Fire

We did a training burn this weekend. We burned a perfectly beautiful 4 bedroom historic house to make way for a housing developement. Just 2 days before a family was living in the home. We did a walk thru when we got there, and while it needed some cosmetic work it was fine. I've lived in worse places. Rumor has it a Civil War commander lived there at one time. Regardless of the memories, we burned history to the ground. Progress sucks.

It was my first burn and I had such mixed emotions. I hated to burn the house, and then I felt guilty when I enjoyed watching the flames and smoke roll like waves over the roof. Such a weird feeling. As the flames came out of one of the bedrooms I wondered if anyone had been born or died in that room. I felt like we were euthanising a house, putting it out of it's misery because it surely would be shamed by the fancy expensive mansions that will take it's place. I'm sure it didn't want to be humiliated. Or did it care? Is it possible in-animate objects don't vibrate with the spirits of those who lived or loved in them? They have to - I get such a wonderful feeling when I walk into my grandmothers house. She's been gone for years, but I feel her there. I know she's there, at least a part of her.

Then there were the firefighters. Most had egos bigger than their trucks. We gave them names: jerk-off was in charge of a tower truck and stayed up there all day posing; bee-man kept getting attacked by bee's (it wasn't because he was sweet I might add). He kept whining but every time I checked him out he acted like he was above the pain. Idiot. Unfortunately I was called Firefighter Barbie by one person & it stuck. Apparently anyone under 200 lbs is considered a Barbie doll by the EMS community. I am hardly a Barbie doll, but it was flattering. Then again, it's hard to see anything under all that gear.

and another thing

First let me say I'm not downing dispatchers. I have the utmost respect for them, I think their job is much harder than those of us on the front lines.

That having been said, we got a late night call for breathing difficulty. It was far away from us, probably took us 25-30 minutes to get there with lights & sirens going. When we got there, the patient was already gone. Actually the patient was a hospice patient and was gone when the family called us. They just wanted us to pronounce. And I guess it was true, the patient was have breathing difficulites - basically no breathing at all.

It's very weird preparing for a specific situation and it turns out to be something totally different. You get all your tools ready for one set of actions, then you have to throw them aside and find a whole new set of tools. Just like life I guess. It seems like I'm always preparing for one thing, and something else hapens. "Life is what happens while you're making other plans"

Wha????

Early morning call: 98 year old with possible broken wrist. Later we find out it's a "possible" broken wrist because his hand is stuck in the toilet and they aren't sure if it's broken. ?????

I watched Untold Stories of the ER last night. There was a woman that actually had worms living in her scalp, under the top layer of skin. I've seen gross stuff, but that was the worst. Maggots are no big deal, they actually benefit some people. But worms??? She had visited some foreign country and brought back her little friends I guess. *shudders*

The moral of the story? Don't fall in the bathroom and always wear a hat when you go overseas.

And so it begins....

I get so mad at stupid people. Not that I'm not stupid, but what moron would take their 4 year old out for a boat ride after drinking heavily? The idiot falls overboard, and people just happen to find this little kid floating in a boat. The kid was fine, I should mention.

I should start at the beginning of the call. We got dispatched for a water rescue late at night. We went up the river with spotlights, just waiting for something to pop up. Yeah, I'm a chicken when it comes to scary movies. And searching a river at night is just like a scene out of a movie. Do you remember that scene in Jaws where the head pops thru the hole in the boat? Or the scene in Lake Placid where the alligator jumps up and bites the guys head off? That's all I could think of.