Firehouse Life - A Foggy Memory

In 2007, the Montgomery County Fire Department responded to approximately 107,000 emergency calls. Of those 107,000 calls, about 80% of them were medical in nature. Medical calls come in all types of flavors... from the minor (headaches, nose bleeds, stomach aches) to the major (gun shot wounds, heart attacks, serious car accidents).

It seems as if most days, a lot of the calls I respond to could fit into the "minor" category. I've ran my share of drunk people passed out in the middle of the street (literally...this one guy was lying with half his body IN the street) and people who have waited until 3am to call 911 for the stomach ache that they've had all day ("I didn't want to bother you guys," they say. So you waited until 3a, when we were all sleeping, to call?). These calls, when run ad nauseum, have a tendency to burn firefighters out, myself definitely included. However, when we run a call where there's no doubt that our actions have made a significant difference in that person's life, it makes the repetition and tedium of the other calls all worth it. Memory of those calls fades away and all that's left is a reminder of why we decided to take this job in the first place: to make a difference. Yesterday was such a day; not because it happened once, but because it happened twice.


I was working in Germantown yesterday, driving the medic unit. We had ran a few calls during the first part of the day, taking us up to a little after lunch. After lunch, we did some training on setting up rope rescue systems (it had been raining all day, so we staid inside and used a set of small ropes and pulleys to create a miniature version of a "high line."). In the evening, some volunteers came in to ride along; one of them relieved me in driving the medic unit, so I was reassigned to ride on the tower ladder truck. I was excited about that because 1) I was riding a fire truck and 2) I was hoping to get some rest that night, as the ladder truck is usually not that busy at most stations. So I put my stuff on the tower, checked my equipment and hoped for the best.

After dinner, the tower and the medic unit ran a call for an unconscious person. While en route, our dispatcher told us that the call had been upgraded to a working code (the person is in cardiac arrest...not breathing, with no pulse). We got there and were told the arrest had just happened. Because of that, the medics hooked him up to their cardiac monitor and began to "pace" the guy (basically, their monitor can act as a pace-maker and control the man's heart rate). When done early enough, pacing is very effective in controlling and even restoring heart rhythm; fortunately this case was no exception...the pacing got his heart beating again. However, he was taking extremely shallow breaths...so shallow that he would die if we couldn't get him breathing normally again.

We got him onto our cot (no easy task since he was a BIG guy...easily 300 pounds) and headed toward the hospital, lights and sirens blaring. The medics attempted to intubate him (sticking a tube down his throat and into his lungs to help him breath better), but his throat was too tight. They attempted to intubate him through his nose and that was successful. We connected our bag valve mask (a big bag that you squeeze and, when connected to an oxygen tank, pumps 100% pure air into the patient) to the tube and I began to help pace his breathing for him, while the medics attempted to start an IV.

The pacing, intubation and breathing definitely helped him, for after we got him to the hospital and the nurses and doctors took over, they told us that he didn't have any cardiac damage and that more than likely he would pull through.

It took us awhile to clean up after this call (I will spare you the gory details, but let's just say a lot of things in the back of the medic unit needed to be disinfected). As we were finishing up, I was told that the volunteer who took over driving the medic unit injured his back during that call. So guess who was back to driving the medic unit? Oh well...these things happen.

We finally made it back to the firehouse. After fueling up, settling in and talking to Dee for a while, I hit the sack. Not five minutes after I laid down, the medic unit got a call. This one was for a man having trouble breathing. Sure enough, when we saw this guy, we new he was in trouble. He was sitting on the bed, eyes closed, barely conscious, struggling to breath. We got him into the medic unit and hooked him up to our CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) machine. This device basically forces air into your lungs; it helps a lot with people who have congestive heart failure (CHF). We raced down the road, lights and sirens flashing and screaming once again. The CPAP machine helped this gentleman out a lot, and by the time we got to the hospital, he was looking a lot better. As we cleaned up and got ready for the next call, the man had stabilized and looked like he was going to pull through (ironically enough, we brought him into the same hospital room that we had taken our other critical patient).

That ended up being our last call of the night. I finally collapsed into bed around 1:30a, exhausted, reflective on the events of the day and grateful I got to help make a difference in these people's lives.

I tried to think back on some of the "minor" calls we ran that day, but I couldn't really remember.

Firehouse Life - Cutting up cars

There are many great things about my job...the excitement of fighting fires, knowing what I do makes a difference, the guys I work with...but there's one part that appeals to a child-like, distinctly man side of me, and that's using big tools to break stuff. There's something really awesome about smashing an object to pieces without either getting into a fight with someone over that object or getting arrested. But not only is using big tools to break stuff part of my job, people actually rely on myself and other firefighters to do so! Did I mention I love my job?

We've had this old white car sitting in the back parking lot of the firehouse for months. We were waiting for the right opportunity to use the rescue tools off the ladder truck to practice some vehicle extrication techniques. Well, we have two guys at the station who are in the process of getting checked off to drive the truck, so they needed to demonstrate that they could set up and operate the rescue equipment. And of course, the rest of us got to play with the tools too! We spent the whole morning cutting, spreading, pushing, pulling, whacking, smacking and generally destroying this car. And it was FUN.

So (God-forbid) if any of you reading this are ever in a car accident and you're stuck inside your car, the fire department might do more damage to your car in getting you out than the accident did. How else are we supposed to get you unstuck?

Firehouse Life - Insanity!

Right off the bat, the day started out with some excitement. At a little after 7:30a, as I'm right in the middle of doing the morning check of the fire engine (I was driving it for the first part of the day), we get a call for a working code (someone who is not breathing and has no pulse). We get to the scene and discover an elderly man, face down in his bed, dead. He and his wife slept in separate beds, and apparently when she woke up and went to check on him, she found him. She was crying hysterically, as most people would be in her situation. He had died several hours ago in his sleep, so there was nothing we could do. At this point in my career, I'm somewhat used to encountering dead people while responding to calls, but seeing reactions like this man's wife had reminds me of all that goes along with someone dying suddenly...the pain, the agony, the emotional trauma, the questioning, the preparations...as of late it hits especially close to home, because of Dan Coverston's murder. While death may be another part of life, it remains one of the most painful parts for those left behind to deal with it.

About an hour or two later, we got another call for a working code. The medic unit got on-scene first and discovered the man was conscious and breathing, but he still wasn't looking too good. He got taken to the hospital, and I hope he managed to recover.

In the afternoon, we were going to take our most recent rookie (who's last name is also Miles, by the way, but there's no relation) out to practice pulling some hose lines off the engine, but we had a slight interruption. Our previous rookie, DW, missed about a month's worth of work because he contracted a case of MRSA (click here for more info about MRSA). Well, it turned out that another guy from our shift cought MRSA too. So we spent the first part of the afternoon totally decontaminating the firehouse...we took all the mattresses outside, sprayed them with bleach and let them air dry, we cleaned off every surface that most people in the firehouse put their hands on, we sprayed bleach everywhere...we CLEANED this firehouse! We cleaned so much, we had to open up all the windows and doors we could, because a bleach haze was forming in the firehouse. We were sure we'd all wake up high on cleaning fumes, if we woke up at all!

After 5p, DF, who's the usual fire engine driver, came in to work (he had taken the first part of the day off). That bumped me off the engine put me on the ambulance with DW riding with me. I had no problem with that...until a few hours later when the engine and truck went to a 2-alarm (2 alarm = pretty significant) fire in neighboring P.G. County. Story of my fire department life...ah well, God must be keeping me from fire for some reason.

While the engine and truck were gone, we ran a couple calls...one for an elderly lady with abdominal pains and another for a little girl who fell and cut her wrist. On the first call, the lady's grandson came with us to the hospital. When we got there and as we waited to be assigned a hospital bed, he asked me if I was saved. I said I was and we had a nice conversation about faith. Turned out he was a minister at his church (he was a fairly young guy). He asked if DW was saved, and I told him he wasn't too interested in religion. He said that's why God had us working together. Sure enough, God revealed how he was working in DW's life: As he and I left the hospital, DW reminded me of a book I had brought up to him last shift (More Than A Carpenter...I had suggested it to him, but he said he wasn't much of a reader, nor much of a religious person). He said if I still had it, he'd like to read it. Woohoo! I told him I'd bring it on Sunday. Talk about God working!

At around 9:45p, DW and I got called to stand by at a police substation in Burtonsville. We had no idea what was going on as we made our way up there, but as we approached the substation, we knew something BIG was going down...MCPD had all of Castle Blvd. blocked off, and about 50 police cars were in the substation parking lot. We pulled up, parked the ambo and asked what was going on. Here's what we were told: Apparently, a cop had made a routine traffic stop on Castle Blvd. He had asked the driver of the car to get out so he could talk to him, leaving a man still inside the car, sitting in the front passenger seat. As the cop and driver were talking, the passenger jumped into the driver seat and started to drive away! As he did, he dragged the cop a little bit. The cop shot at the driver, striking and wounding him, but the driver got away. The cop was shaken loose and the original driver ran away. When the cop called for backup, he must have called for every available cop in Montgomery County to come help, because that's who was there. Cops were in the substation parking lot, putting on tactical gear and pulling out large guns from their trunks. A police command bus even showed up! DW commented that we would be there for awhile, and sure enough, we stayed at that substation until about 1:45am. We didn't do anything; we were just standing by in case something big happened. Well, nothing did. I don't think they ended up finding him that night.

After getting back to the firehouse and crawling into bed, it was about 2am. I prayed we wouldn't get any more calls that night, and we didn't. I promptly went home and went back to sleep, trying to process the craziness of the shift. That's why I love coming to work...you never know what's gonna happen.

Firehouse Life - Medic Unit

So I'm walking in the firehouse and I look up at the riding assignment board...I rode the engine last shift, so I expected to be driving the medic unit or the ambulance today. Sure enough, I'm driving the ambulance. JO, who's driving the medic unit, asks me if I want to switch. "Sure," I said. I like driving the medic unit because you usually go to all the good calls. Not 30 seconds after I said sure, the ambulance gets a call. I thought I dodged a bullet, 'cause I at least like eating breakfast before running my first call of the day. Little did I know, there were plenty of bullets left for me. Here is a recap of my day...

6:57a - Trouble breathing. An elderly man appeared to be running a fever and coughing, and apparently his wife interpreted this as him having trouble breathing. No problem...we ran him down to Holy Cross Hospital.

8:45a - Trouble breathing. We got cancelled enroute, so we returned to the firehouse.

10:19a - Trouble breathing. Fortunately I had just finished my workout. Again, we got cancelled enroute. Back to the firehouse we went. So this is what a boomerang feels like...go out, come back, go out, come back...

11:46a - We had just picked up lunch and were getting ready to head back to eat, when we got the call for a working code (when someone isn't breathing and has no pulse. Basically, they are clinically dead). We got there along with the engine and ambulance from station 24. Upon entering the room, the supposed dead man is alive and breathing on his own. According to the nursing home staff, the man started shaking and then stopped breathing. Turns out he had a seizure and that apparently caused him to stop breathing for a sec. We ran him down to Holy Cross to get checked out. After the call was done, we stayed at the hospital and ate our lunch. I don't mind running calls, but running calls on an empty stomach is bad medicine.

1:11p - As we were leaving the hospital from the above call and going through Four Corners, we encountered a car accident that had just happened. The state police were on the scene with a two car rear-end collision. One lady was sitting in the median with a bloody rag covering her face, and another lady, who was in the car that was rear-ended, was just sitting in her car, in pain. We evaluated the patients, called for extra resources (a fire engine and another ambulance) and packaged up the lady who was sitting in her car (she was complaining of neck and back pain). Back to Holy Cross we went!

4:48p - Car crash, mutual aide to P.G. County. A two-car collision on Cherry Hill Road had vehicle debris, busted up cars and fire apparatus spread all over the place. Only one lady was hurt, and the ambulance from PG took her. With nothing for us to do, we went in service. A strange thing though...as we arrived on the scene, I thought I saw Marques B. blocking off traffic and waving us in. I'll have to ask him about that...

5:55p - Another mutual aide call to PG. Another time cancelled enroute.

6:20p - Unconscious person, mutual aide to PG. We arrived on the scene and was in the process of getting our stuff to take inside, when this SUV comes flying around the medic unit and comes within feet of hitting me. The driver slows down, but still manuevers his way around me, parks and runs inside. Myself and my partner yell at him, but then we figured he's probably related to the person we're about to go help. We figure because of that, we could cut him a little slack. Sure enough, he was the patient's son. A lady was eating and apparently gotten dizzy and passed out. After evaluating her with a couple crews from PG, the son, who had power of attorney, decided his mom was well enough to not go to the hospital. Hopefully she will recover and the son can chill out.

7:01 - We had literally just sat down to eat our dinner, when we got this call for a lady who had been choking. We arrived at the nursing home, and it turned out the lady wasn't really choking at all...she had just been spitting out her food. She seemed fairly out of it, but that didn't seem to have anything to do with what she ate. We ran her down to the hospital, and in the process she called my partner "mean, evil" and something else because he didn't have a tissue to give her. Ouch. Think of what she called the people who gave her the food she spit out...

Firehouse Life

So I'm trying to write more on this thing, and I figure what better what to write on a fairly consistent basis than to record the antics, shenanigans and other goings on at the firehouse? Unlike "Ladder 49" and "Backdraft," some days at the firehouse are just not that exciting. However, there are some days where I'm left thinking, "you can't make this stuff up." So hopefully I'll be able to tell some stories filled with humore, entertainment, tragedy and adventure. Stay tuned!

So far the day has been fairly uneventful. DF is back from vacation. To picture DF, imagine a man a little taller than me, with a big gut and an ever bigger mustache (you can't even see his mouth). He's very loud and every other word out of his mouth is a derivitive of a four-letter word. But at heart, he's a nice guy who will help you out, if he likes you. Well he was off for about a week, but he's back now, so our days will be a lot more interesting with his, shall we say, color commantary.

Since today is the first monday of the month, we have to do our monthly maintenance on all the apparatus. This usually takes awhile, but we hopped on it right away. I started to do an inventory of all the equipment on the fire engine. It was a little challenging finding everything, since the inventory list was from 2003. A lot of the things remained the same, but many things were in different places or removed all together. We'll be getting new a new fire engine in a few months, so this inventory doesn't have to be incredibly meticulous. As long as everyone who's riding the fire engine knows where everything is, it's ok if the inventory sheet is a little off.

Around 0930, we had a call for an automatic fire alarm at a church on the corner of Powder Mill Rd. and NH Ave. Nothing much to it...just a broken water pipe that was letting off some steam.

Just before 1100, we had a call for a lady who had apparently passed out. We got there, talked to her and according to her, she ate some pizza that she doesn't usually eat and got a bit faint. Aside from being a bit pale, she seemed fine, but we convinced her to go to the hospital.

DF and Lenny had to go up to our medical section and get their annual work-related physicals at noon, so that left me driving the fire engine. I was glad to get more time behind the wheel...my apprehension towards driving that thing is definitely going away as I get more and more experience. Around 3:45ish, we got a call for a house fire in Burtonsville. Woohoo! Did I mention I love driving fast in fire trucks? Fast but safe, of course. So anyway, we're flying down the road (safely) and enroute, Burtonsville gets onscene and reports a working fire. That means everyone sits up and gets their game faces on. We ended up getting there before a couple other fire engines that should have gotten there before us and pulled one of our hose lines and got ready to go to work. Unfortunately by that time, there wasn't any (fun) work left to be done. Ah well...maybe on the next one.

Just after dinner, we got a call for a car crash several blocks south of the firehouse. The engine, truck and ambulance all responded, and we found a two-car collision with one person complaining of neck and back pain. We quickly secured his vehicle, packaged him up on a backboard and transported him to the hospital. It wasn't a major crash...looked like a rear-end collision with some damage to both cars. People need to be careful out there...

First day back in Battalion 1...work outs and tragedy.

Guess who got switched back to working in Hillandale? That's right...this guy!!! The other light duty driver is going back to full duty, leaving an opening for a light duty driver. The top brass saw that I already worked there, so they brought me home. Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!

The first day back was fairly uneventful...we had an overtime battalion chief filling in for the first part of the day. We got to talk a bit, and he proved to be pretty cool. We only ran one call all day and didn't do any rounds to other stations, so we really didn't have much contact outside of our initial conversation. But he was still pretty cool.

A couple of the guys on the shift were doing this work out competition, where everyone who participated had to do 600 push ups, 600 sit ups and as many pull-ups as possible by the end of the day. When I saw that, of course I had to get in! Hey, my knee is hurt, not my upper body! Doing all those push ups, pull ups and sit ups proved to be pretty tiring. By the end of my shift, I had done 351 push ups, 440 sit ups and 85 pull-ups. I could have done more pull ups, but I wanted to focus on the 600 sit ups and push ups. Even though we didn't run barely any calls today, between eating and doing stuff on the computer, I couldn't get in the full 600. Maybe next time!

On a much more sad note, one of the firefighters on the shift (I'll call him AC) got the call nobody wants to get: His father passed away suddenly, unexpectedly. The shift rallied around him and were trying to figure out how to get him home (they wanted to drive him home, but he lived in New Jersey). Because of the distance, the top brass was balking at letting someone on duty drive him up there. This obviously ticked off everyone on the shift. Eventually, AC thought it best that he just drive home himself so he could meet his wife and the rest of his family and start taking care of business. AC, my thoughts and prayers are with you.

I'll be subbing for children's ministry tonight. The kids will be rehearsing some Christmas songs for an upcoming performance for the church. I better warm up my singing voice...mi, mi, mi, mi...