LESSONS

In 1974, just off my year probation, Light Unit 10 was dispatched to a difficulty breathing call. I was higher classed as the driver and had a probie fireman with me. This was before EMT training, and the ambulances did not carry paramedics yet. When we arrived at the low-rent apartment complex we found a 60-year-old man down. Liquor was evident and two women were standing in the room. The guy was not breathing. He looked like he had been down for a while so I asked how long since they had seen him. They were not sure, 15-20 minutes maybe. Then one women said, "I work at a hospital, the guy is dead." I did a check for pulse and lacking one coupled with the hospital worker's statement, I canceled the ambulance and responded PD. For thirty-five years, I have beat myself up about that call. The woman who worked at the hospital could have cleaned floors and the time down on the victim could had been much less. I was very green and never again was influenced by bystanders at a call but it still bugs me.

HEAD SHOTS

I had moved to Station 7 in 1975. A call of a man down came in from the small business next door. My partner on the tailboard and I grabbed the First Aid bag and ran over while the engine came down the street. We went through the unlocked front door and charged through the rooms looking for our victim, opening doors and looking in closets. The victim's partner showed up and directed us to the back lot. We found the victim in his car, head shot through the window. He was talking to us and the wound was small, a 22 or 25 cal. I rode in the ambulance as was custom, along with a cop. On the way, the victim told the cop the story. A guy came in with a 22 rifle and held the place up. The victim had run out to his car. The shooter followed and shot him through the window. I realized when we were searching the place the shooter could have still been there. I caught a ride back to the firehouse in a cop car. An all-points came over the radio looking for the shooter and calling the crime a 187,
California penal code for murder. It was then I knew the victim had died and people with head wounds can talk and act normally for a while and then just die.

For years, fire was first in on most calls; we did not hang back to wait for PD to secure the scene. My observations on head shots were reinforced a number of times, although after the first, talking to the victims, knowing the possible outcomes, was emotionally draining.