A lot has been going on

Haven't written in a while, been overloaded with things lately. A week ago today, my grandad passed away, he'd been in the hospital since the same day I went to the ER. We moved him to hospice the day before he died. It's also been really weird at the academy. The EMT class challenged us to 'anything, anytime,' well, let's just say they cheated at every station and we still beat them! One of our instructors' father passed away. The funeral was yesterday and we were supposed to have the day off. In times of natural disaster or manmade chaos, anyone is subject to recall. I received a phone call about 1100 to get my stuff packed, plan to stay overnight, pick up my gear from the academy, and head to the temporary command center for my assignment. Got off work around 0200 this morning. I'll write more later, my lunch is here and I have a lot of things to get done.

Take care

Hurricane fun...

Ya gotta love what a hurricane does to traffic, people, and simple things like the power. We got to the academy this morning and everything was pitch black...no power at all. Those of us that had them, retrieved flashlights from our vehicles. We sat around in the dark, enjoying the serenity of it all, happy to be shaded from the rain. *BoOm!!* The instructors burst that bubble...PT formation! We ran for about an hour and a half...5 minutes into it we were drenched! I'll dare to mention the 8-inch deep x 7-foot across puddle we ran through 5 times. (I'm feeling lucky tonight...lol)  I just hope my shoes won't be too soaked for tomorrow. We made it back to the academy at 0905 and had until 0915 to get changed into BDU's, Chief's coming to talk to us...still no power-where's that stupid flashlight?

About 0925, Captain finally made it down to talk to us. Due to the massive amout of power outtages (including ours) we were getting assigned to fire stations. I made it to my assigned station right at 1000. I was quickly assigned to the engine and within a few minutes, ran a call to a house fire. C'mon, my luck isn't THAT good...there was no fire. It was reported by the alarm company and was obviously a false alarm. Later on, the ladder made it back to the station and I was swapped, a priviledge the other firefighters from that station are never afforded. Moments after I took the last bite of my lunch, the bell rang. Rock and roll...Big dispatch, house fire-possibly spread to next house over, the nearest ladder was on a call so we were part of the first alarm. Again, my luck isn't that good- that ladder went in service so we're SOL again.  A possible reprieve? Second alarm goes out and we are off again. Well, we made it all but the last mile there, and the second alarm was cancelled. The engine that I was on earlier, from my station, was part of the first alarm and I got to watch them go zipping past as we turned around. And yes, my heart sank...especially when I found out later that about 5 of my classmates were there. Not sure if I would've really missed the overhaul portion- but this whole day was a stroke of luck to start with (so-to-speak). Absolutely nothing else happened all day, I sat around the station watching TV and joking around with the guys. We thought we'd get more calls so none of us took our turnout pants off after lunch, oh well, live and learn.

I got off work 2 hours ago and I'm bored brainless. I'm a couple weeks ahead in my workbook, and I literally can't focus on studying anymore. I'm burned of the stupid book, 3-day weekends = long hours in the book.   We were told that we would be at our stations 'until further notice.' OK then, so do I report to the academy or to the fire station at 0700 tomorrow? The wind is supposed to pick up again overnight, I kinda hope it does so this 'until further notice' thing can be more than a day long...It all (probably) hinges on if the academy has power in the morning. I hope not.

Take care, and avoid any and all hurricanes

Eddie, I know you're reading this...thought you were gonna call me last week, buttmunch

PT ain't no joke!

OK, start time 1730...let's see how quickly I can do this before I get distracted, again

0700 yesterday, started doing PT as usual- just to do a warm-up. The instructors came down and told us to get all our turnout gear except our facepieces. Once we all got our gear on, we went to the 5th floor of the tower to get a section of 3-inch hose. The clock starts ticking. We had to go back down the tower and unroll our hose, then get it back up onto our shoulder in an 'approved carry'. Almost everyone went for an accordion fold. The reason for all of this is simple, physical conditioning. You have 1 hour to try to climb the 7-story tower as many times as possible, aiming to make 10 trips. A lot harder than it sounds. When there was about 20 minutes left (according to a classmate), I made it to the top again and knew I wasn't feeling too good-something just felt wrong. First thing I did was dump the hose, take off my helmet and gloves, and sat down. I figured since my vision was a little blurry, I'd sit down a minute so I couldn't fall down. One of the instructors was up there along with a paramedic from our class, she told him that he'd better not come down without me-then left.

I'm sitting there and, since I was in full turnout gear, very warm and trying to catch my breath. The medic comes over and asks "you OK?" I guess I didn't respond very well since he started telling me I was really flushed and felt too warm, then suggested I take the SCBA and coat off. No arguments here, I reached down and popped the release for the SCBA and let him get it all off. Next thing I know, about 6 more classmates come flying up the stairs. One looked at me for all of 2 seconds, then yelled down to the instructors that I was down and not moving a lot. A bunch of them stood me up and took the rest of my gear off, them laid me back down. By this time, 2 more classmates that are medics made it up the tower. One literally stood over me and tried to get me to slow my breathing down-I was hyperventilating and big time. Luckly, there was a chair on the roof and they loaded me into it and carried me down.

Once out of the tower, gatorade was brought to me and ice packs were shoved in all kinds of places (there was even one on top of my head!). My BP was 96/P, PaO2 100%, Resp. upper 30's-low 40's I think, and pulse was 140. The big problem of the moment was my breathing. With a real case of hyperventilation, you blow off too much carbon dioxide and as a result, your hands and lips become numb. Well, let's just say the lower half of my face was numb, and my hands were so numb that my left hand 'locked' open- I could barely make a fist. By now, it's been about 15-20 minutes since I went down, and here come both Captains from the admin. trailer, both are paramedics also. I was taken out of the chair and laid on the ground. While one Captain asked me a line of questions, the other called our dispatch and requested an ambulance. About this time, one of the medics from my class started an IV (18 in left AC) and ran a bag wide open with the first medic squeezing the bag (NS with a macro set). They checked my vitals again, BP was coming up, pulse down to 130, accu-check was 95, still numb and hyperventilating a bit. A minute or two later, the ambulance pulled up. I already had about 350-400cc's from the IV bag into me. I was loaded and did a bit of questioning while my Captains made sure everything was in order. Then enroute to the hospital. While on the way, the IV was slowed down to half-speed and vitals were repeated.

0936...Once in the hospital, I was triaged just long enough to get my fancy new bracelet before I was moved to a room in the ER. After a few minutes, the Dr. came and briefly checked me over. Then a chest x-ray was done. A bit later, the nurse came in to remove the actual IV (had to put the INT on it, classmates were in a hurry I guess)  and take some blood- 6 small tubes. I was happy about it, since I had a good line established, she hooked her stuff right into it and didn't have to stick me again to get the blood samples. Shortly after that, the tech came and tried to do an EKG. As soon as she touched my shirt she figured out why I kept asking for a blanket, I was still soaking wet from sweat. I was quickly told to ditch the shirt while she grabbed a gown and some dry sheets. She came back and did the EKG (everything was normal), then hooked me up to the monitor in the room and checked my vitals. They even checked orthostatic BP (does blood pressure drop significantly when standing up compared to lying down), all normal. By this time the numbness was gone, even from my hands. She changed the wet sheets and brought a warm blanket and then went on about her business. Occasionally, a nurse or tech would come in and talk to me, but nothing of any real signifigance. The highlights were watching other medics and EMT's from my county drop off patients. One of theguys that brought me likes to mess with me whenever he gets the chance. I saw him go by and yelled out "Ambulance driver!" A moment later, he backed up and spotted me. He cracked a couple jokes about me still being there and wanted to know what had been done/ found out. I filled him and his partner in and we talked for a few minutes until they had to get back to the truck. 

Literally hours later, I was released-but allowed to remain in my room until my Captain came to pick me up. About 1430, a nurse asked me when I ate last (the night before around 1700) then quickly brought me a meal. That nasty hospital food has never tasted that good before. There was a huge mixup about -get this- actually picking up the phone to the academy and letting them know I was ready to leave. I got to hang out a couple extra hours because of that. Once the Captain finally made it, we realized the Doc forget to sign one of my release forms. It was the one that allowed me to return to full duty, the same one I fought him over hours earlier. How convieniant. If I would have listened to him and taken today and tomorrow off, 1-I'd never catch up on the material, and 2- I'd NEVER live it down from the instructors.

We made it back to the academy minutes before final formation time...My luck, they released early and I saw half the class leaving as we pulled in. Oh well, break my heart I didn't have to stand at attention forever. I went into the classroom to grab my stuff and the remaining classmates burst into a round of applause, a couple even stood up. (It was the majority of the class, all the ones that didn't pass National Registry have to stay late for extra remediation this week)

Today wasn't too bad, I was expecting to get ribbed by everyone. By the end of the day however, some of the jokes had turned cruel and were starting to get on my nerves. The line had been crossed. It was mainly one guy who I've been annoyed by constantly in the past, I told him to (in no uncertain terms) kiss my ass and screw off. As an old movie once said "Nasty little boys like you will get their come-uppence some day." 

On the bright side, tomorrow we get to put our newly-acquired rescue/extrication knowledge to the test. We get to cut up 3 cars. The icing on the cake is that a local news station is going to be filming it for a special report. The only down side is that we will be in full gear all day, and it's expected to be hot. In fact, I guess I'd better go continue hydrating before dinner is ready...I don't want to repeat yesterday ever again. Oh, I plan to take pictures (Flapsdwn, I promise I'll send them if you remind me to upload them).

Trip to the ER today

Yeah, I don't have time to write about it now (unfortunately I do require sleep), but I spent 6 hours in the ER today. Pushed it a little too hard during PT this morning. I'll try to write it all down and update tomorrow.

Take care

Crunch Week...the breakdown

Crunch Week-A dreaded monster that relentlessly continues its barrage of mental and physical attacks for 5 days.

 Monday

First thing, THE Fire Chief comes down and fires 3 classmates. No explanation, no better-luck-next-time, just leave your issued stuff and get out-see ya tomorrow at 0900 to fill out paperwork. We were a little shell-shocked, kinda spent the day walking around without really having a purpose as to where we were going or what we were doing at the moment. The day was spent learning Haz-Mat awareness, really more like trying to stay awake through it. After class, we did a few practical stations to get ready for the state to come test us Friday. On the way home, I was rear-ended at an intersection by another car (see previous entry).

 Tuesday

The state came and tested us over Haz-Mat, we took a written and a practical test. We spent the day and a few extra hours studying and doing practicals.

 Wednesday

Again, most of the day was spent on practicals. We took a vote and went home at the normal time. The Deputy Chief had given us a test, 100 questions long, and told us to do it-look up the correct answers- and don’t bother coming to work the next day if it wasn’t done. I was up late working on it.

I also found out that my boyfriend had to go to the emergency room that morning…kidney stone. As if I didn’t have enough things to stress over LOL.

 Thursday

The state came and we took the written exam, as well as those of us that failed the Haz-Mat practical doing our re-take. The rest of the day (and a few extra hours) was more practicals.

 Friday

It took from about 0800 until 1730, but everyone made it through the practicals. We also found out our scores on the written from the day before….everyone passed. That night, I was so tired I went to bed at 2030 (8:30) and slept until 0930.

Burn, baby, Burn

 OK, I’ve been promising a big update for a couple weeks, I finally have time and energy to follow through with it. Hope I can remember everything.

 Monday 8-16-04…..car and dumpster fires

 We grabbed our gear and assembled at the car and dumpsters at the academy. Each person had a partner and took turns, one attacked the fire while the other opened the hood, or if you were on the dumpster-one attacked the fire while the other opened the doors. I must be able to really pick ‘em because my partner simply let go of the hose when he was told to go open the hood of the car. The instructor also told him NOT to prop the hood open with the Halligan bar on the wood in the engine compartment. Yep, as soon as I opened the line the hood slammed shut. Before I can shut the line down, he lets go again. Lucky for me, there was an instructor right behind me both times, and he caught me both times. It was rough, but I managed to work my way all the way around the car.

 The dumpster wasn’t as much fun as the car, simply flow water into the open doors until told to shut it down.

 Wednesday 8-18-04….Burn building

 Since we’ve been there before, we are allowed to drive directly to the state academy without the pit stop at our academy. I got there early, really, really early. I’m sitting in my car, listening to the radio and debating whether or not I should nap for a while since I was almost an hour early. Over a hill, about 150 yards away, I spot movement. A bunch of deer are having a morning breakfast of their own. Who would’ve guessed? A little bit later a few classmates show up so we sit around on our cars talking and waiting for the instructors to show up.  

 Fast forward to about 0900

 Those of us that were early had already staged the pallets and hay bales into the building, it’s now time to light it. After a few minutes, everyone gears up and the whole class plus instructors crawls into one room of the building (between 35-40 total). Everyone is on their knees, shoulder-to-shoulder with the next guy, facing the fire. It was definitely warm in there. Similar to cops getting pepper-sprayed in order to carry the stuff, we have to upset the thermal layering (heat rises-cold sinks) to help us learn what not to do and why not to do it. Water is sprayed and as the smoke literally drops slowly to the floor, the temperature skyrockets. Some genius classmate made the comment “This isn’t too bad.” Well, surprise, it can be “On your feet!” One word says it all, damn! The fun wasn’t over yet, the next order was to climb the stairs to the next level. Remember that little heat rises thing? The steel handrails of the stairway were glowing red-hot.

 A few minutes later and everyone has geared-down and is assigned a crew and instructor. My crew started off serving as the RIC (rapid intervention crew) for the basement, The RIC is stationed just outside the door with a hose line should anything go wrong inside. Our turn came and we went in as the primary team. Me and my partner did a quick search and found the adult victim and rescued it, went back inside, and had to go bring it back for the next group. Everyone then took turns flowing water in each of the different patterns we had been taught. Then we backed out so the next group could go.

 Next, we served as the RIC for the first floor, then had our turn to go inside and search. We were to be the last crew in before lunch. My partner and I did a right-hand search while the nozzle man held the flames back and the other 2 in our crew did a left-hand search. The other search crew beat us to the stairway so we returned to the hose line as they continued upstairs. They found a victim (infant dummy placed by instructors) and busted tail to get down and out. I was about to turn and leave when the instructor got my attention. I crawled over and he told me to got to the corner and set off my PASS alarm (personal alert safety system-normally goes off if you don’t move for a certain amount of time). Now I know what’s going on and I’m game for a little fun. I crawl into the corner, lay down, and hit the little red button…..No RIC team……alright now dangit, where are they?……umm, I getting a little worried now….Finally! The door busts open and here comes some of the RIC, and some of my crew. As one guy starts trying to find the straps of my SCBA to hold on to, he nearly broke the seal of my mask and almost knocked my helmet off. Meanwhile, another has grabbed my legs and starts dragging me towards the door. FYI, always extricate someone headfirst. As they got me outside, I was laughing like crazy, my butt and SCBA drug the ground the whole way out. Turns out my crew didn’t even know I was missing and the RIC forgot to count how many of us went in. At least they got me out…eventually.

 Lunchtime! Of course we goofed around, duh! Lunch is the only time we are allowed to take off all the turnout gear, normally, we have to keep the pants/boots on.

 After lunch was the final trip into the flames, and they made sure it was scorching in there. Anyone who had 3,000 psi or more in their bottle was told to gear-up. I had 2,900 but was told it was close enough. We started in the basement, again doing a right-hand search, I’m leading. Upstairs to the first floor, all clear. On to the second floor. As we’re moving and blindly sweeping (it’s pitch-black), I planted my hand into something soft…the infant. “I got one!” Now the race is on to find the stairs and get the ‘baby’ out. I passed it to my partner so I could find the stairs easier. As we went down, his bell started ringing (bell rings at 1,500 psi- facepiece starts vibrating at 1,000 psi-basically a warning to get out fast before you run out of air). On the first floor he rushed out the door and I had to stand up in the heat and wait on a new partner. OK, time to rock and roll again. We took off and went straight down to the basement, everything upstairs was clear. As we go around the room, we found the other victim, the very heavy remains of  another dummy, this time an adult. We both grabbed it and drug it out the door and up the stairs, then went back in. The instructor quickly stopped us and had us bring the dummy back in for the next group. Then we sat on the hose line awaiting orders to back out.

 The only bad things that happened all day was  when a classmate committed the cardinal sin of burn building days and an instructor was also injured. The classmate left her partner and ran out of the burn building…twice. The instructor was about to take a step (inside the burn building) and his knee popped and gave out. He normally wears a knee brace but decided to go without it.

 Once everyone was done, we put the fires out and began to overhaul, or clean everything up. All the junk from the fires had to be removed from the building and soaked to make sure the fire was out. We packed the hoses and all our gear into the van and our vehicles and headed home. Most went home to baby their knees. Thanks to all the crawling, I had half-dollar sized blisters on both knees…both had burst and the skin underneath was a bright red, and very raw.

draggin' along

Well, this is "crunch week" at the academy. Today was Haz-mat awareness, the state comes to test us tomorrow morning. We're also squeezing in a review, a final exam, and a bunch of practice for practicals before the state comes back Thursday and Friday to test us over NPQ-I.

Whenever I can think clearly again I'll do a big update on how the burn building went...overall, it was a blast (no pun intended).

Oh yeah, about 2 and a half hours ago I was on my way to visit some old friends at the next county over's fire station (I have buddies all over). Well, long story short, I was rear-ended in an intersection. I'm not hurt at all and my car has minimal damage. Just the corner of the bumper is dented in and a piece of trim between the bumper and the taillights is messed up, nothing that can't be fixed...I guess it's a good thing he was following me too closely when he hit me, his insurance will fix it (if you know me, I'm a nut about my car).

Books and study guides are a-callin my name.........