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I've been away for a while, so I thought I should explain (no excuses, just an explanation) for being MIA (and likely the reason for any future absences....although I'm trying to make sure I'm never gone for that long again). For those who know me, you know I am VERY long-winded…I’m the reason TLDR was invented (or so says my lovely bride – although in her case it’s TLDL [Too Long, Didn’t Listen]); so be warned and feel free to skip this.
A few years ago I discovered the joys of being a volunteer firefighter. I had mostly lived and/or worked in urban areas (usually a large city like NYC, SF, Chicago and LA), and those places have paid (albeit too little, IMO) professionals for fire fighting and emergency medical services. But when we decided to permanently relocate to a rural area where my wife had grown up, I learned about the volunteer fire department and figured that this was a way to both contribute to the community while also getting to know people better. As a guy in his 50’s, I figured they would allow me to pass out bottled water and perhaps just offer a comforting shoulder for those who were going through the worst day of their lives. So I showed up at my local fire house and announced my interest. My future colleagues were initially unimpressed with a guy with no mechanical skills (“can you fix a generator, are you an electrician, how are you with plumbing issues, ever work at a plant and had fire training, etc” – the answers to all of that was a sheepish “no”). I indicated that I was willing to learn and do anything, and I’m in okay physical shape – I run, do weight training, and have no known medical issues. The next question they had was, “do you know what we do?” Me: “ummm, put out fires?” And yes, that is true; but the fire department also runs on every public safety call that comes into 911 with exception of straight-up law enforcement issues (speeding, burglary, etc). The fire department calls include (but are not limited too): every kind of fire (structure, vehicle, grass, forest), every kind of traffic accident (from fender bender to head on collision), every medical call (from “I feel sick” to “non-responsive, not breathing” to gunshot wounds and stabbings), and every public safety issue (from guy walking around with a hand grenade [yep], to hazardous material spills, to man run over by his tractor, carbon monoxide alarms and/or smoke alarms….you get the picture.
To my surprise, they gave me professional-grade, NFPA-certified gear: boots, helmet, gloves, hood, jacket and pants – bunker gear (or turnout gear) that looks just like what you see on television. Along with several thousands of dollars of gear, a pager, a radio, I also received instructions that amounted to “do what the more experienced people tell you to do”. Initially I hated my experiences, which were several fires and vehicle accidents; and that was mainly because I’m a person who has to understand why I’m doing what I’m doing if there’s any chance that I’ll be able to remember and repeat my performance at a later time; and my strong preference is to be and feel prepared for whatever task I’ll be asked to do. So I dutifully responded, listened for directions, tried to absorb the tasks and my role on scene; and then something wonderful happened….I discovered medical calls.
Medical calls required that I have formal training. You couldn’t just show up and “wing it”, and you couldn’t rely on a paramedic to bark an order at you; basically you had to take 6 weeks of training to be an Emergency Medical Responder (EMR). I will say that of all the sciences I had in school, biology was my least favorite….physics, sure….chemistry, okay….bio, no thanks. So I figured this was going to be torture; but I wanted to be the best volunteer firefighter I could be; and I saw a real need. Most of the younger (and many of the old veteran) firefighters didn’t want to run medical calls….unless it was a trauma call (gunshot, stabbing, head-on collision in a motor vehicle); so the adage was if you fell, felt ill, or were having a heart attack, “don’t call me unless you’re on fire”. But over 75% of our calls are “medicals” and most of them are not trauma. So I went through the training with the thought that even if it turned out that medical calls were “not for me”, at least I’ll get some valuable knowledge for myself and my family. I completed my EMR certification and I started running a lot more calls – I ran 253 calls in 2021; and of those, 194 were medicals. There were still many fires and car accidents, but those events usually came with many hands to help and direct me.
And it turned out that I liked running medical calls – helping the patient, being there for the family members, and assisting the real heroes (the EMTs and Paramedics). But I started realizing that what I also liked was knowing what I was doing. So I figured that I would try to find and attend some formal firefighter training – not just the local “in-house” stuff. I found a Firefighter 1 class. FF1 is the first certification that paid-firefighters get, and it is typically training provided at a fire academy. A fellow volunteer firefighter who was also craving training discovered that another parish/county was doing FF1 for a bunch of new recruits, and so we were able to enroll. It was 10 weeks of training, essentially a detailed fire science class including specific training and certifications for dealing with hazardous materials. And since myself and a couple of my colleagues were really gung-ho in class, the LSU instructors also let us go another 4 weeks and do Firefighter 2. Both certifications included passing practical exams, demonstrating proficiency on live burns, and passing written exams, all administered by our local university and state-run fire academy. So now when a fire happens I not only know what to do, but how to direct the firefighters that show up. That knowledge and subsequent confidence has made the last several fire calls go differently. I have the confidence and training to pick and drive the right apparatus, I can operate the pumps on all of the engines and water tenders, and I know A LOT more about staying safe by reading smoke, understanding flow path, and just generally understanding my equipment forwards and backwards…oh yeah, and I learned how to tie some cool knots too. In addition, I’ve learned more about dismantling cars for extricating people from wrecks (e.g., removing the roofs, rolling the dash, taking off the doors, using the various hydraulic and battery powered extrication tools).
So I’ve found a new calling in life, albeit at a time when I’m somewhat past my prime. I am even now considering being a contractor for several paid fire departments – they are so hurting for trained resources that even an “old fart” like me is considered a catch. That would mean taking a 12 or 24-hour shift and feathering it in with my other two paying jobs . The neighboring county is heavily laced with paid-stations – while my own county is exclusively volunteer – and the paid-stations are desperate for trained and experienced firefighters.
As for the future, I’m scheduled to get my EMT this year (found a place that offers night-classes), and I’ll also be taking fire instructor and officer-level courses at our local fire academy. I’m not sure how many years I’ll be able to contribute to this noble profession – I’m no spring chicken – but given the dearth of both paid-professionals and volunteers, I figured I’d do what I can for as long as I can. Which brings me to this suggestion…even if you’ve never considered it, if there’s a volunteer station in your area, you may want to check it out. The work is incredibly rewarding, and the people you work with and meet along the way are just amazing to get to know.
That’s where I was during my hiatus, and I can’t say that I won’t have some future prolonged absences – for example, I’ve fought 4 house fires this month…which is unusual in my county; but the cold puts people at risk for fire. People will often get creatively risky to stay warm, and sometimes those risks materialize into real tragedies. Most of the time they occur at the coldest part of the day, which is most often the middle of the night. The last one for me was 3 days ago, it started at 1:30am and lasted until 4:00am. Take care, be safe and enjoy those shaves!
And for those that finished this ridiculously long post (or perhaps you just jumped to the bottom)....well done!!!
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