RIP my friend

I wanted to post a special recognition to someone who really meant alot to me. He was a close friend that I was stationed with twice...once in Prince Sultan, Saudi Arabia, and for a year in Clear, AK. He was probably one of the most influential persons in my career, and I wanted to pay the proper respect to him and his family.

I can't believe it's been 3 years already since the passing of a true American Hero. My close friend, my brother in firefighting was taken away from us February 13th, 2005 in a heroic rescue attempt on an overturned Humvee that was in a canal in Iraq.. He is still sadly missed, and will never be forgotten. My thoughts and prayers are with his family. Ray, may you rest in peace and know that you're dearly missed by many. Your legacy will continue in my life, as I'm sure it will in many others. Peace be with you, my brother...you are gone, but will NEVER be forgotten.

Stormy who?

It's official. The moment every career firefighter dreads... the birth of a nick-name. Considering all the names I could've probably gotten, I'll take this one as a badge of honor...I think. As you've probably read in my previous posts, my first shift was an exciting one. After a few hours of my first shift, we had a structure fire. The guys were joking around with me saying I was the "black cloud" for bringing them a call...their first structure fire in over years. Just to jump on that real quick; the reason it's the first fire in so long is because the fire inspection/prevention program is top-notch. Anyhow, ever since my first shift we've had some sort of call every single shift. Medicals, elevator rescues, automatic fire alarms, and so on...it's always been something. Well, after our "interesting" medical the other night, I was officially dubbed "Stormy!" At first, I wasn't happy about this since that nick-names tends to always bring bad luck. But the way my life has been, I guess things can't really get worse. Well, I guess it could but oh well. As I said before, sometimes nick-names can be straight up cruel. As much as I hate to admit to it, it seems this one is fitting. Now, about our medical the other night. We received a call about a man who was uncounscious in the stairwell and not sure if he's breathing. Well, we got there and he was definately out cold, and had very shallow breaths. We tried to get a verbal response from him...no luck. Then we tried a sternum rub, which seemed to work since he had some facial movements. When the medics finally got there, the one medic wanted to get his vitals, and the guy decided to come out of his uncounsciousness at that time. I suspect he was under the influence, and after a few moments, he was beginning to be combative. He started saying "I'm a marine, and I'm trained to fight and kill!" To make a long story short, it took about 6 of us to restrain him and I was holding an arm. My left arm was near his head, and I couldn't stop thinking about whether he was going to bite me or not. He made a motion towards my arm like he wanted to bite, but I was ready. As were the cops. Handcuffed, and hog-tied to the stretcher, he wasn't going anywhere. About 15 minutes later he finally calmed down and we out him into the ambulance finally. Well, I don't think the tires on the ambulance made one full rotation before it stopped again, with the driver running to the rear along with the cops. Not sure what all happened there, but it didn't look like he was being cooperative. Then the other night, I saw the negative forces starting to combine for a bad night. I saw the one police officer coming in for shift (usually when he and I work at the same time, things happen!). And it was a Thursday. And there was a Penguins game on. All the negitive karma was building up (since that's what happened my first shift!) and it was well known. Next thing we know...another medical. It was a respiratory distress, and it was starting to get worse. But luckily the medics were real quick getting there, and it was out of our hands. Anyhow, to finally end this post, I sure hope the "clouds" start to clear up, otherwise "Stormy" will stick like glue.

**Structure Fire** Electric Generator

Recently, I just got hired as a firefighter with our local VA Hospital, and had an exciting first day. Keeping in mind, as far as anyone can remember, there has only been a hand full of actual fires at the VA...a very, very low number considering what gets done there, and especially since the buildings are all prior WWII era buildings. Anyhow, it's my first (official) shift working, and all is good. We're eating dinner watching the hockey game and all of a sudden, we get a power surge and all the back up generators start up. Of course, following the power outage comes fire alarms which we recieved one for the main building. We respond to investigate and see what the problem is...nothing found. After about 45 minutes of looking around, we finally give up, and head back to the engine. Just as we get back to the engine, the boiler plant operator calls for us on our radio and screams, "Fire department, this is the boiler plant...there's something wrong over here. There is heavy smoke in the basement, so I think there's a fire!" Hearing his distress call via radio, we got back in the engine and flew over to the boiler plant. After a few moments, we arrive at the boiler plant and begin to make entry into the basement of the boiler room...all clear. We continue to investigate and go upstairs into the main level and we find smoke about chest level at the top of the stairs. Then we opened a door to the hallway and heavy smoke began to roll out. Time to mask up! We continued to look for the source of the fire in this smoke filled environment and still couldn't find anything. Then we make entry into the electrial room...bingo! Even more smoke flows out the door once opened, and there it is...a little orange glow seen on the other end of the room. Now, any firefighter can testify that standard operating procedures would be to bring in a charged handline...just as we did. Well the problem was this room we finally made entry into was the electrical generator room. Water + electric = funeral! So of course we used an ABC extinguisher to put out the refridgerator sized fire. Fire goes out, now it's time to ventilate, right? Well after a few minutes, we finally get the building ventilated and life is good, right? Wrong. Now, of course we asked (before extinguishment) if the electric to the building was shutdown, but unfortunately for us, the power that we were told was shut down, wasn't. We find out later that the power wasn't shut down (like we had asked) and was still in the process of shutting down. Then we find out that if two certain wires had touched that were only an eighth of an inch apart, we would've all been blown to pieces. It seemed like an unreal story...not us, right? Well I didn't believe it until it came straight from the electricians mouth. I couldn't believe how close I came to death. Well, I guess with great risk, comes great reward. We saved the building, in return saving all power supply to the hospital, and sparing our lives. No fire spread, no injuries...I'd say it's still a good day. I guess if you sat down and continued to think about things, you would "what if" yourself to death. No need to do that since all was well, right? What a first day, huh! Well, not as exciting as what a big city firefighter would have, but I guess that's why I'm not a big city firefighter! =)

Been a while!

So, it's been a while since I last entered a post, missing a few opportunities to post. To start off, earlier this month, we had our elections at the volunteer department, and I missed LT. by a few votes...once again. No big deal either, since I'm not 100% sure about sticking around the department for various reasons. Nothing bad, just might be moving out of the area. Now that I have my "anchor" set and I know I'll be around for a while, it's time to look for a house. Anyhow, moving along...I had my first official HAZMAT response the other day. It came in as a diesel leak from an unknown source and that's about all the info we got. It turns out it was from an underground tank in a trailer park. By the looks (and smell) of things, it had been going on for a few days cause it was all through the neighboring mobile homes' soil underneath, and made its way all the way down to the stream about a quarter of a mile away from the source. All the diesel was pumped out, then filled with water (to my understanding). Anyhow, all was good and the response was only about 5 or 6 hours long. Not bad for a HAZMAT. The only thing I really did was throw absorbent pads down at the site of leak and all the way down to the stream. Not much else to really do, but I would surely hate to be the owner of that trailer park...a very costly clean up bill as far as I can see! Well, that's about all for now. Until the next tone!!!

**Single Motor Vehicle Accident**

Just as I was about to fall asleep at 2am in the morning, I was startled by the tones of my pager. The call came in stating vehicle accident at "such and such street." As we were arriving on scene, I saw the car just as you are seeing it, thinking there is NO way anyone survived this crash. Well, to my doubts, there wasn't one person that survived...there was 2 people that survived. Just as we got our Squad positioned, the ambulance crew was pushing someone on a stretcher in the ambulance. Then someone else was covered in blood standing, and hopping around with an obvious broken leg. Well, needless to say, we stopped the second guy, and got him onto a backboard, then stretcher as well. Before long, we were conducting our secondary search of the area to make sure no one else was laying around. Apparently, they were only wearing their shoulder belts (from the automatic seatbelts, not their lap belts which in turn probably saved their lives. One was ejected, the other thrown in the back seat which was barely there. Also upon further investigation, the pole was cracking, and was about to snap completely. Borderline surviving this accident, here is another picture of this car afterwards. I'd comment more on this, but I'm about to fall asleep sitting at this computer.

In Memory, On Mind

One thing that I've devoted to on this blog, is a reminder to all of us who serve and the sacrifices we make daily. It would be impossible for me to honor every fallen firefighter individually, so don't take my selectivity to heart. Every fallen comrade means there has been pain and suffering; not to mention the sorrow I personally feel. Our business is certainly an odd one, because the brotherhood we have is dense and is overwhelming. Do you think (for example) a stock broker from New York would care about a fallen stock broker in Seattle? Or a hotel managers? Or whatever? More than likely, I'd have to guess no. Public safety, especially firefighting, I feel there is an unwritten bond. Of course when it happens to a close friend, it's a tough time no doubt.

Worcester, MA-December 3, 1999...6 members did not go home to their loved ones and paid the ultimate sacrifice. Known as the W6, these heroes passed in the line of duty while at a warehouse fire. Paul A Brotherton, Timothy P. Jackson, Jeremiah M. Lucey, James F. “Jay” Lyons III, Joseph T. McGuirk and Lt. Thomas E. Spencer...your bravery will never be forgotten about, certainly not in my eyes and heart. My thoughts and prayers go out to you and your families. Thank you for your service, gentlemen.

Gettin' down and dirty!!!

So, another monday evening goes by and yet more maintenance on our engine at the volunteer department I run with. This time, our intake valve. Sounds easy?? Far from easy this chore was. After removing it from the engine, we went to our tool room and went to work. The problem: a pain in the ass to open and close. The solution: lots, and lots of grease/oil. First we used PB Blaster thinking it was just some corrosion. Well, after 2 coats of PB Blaster, not much success. Then we went to use Zep45 Teflon Lubricant. That worked out a little, but mainly in the beginning and ending stages of opening or closing. Then finally, we tried white lithium grease. Third time's a charm. This seemed to work the best, but unfortunately, the grease had a hard time sticking to where we needed it since it was all so oily. Also, a little trouble shooting what the exact problem was key also. We thought maybe there was a slightly bend to the threaded valve shaft...not the case. Instead, it was the actual valve itself. After working the grease in for about an hour, it seemed to open and close a lot easier. So we hooked it back up to the engine, and tried one more time. A few bleeding knuckles, many oil soaked napkins, and half a grease tube later, we have victory! So for future reference...whtie lithium grease is the preferred lubricant; and use it first!