First Day on the job with Fire

[Divico]

Keep posting. As a volunteer fireman I'm always interested what the pros are doing

[Vladimir]

FIRE!!!



Well then, go on now. How 'bout a bit 'o OJT?

[Divinus Arma]

Had a fatal Traffic Accident the other night. Luckily I have seen many of these with my previous job, so I don't get too bothered when I see the dead and injured. A Ford Explorer went off the Interstate, rolled, and slammed into a large dirt wall. All four passengers were ejected due to no seatbelts. The young lady I was working on had a neck like a zig-zag and was clearly broken as well as a deformed shattered left tibula & fibula, broken right clavicle, and broken right forearm. She was screaming as best she could as we got her on the spine board and immobilized her neck. She would start to fall asleep, and I, while holding her head in place, would yell down to her: "Honey, Stay with me! Wake up!" Her response would be to wake up, frantically look around, and then start screaming again. She was about 15 feet from the car. The other three were thrown over 100 feet over the dirt wall and down into a rocky ravine. The 18 year old girl who died sustained massive head trauma. Her 19 yr old boyfriend, who's face resembled ground beef (smashed jaw- no teeth, blood pouring from his mouth all over the place, etc.), was found weeping over her body and had to be pried away. He was actually the lucky one. The last person, a 30 yr old parolee, was critical with various internal injuries and broken bones. It is a wonder that those two men lived, considering the distance they were thrown.

Normally, when one is involved in a rollover with no seatbelt, they are thrown halfway out and the car rolls over them, cutting them in half or squishing out their insides like a beetle that got stepped on.

Almost every traffic accident death I have ever seen came from one or more of the following factors:

(1) No seatbelt- This last accident, plus a guy who slammed into another car head on and planted the rearview mirror into the back of his skull. Also, three Marines were involved in a rollover and were all squished together under the vehicle. We couldn't tell how many there were in the bloody mess until we observed an extra foot.

(2) Speed- A young Marine picked up his girlfriend who snuck out of her parents house. 15 Minutes later, he spun the car out on a curvem where the back end then struck a tree. That car exploded and caught fire, and witnesses heard the girl screaming as she burnt alive in the vehicle.

(3) Alcohol- Too numerous to list. The driver was drunk and did some stupid passing manuever. The truck was going so fast that it rolled seven or eight times, with the force so great that it exceeded the load capacity of a passenger seatblet causing it to break and launching the guy out of the vehicle where his head struck a railroad tie. Brains everywhere. We tried to hide his body from the slowly passing amtrak train full of wide-eyed shocked passengers.

(4) Falling Asleep at the wheel- An illegal immigrant fell asleep and crossed into oncoming traffic, he woke up, jammed the wheel to the right, spun around and was slammed by an SUV into the driver's side door. We found him in the backseat.

(5) Motorcycles- A guy was cruising along on his cycle on the freeway when He was struck from behind. He was launched from the bike and was struck and dragged by multiple vehicles. We found his remains spread out over 1/2 mile.

Any one of these is bad enough, but the more you mix the better your chances of death. Speed increases severity, Alcohol guarantees driver error, and no seatbelts are almost always a free ticket to a dirt nap. Motorcycles are just inherently dangerous due to their limited protection.

Anyway. The job is going great. Hard work of course- I am guaranteed to sweat my balls off every day, but I love it.

EDIT: Photos.

[Crazed Rabbit]

That's horrific, DA. I hope the rest of the people turn out okay.

As a side not, I filed traffic accident reports over the summer part of the time, and the most common cause of an accident in the reports was someone pulling out from a stop sign onto a road and striking a car or getting struck.

Crazed Rabbit

[Quid]

That's horrific, DA. I hope the rest of the people turn out okay.

As a side not, I filed traffic accident reports over the summer part of the time, and the most common cause of an accident in the reports was someone pulling out from a stop sign onto a road and striking a car or getting struck.

Crazed Rabbit

Ok, that was the cause of the actual accident but what was it that made them disregard stop signs? Unattentiveness because of drunkeness? Tiredness? Drugs? Etc.

I gather that was what DA was talking about.

Quid

[Sasaki Kojiro]

Probably just plain unattentiveness/poor line of sight. There's a reason rotaries are way safer than intersections.

[ajaxfetish]

Also, DA's reasons were associated with traffic accident deaths. It sounds as though CR's reports were for accidents in general. Bad timing pulling out may cause more accidents, but how many of those are fatal?

Ajax

[Crazed Rabbit]

Ok, that was the cause of the actual accident but what was it that made them disregard stop signs? Unattentiveness because of drunkeness? Tiredness? Drugs? Etc.

I gather that was what DA was talking about.

Quid

Sasaki's got it; not paying attention, mostly.

Also, DA's reasons were associated with traffic accident deaths. It sounds as though CR's reports were for accidents in general. Bad timing pulling out may cause more accidents, but how many of those are fatal?

Good point.

Crazed Rabbit

[Divinus Arma]

Ya. Deaths. Most non-fatal accident are rear-enders from following too closely or traveling too fast for the conditions. Speed is the greatest facotr os basic accidents. My comments above refer to deaths. Those four factors are like a director stating: "cue death!" Seatbelts especially. I mean, consider running as fast as you can head first into a brick wall. That's only like tenb miles an hour. At 20 mph, you would experience FOUR times as much force. Energy quadruples with velocity.

[Papewaio]

Energy quadruples with velocity.

Energy squares with velocity.

Go twice as fast and you hit four times as hard.
Go three times as fast and you hit nine times as hard.
Go 10 times as fast and you hit 1000 times as hard.

Seat belts have a secondary role in helping prevent accidents in the first place. By keeping you in your seat at the wheel it can help you remain in control longer rather then sliding out of the driver position.

[Divinus Arma]

Energy squares with velocity.

Go twice as fast and you hit four times as hard.

That is essentially what I meant. I just used an easy to understand term. But thanks for clarifying it.

[econ21]

Good luck with your new job, Divinus Arma. Your posts here are very informative and interesting, if sometimes scarey. You are a brave man. I really like the photo on the first page of you in uniform. From this, as from your posts, I can see you are a person who enjoys life and goes at it with a real zeist. It's great that you have found such a worthwhile outlet for your energy and ability. All power to your elbow, sir!

[Vladimir]

I am entirely greatful that I never had to work traffic accidents. I supose part of you gets used to the brain splattering and raw human hamburger; I'm just not too sure what happens to the rest.

[Divinus Arma]

I am entirely greatful that I never had to work traffic accidents. I supose part of you gets used to the brain splattering and raw human hamburger; I'm just not too sure what happens to the rest.

For every death, I say a brief prayer on scene. Essentially, I ask God to accept them and welcome them and... please let me work.

It allows me to remember that solidity is an illusion and that existence is merely a matter of perspective.

[Papewaio]

That is essentially what I meant. I just used an easy to understand term. But thanks for clarifying it.

No worries, I can understand the physics, I do not think I could handle seeing the consequences of someone who comes off second best with a sudden stop.

[Divinus Arma]

No worries, I can understand the physics, I do not think I could handle seeing the consequences of someone who comes off second best with a sudden stop.

Sadly, you get used to it.

I am posting from the Captain's computer, so I better run before I hear it from the Engineer.

Oh, and my wife should have the baby a tad early with no complications this weekend.

Sadly, I had to put my MBA on hold until February. I am halfway through and I would have Graduated in late Spring. Alas, it must wait due to new job + baby. I barely even have time to post around here.

[Divinus Arma]

The day began like any other with vehicle maintenance, cleaning, and station chores. It wasn’t until after lunch that our crew was finally able to escape monotony and conduct some good training. We procured an abandoned building for some structure fire training and proceeded to fill a few rooms with artificial smoke. For two hours we worked on ventilation (clearing smoke from a room) and search & rescue tactics. We were just getting warmed up when we got the call.

The tone alert went out across our radios. “Engine ****, vehicle fire, ***** Road South of ******.” (info deleted for what little privacy I have left) We had already been geared up, so we simply jumped on the engine and roared down towards the fire. It’s funny sometimes how these things work. All morning we had been wishing for a good fire.

My engineer called out, “Holy Shit! Look at that header!”

We were still a mile and a half away but a thick column of smoke was billowing up over the horizon. Knowing where it was, we figured it must have caught some brush as well. I looked across the cab at my other firefighter and we both smiled. She came across the radio: “You take the nozzle”.

And then we arrived. “Is that a tanker?”

“It’s a semi”.

“The vegetation is taking off”.

“Let’s go!”

The road was blocked in both directions by police. Behind us, a few hundreds cars had been stopped and people were standing outside of their cars watching the fire. In front of us was a military tractor-trailer fully involved, with flames leaping thirty feet into the sky. Black poisonous smoke blew across the road and into the clear blue sky. To our right, a brush fire had taken off up the hill.

I took the nozzle at the front bumper and powered towards the flames. Reaching the end of my line, I called to the engineer: “Water!” I opened the bail slowly to let out the air until my water supply came to me. I quickly adjusted my gpm flow and fog pattern. I closed the bail and I was ready. As I started to approach the flames, my engineer called to me, “Watch those tires, they could blow!” To my right, I could see my other firefighter attempting to reach the vegetation fire, but the captain redirected her to the vehicle fire and called for another engine to fight the brush fire. I opened my bail and let out a steady 30 degree fog on the tires from about twenty feet away. The force of the water rushing through the nozzle pushed me back a step. It’s surprising how heavy and powerful a fully charged inch-and-3/4 fire hose is. Considering that a gallon of water weighs eight pounds, you can imagine how much power is coming from one hundred feet of hose as thick as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s forearm.

I inched towards the fire, laying down my stream. Smoke and steam replaced the flames, but the main body of the fire still climbed high into the air. And then… something exploded. BOOM! 50 feet in front of me, flames and hot debris launched four stories into the sky. I flinched and ducked as the sound and vibration surprised me. Chunks of burning metal arched out like miniature comets, smoke trailing behind them. I turned back towards the fire as little pieces of metal debris landed around me with clangs and thuds. And without further hesitation, I pressed forward, towards the fire.

The other firefighter worked her way around and we attacked from two directions. The heat died and so did the flames along with them. The black smoke turned to gray, and then to white. The fire attacker brush truck arrived and stormed the hill, attacking the vegetation fire. We surrounded the vehicle and finished it off, spraying smoking areas as the tires and equipment defiantly smoldered.



Here are some Photos:

Structure Training-










Vehicle Fire-

[Csargo]

Wooh DA that's some crazy stuff . But it looks like your doing a good job with your new job. I can't imagine seeing those people who got flung at of their car. That's why you should always where your seatbelt.

[drone]

Sounds like you are having more fun than you should legally be allowed.

[discovery1]

Fortunate that no one was hurt in that fire DA. Hopefully all all incidents will be such, but if they are not then may you be swift enough to prevent long term damage to those involved. What happened with the brush fire?

Do you have your own buildings for training as well? I know that the Las Vegas Fire Department has their own buildings for training but others I don't know.