Last Work Day for 2010

As far as work goes we certainly ended 2010 with a bang.  The shortage of staff since the September layoffs has really been felt throughout the holidays.  Mega run days with 25-30 runs  have been FUN.  But add the two house fire of Dec 29th AND the media's attention to the "droves" of volunteers responding to it AND then the the lack of action by our fire department administration...  all of this leads to a complacency by the public... "they can do their jobs with only eight guys responding to two house fires at once, Why bring back those laid off guys?".  Off my soap box,  it was a real pleasure to work with a crew of dedicated co-workers who fought the fire for three hours.  The "vollies" did help with handling hoses, mop-up and hose rolling (the real grunt work) but none had hoses nor entered the buildings for anything but mostly "lookie loo-ing".

I had a crew of Linn W (just back to work on the 20th from lay off following Doug P's retirement), Josh H, and later Mark H.  All of us were second responders coming from home or just coming on shift when the alarm went out.  The first house was so damaged that no interior attack was justified, especially since the occupants were already out.  As the first-on guys were trying to contain the original house from the outside; my crew was able to take attack lines inside and up the burning stairs of the second house, keeping the major damage in the roof and knee walls away from the family's living area.  What sometimes appears to be a losing battle or at best a pyhrrric victory to us, is really a win for the family. It was good to walk through the house afterwards and see pictures, clothes, personal items; not to mention all the household things.   I call that a save.

Back to work yesterday on the Medic, we encountered a truly weird day of multiple serious auto accidents.  Two occurred back-to-back where we transported three victims each. One of whom was taken to a Columbus trauma center.   On the way back into town from the second crash we came upon a crash scene with the police just arriving.  One of those drivers was also hurt and we packaged and transported him.  Later a single car head-on into a utility pole earned that driver a flight North, too. I hope she makes it.

Four out of our five afternoon runs were serious auto accidents... that's not normal for us.

Be careful out there... and Happy New Year.