only to realize that you had been asleep for just 30 minutes? That's exactly how this call was. Thank goodness the lights turn on when we get a call because I snoozed right through the tones. Someday I'm sure I'll wake up in my own bed with the lights on and assume we have a call.

I jumped out of bed and headed to the apparatus bay. As I was jumping into my turnout pants I asked my captain where we were headed. When he said a structure fire I kicked into gear. I grabbed my turnout jacket, swinging it over my head and sliding my arms into the sleeves. Once I was buttoned up I jumped into my seat and slipped on my SCBA harness. As we pulled out of the station I checked my radio to make sure I was on the right channel. Once all this was done it was time to sit back and enjoy rolling code 3 to a structure fire.

We arrived on the scene to find a condominium 4-plex with just a little bit of smoke showing. There was a young woman standing outside of her open garage. I jumped off the rig and she explained that her kitchen was on fire. She said had left a pot of oil (for making french fries) on the stove and went upstairs for a minute and that when she came back her kitchen was ablaze.

I walked through the garage and into the house to see if it was indeed her kitchen or just a pot on the stove. Sure enough, her kitchen was on fire.

I headed back to the engine and pulled a cross lay. At the door I masked up and walked in. The smoke wasn't too thick. The fire was still small so there was very little heat. I walked up to the stove just as if I were going to cook and opened up the bale about half way, only for a second. I directed the short burst of water onto the fire on the stove (allowing me to turn it off) and then repeated the process to the small amount of fire in the cabinets.

Once the fire was out we pulled out some of the cabinets, removed some dry wall and pulled some ceiling to make sure the fire had not extended any where else. While this was going on another crew set up a blower to remove the smoke from the premises.

After everything was done we walked the owners through the condo. They were surprised to see how little was damaged by the fire and how much was damaged by the smoke. Something they didn't notice was the lack of water damage. Thanks to a stellar firefighter (me) that knew enough not to go crazy with the application of water. There was less water on the kitchen floor than if someone had spilled a pitcher of water.

We also inspected the neighbor's condo (the neighbor was a sister of the one who started this fire). We explained to all 30 (seriously, there were a lot) family members about fire safety and the importance of smoke alarms.

And FYI. If you are hurrying to a family member's house because they called you and said their house is on fire, DO NOT PARK IN FRONT OF THE HYDRANT! Bad things have been known to happen to your car.

We were nice and used a different hydrant.....this time.

Answer The D*** Question

We were dispatched  around 0300 (I think) for a man experiencing chest pain. When we arrived at his house we found him laying on the couch. As I started my assessment his family began stumbling in wondering why their family room was full of firemen.

From the start my patient was not very helpful. He refused to answer my questions unless I asked it several times. All he wanted was for me to take him to the hospital. I tried to explain that if he would answer my questions I could figure out why he was having chest pain and then alleviate it.

He was still being stubborn when AMR walked in the door. My assessment, which should have taken just a couple of minutes, had now taken more than 10 and I still didn't know that much. I quietly stepped over to the AMR medic and gave him a run down of what I had and clued him in that the patient had been a pain in the butt. He laughed at me and said thanks. We helped the patient to the gurney and checked to see if they needed anything else before we cleared.

My advice to all future patients out there, answer the medics questions. Trust me, he has a point. He's not trying to get to know you.

Man Down

We had so many calls that night that I can't remember if this was the third or fourth call after midnight. And it was only 0200. We were being toned out for a man down out on the street.

As we approached the scene we saw a man waiving frantically pointing to a dark parking lot behind. As I jumped off the rig I wasn't able to tell exactly where or who my patient was. I grabbed my drug box and heart monitor and headed toward the back of the lot. There, leaning on the trunk of the last car, was my patient. As I pointed the beam of my flashlight toward him I noticed blood dripping down over the bumper and onto the asphalt.

I immediately checked my surroundings to double check my own safety. I then called back for my engineer to grab the trauma bag.

It looked like the victim was bleeding from his right arm. He found a 20 foot length of thick wire and had wrapped around his upper arm several times in an attempt to to fashion a tourniquet. Unfortunately is was on too loosely to be of any help. My patients right wrist had been slashed from just below the base of his thumb to a point almost a third of the way to his elbow on the pinky side.

My engineer grabbed a trauma dressing and handed it to me. I applied some direct pressure and the wrapped the bandage with kerlix. I then disentangled the man from his make shift attempt at bleeding control. Once that was done we did a quick strip and flip to see if he had any other injuries.

Once the patient had been strapped to the backboard and loaded up I was able to talk to PD a little about what they found. They said that they had conflicting stories as to weather or not the injury was self inflicted. They also hadn't found the knife. As I was collecting my things from the scene I found the knife sitting under the spoiler of the car where I found my patient.

I'm glad he wasn't aggressive.

"You're Making Me Angry..."

While I was working at my previous department there was a time when, because of a lack of paramedics, that I literally moved into the station and sent my family to stay with my wife's parents. I worked more days in a row than should be allowed. Luckily that department wasn't that busy but not being able to decompress got to me.

Finally we hired another medic and I got to go home. On my way home I stopped by the grocery store to get something. Honestly, I don't even remember what it was. The store was not crowded. I grabbed what ever it was that I was there for and headed for the register.

I was in line behind a young couple. They looked to be about 18 years old. She was waiting to pay while her boyfriend (assumption on my part) helped bag the groceries. It was apparent that the young woman was in a hurry and was very impatient with the lady behind the counter. At the register she swiped her ATM card and punched in her PIN. After about 30 seconds the clerk advised the customer that she had evidently input her PIN incorrectly and asked her to do it again. At this the brunette standing in front of me, full of attitude, rolled her eyes, clicked her tongue and let out a big exasperated breath as if the clerk had done something wrong.

While the employee took this all in stride I snapped. Loudly, I said exactly what was going through my mind, with no internal filter what so ever.

"You F***ing B****! You made the mistake. Punch in the right PIN and drop the F***ing attitude."

Everyone around me stared in disbelief. The now deflated girl finished paying for her goods and walked out. The guy she was with never said a word. As I paid for my stuff I apologized to the woman behind the register. She said not to worry about it. I had said more or less what she had been thinking.

I got into my truck and headed home knowing that I needed to stay out of public places until I recharged my batteries a little.

2010 LODD's

There were a total of 87 Line Of duty Deaths in 2010. Although I am very reluctant to call two of them LODDs. You can read why here and here.

Here are a few of the statistics according to the USFA:

51 were Volunteer, 25 were career, 1 was full time wildland, and 1 was paid-call.

18 were at the station, 17 were at a fire, 16 were responding to a call, 6 were training, 4 were at non-fire calls, 1 was returning from a call and 1 was categorized other.

Nature of Fatal Injury: 43 Heart Attack, 20 Trauma, 5 Other, 4 Asphyxiation, 2 CVA, 1 Crushed, 1 Burns,  1 Heat Exhaustion, 1 Unknown.

Age of Firefighter When the Fatal Injury Was Sustained: 2 - Under 21, 5 - 21 to 25, 4 - 26 to 30, 10 - 31 to 40, 14 - 41 to 50, 20 - 51 to 60, 23 - 61 and Over

Firefighter Fatalities by State by Location of Fire Service Organization:
3 Arkansas
2 Arizona
3 California
4 Connecticut
1 Delaware
1 Georgia
1 Iowa
1 Idaho
7 Illinois
3 Indiana
5 Kansas
2 Kentucky
2 Massachusetts
1 Maine
2 Missouri
1 Mississippi
3 North Carolina
1 New Jersey
8 New York
8 Ohio
1 Oklahoma
7 Pennsylvania
2 South Carolina
2 Texas
3 Virginia
1 Vermont
1 Washington
1 Wisconsin
1 West Virginia

My heart and prayers go out to the family member of my brothers and sisters that paid the ultimate price. To those of you still serving, be safe.

"SNiFs"

"SNiFs"- A skilled nursing facility, a nursing/convalescent home. There's a lot of negative things that could be and has been written about them. However, they do fulfill a specialized niche in health-care. They care for the elderly and the really sick people that have no where or no one else to care for them. It's something that I could never do. That being said, heaven help the person that has an emergency at a SNiF. They aren't trained for it and it shows....usually.

We were toned out for the fourth time in the last hour. So much for going to bed early. We arrived at the nursing home to find several staff members (I can never tell which ones are RN's/LVN's/CNA's/or what ever else) standing around my patient who was laying on the floor. The staff members had a cart there with an oxygen tank and had actually placed the patient on high flow oxygen. When I asked, one of the ladies said that the patient had been sitting in a chair in the lobby when she started to have a seizure. A quick thinking health care worker grabbed the patient and laid her on the ground so she wouldn't fall, asked someone to grab the oxygen and called us. Apparently the convulsing lasted about a minute.

My patient was no longer actively seizing but she was still totally unresponsive. As we started go get to work I asked the lady at the cart to move it a little. She immediately started to walk off with the oxygen still attached to the mask that was strapped to the patients head. We stopped her and just grabbed the tank. As we did our assessment we found that everything was normal (pulse-88, respiratory rate-16, SpO2-96%, sugar-152, pupils-perrl, skins-normal) except her BP. Her blood pressure was through the roof. 240/120.

As we finished doing our assessment I through in an IV. While I was finishing that up AMR walked through the door.

The call was fairly unremarkable except that the staff did everything right. While we didn't do any tests or treatments that nurses there couldn't have done we did bring the knowledge of what to check and what to do. We are trained for those emergent situations, they are not. This may seem kind of obvious but not all nurses realize that. I'm glad these medical professionals did.

You Got My Attention

The tones went off for the third time between midnight and 0230. This was getting to be a long night. I had been asleep for only about 15 minutes before the tones went off but it was enough so that I was really disoriented. On the way to the call dispatch informed us that we were responding for a 30 year old female who was 20 weeks pregnant experiencing abdominal pain. Nothing to get too excited about.

When we walked in to the house it was very clear that dispatch was wrong. My patient informed me that she was 40 weeks and 1 day along and now experiencing contractions every 6 minutes. Ok. You got my attention.


She was very calm about everything. Her water had yet to break. It was her 4th kid which made me worry things were going to progress faster than I wanted. She has been under a doctors care, was taking her prenatal vitamins and was expecting no complications. She just needed a ride to the hospital.

A few minutes later AMR showed up and my patient walked to the gurney. On some calls, it can seem like an eternity waiting for that ambulance to show up.

Happy New Year