Dangerous job

There's a video on the website so here's the link http://www.nbc11.com/news/9699498/detail.html

NOVATO, Calif. -- A North Bay firefighter is back on duty after an unusual attack late Thursday night that turned into a hazmat situation.

A man knocked on the door of the fire station near the corner of San Ramon Way and San Marin Drive in Novato at about 11:30 p.m.

A firefighter answered and saw a man wearing goggles and surgical gloves and holding a gallon-sized bag with a white powdery, crystal-like substance inside. The man tried to hand the firefighter the bag but the firefighter refused. The man turned and ran to a car where a second person and they drove away.

The firefighter did not handle the bag but he said he felt a burning sensation on his face.

The firefighter was hosed down and decontaminated. He was also sent to a hospital to be checked out because he still felt a burning sensation.

Hazmat crews spent about four hours testing the area and the fire station for dangerous substances, including nerve agents.

The two men were in a silver Toyota Corolla, firefighters said.

 

Who said firefighters were only in danger when fighting fire???

Just another Monday morning?

Just another Monday morning, or so it seems. I'm not quite sure why, but it just feels like a Monday. You know the type, you wake up and it takes all the motivation (and hits on the snooze button) you can muster just to roll yourself out of bed. That's definately me today.

Work has been, well, work. I've been in a few good fires lately, we've had a couple in our territory that other trucks reported seeing the smoke when they pulled out of their stations. One of the fires had heavy flames through the roof on our arrival. I had the nozzle in the garage and the fire was in the ceiling. We got tired of pulling sheetrock so I opened the nozzle all the way and let the blast knock down the rest of the sheetrock. We got a pretty good stop on the fire, 2 rooms, the patio (origin of fire), and the garage were a loss, but the bedrooms and all of downstairs survived with major to minor smoke or water damage. We took salvage covers downstairs and covered the electronics and other important or sentimental objects for the family. The only real issue we had was the heat, it was 94*F out. We set up rehab under a large tree in the neighbor's yard. Someone had the sense to pull a couple electric fans off the ladder-truck and set them up near rehab. We were all grateful for that and the nice breeze that was blowing.

I haven't been on any memorable EMS calls lately, at least not anything interesting. I've been on some legit calls, something other than a week old buttache, but nothing too interesting.

I take that back, we did have an interesting rollover a couple weeks ago during a freak rainstorm. Single car accident, the guy lost control of his car for whatever reason and rolled a couple times. Witnesses pulled him out of the car, and had him literally pinned to the ground when we arrived. The guy had a 4" gash to the side of his head with moderate blood loss. He was somewhat combative, swearing there was nothing wrong and trying to get up to leave. He complained when we bandaged his head, and was fine with being on the backboard, but he wanted out of the rain. Once he was loaded, I was helping pick up our trash and anything bloody to be put in a biohazard bag. I found the guy's license and insurance cards on the roadway (everything that was in the car was spread across the road for 100'). I showed the license to PD so they could get what they needed, then gave both cards to the guys on the ambulance.

In other news, my ferret had to be euthanized a few days ago. I gave her back to my ex-fiance more than a month ago. Turns out she was really a he. He had rapidly-growing tumors in his belly, the vet said they were probably cancerous and there was no treatment. He (my ex-fiance) thought it best to prevent any more sufferring and had the ferret put down.

Take care out there

New toys, and a new way to hurt myself

For those who don't know what I've been up to, I have a set of stilts, called powerisers, powerizers, flying jumpers, powerskips, etc... Whatever you want to call them, they're stilts you can jump on, as in up to 6'. Here's a video of me one of the first few times I strapped them on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCG0law7uOE

My biggest thing right now is that I want to be able to flip, both like normal people, and on the stilts. OK, so tonight was my first workout at the gymnastics center. The owner seems fascinated by the powerisers and will allow me to walk on certain types of the mats with the risers on.

Tonight, I took the risers in and my new instructor was busy so I was asked to put the risers on while I waited (I was talking to the owner). Once the instructor was done, we chatted for a few. Then I took the risers off and we went over to the trampoline. I clipped into a harness and started bouncing. At first, it was 3 bounces, and on the 3rd bounce try to go over backwards. I did pretty good, landed without going to my knees a few times. Then things got harder...1 bounce directly into the flip. It took a while but I finally started landing a few. By the end of the hour, I managed to land 2 - back tucks on the trampoline without a harness or spotter.

Because of my weird work schedule, and just how close I live to the center, I can call around 3 pm and set up a lesson for that night. I have to work tomorrow, so I'll probably go back for more Friday.

Depending on how well I do, we'll spend the first 15-30 minutes on the trampoline, and the rest of the time on another harness with the stilts, then the remainder of the time (still on the stilts) going into the foam pits.

All I know is I feel the burn in my shoulders already, I bet I'll be kinda sore in the morning. No pain, no gain, right?

Fallen Brother - LODD

This was taken from firehouse.com

http://cms.firehouse.com/content/article/article.jsp?sectionId=39&id=49849

Bill Craddock died from doing what he loved most: fighting a fire.

Mr. Craddock, a rescue specialist with the DeKalb County Fire and Rescue Department, had a heart attack May 4 while fighting a house fire in south DeKalb County. Two strokes followed, and he died Tuesday at Emory University Hospital.

"Bill was what every fireman aspires to be --- what we call a jake, a fireman's fireman," said Christopher W. Holcombe of Buford, a firefighter who worked with him at DeKalb County Fire Station 24.

"Every time the fire department asked for volunteers, Bill was out in front. He not only was a dedicated fireman but an instructor on the local, state and national level known throughout the country for his teaching of technical rescue and firefighter survival. When they teach us to be firemen, they teach us to put fires out. But things can go bad in a fire. Bill taught the best way to save ourselves in emergencies and get other firefighters out."

As a rescue specialist, Mr. Craddock could do it all, said Mr. Holcombe. He was adept at high angle rope rescue from tall buildings, confined space rescue from places like sewer pipes, trench rescue from construction sites, scuba diving rescue, swift water rescue and extrication from vehicles. "Firefighting was Bill's passion," said his wife, Shainti Craddock of Jasper. "He called it his first love."

The funeral for William Leroy Craddock II, 37, of Jasper, is 2 p.m. Saturday at First Redeemer Church in Cumming. McDonald & Son Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

The Florida native served five years in the U.S. Marine Corps as a helicopter mechanic, Mr. Holcombe said. After moving to metro Atlanta in 1996, he worked as a car mechanic and began volunteering with the Hickory Flat Volunteer Fire Department in Cherokee County.

In 1997 Mr. Craddock joined the DeKalb fire department and soon was going through the arduous training to become a rescue specialist. Besides his extensive teaching, Mr. Craddock worked part-time for the Forsyth County Fire Department and was an assistant chief with the Bethany-Salem Volunteer Fire Department Station 8 in Jasper.

To help unite Georgia firefighters, Mr. Craddock joined with several other firefighters in 2001 to establish the fraternity Georgia FOOLS, a branch of FOOLS International. FOOLS stands for Fraternal Order of Leatherheads Society.

"It is an organization that promotes brotherhood and the traditions and lifestyle of firefighters," Mr. Holcombe said. A major part of the Georgia FOOLS agenda is teaching firemen across the state how to save people and get out safely, Mr. Holcombe added. The program has grown to numerous chapters, said co-founder Brian Gary of Forsyth County, a lieutenant with the Forsyth County Fire Department.

For fun, Mr. Craddock rode bulls in rodeos, went horseback riding with his wife and played hide-and-seek with his 4-year-old son Colby Craddock, who loved to come to his father's fire stations.

A fund for Mr. Craddock's widow and son has been set up by the DeKalb County Fire and Rescue Department. Donations to the William L. Craddock Fund can be made at any Bank of America branch. Other survivors include his mother, Gail Schueren, and his stepfather, Bob Schueren, both of Epworth.

 

Here's a link to some of the footage the news had.

http://www.cbs46.com/global/video/popup/pop_player.asp?ClipID1=837073&h1=Firefighter%20Remembered&vt1=v&at1=News&d1=141800&LaunchPageAdTag=Homepage&activePane=info&playerVersion=1&hostPageUrl=http%3A//www.cbs46.com/&rnd=87588074

Drive-time on the firetruck

As usual, many things have happened lately. I've been on another big house fire, a couple good vehicle extrications, and a few worthy medical calls.

A recent day that comes to memory is one of my new favorites.

The day started off normally, well, as normal as life in a fire station can be. As shift change (0700) arrived, we all got our unit assignments for the day and started about our duties. I went to work checking the supplies in the EMS jumpbags, changing the batteries in and testing the Zoll cardiac monitor, and checking all the stock in the truck. Moving on to check all the fire-related equipment, loading my gear onto the truck, checking my airpack and making sure we have everything we're supposed to.

Once truck-checkoffs are completed, we all help clean the station. The good thing about my station is that it's twice as old as I am, so no matter how much we scrub it, it's just not going to be that impressive.

After all the morning chores are done, if there aren't any calls to run or classes to take, we can somewhat relax. Of course, there's always calls to run, blood-pressures to check, and other things to do.

Mid-afternoon, we'd just come off a call and I'd gotten my lunch and just sat down when an air-horn was blown from in front of the station. Turns out, my truck was being shut down for a little while so one of the guys on another engine could go take his physical.

At the health department, he hopped off the truck and we were down a driver. Since I had just gotten my learner's permit for the firetruck, he volunteered me to drive. The Captain double-checked that I did have the permit, and I hopped up into the driver's seat. I didn't pay much attention before, but now I know, those firetrucks (counting the mirrors) are wider than the average driving lane!

My fun was cut short when we were called back, our guy wasn't on the list to do his physical that day. I don't mind, I'm just happy I logged my first mile or so driving the fire engine.

Justice has been done

April 15,  my regular partner and I were shifted to the ambulance for the shift. Most of the shift was uneventful.

Late that evening, we ran a call that came in somewhat suspiciously. The only info the dispatcher had, was that a female called in requesting an ambulance, there was arguing in the background, and the line disconnected. (They also relayed that the city police were clear on the call and had a unit enroute)

I can't go into many details since there is a pending trail, but I'll give the edited version.

There was a male who tried to stop us from getting to the lady that called. He came after us physically, and also set a pit bull loose from it's cage.

We went to Magistrate Court immediately after the call to file for warrants. Both warrants were signed.

On the 13th of May, local Sherriff's Deputies picked up our guy and he's currently sitting behind bars. His was denied bond on 2 of his 3 charges, which means he can't be released. Of his charges, 1 is a misdemeanor and the other 2 are felony charges (carrying at least 1 year minimum sentence each).

 

Be safe out there and watch your back!

OK, I'm about to just give up on talking to our PIO (Public Information Officer) to try to get pictures of fires I've gone to. It's pointless! He'll tell me that he knows which reporters were there and will talk to them, then never calls me back.

The best I can do is this picture of my helmet, taken after the first house fire. It was shiny black, with the shield looking a brand-new black and white.

After much delay and procrastination, here's what happened. Obviously, I was tailboard on the engine.

As usual, we had a radio on, even though we were at the station and had the encoder to let us know about any calls. We heard the engine in the territory next to us get a fire alarm in our territory. We told radio that we were available and would handle the call in our immediate.  **fire alarm at a residence usually gets 1 engine**

Rolling down the road, we knew the street we were headed to skipped over a block and picked up again. The map we had was labeled wrong for the breaking numbers so we started to go to the far half of the road. That is, until we looked over and saw a cloud of smoke coming from the house on the dead end we just bypassed. Backing up quicker than I'd like to admit, we notified radio that this would be a working fire and that we needed a full response. 

 Since I had all my gear on, I jumped off the engine and did a quick walk-around while the seatman finished getting geared-up. The house was a split-level, and every single ground-level window and door had burglar bars. I could see the house was filled with smoke, but I couldn't see anything else. One of the windows was inches off the ground and had yellowish smoke seeping out the cracks. I quickly relayed my findings as the seatman joined me behind the house. He told me to grab the nozzle and bring it to the door on the far left (per command's orders...other units had started arriving onscene).

Thanks to the burglar bars, it took us a few minutes to gain entry. Once inside, I went to the floor to try and see under the smoke (moments later I stood up, I couldn't see anything anyway and it wasn't hot at all). Pushing my way into the darkness, I went down a hallway and stopped in a doorway. I didn't know it at the time, but I was standing at the top of a stairwell.

Unfortunately, I had run out of hoseline, as hard as I tried and and much as I wanted to, I couldn't go any farther. Some genius, who will remain nameless, decided I wasn't moving fast enough for him, so he stepped in front of me. Keep in mind, everyone is taught to never get between the nozzle and the fire.

As if on cue, someone broke out the window to the fire room. With a new rush of oxygen, the fire "rolled-over" everything in the small room, the kitchen area, and up the stairs towards us. I remember the temperature suddenly skyrocketing, and seeing the fire swirling up the stairs at me in slow-motion, hearing the guys yelling to "open the nozzle!", but waiting on dumbass to get out of the way. By the time he was out of the way and I opened the nozzle, the fire had rolled over to the point of completely engulfing me.

Some things blurred together and other things I don't remember. At some point, another hoseline was brought in through a different door and advanced to the fire room. They were able to pull a few more feet of line for me and I ended up sitting at the bottom of the stairwell for a little while. The fire rolled-over again and I was able to stop it from going up the stairs.

I do remember 2 of the guys from our "god squad" literally crawling over me to get out. And those guys wear 2 nomex hoods to try and beat the heat.   **It's been said that the more heat you take, you eventually start to build up a resistance to it. It's also a well-known fact, that the nozzleman usually takes the most heat and deflects a lot of heat from the other guys.**    I was told after the fire by a few old-timer's that it was "hotter than hell in there" and that they were kinda surprised I took so much heat.

Eventually, my seatman told me to drop the nozzle where it was at and back out for a few minutes. We went outside and dumped our air packs and coats for a few minutes. The guy from air & light brought us each a cup of gatoraid and took our spent bottles to swap for a couple fresh ones.

A few short minutes later, we put our gear back on, grabbed our tools, and went back inside to help overhaul. We did minimal overhaul until the arson investigator had a chance to look around. After getting his go-ahead, we soaked everything down and did a little poking around to make sure the fire was out.

We again retreated outside and helped roll and put away some hose. We helped the homeowners get a few critical belongings out of the house and then went in service.

If I ever manage to hunt down pictures, I'll post them. Since most of the fire was inside the house and not visible from the street, there wasn't much news media there.

Take care