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THIS WAS NOT MY FIRST CALL BUT THE MOST MEMORABLE

it was a stormy night in the spring two years ago. my dept. was getting slammed every vehicle we had was out on calls. i responded to a call of a tree down in a house. When i got there the ocupants were out and there were no injuries. i shut off the gas and turned off the main electric breaker and was standing by waiting for the electric company incase they needed any help. the tones dropped for an injury accedent with extrication. both squads were out on calls and the engines were on a car wrecks at that time. i knew that the equipment was going to have to come from a mutual aid department. at that time it was so buisy the squad was comming from the next county.

I went ahead and responded to the call it was only a mile away. when i arrived on the scene i found a work type van on its top. it was a contractors van and everything that was in the back had slammed forward pushing the cage between the passenger compartment and the back in to the passengers. the occupants were a mother and her two 3 year old twin girls. i was able to open the side sliding door and throw crap out and get in to the passengers. i pulled the girls out. and layed them down in a safe area. i went to check on the mother, she was pinned and was not responsive and had no pulse. i was still by my self. i went to start treating the two little girls. one  was in pretty good shape considering. she was clutching this tattered teddy bear it was covered in blood.. i placed a c collar on her from my bag, and bandaged some minor cuts and scrapes. her sister  was in much worse shape. she took the most of the cargo that slammed forward. she had a large laceration from her right ear to her left temple. it was open and exposing her scull. she was in and out of conciousness, and bleeding heavily. i knew if that dam squad did not get there soon she was not going to make it. it seemed like three hours had went by but it was realy only 8 minutes. when the squad got there we got them both in and i stayed with them of course air care would not fly due to weather. so we had to transport by ground. i will never forget what the little girl said to me. and this is the one in good cond. she asked me, "is my sister going to die" "I dont want her to die" i told her i would not let her die i would do every thing i could. she then gave me her teddy bear and said" here hold on to his hand he will bring you good luck so you can help my sister". I still have it and will never forget those words the rest of my life.

Gave me goose bumps.

Strangest thing I got was an ass chewing for getting our brush truck high centered on a stump. Who knew that a military Jeep couldn't make it over the stump.

Two years ago we get paged out for a fully engulfed house fire. We were there forever, well at the very tail end of the night, we were getting ready to leave, had been there for 8 hours or so already, I stepped on a freakin nail in just the right spot with my boot and it proceeded to go straight into my foot. My Lt. came over pulled it out, told me to go to the hosp and get a tetanus shot and when I got back there was my nail waiting for me in my locker....damn smart asses!

RBailey852 says ...

THIS WAS NOT MY FIRST CALL BUT THE MOST MEMORABLE

it was a stormy night in the spring two years ago. my dept. was getting slammed every vehicle we had was out on calls. i responded to a call of a tree down in a house. When i got there the ocupants were out and there were no injuries. i shut off the gas and turned off the main electric breaker and was standing by waiting for the electric company incase they needed any help. the tones dropped for an injury accedent with extrication. both squads were out on calls and the engines were on a car wrecks at that time. i knew that the equipment was going to have to come from a mutual aid department. at that time it was so buisy the squad was comming from the next county.

I went ahead and responded to the call it was only a mile away. when i arrived on the scene i found a work type van on its top. it was a contractors van and everything that was in the back had slammed forward pushing the cage between the passenger compartment and the back in to the passengers. the occupants were a mother and her two 3 year old twin girls. i was able to open the side sliding door and throw crap out and get in to the passengers. i pulled the girls out. and layed them down in a safe area. i went to check on the mother, she was pinned and was not responsive and had no pulse. i was still by my self. i went to start treating the two little girls. one  was in pretty good shape considering. she was clutching this tattered teddy bear it was covered in blood.. i placed a c collar on her from my bag, and bandaged some minor cuts and scrapes. her sister  was in much worse shape. she took the most of the cargo that slammed forward. she had a large laceration from her right ear to her left temple. it was open and exposing her scull. she was in and out of conciousness, and bleeding heavily. i knew if that dam squad did not get there soon she was not going to make it. it seemed like three hours had went by but it was realy only 8 minutes. when the squad got there we got them both in and i stayed with them of course air care would not fly due to weather. so we had to transport by ground. i will never forget what the little girl said to me. and this is the one in good cond. she asked me, "is my sister going to die" "I dont want her to die" i told her i would not let her die i would do every thing i could. she then gave me her teddy bear and said" here hold on to his hand he will bring you good luck so you can help my sister". I still have it and will never forget those words the rest of my life.

 

This was a very touching story...but I'm curious. What happened to the little girl and her mother?

my first job was dec., 31st, 1997.  a few months fresh out of ff-1.  working house fire in a modular unit with heavy fire on side a/d corner.  made an aggressive interior attack and it flashed. 

the  coolest  piece i kept from a fire a few years later was my helmet.  it was burned and taken out of service. 

most sentimental-  another helmet of mine from another dept. burned completely, melted shield and gear.  had to be cut off of me after i bailed out a second story window in oct, 2001 and broke my back (L-1) and received second and third degree burns on my face and left wrist.   1st floor flashed as i was performing a primary search on the second floor.

that was kinda rude.  but in both cases,  it was another crews actions that led to my situations.  i am in now way reckless of my life or anyone else's.  the first incident, the interior vent crew was doing as command instructed.  it was the fire they couldn't see that got us.  the second scenario i did recognize the conditions, because i've been there before.  but it was the will to finish our search for the victim, trying to make our way out,  and how quickly the fire escalated from the first floor flashpoint to the second floor.  it flashed in our only primary egress.  so we made our own egress out the window.  to give you a better idea of how fast it was,  we were only 15-20 seconds into the search when something downstairs went wrong.  prior to that, conditions couldn't have been more ideal.  when it flashed, it burned thru our hose which left us no protection.  i appreciate your concern,  but a lot has been learned about what happened.  as a lt., i try to use my experiences to educate others in my dept. that have never been in a working situation.  i'm not proud of those situations, but i am proud of the fact that they may save someone else's life thru instruction.  oh, and in case you're wondering, on the second scenario,  they guy wasn't home.  he was out walking his dog while his cigar was burning in his couch.  but the neighbors said he was in there.  so we went in.  a life isn't a little thing to save.  it just sucked to find out he wasn't there.

BLPavlovich says ...

RBailey852 says ...

THIS WAS NOT MY FIRST CALL BUT THE MOST MEMORABLE

it was a stormy night in the spring two years ago. my dept. was getting slammed every vehicle we had was out on calls. i responded to a call of a tree down in a house. When i got there the ocupants were out and there were no injuries. i shut off the gas and turned off the main electric breaker and was standing by waiting for the electric company incase they needed any help. the tones dropped for an injury accedent with extrication. both squads were out on calls and the engines were on a car wrecks at that time. i knew that the equipment was going to have to come from a mutual aid department. at that time it was so buisy the squad was comming from the next county.

I went ahead and responded to the call it was only a mile away. when i arrived on the scene i found a work type van on its top. it was a contractors van and everything that was in the back had slammed forward pushing the cage between the passenger compartment and the back in to the passengers. the occupants were a mother and her two 3 year old twin girls. i was able to open the side sliding door and throw crap out and get in to the passengers. i pulled the girls out. and layed them down in a safe area. i went to check on the mother, she was pinned and was not responsive and had no pulse. i was still by my self. i went to start treating the two little girls. one  was in pretty good shape considering. she was clutching this tattered teddy bear it was covered in blood.. i placed a c collar on her from my bag, and bandaged some minor cuts and scrapes. her sister  was in much worse shape. she took the most of the cargo that slammed forward. she had a large laceration from her right ear to her left temple. it was open and exposing her scull. she was in and out of conciousness, and bleeding heavily. i knew if that dam squad did not get there soon she was not going to make it. it seemed like three hours had went by but it was realy only 8 minutes. when the squad got there we got them both in and i stayed with them of course air care would not fly due to weather. so we had to transport by ground. i will never forget what the little girl said to me. and this is the one in good cond. she asked me, "is my sister going to die" "I dont want her to die" i told her i would not let her die i would do every thing i could. she then gave me her teddy bear and said" here hold on to his hand he will bring you good luck so you can help my sister". I still have it and will never forget those words the rest of my life.

 

This was a very touching story...but I'm curious. What happened to the little girl and her mother?

BLPavlovich,

when aditional help arrived on scene they "called" the mother, dead on the scene. both the girs survived. last i heard the little girl in the best cond. of the two rec. some minor inturnal inj. had to go through some surgery but has compleatly recovered. the other sister, ended up having swelling on her brain and the docs put her in an induced coma, i dont know how much I can reveal, she is alive, but not, how do i put this, she is not the same little girl sh was before. plus she is now with out a mother. while i am on the topic, it turnes out that the wreck was cause by a truck that was traveling in front of the van occupied by the mother and two girls, it was leaking deisel fuel, the roadway was wet and it was raining. thank god a by stander who was also driving the same road behind the mother and girls, that saw the truck at the intersection up the road saw it leaking and was following to tell the driver of the issue. the wreck happend before he had a chance. he took the incident very hard and blamed himself. after the shiriff's office investigation, they found the driver knew before hand that he was trailing fuel on the road he admitted he was trying to get the truck home in order to fix it so he would not have to stop on the roadway and risk a fine. again this follows the forum i wrote "dealing with the bad stuff" people have become carless with human life. it is disturbing.