More of what has been going on
Once again, I have been a bad blogger. I have not allowed much time to sit and write lately. To say I have been busy would be another major understatement. Between working my shifts at the city, finishing out my last few remaining shifts at my old EMS job, teaching several classes at the academy, and starting work with the county EMS – it’s been hectic. Last month I had a whole 3 days off.
Here are some hi-lights; we had an apartment building fire at work last week. I was driving the engine that day (figures). We were the first-in company, and it looked minor as we pulled up, just light smoke showing from the rear of the building and the front windows of a 2 story brick apartment buliding. We also were riding short, only 3 on the engine. As the driver / operator, my job is to get us there safe, then supply water to the lines for the attack crew. As we pulled up in front, I set the brake and put the engine in pump-gear. The lieutenant (LT) who is our company officer had command of the incident until the Battalion Chief (BC) gets there. We had a rookie fireman riding on the back. I pulled the attack line off the engine for him as he advanced the nozzle to the front door and stretched the remaining hose out for him so it would not kink up and would fill with water. The rule is that you never go in alone, and as command, the LT can’t go in with him. He had to wait for the 2nd in engine to get there so he had back-up on the line. I charged the line, set the pressure and then went to get the fan out of the side compartment so we could set up ventilation ops as soon as it was time.
The 2nd in engine got there and the 2 senior firemen and the captain went to the door to go in with the probie already on the nozzle who was waiting. As soon as they opened the door and made entry, the smoke conditions changed rapidly, from light grey to dark black. This indicates the fire is taking off and conditions are deterororating inside. About a minute later, one of the front windows was broken out (we later found out by accident) and things really went south. The fire got a huge gulp of fresh air, and rolled over. This means it rapidly flared up, went across the ceiling and headed for the window, and then out the window and up the front of the building to the roof line. A roll-over is just shy of being a flashover, which is fatal to victims inside the room who are not protected as firefighters are, and in many cases – even a firefighter in full gear can’t survive a flashover. When I first saw it happen, I initially thought it had flashed, but as I looked again I determined it hadn’t flashed, but was as I said a vigorous roll-over. My first thought was “Oh God, we just killed someone”. We knew there was no victims in the apartment, they had gotten out safe when the fire started and were outside when we pulled up. But I thought one, if not all of the the guys inside had gotten burned.
As fast as it had happened, it died down, the crew inside doing their job and knocking the fire down with the attack line. I made sure my line pressure was right on the pump panel, checked how much water was left in the tank and then I immediately pulled the second line off the engine for the next engine pulling up so their crew could go in as back up. They also were dropping me a supply line from the hydrant to supply my engine so I would not run out of water. I hooked the supply line up to the intake and signaled for them to charge the hydrant. That gave me unlimited water, and I no longer had to worry about running out, since the tank only has 750 gallons in it.
Once they had the fire knocked down, the attack crew came out. I was worried, once again. The rookie that had been on the nozzle had gotten a beating in there. He was black from head to toe, his helmet was melted and deformed. We started pulling his gear off him. He said he was OK, just got hot in there. We checked him over, and found he had gotten burned a little, even through his protective gear. He had some burns to his neck and to his shoulder. He would be transported to the hospital to get checked out. When he got back, we found out he had 2nd degree burns to the side of his neck, and on his shoulder. We inspected his gear. His helmet was destroyed, he had burned the straps and the hoses on his air pack, the radio had been damaged, his coat had been burned through on the one sleeve, his protective hood had been burned. His gear did what it was designed to do, it saved his life – but it took a toll. The radio would have to be repaired, the helmet was a total loss, the air pack would have to be sent out to be repaired, the coat would have to be replaced and the hood was destroyed as well.
Despite what many people think, our gear is not fireproof; it’s fire resistant. It will protect us – to a point. Nothing is fire proof. Like I said, it did it’s job, but he got lucky – very lucky. It could have been much worse. If they hadn’t gotten it knocked down when they did, and he had been in those conditions a little longer, he could have been hurt much worse.
We wound up staying on scene for several hours, hitting hot-spots, making sure the fire was totally out, overhauling the apartment and ensuring there was no hidden fire, and waiting on the Red Cross and the owner of the building. When we finally did clear the scene, we still had work to do. We had to get the engine back in shape at the station. Spare hose had to be put on in place of the stuff we had used that was dirty and wet. The dirty sections had to be cleaned and put in the hose dryer. Tools had to be cleaned, air bottles had to be refilled, the water cooler had to be refilled, etc, etc. The fire started around 1030 AM. We finally got done and had a chance to grab a bite to eat around 6 PM. Then we still had 14 hours left in our shift to run other calls that came in.
All the classes I have been teaching lately have gone well. Nothing spectacular to write about there. Unfortunatley, all the extra money I thought I was going to get for teaching I had to spend last week. The entire exhaust system in Beth’s car went ka-blooey on her. The short version is when the guy at the shop looked at it, he said if she drove it anymore, it would blow the engine. Everything from the headers on the engine back had to be replaced. The manifold, the flange, the catalytic converter, exhaust pipe, muffler and tailpipe were all shot. One thousand dollars later, and she has a new exhaust system in her car. (sigh) Everytime I get half a step ahead, I fall two behind. Oh, well.
I’m still in orientation for the new EMS job. This is all administrative work. Going over policies & procedures, learning the computer system for the reports, radio procedures, supplies, equipment, getting uniforms, doing paperwork, etc, etc. Mainly feels like a waste of time to me, but at least I’m getting paid for it. I should finish up the admin crap tomorrow, then I have to ride 3 shifts with another crew to get familiar with everything in the field. After that – I will get cleared to actually work and pull shifts. I will be happy when I get to that point, in about another week.
Saturday, I went to a parade. I drove our engine to it and during the parade and then back again. It was for a new memorial being dedicated to all the firefighters who have died in the line of duty within our state. It was a full day of ceremonies and events, but I didn’t get to stay for it all, since the chief wanted the engine back in service in the city as soon as possible. I was kind of bummed about that, having been told before hand that I would be staying for the day with the engine, but he had changed his mind I guess. The up side to that was I got home a lot earlier Saturday than I thought I would, and I got to spend some time with Beth & the Squirt at home.
It also let me get ready for yesterdays events. We were going trail riding in the National Forest with the Jeep club. We headed out from the meeting point, lots of Jeeps in convoy bright and early for the 2 hour ride to the forest. We met up with everyone else that had headed up the night before or even earlier that morning. There was a bunch of us. 2 of the guys from the department who also are avid Jeepers also went along, and we of course all stayed together for the day. Despite the fact that it was raining like crazy, and there was way too much mud on the trails, and I was apprehensive about some of the trails we were on for my experience level – we had a blast. We spent all day wheeling on the trails, breaking only for lunch with the group back at the outpost where the club had cooked a pig. After lunch, back on the trails for more wheeling & mud. By the end of the day, I was a bit frazzled. The trails were in bad shape from all the rain and the mud was giving us a fit. I was sliding more than driving a few times, and I got hung up a couple times, but managed to get out of it without having to be winched – always a good thing. I even talked to one of the guys from the Jeep club who works for the local Jeep dealership, and he wants me to come in and trade mine in for a new one. He thinks he can get me into a 2006 Rubicon. I’m stoked. That’s what I had originally wanted to buy, but when I bought mine on ’04, couldn’t afford the extra money for the Rubicon package. Maybe now, I can get it. The downside is, I got to start all over with my customizing. I was just starting to get it where I wanted too! But, it will be worth it if they can make the deal work money wise.
It’s been a pretty hectic couple of weeks, to say the least. I have obviously kept busy, with something going on each and every day. I have been bouncing back and forth from one job to the other each day. I tend to get home every other night long enough to eat and sleep and not much else. But, there is a rainbow on the horizon. I am done with all my scheduled shifts at my old EMS job. I’m almost done with orientation at the new one. I’m also slowing down with teaching commitments. I only have a few more scheduled through the summer, and they are very manageable. I also have some recreation activities scheduled. I’m taking Beth to a concert this Saturday, we’re going to the beach for a day with her best friend (and maid of honor) the first weekend in June, we’re going to visit her aunts later in June, and I have vacation time in July. Right now, the plan is to go to Baltimore in July for the Firehouse Expo, if I can squirrel enough money away between now and then to afford it. I hope to, since I don’t want to cancel it and really want to go. Time will tell on that.
That’s about it for now – more as it happens I guess.
Here are some hi-lights; we had an apartment building fire at work last week. I was driving the engine that day (figures). We were the first-in company, and it looked minor as we pulled up, just light smoke showing from the rear of the building and the front windows of a 2 story brick apartment buliding. We also were riding short, only 3 on the engine. As the driver / operator, my job is to get us there safe, then supply water to the lines for the attack crew. As we pulled up in front, I set the brake and put the engine in pump-gear. The lieutenant (LT) who is our company officer had command of the incident until the Battalion Chief (BC) gets there. We had a rookie fireman riding on the back. I pulled the attack line off the engine for him as he advanced the nozzle to the front door and stretched the remaining hose out for him so it would not kink up and would fill with water. The rule is that you never go in alone, and as command, the LT can’t go in with him. He had to wait for the 2nd in engine to get there so he had back-up on the line. I charged the line, set the pressure and then went to get the fan out of the side compartment so we could set up ventilation ops as soon as it was time.
The 2nd in engine got there and the 2 senior firemen and the captain went to the door to go in with the probie already on the nozzle who was waiting. As soon as they opened the door and made entry, the smoke conditions changed rapidly, from light grey to dark black. This indicates the fire is taking off and conditions are deterororating inside. About a minute later, one of the front windows was broken out (we later found out by accident) and things really went south. The fire got a huge gulp of fresh air, and rolled over. This means it rapidly flared up, went across the ceiling and headed for the window, and then out the window and up the front of the building to the roof line. A roll-over is just shy of being a flashover, which is fatal to victims inside the room who are not protected as firefighters are, and in many cases – even a firefighter in full gear can’t survive a flashover. When I first saw it happen, I initially thought it had flashed, but as I looked again I determined it hadn’t flashed, but was as I said a vigorous roll-over. My first thought was “Oh God, we just killed someone”. We knew there was no victims in the apartment, they had gotten out safe when the fire started and were outside when we pulled up. But I thought one, if not all of the the guys inside had gotten burned.
As fast as it had happened, it died down, the crew inside doing their job and knocking the fire down with the attack line. I made sure my line pressure was right on the pump panel, checked how much water was left in the tank and then I immediately pulled the second line off the engine for the next engine pulling up so their crew could go in as back up. They also were dropping me a supply line from the hydrant to supply my engine so I would not run out of water. I hooked the supply line up to the intake and signaled for them to charge the hydrant. That gave me unlimited water, and I no longer had to worry about running out, since the tank only has 750 gallons in it.
Once they had the fire knocked down, the attack crew came out. I was worried, once again. The rookie that had been on the nozzle had gotten a beating in there. He was black from head to toe, his helmet was melted and deformed. We started pulling his gear off him. He said he was OK, just got hot in there. We checked him over, and found he had gotten burned a little, even through his protective gear. He had some burns to his neck and to his shoulder. He would be transported to the hospital to get checked out. When he got back, we found out he had 2nd degree burns to the side of his neck, and on his shoulder. We inspected his gear. His helmet was destroyed, he had burned the straps and the hoses on his air pack, the radio had been damaged, his coat had been burned through on the one sleeve, his protective hood had been burned. His gear did what it was designed to do, it saved his life – but it took a toll. The radio would have to be repaired, the helmet was a total loss, the air pack would have to be sent out to be repaired, the coat would have to be replaced and the hood was destroyed as well.
Despite what many people think, our gear is not fireproof; it’s fire resistant. It will protect us – to a point. Nothing is fire proof. Like I said, it did it’s job, but he got lucky – very lucky. It could have been much worse. If they hadn’t gotten it knocked down when they did, and he had been in those conditions a little longer, he could have been hurt much worse.
We wound up staying on scene for several hours, hitting hot-spots, making sure the fire was totally out, overhauling the apartment and ensuring there was no hidden fire, and waiting on the Red Cross and the owner of the building. When we finally did clear the scene, we still had work to do. We had to get the engine back in shape at the station. Spare hose had to be put on in place of the stuff we had used that was dirty and wet. The dirty sections had to be cleaned and put in the hose dryer. Tools had to be cleaned, air bottles had to be refilled, the water cooler had to be refilled, etc, etc. The fire started around 1030 AM. We finally got done and had a chance to grab a bite to eat around 6 PM. Then we still had 14 hours left in our shift to run other calls that came in.
All the classes I have been teaching lately have gone well. Nothing spectacular to write about there. Unfortunatley, all the extra money I thought I was going to get for teaching I had to spend last week. The entire exhaust system in Beth’s car went ka-blooey on her. The short version is when the guy at the shop looked at it, he said if she drove it anymore, it would blow the engine. Everything from the headers on the engine back had to be replaced. The manifold, the flange, the catalytic converter, exhaust pipe, muffler and tailpipe were all shot. One thousand dollars later, and she has a new exhaust system in her car. (sigh) Everytime I get half a step ahead, I fall two behind. Oh, well.
I’m still in orientation for the new EMS job. This is all administrative work. Going over policies & procedures, learning the computer system for the reports, radio procedures, supplies, equipment, getting uniforms, doing paperwork, etc, etc. Mainly feels like a waste of time to me, but at least I’m getting paid for it. I should finish up the admin crap tomorrow, then I have to ride 3 shifts with another crew to get familiar with everything in the field. After that – I will get cleared to actually work and pull shifts. I will be happy when I get to that point, in about another week.
Saturday, I went to a parade. I drove our engine to it and during the parade and then back again. It was for a new memorial being dedicated to all the firefighters who have died in the line of duty within our state. It was a full day of ceremonies and events, but I didn’t get to stay for it all, since the chief wanted the engine back in service in the city as soon as possible. I was kind of bummed about that, having been told before hand that I would be staying for the day with the engine, but he had changed his mind I guess. The up side to that was I got home a lot earlier Saturday than I thought I would, and I got to spend some time with Beth & the Squirt at home.
It also let me get ready for yesterdays events. We were going trail riding in the National Forest with the Jeep club. We headed out from the meeting point, lots of Jeeps in convoy bright and early for the 2 hour ride to the forest. We met up with everyone else that had headed up the night before or even earlier that morning. There was a bunch of us. 2 of the guys from the department who also are avid Jeepers also went along, and we of course all stayed together for the day. Despite the fact that it was raining like crazy, and there was way too much mud on the trails, and I was apprehensive about some of the trails we were on for my experience level – we had a blast. We spent all day wheeling on the trails, breaking only for lunch with the group back at the outpost where the club had cooked a pig. After lunch, back on the trails for more wheeling & mud. By the end of the day, I was a bit frazzled. The trails were in bad shape from all the rain and the mud was giving us a fit. I was sliding more than driving a few times, and I got hung up a couple times, but managed to get out of it without having to be winched – always a good thing. I even talked to one of the guys from the Jeep club who works for the local Jeep dealership, and he wants me to come in and trade mine in for a new one. He thinks he can get me into a 2006 Rubicon. I’m stoked. That’s what I had originally wanted to buy, but when I bought mine on ’04, couldn’t afford the extra money for the Rubicon package. Maybe now, I can get it. The downside is, I got to start all over with my customizing. I was just starting to get it where I wanted too! But, it will be worth it if they can make the deal work money wise.
It’s been a pretty hectic couple of weeks, to say the least. I have obviously kept busy, with something going on each and every day. I have been bouncing back and forth from one job to the other each day. I tend to get home every other night long enough to eat and sleep and not much else. But, there is a rainbow on the horizon. I am done with all my scheduled shifts at my old EMS job. I’m almost done with orientation at the new one. I’m also slowing down with teaching commitments. I only have a few more scheduled through the summer, and they are very manageable. I also have some recreation activities scheduled. I’m taking Beth to a concert this Saturday, we’re going to the beach for a day with her best friend (and maid of honor) the first weekend in June, we’re going to visit her aunts later in June, and I have vacation time in July. Right now, the plan is to go to Baltimore in July for the Firehouse Expo, if I can squirrel enough money away between now and then to afford it. I hope to, since I don’t want to cancel it and really want to go. Time will tell on that.
That’s about it for now – more as it happens I guess.
posted by FireResQGuru at 5/08/2006 08:56:00 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home