New follower and another old story

Came across http://firefighterparamedicstories.blogspot.com/ the other day, and his posts keep reminding me of old stories, so here's one.

A few months after my "department of origin" was merged into a larger county department, I was put "on the route" which means I had no permanent station, and drifted from station to station to fill in as needed. This was mostly not a happy time. Almost always I was at the station for a full 24 hour shift, but occasionally I had to commute.

One particular day, I got sent midday from a busy 2 company station to a slow 1 company station for 12 hours, returning to the first about 11pm as an extra person. The only bed open for me was the only bed that was in it's own room with a door no less! Atypically for this station I had a nice uninterrupted sleep. The next morning I went out the apparatus floor and noticed the truck I was assigned to was dripping. It had rained after I returned the night before. This is not good, and when I went into the dayroom I was greeting with lots of smiles and "Hey Sunshine! Sleep well?"

For the first and only time in my career I had slept through a call.

An odd evening

I lay awake for awhile last night. I've been having a little trouble falling asleep the last week. As I lay there, I remember a medical call I went on. 

Why am I remembering that? Possible because this site brought back some memories.

 Anyway, it wasn't a bad memory, it was when our crew revived  a two year old drowning victim, which reminded me of when another crew I was on revived a brew pub owner who had a heart attack. She threw a party at the pub for us several weeks later, and wrote a thank you letter that said "I've waited all my life to have three handsome firemen rip my top off, and when it happened I was dead!"

Why am I thinking about this?

Then I remembered bits of another call, when we pulled out of the station, as we crossed the gutter line there was an enormous "THUMP!" (I was the engineer) uh oh, something broke. We were going to a call for a possible child  drowning at the community center, so if the engine will go, we go. So there were two right turns enroute, and things seemed fine until I had to turn left. Left turn, not so good, and we're in sight of the wading pool. I'm barely able to wrestle the engine left, then a right turn and we're there. The crew was Capt Gene, Jerry and myself. Jerry jumps in the pool and tends to the little girl who had a seizure but was fine. What was it that broke? It took quite awhile to remember. (leaf spring shackle) Which engine was that? One of the old Fords?

Then I remembered Gene, Jerry and I had a "save" at the community center where there was a large birthday party for an old guy who collapsed and went into cardiac arrest. His mouth and airway were full of birthday cake. The ambu bag broke. But we got pulses and respirations back.

Am I having flashbacks?

I remember when, with this same crew, we responded to a two year old burn victim, who supposedly filled the bathroom sink with scalding hot water and tried to give herself a bath. I can still see the skin falling off her lower torso. Jerry grabbed her, jumped into the tub with cool water as the paramedics arrived, Gene and I called for a medivac helo and started setting up the LZ. The house was on a court, so we just blocked off the court, but it was garbage day and everybody's cans were out.

Why am I remembering all this? The author of "Tidings of Magpies" is a nurse, Geez, I remember another call, with a different crew. It was springtime, a beautiful day about noon when we got a call for a vehicle accident about a mile away. Sometimes you can tell from the dispatchers voice that it's bad. A person having drug induced paranoia, was driving about 80 mph on a (6 lane) city street and swerved into a car sitting at a stoplight, head on. As we pulled up, the officers waved us to the car that HAD BEEN at the stoplight. The other car was about 150' down the road. Fortunately there was a ladder truck nearby that responded and handled the "perps" car. He died while being extricated. Our driver was....a nurse..... She was responsive only to pain, of which there was probably plenty. Paul, our FF/medic, went in thru the passenger window to try and start a line on her. I popped the door with the Hurst Tool. She was wearing dark blue sweatpants, and  I noticed a quarter sized dark spot mid femur. I pointed it out to Paul who cut the pants open.

Anyone remember in Catch 22 where Yossarian cuts open the bloody flightsuit?  We're staring at a classic compound femur fracture.

I remember we were able to call the hospital and check on her for a few days, then the new privacy laws went into effect. A nurse whispered to me that she had been transferred. I never knew how she recovered

Why am I having all these memories? Let's see, just before I went to bed, our 22 year old cat pooped all over the floor and seemed to be losing control over her hind legs. I remember thinking, oh God, is it time? Do we have to take her to be put down?

No, "we" cleaned her up (I'm HELPING!) and she seemed "normal" We gave her some meds for an upset tummy. Today she walks normally unless she's been lying down for a long time.

To quote from a VERY old Adam Sandler monologue, "The mind is a terrible thing!"

You probably had to be there

A recent conversation reminded me of a call I went on once that became THE favorite story for my captain to tell about me. We had responded for a medical for a man who was apparently experiencing side effects of a new medication. Once we determined that that might be the case I tracked down the meds and literature and started reading off the POSSIBLE side effects. There were many, and I guess as I was reading them outloud, the patient was experiencing them ala a scene from the movie "Airplane!" where the doctor describes the symptoms of food poisoning.

Natural Selection- a recollection

Thanks to this site, (a recent Blog of Note) I recalled this story.

I have had the theory for sometime that my former profession and related emergency fields were basically fighting the effects of natural Selection. People are out there doing really dumb things, and it was the job of others to rescue them from the consequences of their actions.

I used a particular call that I responded to as an example.

It's shortly after a rain shower, and the sun is beating brightly on the pavement. A young high school aged man has been drinking (and it's about 10AM!) and was driving at a "high" rate of speed (pun intended) in a small blue Miata with bald tires, and no seat belt,  going into a curve.  He of course flips the car several times. SURPRIZE!  He's ejected, his skull is cracked open, among other things, and brain matter is seeing the light of day for the first time,  (I presume) His vitals are dropping, but we go through the program because that's what we do. 

 

He becomes my permanent (I thought) example of how we're fighting natural selection.

Fast forward several years. I'm reading the local newspaper which has a story about a young man who is visiting schools, lecturing about drunken driving. He tells his story to the newspaper, and it's the SAME KID!

So now it's an example of why you do your job to your best ability even when it seems hopeless.

The Amazing Adventures of The Leg, Pt 2

Word spread quietly within the confines of the station of the amazing performance of the departments newest member, recognizing that it's future performance depended on secrecy.

A short time later, one of the station's crews was helping teach new recruits at the fire academy. The class was gathered on one side of the 4 story training tower. Firefighter Jim Pelouse excused himself, explaining he had something to do on the 2nd story. He donned an old set of turnout pants that had been altered to accomodate The Leg. Again a piercing scream of pain, and all the recruits run to the scene. One recruit firefighter was so horrified at the sight, he covered Jim's eyes, screaming "Don't Look!!" The Leg had performed once again, but now the word was out, and it was once again relegated to a warm dry corner.

Having tasted the sweetness of attention and admiration, it couldn't go back to it's safe spot, with just the occasional chuckle and being pointed at. It no longer felt like an important member. It grew impatient and longed to see more of the world. It felt like there was no communication with his former buddies. He felt used.

Finally one day a crew from the Heavy Rescue station stopped by to pick up some paperwork. They had heard the tales, and Capt Don Blagueur was anxious to meet this Leg.

From the time he entered the room, there was an electric connection between the two. Although in hindsight it might have been static electricity from the carpet, they felt a connection. Don understood it's loneliness, stuck in the fire station 24/7 just because it wasn't drawing a salary which would allow it to get a place to live, a cool ride, and chance to travel and see the world.

Blagueur hatched a plot. A diversion was created, and as they left, The Leg was swept away to the Heavy Rescue Station.

They had an engine, the heavy rescue unit and A BOAT! The Leg dreamed of hydroplaning over the waves, lashed to the bow, saltspray dripping off its foot thrust into the air. He would get his sea leg and be able to tell stories to whoever would listen.

But first there was much to learn from Blagueur.

The Amazing Adventures of The Leg, Pt 1

Once, in a fire department, not so far away, there was a leg.

To the best of my recollection/imagination, this is it's story.

It's early years are, so far, undocumented. But it's humble entry into the fire department hint at rough years of poverty and exposure to drugs and alcohol on the mean streets.

The Leg was found abandoned in some bushes not too far from a large fire station.

This was a very nice fire station with a 110' ladder truck , a pumper, and a Battalion Chief. There were also two Hazardous Materials Trucks. The crews were very proud.

One day, a passerby rang the doorbell, he had found The Leg in some bushes, and not knowing what else to do, brought it to the fire station. The firefighters, not quite sure what to do with it themselves, cleaned it up and stood it in a corner. Now The Leg was clean, warm and dry and probably hoping that it had found a new home.

The firefighters tried to find a home for The Leg, but no one had reported it missing, no one seemed to have a use for it.

One day Capt (and future Batt Chief) Mouffette felt The Leg needed to earn it's keep. That evening, when everyone had changed out of their uniforms and into t shirts and sweat pants, he slit the back of an old pair of pants he was wearing and laid down on the apparatus floor with The Leg sticking out from one leg of the sweatpants at an unnatural angle. Then he screamed "MERDE!!! I've fallen!" with all his might. The crews came running out, only to see the captain lying there in obvious pain with what appeared to be a severely dislocated hip. The paramedics rushed into action to stabalize the trauma. One firefighter held the distraught captain, trying to comfort him until one paramedic tried to find a pulse on The Legs foot.

The Leg don't do pulses, but he did have a new job in the fire dept!

Memorable CoWorkers

An off blog discussion has reminded me of some memorable co workers. If some of them had a blog, I'm sure I'd be on their list.

#1 on my list was a guy I worked with about 10 years ago. He had the reputation of being a tad eccentric. (I'm sure I had my own reputatation) He had been a sniper in Vietnam, so there was probably a bit of baggage there, but he never talked about it. We bid into the same station, with him as the engineer and me as the Firefighter. Fortunately, I had worked with the captain quite a bit before, and we got along well.

"Dave" and I shared a skewed sense of humor, enjoying "The Simpsons", Bay area sports etc. Per his reputation he would sometimes get very quiet and avoid us. Remember, we're in a small fire station for 24 hours at a time. He was getting close to retirement. After working together for about a year, he was in an unusually long period of isolation, so one day I cornered him, and said, "Listen Dave, if there's something I've done or said, I'm sorry, and I'd like to correct any problem between us" His response was, "I never want to speak to you again". And per his word, for the next 6 months until he retired, he did not speak a single word to me unless it was necessary for the job. (He was also the crew paramedic, so he would tersely ask me for equipment he needed)

We only learned of his retirement and which day was his last, through the grapevine. I wished him well as he left. He never turned around or acknowledged me or anyone else. He got on his motorcycle and rode off never to be seen again.

PSYCH!

Lawn Circles

We were recently searching in our storage locker/dustbin for an item which was not located, but in the process we found other items we HAVE been looking for and boxes that could be gone thru. One of the boxes was a hastily packed box from my last day at work (when my MIL died). Amongst the detritus was my old helmet which now graces the picture on the side,and some undeveloped negatives. I could make out a fire engine in one picture, so I had the half dozen pictures developed to see what there was. This was taken in the mid 90's.

Two pictures were of a lawn circle which appeared shortly after Capt. J reported seeing a UFO. I documented the circle just as Capt J spotted another UFO which looked suspiciously like a Frisbee. I missed that part of the shot. They may mave been attracted by the flag pole.

Ahh, memories

Looking at the picture in the previous post for awhile brought back some memories. This was obviously a certificate presentation of some sort, and there wasn't a lot of outside training going on in those days. I was the only EMT that I know of in the dept, although any others might have kept their mouths shut since that seemed to be cause for suspicion. The certs might have been for going through the Navy's shipboard firefighting school which was based on Treasure Island.

The young lad to the left of locker #3 was a captain, and one of the few people with Fire Science degrees which caused ENORMOUS amounts of suspicion and jealousy. He went on to fame and fortune with a large fire dept in the Silicon Valley.

He was also quite the prankster.

At the shipboard firefighting school we were divided into several groups which got out of classes at slightly different times for lunch. One day we were all out except for Danny, so we left without him, leaving him to walk about 4 blocks back to the fire house. As we were fixing lunch, the phone rang alerting us to a helo landing in 5 minutes. One of our duties was to "standby" for "Helo Ops" so we all loaded onto the rigs and drove down to the Helo Pad and waited. We're sitting there shooting the bull for awhile and I look around and there are no security vehicles. We call security, they don't know anything about incoming helos.

We get back to the station and there is a smiling Danny enjoying his lunch.

Oops

Heard a fun story today from a friend and former supervisor. First, without his permission, but WITH editing, is his story.

"Somehow the engineer's mic got stuck in transmit mode without any buttons being pushed. We didn't know this and by the time someone called us on our cell phone, "Benny" had already dropped the "Motherf...r" bomb three times. Fortunately he wasn't talking about anyone. I think almost every station called the cell to express their "shock". PJ was our chief that day and by the time he got through, he simply said, 'I guess I don't have to tell you anything.' "

My story is from over 25 years ago when I was working for the Treasure Island Naval Station fire department as an engineer. We were driving somewhere and the captain hung his hat on the engine microphone which pushed the transmit key. His most famous utterance was "Geez I'm bored, maybe we oughta go START a fire!"

I'm the good looking one...

remodel pictures coming soon!

Firehouse cooking

Firefighters have a reputation for good cooking. They also have a reputation for cooking chili. I am a crappy cook, and a dish I DO make that vaguely resembles chili, I do not call by that name because it is so mild. I'm generally not a hot food aficionado, although I like small amounts of wasabi on sushi.

By way of background explanation, I have a small rental that has a small raised vegetable garden. A few years back the renters had vacated during fall. As I was cleaning up the property I noticed what appeared to be stunted bell peppers. (Hey it was fall after all) Hating to see food go to waste, I picked them with the thought that the next day I could make some of my Not Really Chili at the firehouse.

The next day as I chopped the onions and bell peppers, I noticed that the seeds in the peppers were very small and black rather than white.

As per usual, my nose started to itch. Not being a COMPLETE idiot, I knew to wash my hands before scratching my nose because I had been cutting an onion. Hands washed I rubbed the itching spot which immediately felt like it was ON FIRE! So I rubbed it with my (washed) wrist, now a larger area felt like it was burning. I got a wet towel and rubbed it which further inflamed things. Eventually my entire face was involved. My eyes were tearing, and I could barely see. Despite all this I continued fixing the dish while wondering what kind of onions those were anyway.

By the time the food was ready, I had regained my eyesight, and my face had improved so it only felt like a severe sunburn. I served the meal, and took a bite. OMG, it was the hottest chili I had ever tasted. I couldn't take another bite. The other two guys on my crew thought it was excellant however. Apparently those weren't bell peppers, Habaneros more likely.

Perils of grazing

By way of background, 90% of Fire dept calls are medical in nature. The reason the fire dept responds on medical incidents is that the response time is almost always much faster. Often the incident is not a true emergency, but the law is that we cannot leave a patient until we have turned them over to an equal or higher medical authority.

So the story I heard was an engine company late at night/early morning standing by with an elderly gentleman who needed to be transported, but the ambulance was substantially delayed. As they are waiting, the captain spots a bowl of peanuts on the nightstand. He's hungry, what would it hurt to have a couple of peanuts? He has a few, then a few more. Soon, they are all gone. Chagrinned he confesses to the old man. "I'm sorry, I've eaten all your peanuts. I just couldn't stop eating them"

The old man is not upset and tells the captain, "That's ok, I know what you mean, but I can't chew them anymore, I can only suck the chocolate off them"

One more prank story

For those who need some visual stimulation, here is a picture we took in Giverny in May.





Despite the underwhelming response to previous prank stories, I have saved one of the best for the last.

Once again Capt Randy is the victim. Capt R had a pickup with a lumber rack that had a cracked weld. The bed was filled with pine needles. Engineer Don, a professional welder on his days off, was asked to reweld the joint. He was concerned about the proximity of the weld to the pine needles and asked Capt R to "Keep an eye on it"

It so happened that dinner that night included BBQ done on a charcoal Weber kettle BBQ. After the dinner was put on the table, the Usual Suspect (US) moved the BBQ to a spot behind
Capt R's pickup. He also replaced the nearest garden hose with one that was too short to reach. US then called home to have his wife call the station and say she lived in the apartment bldg behind the fire station, and that a pickup truck was on fire in our parking lot. Of course,
Capt R's seat at the table was closest to the phone. Meanwhile US snuck out and put some pine needles on the still hot BBQ.

Capt R answers the phone, turns beet red and runs out back, grabs the hose, turns it on, and runs toward his "smoking truck". The hose only makes it half way, and when he turns around he sees the crews watching with big smiles on their faces.

Pranking on the fly

At the beginning of an afternoon with lots of small jobs that needed to be done around the firehouse, rookie FF Dickie was assigned to replace the shutoff valve under the kitchen sink since it was leaking. A new valve had been purchased for this. The job entailed turning off the water to the station, replacing the valve, and turning the water back on.

The line from the valve to the faucet was a compression type where you tighten a nut which compresses a fitting (rubber in this case) against the pipe. As a background, it should be mentioned that we had higher than normal water pressure in the firehouse.

Having replaced the valve, Dickie went outside to turn the water back on. When he returned inside, the water line had separated from the valve and water was shooting everywhere. He ran outside and shut off the water. He came back in, mopped up ALL the water, hooked up the line again, turned the water back on, came back and the line had separated again.

Back outside, water off, mop up water, hook up line again. He had to do this all by himself because everyone else was busy with other things. When he explained to Capt Geoff what had happened, Geoff asked him for the old valve so he could use it on the next rookie.

So although everything that happened was legitimate, Dickie THINKS its a prank!

Spontaneous pranks

I have an affection for spontaneous pranks. Taking daily happenings and turning them into something "special".

One day a bulldog mix dog ambled into our firehouse only to be met by Capt Randy who took an immediate liking to the friendly slobbering dog. The dog walked all around the firehouse investigating all the nooks and crannies.

At the same time devious minds were plotting. One group set out seeking an old dried bit of excrement to be painted so as to look fresh, and then placed on Randy's bunk. I thought it needed a bit more pizazz. I took a spray bottle and wet the corner of my own bunk. When the time was right I yelled some profanities about the damn dog. Randy thought it was REAL funny until someone pointed out his bunk.

Pranks

We've left the time of cute kitten delirium and have entered the "Watch the lamp!" survival phase. One of the results of this is that my mind is somewhat clearer for non kitten posts.

By way of background, I am retired from a Fire dept. Some of my favorite memories revolve around pranks. Most of the best of those revolved around a Capt we'll call Randy. I only did a very few minor annoyances on Randy myself. We had several people, who if a living could be made perpetrating pranks, would have been millionaires. So many elaborate pranks were pulled on Randy that I would feel guilty just by association except that his reactions encouraged us and with his rank he could have brought it all to an end at any time.

Keeping in mind that there are only two jobs where you make money lying on your back, one of my favorites was a time when Randy had to take the morning off. I'm not sure whose idea it was for this prank. Randy's bunk was next to a wall with a door to a locker room. An IV line was run from underneath his mattress pad, to the wall, under the door (which had to be taken off to shave the corner to fit the tubing) and into the first locker. At 2 am the next morning, an IV bag (Saline?) was warmed in the microwave to about body temp and hooked up to the IV line. The bag was squeezed until it was empty. Then the line was slowly pulled out.

Randy (who had a new baby at home) awoke the next morning thinking that he (Randy) had wet the bed. He was unusually quiet that morning as he took the sheets off his bunk. He might have suffered longer had someone not audibly snickered.

He thought he knew who did it and vowed revenge,... but that is another story.