Cars Go Smash

So it's been a while since my last post. I've been pretty busy lately and sort of lost track of this thing but i'm back in action and have a few good stories to share. I'm going to start with a few wrecks. We get a lot of car accidents in my area, granted most of them are bullshit like the typical "pulled over in the parking lot with a tiny dent on the car but all of a sudden have severe back and neck pain so they can collect insurance money scheme". We went to one the other day with these two fat ladies that bashed their cars upside each other leaving the smallest amount of damage and of course both wanted to go to the hospital. It was 90 something degrees outside and here we are pulling these two gigantic hypochondriacs out of tiny cars as they both are having massive panic attacks. We were all sweating our asses off trying to pull them out when in reality, they were probably fine enough to walk their fat asses over to McDonalds and grab a few cheeseburgers for the free government taxi ride. To make it even better, we had just come from ladder training so the heat was already taking it's toll on us. Lifting these two fat screaming women in the middle of a hot busy street was definitely not making it better.

The first winner on my car accident post is this guy who crashed into...well take a look for yourself.

Yep that's right folks.. Crashed into a truck parked in a driveway. A brand new truck at that. No one was hurt when we got there but the driver of that sweet Lincoln was high as a kite. He came barreling down the street, probably jamming to some thug life and went up on the curb, hit a little tree, and took out the pretty truck. Good job buckaroo, i'm sure the clique is proud of you. Hopefully it won't be hard to replace that fancy chrome over the wheel wells.

This next wreck was dispatched as an ejection over on a busy road near the station. We showed up first and found the driver laying face down on the sidewalk about 25 feet from the car. I get over to the patient who honestly looked dead and started asking if he could hear me. This guy picks his head up and hands me a phone then tells me to call some chick. I asked if he was alright and again he told me to call this chick. I told him I didn't care about his phone, I was trying to make sure he was ok. Apparently he was just fine after smashing the shit out of his car and flying 25 feet. We took him to the hospital as a precaution but damn, bones of steel. He wasn't even drunk that we know of. He was allegedly texting while flying down the road and lost control into the fence.

This last one may not look as bad as the fence wreck but had a completely different end result. As soon as we pulled up to this one, we realized that the two right side front and rear passengers were trapped in the car. To make matters worse, the 80 something year old woman in the back was slumped over and not breathing. We called for a rescue truck and we started pulling tools out of our pumper. We got the back door open and I grabbed the lady and yanked her out to the ground. Normally we do not do CPR on traumatic arrests but I had a gut feeling that this case was different. She was very old and frail with no visible signs of trauma so my first thought was that she may have had a heart attack from being in the accident. We got her on the ground and started CPR until the cavalry showed up then went to work on the other patient in the front. Her leg was actually caught in the door so we had no choice but to cut the door off and pull her out that way. She was banged up but was nowhere close to her family member in the back. That was another reason why I suspected heart attack, not to mention that the car really doesn't look bad enough to cause a fatality. 

I wasn't in the ambulance with the CPR but from what I hear, as soon as they tubed her, blood was violently coming out of her mouth. There was definitively internal injuries and it was not a heart attack as I first suspected. I suppose as old and frail as she was, her body just was not strong enough to take an impact like that. I was later questioned by the EMS supervisor why we elected to work her instead of calling her death but my theory is that I would rather have worked her with the slight possibility that it was a heart attack then not tried at all. She was already dead so I don't think working her really hurt anything. If it was my family member, I would be happy to know that the crews at least tried their best than just looked at her and said "eh, she's dead". Especially with no signs of traumatic injury. 

Trachea

A while back I wrote about a lady's house and a painting of "The Last Supper" she had hanging on the wall. Remember that one? Well this past week, we made another run to her house for breathing problems. She is an older lady in a hospital bed who has a broad list of medical problems including a few strokes which is why we were there the last time. This time it appeared that something was wrong with her tracheal tube and she wasn't able to breath properly. Our computer notes told us "Patient has trachea"!!!!!!! No shit? Does she have arms and legs too? Well that night turned out to be nothing as her tube was clogged and cleared up by the daughter before we got there. She told us that everything was fine and we went on our way.

The next day on shift, were were sent back once again and this time she had passed away. It looked as if she suffocated so I am assuming her tube was clogged again and could not get any air while she slept. Well it looks like someone will finally fill that empty spot at the table with Jesus.

Not Every Call Is Bullshit

It was nearing the end of my shift when we were dispatched to a motor vehicle incident. Usually wrecks at this time of night are pretty bad and 90% of the time are caused by drunks leaving the bar. This particular one involved a single vehicle and according to our computer notes, the victim MAY be trapped inside but the caller was not sure because he didn't want to get close enough. This accident was not dispatched as an extrication (meaning a rescue truck would have been added) so I radioed in to dispatch and inquired about what I was reading on the computer and why a rescue truck was not sent. They gave me pretty much the same information so I guess I would just have to wait until I got there to determine what what other equipment was needed. We pulled up and see an older model Lexus laying on it's roof and what looked like someone lying underneath it. I'm thinking, oh man the victim isn't trapped inside but underneath the car!!! As I opened the door to the fire truck, I can hear the sound of rap music filling the air and see a trail of blood at my feet leading to the vehicle. The ground was scratched up with debris scattered across but I focused my attention towards the woman as I approached. I could see her arm move and what looked like her chest trying to rise as if she was attempting to get up. My first thought was "holy crap shes alive". I ran over to her but as I got down next to her I realized that there wasn't anything we could do. She had no pulse and it appeared that her entire chest was ripped open explaining the trail of blood I had to walk over to get there.

As the senior person on scene, It was now time for me to make a very difficult decision. Do we attempt to get the car off of her and try to save her life, or do we stop right here and call a 10-50? (Code for deceased). I have called many 10-50's but this was one of the only times where I hesitated. I needed to process this in my brain because I don't like making rash decisions and I sure didn't want to regret it later. All of this happening within 30 seconds, I thought about every possibility. She had no pulse, she had a several thousand pound vehicle on top of her mid section probably crushing her insides, and a trail of blood which told me she was dragged for some time before ending up here. She likely had massive internal injuries and just had that look of lifelessness in her face. Something that you pick up on after a while. So what was stopping me from calling the 10-50? It was the moving I witnessed as I walked up to the vehicle. The movement was only very slight but was she really trying to get out from underneath? Was there really a chance to save her? Well the movement was most likely an involuntary spasm, similar to what happens to a snake when you chop it's head off. She had no pulse and if we really did get her out, what was the chance that she could actually be saved? We normally do not perform CPR on traumatic arrests especially when there are signs incompatible with life. After taking all of this into consideration, I bit my cheek and called the 10-50. There was no chance we could have helped her and pulling her from where she was could hinder the investigation. It was one of the hardest decisions I have made but I am confidant that I it was the right one.

We all just kind of stood there for a second and looked at her. So much going through my mind and feeling sorry for the poor woman but I had to snap myself out of it and move on. I walked over to shut off the radio because the rap music was still playing loudly throughout the empty road. I reached inside the open door and had to go over her leg to turn the volume knob. One of her legs was resting on the steering wheel and the top half of her body was through the sunroof with the car resting above her waist. Seeing her that way, reassured  me that the right decision was made. Even if her chest was in tact, her spine had to have been broken as she was weaved through the sunroof.

This poor girl was only 20 years old. There was no smell of alcohol in the vehicle and probably something that could have been avoided had she been watching the road. It appeared as if she was on the way home and traveling at a high rate of speed when she struck a guardrail on the opposite side of the 2 lane road. The corner of the guardrail made her vehicle roll and the girl who was not wearing a seat belt, came out of the open sunroof before the car landed back on top of her, and sliding about 75 yards with her between the vehicle and concrete. You could see the drag marks down the road leading from the guardrail to her car. She had to have been going so fast for her car to slide such a distance and I can only imagine what she was going through in those few short seconds. I can only hope that she did not suffer long during the process.

I can still see her in my mind, moving around as if she was trying to get up. It has to be one of the hardest things I have seen and I am sure the image will stick with me for the rest of my life. Dealing with death is something firemen learn to cope with pretty well but there are some that you just can't forget. This will be one of those along side of a 10 year old girl who drowned several years ago. She fell into a small neighborhood lake which had a fountain in the middle. The fountain sucked the water with a vacuum so when the girl fell in, she wasn't strong enough to fight the current. When we arrived on scene, she was pulled out by a neighbor who was performing CPR in the grass next to the water. We took over and I noticed that every one of the girl's fingertips were missing down to the bone. She had fought so hard to escape the current that she wore off her fingertips trying to claw her way out. She tried so hard yet was unsuccessful and my heart truly sank for the poor girl. How can one be so determined yet fail in the process?

I suppose it's all part of the job so there isn't much you can do but pick yourself up and move on.

National Unconscious Week

It must be a holiday for unconscious people this week as it seems like that's we have done. And not good good ones either. Good meaning they actually had a serious medical emergency versus being passed out drunk. We did get to force entry into an apartment for the police which was a little better than all the medical runs we have been making. We were dispatched to assist the police to force entry which usually means they think someone is deceased and they need to get inside. When we get there, the cops tell us that a guy has locked himself in the apartment and said that he was going to kill himself. Apparently a woman lives there and has been letting this guy stay with her (someone she met on Facebook) and now wants him out. She said he was obsessed with her, wanting a relationship which she did not want and because of that he was going to kill himself. Since it was her apartment, the cops had no problem removing him so we and tried opening the door with our usual axe and halligan combination but it wouldn't budge at all. My crew can normally open a door in a few seconds so I knew that it wasn't them and something extra had to be on the other side. It was the perfect opportunity to use our battering ram that my EO mentioned earlier that day that we never get to use. As far as I know, we are the only pumper that carries one. When we get back up with the ram, the cops start getting ready and pull out their guns right next to us. Everyone kind of stopped for a second as we realized what we were getting in the middle of so I asked "hey, does that guy in there have a gun?" The cops said they didn't know but were being "safe". Well this is great, what the fuck were we supposed to do? I want to be safe too dammit. So all of us except for the guy holding the ram moved around the corner in case bullets started flying. Poor ram guy had to take one for the team. Well the ram did work after 2 or 3 strikes and the cops went in and drug the guy outside, without any shooting. Now for the good part. My next day on duty, we came back to this apartment because the woman who lived there was now unconscious on her bedroom floor. Her mother was there and didn't know what was going on but it looked like an overdose. The guy from the last incident was repeatedly calling the mother while we were there too. These people have too many problems for me.

We had a couple homeless guys sleeping in a ditch by a gas station that was called in as two males unconscious. I guess people driving by saw them and were concerned so they called 911 but apparently not concerned enough to actually go up to them. That same week we had another homeless guy at the same gas station found unconscious by one of the gas pumps. He had something wrong with him but I don't remember what it was.

Last but not least, we were at a medical call one morning for something minor when we found a guy passed out in his truck next door. It was pretty funny because we just happened to glance over and see him laying there. Turns out that he partied too much the night before and never made it inside. At least he wasn't on a busy street somewhere like most of the ones we make.

Random Things From Calls

I have a few things to write about but i'm tired and feel like i'm getting sick so for now i'll post some random stuff to keep you entertained. 

These are some random pictures I took on various calls. I have no clue what the hell that goat unicorn looking thing is supposed to be. The pencil in the foot was an interesting run. The lady was high as a kite and laughing the entire time. The dog was set on fire in a median. Looked like it was previously hit by a car and someone just decided that it needed to be burned.

This is a text message I got a few years ago from a friend. Makes me want to stop eating doughnuts. 

 

Last but not least is another audio clip of a crazy lady we picked up a while back. While she was yelling, the EMT was calmly taking her vitals and hooking up the heart monitor. She wasn't yelling at anyone in particular unless she had an imaginary friend.

Learn to cook

It amazes me how many people catch their stove on fire. Here's a new one we made this weekend.

Do You Think I Have A Big.......

This was written in the notes on our ambulance's computer for a call they were on. I had to share.

(Caller advised they were intoxicated and got hit with a bottle at a bar they were at. I believe this is a possible prank call. The caller said at the end of our conversation "Do you think I have a big dick?" multiple times.)

NYE!!!!

As I suspected, NYE turned out to to be an experience to say the least. I didn't get an ounce of sleep until I got home the next morning and neither did anyone else I know who was working around the city. I live about 30 minutes from the station and really don't remember driving home but I got there and went straight to sleep, waking up only 4 hours later to take my family to the football game. After the game, we went straight to my brother in-law's house for a New Years dinner and finally got home where I passed out for a good while. One of my friends was supposed to go to the game with us but also worked NYE, doing overtime on a busy ambulance and ran way more than we did.

Although my pumper wasn't as busy as last year, we had some great runs that are sure to be great memories for years to come. We started off with a little house fire in the morning, which for the most part was bullshit. Then we jumped a call from another engine that turned out to be pretty decent. We had another seizure in the middle of the day but this one wasn't bullshit like the two I posted about last week. It was a 10 year old girl who was found by her friends, laying on the sidewalk. She had no history of seizures and was reported to be in good health, although she looked malnourished in my opinion. She was on the couch when we arrived, not responding and was moving around restlessly, becoming combative later on. It seemed strange compared to a normal seizure so I asked the crew to check her pupils which were non responsive and dilated. It began to look more like a head trauma the way the girl was acting. The mother was a piece of work, let me tell ya. I wasn't really sure if she was a lesbian or just completely strung out on crack but she freaked out in the back of the ambulance and told the crew (yelling) that she wouldn't let us take her daughter until we gave her where we were going in writing. What the hell, did she think we were going to kidnap her kid or something? She was more concerned about that than her daughter's condition back in the house where she was laughing and joking around.

Later in the evening we left an automatic alarm to go to a palm tree fire. This man's neighbor was shooting roman candles when it hit his tree and lit up. The homeowner, who wasn't wearing any pants by the way, got into a screaming match with the one who shot the firework. Turns out, several years ago we put out two trees at the house of the guy who shot the roman candle. You think he would learn by now but I guess not. After the argument, the homeowner comes over to my EO of all people and starts telling him that he was watching TV when he heard a loud boom and saw the tree burning. He said he didn't have time to put on pants but at least had time to find some underwear and proceeded to pull his shirt up to show us his man briefs. My EO replies by telling him, "Don't worry it's New Years Eve, you don't have to wear pants to this party". I love his EOisms. Afterwards while wrapping up, I shit you not a horse walks by one of the cross streets. Yes really a horse. This is right in the middle of a neighborhood and the last place you would expect to see a horse but it was there, just walking around. Not really sure where it came from but man it was hilarious. I can't make this stuff up, here are a couple pictures.

Later we went to a grass fire that was reportedly burning for 30 minutes. We were supposed to meet the caller who was going to direct us to the fire but no one was found and we went in service. Around 11:00 we were dispatched to meet the police who found a man wondering around a neighborhood. This guy didn't smell like alcohol but had no idea where he was or how he got there. His vitals checked out fine but it was apparent that he was on some kind of drug so the ambulance took him to the hospital and we headed home. On the way back we went on a search for smoke coming from a nearby neighborhood which turned out to be nothing.

It was now around 11:30 and we made it back to the station hoping to stay and celebrate midnight. We had a few bottles of sparkling cider saved up so we brought them outside, as well as some horns and crazy hats, then set up shop on the front pad. A few fire marshals, who were at a rave next door, stopped by and hung out for a while. This place next door has raves every few months and the fire marshals hit them hard because of overcrowding and a few other fire code violations. We first reported it to the inspectors about a year ago when we saw a line with nearly a thousand people at the door, which later turned into a riot and a shooting. That time wasn't a rave, but some sort of thug party so you can imagine how fast it got out of control. The inspectors left about 15 minutes before midnight so we went back to the pad and started getting the bottles ready when what do you know, we get a run for a car fire at 11:58. They couldn't have waited two fucking minutes? I told one of my firefighters to grab a bottle and some cups so we could celebrate on the road as we load up in the pumper. Of course by that time it was 11:59 so I hit the en route button and told my EO to wait so we could do the countdown before we left. The ladder crew was standing next to the engine counting down for us when it hit midnight and we yelled "Happy New Year" to each other before going on our way. Boy let me tell ya that we made as much noise pulling out of the station as possible. The call was only a few blocks away so it didn't take us long to get there but of course we didn't see anything in the reported intersection. I got on the radio and asked for a better location when the dispatcher said that it was called in by someone passing by. Could it really be a damn prank call right at midnight? Whatever the case, I was pissed. We drove around for about a minute, didn't see anything so we returned to service and headed back to the station. Fearing another run, I told my EO to stop right where we were in the middle of the road and we filled up our cups and toasted each other right there in the pumper. What a better way to ring in the new year than by sitting in a fire truck, blocking a moving lane of traffic and drinking fake champagne out of styrofoam cups.

The Rave
Surprised we didn't go earlier but we were finally sent to the rave for someone having a seizure. If you have never been to one of these, you should go at least once in your life so you too can experience this. We have been over here for raves a few times in the last year and it never gets old. Well we get there and security directs us inside where our patient is sitting on steps near the front door. This poor guy is completely fucked out of his mind. He was only 17 years old and apparently took some new drug called fun dip. We walk him out to the ambulance and I try to research this fun dip on my phone but couldn't find anything other than "Cherry Fun Dip" on Urban Dictionary. (Look it up). Some guy there tells us that it is a mix between marijuana and heroin, while another said it was a mix of ecstasy and LSD which it what it turned out to be. Are these people crazy? Are the regular drugs not good enough to where you have to start mixing them together? Man times have really changed since I was in high school. While they were in the back of the ambulance, me and my crew were outside people watching when this girl walks up asking if she can go to the hospital with him. She felt bad I guess because the patient's friends left him and she didn't want him to be alone. She didn't even know him but I guess everyone is so mellowed out on drugs that they all become friends by proxy. She didn't end up going, but came out later to fist bump one of the firefighters.

As we were standing outside, another girl comes running up and tells us that someone else had a seizure in the back. I call for a second ambulance and we follow the girl through the massive crowd, out into the back alley where apparently a 100 or so more people were hanging out. We had to move the crowd back from this guy who was laid out on the ground in the fetal position. Again, this guy was out so we started working on him until I heard our ambulance call on the radio to disregard the second ambulance and said they would double load. About a minute or two later, one of the ambulance guys comes back to where we were and we walked this guy out front. He was so out of it that it took 3 of us to walk him to the front because his legs couldn't support him. Not to mention we had to fight the crowd all the way out. We finally got him loaded and the ambulance left for the hospital, carrying these 2 zombies. It was a funny sight, looking at the two of them back there and I can only imagine what the hospital was going to say.

Once everything was over, we decided to stay and people watch for a while. A few of us needed to use the restroom anyway so we grabbed some flashlights and walked inside. We find the crowded restroom which was covered in mud (I hope) and had a horribly nasty smell. I would hate to be the one cleaning that shit hole. As we were standing in line for the urinal, someone asked if we were there for the fornicators. I wasn't really sure what he was talking about until I saw 2 sets of legs appear under the stall. One appeared to be sitting on the toilet, and the female appeared to be sitting on him in the other direction, so you can imagine what was going on in there. Yep they were fucking in this nasty, dirty, smelly bathroom. Security comes in and pounds on the door for them to leave but it takes a minute or two of getting dressed before a pair of panties are thrown out the side and the two emerge. The girl was covering her face as she ran out but come on, how can you be embarrassed after having sex in the men's bathroom stall next to 15 people? Everyone clapped for them and we finally got to use the restroom.

We walked around a little more and went back to the front when when we found a guy laying on the curb who looked like he was in pain. He thought he may have taken ecstasy and had severe back pain from a previous car accident. He also said that his stomach hurt and was slightly confused so we checked it out and convinced his friends to take him home instead of us transporting to the hospital. We talked with him for several minutes then returned to watching people as they walked out of the front doors. Man there were some interesting outfits. Furry boots, bikinis, ninja looking costumes, and a guy wearing a tuxedo. There was no way I was getting out of there without pictures so I asked a few people and they posed for us. I guess some of them deserve points for creativity.

So another year begins and more stories build in our future. Although these last few months have seemed slow, we ended up with a lot more total runs than 2010. I can't wait to see what 2012 has in store for us.