Firefighter Intern: Day 19 and 20
Jul. 14th, 2018 07:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
grim23Volunteers do not necessarily have the time; they just have the heart. - Elizabeth Andrew
We started our morning moving our apparatus around from our substations to our main station - because the National Hose Testing Service was spending the day testing and reloading all of our hose on all of our rigs, and our spare hose, as well as testing our ladders. I was assigned to Engine 481, our first-out Engine, instead of Medic 481, because of some staff shortages. In the afternoon, we responded to a pretty severe two-vehicle accident with an injury, and I helped with the vehicle extrication and stabilization, but I stayed on the Engine. Later in the afternoon, the Duty officer and I chased Medic 481 in Utility 482 for a special needs individual in a group home with chest pain, but there was no transport. I slowly got through my laundry and house chores, in between assisting Medic 481 with everything from lift assists to restocking and resetting the Medic when it returned to the station.
We slept hard until 4:30 am when I was awoken by a tone out for a medical call - but since I was assigned to the Engine, I was just standby. I went back to sleep until 7:30, and got up for the 8 am meeting. We had a long debrief of yesterday, and then I was allowed to sit in on a training about out trauma protocols and the locations of our trauma centers and burn units, and when we would activate a trauma registry on a patient - very invaluable training. After lunch, we were toned out to a technical rescue, where a man had gotten trapped under a tractor, but by the time we were able to get there, his logging crew had extricated him. We stabilized him and I helped with the transport and again rode the Engine back to the station. Engine 481 got a quick washdown, and I went upstairs into the break room area for my water cup ... and the phone rang. I answered it, and took a report of an illegal burn, and then called C-COM and toned us out again. Because we were so short-staffed, I rode in the Officer's seat up front, while the Duty Chief drive the Engine - my first time. Answering the phone and making the report also earned me another sign-off in my taskbook.*smile*
More hard sleep (we all went to bed before 10 pm), and another medical call at 4:30 am - but since I was assigned to the Engine ... I rolled over and went back to sleep. Yay!
We started our morning moving our apparatus around from our substations to our main station - because the National Hose Testing Service was spending the day testing and reloading all of our hose on all of our rigs, and our spare hose, as well as testing our ladders. I was assigned to Engine 481, our first-out Engine, instead of Medic 481, because of some staff shortages. In the afternoon, we responded to a pretty severe two-vehicle accident with an injury, and I helped with the vehicle extrication and stabilization, but I stayed on the Engine. Later in the afternoon, the Duty officer and I chased Medic 481 in Utility 482 for a special needs individual in a group home with chest pain, but there was no transport. I slowly got through my laundry and house chores, in between assisting Medic 481 with everything from lift assists to restocking and resetting the Medic when it returned to the station.
We slept hard until 4:30 am when I was awoken by a tone out for a medical call - but since I was assigned to the Engine, I was just standby. I went back to sleep until 7:30, and got up for the 8 am meeting. We had a long debrief of yesterday, and then I was allowed to sit in on a training about out trauma protocols and the locations of our trauma centers and burn units, and when we would activate a trauma registry on a patient - very invaluable training. After lunch, we were toned out to a technical rescue, where a man had gotten trapped under a tractor, but by the time we were able to get there, his logging crew had extricated him. We stabilized him and I helped with the transport and again rode the Engine back to the station. Engine 481 got a quick washdown, and I went upstairs into the break room area for my water cup ... and the phone rang. I answered it, and took a report of an illegal burn, and then called C-COM and toned us out again. Because we were so short-staffed, I rode in the Officer's seat up front, while the Duty Chief drive the Engine - my first time. Answering the phone and making the report also earned me another sign-off in my taskbook.*smile*
More hard sleep (we all went to bed before 10 pm), and another medical call at 4:30 am - but since I was assigned to the Engine ... I rolled over and went back to sleep. Yay!
