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As an officer, First alarm, biggest fire, strangest alarm
I became an LT when I turned 18. My first alarm was a gas leak. Luckily I had a past chief on the engine and I literally grabbed him by the arm and didn't let go. Everytime I gave an order I asked him. thankfully he was very patient and worked with me letting me make the decsions. I called for an engine engine to stand by and evacuated the nearest houses and pulled a line to stand by. I felt kind of embrassed because the power company guy just walked up and put a plug in it in 2 minutes.......
My biggest alarm was when I was assistant Chief. We were having a problem with peoplee (turned out to be members) setting the same house on fire. The chief, myself and another member had just got back from a meeting when a neighbor walked up and in the calmest voice said "Ms Washam's house is on fire again" It was just to strange to believe by the way he said it, until he said "Look", and pointed over the house next to the fire company and there was a red glow. I picked up the red phone to notify fireboard and told them to cover the station after the 2nd engine left (so we would have something on the road in case we needed it) The other member was a driver and the arsonist were waiting for the siren and were there in seconds. The Chief disappeared....we looked for him but didn't see him so we pulled off. At that time we had a rescue respond for every structure fire but for some reason they weren't dispatched in the intial.
I went on location while at the hydrant (up the street) and reported fully involved add the rescue. As soon as I said it Rescue21 went responding.
It was only a house fire but we don't run alot in our district. It was surprisingly a good operation. (not because me) Come to find out the chief was getting geared up and had bent down on the other side of the company van to fix a boot. He wasn't pissed becasue we left him thankfully. Two weeks later they arrested 5 Jr members for arson. It was a shame because they said they did because they got praised for doing a good job. Most of them were from single parents homes with no male role models. Made us rethink how we treat people in the fire company. 5 years after thatr we started a cadet program.
For some reason I missed all our strange calls, the cat in the tree that got us in the paper, a dead guy on the toliet, some others....
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Robert Owens on
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I was a Lt at age 19 in the vollie department....the first call I ran as an Lt was a Vehicle accident. At my Paid Job I am an acting Officer and thie biggest alarm I have run is first in on a 2 alarm resturant fire.
The strangest call (a little graphic) was a girls who had gotten "well pleasured" by a man of significant size and was bleeding profusely. She stated that she had not "done it" in a very long time and that he was too "big" for her.
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Permalink Reply by William Bills on
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As a Lt. I found myself Officer in Charge of a three person fatal MVA (one was one of our members); SUV vs. Tractor Trailer. That call is one I think of several times a week and that was a few years ago; I can't seem to get pat that one. Since then, as Captain, about two months ago we were called to provide mutual aid usupport with our aerial and an engine. I am captain of the truck so naturally i was with it. We were on of three sticks and a platform operating water tower operations. Two ofice building that were essentially one building taking up the entire block free burned for about 18 hours. It was a defensive strategy after about an hour in. The fire burned hot spots for litterally six days as the interior walls and roof all collapsed on itself. It was a six story building. That would have to be the biggest fire I have worked in any capacity let alone as an officer.
Like every department we have had our share of strange calls...cats in tree that you retrieve and as soon as they hit the ground they go right back to where they were...LOL...strange falls in wierd places (between tub and toilet, manure pond, corn dryer hopper)...One that stands out is: we had a DWI MVA on a hot august night; this guy thought he was entering the city, he was actually about 62 miles south west of where he continued to insit he was. He was driving a convertible Cadillac with the top down; he managed to roll the car TWICE and land it on its roof! The gentlman , once extricated, walked to the ambulance with a brocken arm. Incredible.
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