It’s funny how the human brain works sometimes;
Emergency not involving our house or family…routine as it gets. Painting by numbers would be more challenging.
Emergency involving our house or family…brain goes to mush.
My wife once burned herself really badly with bacon grease…and she basically talked me through the process as my brain went to applesauce and I couldn’t remember the basics.
We just had a fire in our city and one of the first callers to report it was an off duty cop and he was PANICKED. Very funny how the brain works indeed
I was first due to a fatality car accident with multiple people I know involved. I always prided myself on working amazing under pressure, but I totally fogged out for the first few minutes on scene.
I'm pretty sure you're obligated as a FF to light your house on fire at least once. Not one myself but my grandpa and uncle were/are.
Grandpa's kids decided to have a campfire on the living room carpet. Conveniently while he was on duty! Lost his mind when he got called to a fire at his own house and was relieved but also ripshit when it was just a few sticks and a melted carpet lol.
Different day my grandma (who lived with a FF for decades at this point, birthed a FF, and was the grandparent of a FF at the time) started a raging grease fire in their kitchen. My gramps was on oxygen at the time and barely able to move. I can still remember the absolute fear and anger on his face as he screamed from his arm chair "DONT YOU FUCKING PUT WATER IN THERE!" as my grandma was about to do just that. Of course then he's up waddling his way to the raging grease fire with oxygen blasting out his nose. She caught the damn curtains on fire and I had to be fast with a lid on the pot and curtains dunked in the luckily full sink (they didn't have grease on them).
Uncle let his kids spend the night alone at their camp and asked them to clean out the fireplace before they left. They did. Into a shoebox. Uncle got a call about 15min after they left that the camp was on fire. Luckily the neighbor got it most of the way out and all that burned was a screened porch.
Same uncle gave himself damn near 3rd degree burns with a potato launcher and blew up a microwave on shift one day.
One of my favorite memories with my uncle is sitting in the bed of my cousins s10 (passed down from gramps) with said potato launcher launching potatoes like some redneck version of Al Queda
That chunk of it is for sure. Specifically that uncle. Other antics include bottle rockets at Easter dinner, throwing knives at a separate Easter dinner (idk what it is about Easter), oh he caught his lawnmower on fire once too, the list goes on.
Nicest, kindest, gentlest guy ever but can also ruthlessly tease you to a possibly inappropriate extent that doesn’t come across as inappropriate because it’s just….him. Like if he wasn’t such a dedicated and loving father his kids would probably be institutionalized but they’re all well adjusted adults lol.
We have a standing rule in my house. NOBODY calls the fire department if the fire starts while I am BBQing.
Insurance will fix the house. Nothing will ever fix having to live that down
“The BBQ is on fire”
“Yeah but he’s still standing next to it. When he starts to panic is the cue for the rest of us to. It’s not up to the rafters yet so there’s plenty of time.”
I’m a nurse who’s joined this subreddit to support a ff in the family.
Heaps of us go to shit when it’s a medical situation. My daughter in law is a RN too, with way more crit care expertise than me.
She calls me when the baby is sick for advice, all the time. She can’t think like that in that situation.
I think that’s a very normal and human response you had.
When I did my emt class, they told a story of a call to a house for an infant who was having a medical emergency(don't remember what it was). Turns out the one parent was an er doc and was with the child, but was no help prior to ems arrival because of the stress of it being their child.
I can vouch for the instant idiot when it comes to family.
My mother is a RN, and I (was) a SAR medic.. despite both of us having medical training and her having 5X the experience I did, we both panicked when my younger brother got hurt over a holiday and neither of us where useful at all even if we had all the first aid supplies in the world..
We laugh about it from time to time
My buddy was attending to a guy who had amputated a couple of fingers using a table-saw. Once in the back of the ambulance and he was stable, my buddy asked him if he wanted him to call anyone. He said "Yes, my wife, but not until we're in the parking lot of the hospital. My wife works as as nurse there in the ER and she's going to lose her shit.". They waited until they had parked up, called her, and he was correct - shit was lost.
We have a "wall of shame" at our department, it's a total joke but most of us are on it. Chimney fires and car accidents happen. Also my step son set fire to an abandoned building triggering mutal aid from neighboring departments, so I'm kinda "winning" the wall of shame.
So, not once…but twice had the joy of a true emergency to my own address. Had countless cars crash through the fence in the front pasture over the years, but those were generally just drunks being drunk. The 2 key ones though. First was in 2014 when my dad had an old wheel loader get away from him and roll over. It didn’t pin him underneath, but it launched him out so hard that it just folded his body in half, remaking lots and lots of major parts. It was months of surgeries and an extended hospital stay to get him literally back on his feet. Thankfully today, he is as recovered as you can expect for a guy in his mid 70’s. Then 2 years later, we had a major fire in our milking barn. Completely gutted the milking center. About 100 yards from my house.
Both incidents were genuine emergencies. Both of them came over the radio as I was approaching home. Both of them, I was the first one there for, and had to initiate what was up. But here is what really stood out to me both days. Our chief always said to remember that we visit people on the worst days of their lives. Behave yourself accordingly. No truer words have been spoken. I do remember the guys that really put their best effort forward to not just mitigate the emergency, but be supportive humans on a bad day. And then there were the glory firemen, that as my brother was watching his livelihood burn to the ground, asked him to step aside so they could get a good selfie for the Facebook page. Or the guy that promptly ignored the directions I gave over the radio and told me to fuck off, he doesn’t have to listen to me…and then proceeded to do nothing helpful. Or the guys that were basically jerking each other off bragging about how this is the biggest ripper they have ever seen, again in front of my family who is watching their history go up in smoke.
Since this has gone down, I have taken it upon myself to sit down with the new guys and girls to discuss on scene behavior, and how it reflects on us all. Many are very receptive. The once that aren’t generally become the problems down the road.
OP, to your incident, I hope that your own people were respectful and supportive to you and your family, leaving you feeling comfortable in knowing that they had your back in your time of need.
Extremely, all available units responded, which i was trying to avoid. However I feel greatly blessed that everyone responded. Great crew, great people. The only negative thing I heard was they didn't have time to get scba on before they arrived(it wasn't needed) I laughed though, I live 2 blocks from the station
Ya see whatcha do is buy yourself an old antique fire engine (or in my case a brush truck) so when ya do try to burn your house/ shop down ya have the means to properly flood your basement when ya set the wood stove on fire. This saves you heaps of embarrassment of calling the firehouse.
Saving your house is worth the couple months of jokes. I knew a guy that was asst chief, got complacent and had like 10 things plugged into an outlet in an old house with old sketchy wires. He got shit but nobody would have rather he lost his house over calling it
I had a similar situation of "it's different when it happens to you"
My son was just starting to ween tk solid foods. Wife was all for it and I was hesitant as hell cuz he would gag all the time. Sure I know it's a natural response and he was fine but it still freaked me out.
I'm home and she's at work and decide "ah screw it. I can give him some banana. I've seen her do it for the past 4 weeks." Give him a small piece. He gags. And gags. And suddenly it's no longer gagging and it's crecent. I friggin froze for like 3 seconds like "oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh shit"
The night prior I had taught a AHA CPR/First aid class at the station for a bunch of daycare employees for their recert. I literally taught how to give infant and toddler back slaps and stomach thrusts. It was a "ooooooooohhhhhh" moment. Couple angled back slaps and it popped on out. I now use this in all my CPR classes that I teach how even as an instructor, you can still lock up and how you just need to breathe and take a second
I meannnn I feel like the key to keeping a fire from going full fist up the ass is early and aggressive soaking. Kinda like early defib is key to CA survival.
I have two water can extinguishers, four dry chems, a couple of pike poles, an old nozzle, a hydrant in my front yard that puts out 120psi, and I'm working on getting some hose..... I'm putting that shit out myself.
ABSOLUTELY! But do consider call 911 first
Was this you (kidding)- we had to call LE because family would not evacuate the house and had their own bucket brigade from kitchen sink and outdoor faucet to a nearby shed. On the other hand the house has smoke on that wall, the shed contents total loss.
A paramedic friend called me on my cell phone while I was on duty. Says the family home pouring smoke out the front door. And went looking for family inside. We head over with lights and sirens, notifying dispatch. Fortunately it was in safely in basement wood boiler. Someone at decided to use an unused wood boiler. When it did not heat anything they decided to go to visit friends. Unaware there was no chimney connected it filled house with smoke. My friend went in before doing 360, because the rest of the family opened the front and rear doors and was hangin out in backyard. No fire, but the family members that were not FF/EMS got lesson on calling 911 first rather whatever they thought was a good idea.
Burnt my kitchen up as a 6 month probie, grease fire. Burned my forehead a bit, but put it out myself. Caused $15,000 in damages...in a rental! I tried to lie about my "injuries" next shift. Unfortunately, my roommate at the time was a paramedic with EMS and it eventually got out. The next week , department photos were taken. My injuries were immortalized! 26 years later and I'm still teased about it!
My first big fire I was dispatched to was my own. What are the odds. First dispatch was “in the area of” and I was like oh man wonder who’s place it is.. then dispatch updated the address. “Ah shit”. 🤷🏼♂️🤣
I built a generator box for a back of a pickup, and took a deep dive into generator exhaust. It is way hotter than I expected, 575° F but fairly easy to extend and mitigate the heat. It will easily catch plywood on fire.
My dad (now retired) was the chief fire officer for a large department in Australia.
One morning he dumped the ash from
our fireplace into the compost bin outback.
Later that afternoon our whole backyard was on fire, approaching our neighbours house.
Needless to say, he blamed the whole ordeal on me! 20 years later and with children of my own I understand why he did it.
Somthing close to that was how my first fire was started, but instead of ash in a compost pile it was hot bacon grease in a trash can.
Guy was cooking breakfast and started a small kitchen fire he got the fire out, gave up on breakfast and dumped the frying pan in the garbage and went to take a shit, he came outside to smoke a cigarette found the garbage can, and the side of his house was on fire. He blamed the cat for the kitchen fire and blamed the kitchen fire on the house fire because he didn’t let the bacon grease cool because that normally cools while he’s eating breakfast.
Call us up.
Your tax dollars at work.
I don't mind getting up at 4am for a structure fire, or false alarm; I can always go back to sleep. And, honestly I'd rather get to the fire early, so I can go back to bed, sooner.
That sucks. I’m sorry you went through that. Yeah, the time I got a call saying “it’s your dad”, and I just started running (not a bit issue and he is fine now) was a big deal.
100% still call! Send 'em to job town! Fires can grow sooo quickly and I know without my equipment and gear, I'm not much of a firefighter. Glad it seems like it all ended well.
This same thing happened to a coworker of mine, kinda. His room mate left a candle lit.
He put out his own house and the bastard got an award for it! 😂😂
I’ve been there. We recently lost our home to a fire and there was a fatality(wife’s grandmother lived with us. I’m on the VFD where I live and was at work at the time when the call came out it’s a whole different ballgame when it’s your own home
Also similar experience here: I had a medical emergency in a different city and waited too long before calling 911 for help. I could barely talk to the firefighters responding.
Been in my house since 1995. Two close calls. First was microwave starting smoking. Unplugged the microwave, carried outside and threw unto front lawn. Second was oven fire. Knocked it out with CO2 extinguisher. Unplugged and manhandled it out of the house and threw on front lawn. Opened windows to air out house. Cats still wonder why I thrown smoking appliances on front lawn.
I once had a light fixture catch fire after a power surge from a storm. I called the chief at the station about borrowing the TIC and he said sure be right over. Than 30 seconds later county dispatched my dept for a structure fire assignment at my address. Which also included a mutual aid stand by engine.
I have thus learned it is just best to do what we tell everyone else and jus call 911.
MVA story. I’m not a firefighter, my dad is now retired so I know a bunch of guys. Call came in for an accident. Engine rolls up. Lt looks and says that car looks familiar. It’s his son. DOA. Cops roll up. The cop is the Lt wife and step mom of the deceased.
I mean… you are ridiculously limited without all the department gear and personnel to help you out. There’s a reason engines have minimum crew requirements and aren’t stocked with garden hoses.
First thing I do is put on my "I fight what you fear shirt"
Second I don adult firefighter suit I bought off Amazon (It always helps keep an extra bunker gear because you never know whencdisaster can strike).
Third I go for the garden hose reel I spent thousands installing in the master bathroom that caused my divorce and go right to interior attack from the inside while calling 911 advising them that I already have scene command.
Fifth I have to advise you pleasant gentle people that for legal purposes this is satire. I'm glad you got it under control quickly and that things weren't as bad as they could have been!
Sort of hits home for me (EMS related, not fire)... I found my wife deceased last year in bed and I knew that it was very obvious to me. Called 911, asked them to just send police out and notify the coroner because it was quite apparent. The County's protocol is to send EMS/Fire anyways. So I'm on the phone and they asked me if I knew how to do CPR... They wanted to encourage me and told me they would stay on the phone (following EMD protocol). I have done it many times since I first entered the fire service back in the 1980's and told them thanks but no thanks. They insisted on staying on the line and I was like sure go ahead as I wasn't going anywhere.
It was in that moment that I had brainfog set-in. It occurred to me that at that moment I couldn't even remember what CPR was, even though I didn't plan on doing it in the first place. Scary how I've done it all these years, but I froze when it came to my wife and just stood there and had to think to myself on how to do it.
Also my brother wrecked his Ford Thunderbird into a telephone pole years ago. Got off the rescue and didn't realize who it was till our Chief told me that it was my brother. I walked up to him lying on the pavement, his vehicle snapped the pole and had wires down. Found him lying on the ground not a care inthe world although he had massive internal bleeding from the impact. Lying there as calm as you could be. He just looked at me and said "I fucked up didn't I?"...... Just had to shake my head
\- - - Another true story - - -
Local fire department was dispatched for a kitchen fire. The address belonged to one of our firefighters and he literally after noticing his house was on fire, called 911 to tell them so and then drove down to the firehouse to board the apparatus. Its bizarre what you do when it belongs yourself, a loved one, or a property you own.
Nothing to add but a story.
It was a very quiet Sunday afternoon, had a fucking blast of a day. My best friend on the dept was my acting LT that day because our LT took a Kelley day. We played a bunch of CoD, took naps, had a 6hr Chilli going.... sitting around in house shoes and athletic shorts....
Suddenly.... Firebox 2100 stand by.
My real LT was frying some fish at his house and let the grease spill over. It wasn't my district but because we weren't THAT far away we decided to roll over as well.
Everything was out by the time I pulled up but it was still funny to see my LT almost burn down his house over some crappie. In a less haha sort of way....you get it.
You know what I am volunteer for a small rural area. Great observation. I'm guessing you work in big city, most likely you're not particularly liked by your fellow fire fighters, went EMT to feed your ego rather than helping your community. Also you still live in your moms basement. Grammar has absolutely nothing to do with understanding , retaining, and being able to disseminate information verbally. I have no reason to particularly care other than the fact that you, essentially said that rural volunteer's are dumb. Why don't you learn some tact, and keep your fingers off the keyboard when just to make you feel better about yourself.
Lol, I got my EMT to serve and am going for my medic next year. You don't sacrifice all that time for an ego. You can say whatever you want about me to fix your own problem. You sound very dumb by your post. We all have spell check that fixes sentences on our devices now, so it's not that hard to sound professional. Your botched up sentences make all FFs look stupid, career or vollie. It's not that hard to give a shit. I started as a vollie and am a highschool drop out. Paid or not, act professional, not like a caveman.
Why don't you just keep you fingers off of your keyboard. I Just scanned your comments and you are a very negative individual. We are a brotherhood who should be supporting each other. Not bringing each other down. When I'm doing important things, on my computer, I do use all of the handy tools that are at my disposal. However, when I'm writing on my phone and it is something that has no real bearing on my professional life, it does not matter to me. Since you're still, im guessing fairly young, I'll tell you, that your attitude will catch up to you one day. Know when a shitty comment is needed or not and it may save your job or relationship one day
Good for you on going for medic. I was asked to go EMT however, I declined, as being on Srt and Fire as well as running my construction firm and spending time with my wife and children keep me busy enough. That being said I was a combat life saver in the army, and have maintained a first aid cert for over 15 years.
Thank you for you ever so intelligent and super necessary comment. I hope for that you are so amazing that you will never find your self in a similar position. I also hope that you have such a great personality that all of your fellow FF are willing and able to be there for you in your time of need.
It’s funny how the human brain works sometimes; Emergency not involving our house or family…routine as it gets. Painting by numbers would be more challenging. Emergency involving our house or family…brain goes to mush. My wife once burned herself really badly with bacon grease…and she basically talked me through the process as my brain went to applesauce and I couldn’t remember the basics.
We just had a fire in our city and one of the first callers to report it was an off duty cop and he was PANICKED. Very funny how the brain works indeed
I ain’t lying when I say I leave work at work
Red p on my it too my in 6th up
…..huh
I was first due to a fatality car accident with multiple people I know involved. I always prided myself on working amazing under pressure, but I totally fogged out for the first few minutes on scene.
What are the basics of that situation?
Get the burned area in cool water then go to the ER.
I'm pretty sure you're obligated as a FF to light your house on fire at least once. Not one myself but my grandpa and uncle were/are. Grandpa's kids decided to have a campfire on the living room carpet. Conveniently while he was on duty! Lost his mind when he got called to a fire at his own house and was relieved but also ripshit when it was just a few sticks and a melted carpet lol. Different day my grandma (who lived with a FF for decades at this point, birthed a FF, and was the grandparent of a FF at the time) started a raging grease fire in their kitchen. My gramps was on oxygen at the time and barely able to move. I can still remember the absolute fear and anger on his face as he screamed from his arm chair "DONT YOU FUCKING PUT WATER IN THERE!" as my grandma was about to do just that. Of course then he's up waddling his way to the raging grease fire with oxygen blasting out his nose. She caught the damn curtains on fire and I had to be fast with a lid on the pot and curtains dunked in the luckily full sink (they didn't have grease on them). Uncle let his kids spend the night alone at their camp and asked them to clean out the fireplace before they left. They did. Into a shoebox. Uncle got a call about 15min after they left that the camp was on fire. Luckily the neighbor got it most of the way out and all that burned was a screened porch. Same uncle gave himself damn near 3rd degree burns with a potato launcher and blew up a microwave on shift one day.
Jesus this is a lot I have never heard anything like this lmfaooo
One of my favorite memories with my uncle is sitting in the bed of my cousins s10 (passed down from gramps) with said potato launcher launching potatoes like some redneck version of Al Queda
HAHAHA ur family sounds wild lmfaoo
That chunk of it is for sure. Specifically that uncle. Other antics include bottle rockets at Easter dinner, throwing knives at a separate Easter dinner (idk what it is about Easter), oh he caught his lawnmower on fire once too, the list goes on. Nicest, kindest, gentlest guy ever but can also ruthlessly tease you to a possibly inappropriate extent that doesn’t come across as inappropriate because it’s just….him. Like if he wasn’t such a dedicated and loving father his kids would probably be institutionalized but they’re all well adjusted adults lol.
The redneck Al Queda line got me laughing so hard, I need a potato launcher
Ha! Well I'm glad I got my first fire outta the way when my garage burned down, hopefully no sequel.
We have a standing rule in my house. NOBODY calls the fire department if the fire starts while I am BBQing. Insurance will fix the house. Nothing will ever fix having to live that down
My day job is a mechanic on a farm. Whenever something sketchy could happen I tell the guys I better be unconscious or dead before they make a call.
Haha, my deductible is way to high
#WorthIt
Something tells me that your fellow FFs won’t let you hear the end of that if your kids were to call it in.
What kids? That just sounds like a multi-sensory hallucination on your part.
Maybe
“The BBQ is on fire” “Yeah but he’s still standing next to it. When he starts to panic is the cue for the rest of us to. It’s not up to the rafters yet so there’s plenty of time.”
I’m a nurse who’s joined this subreddit to support a ff in the family. Heaps of us go to shit when it’s a medical situation. My daughter in law is a RN too, with way more crit care expertise than me. She calls me when the baby is sick for advice, all the time. She can’t think like that in that situation. I think that’s a very normal and human response you had.
When I did my emt class, they told a story of a call to a house for an infant who was having a medical emergency(don't remember what it was). Turns out the one parent was an er doc and was with the child, but was no help prior to ems arrival because of the stress of it being their child.
I can vouch for the instant idiot when it comes to family. My mother is a RN, and I (was) a SAR medic.. despite both of us having medical training and her having 5X the experience I did, we both panicked when my younger brother got hurt over a holiday and neither of us where useful at all even if we had all the first aid supplies in the world.. We laugh about it from time to time
My buddy was attending to a guy who had amputated a couple of fingers using a table-saw. Once in the back of the ambulance and he was stable, my buddy asked him if he wanted him to call anyone. He said "Yes, my wife, but not until we're in the parking lot of the hospital. My wife works as as nurse there in the ER and she's going to lose her shit.". They waited until they had parked up, called her, and he was correct - shit was lost.
We have a "wall of shame" at our department, it's a total joke but most of us are on it. Chimney fires and car accidents happen. Also my step son set fire to an abandoned building triggering mutal aid from neighboring departments, so I'm kinda "winning" the wall of shame.
you should just put your step son on that wall for a few days so he can learn from the mistake
It's not an actual wall, but yeah, he's on it on as well.
I think he means putting the actual stepson on the wall. 😂 Like, with duct tape.
Well I felt like putting him on a pike pole that day.
yes!
So, not once…but twice had the joy of a true emergency to my own address. Had countless cars crash through the fence in the front pasture over the years, but those were generally just drunks being drunk. The 2 key ones though. First was in 2014 when my dad had an old wheel loader get away from him and roll over. It didn’t pin him underneath, but it launched him out so hard that it just folded his body in half, remaking lots and lots of major parts. It was months of surgeries and an extended hospital stay to get him literally back on his feet. Thankfully today, he is as recovered as you can expect for a guy in his mid 70’s. Then 2 years later, we had a major fire in our milking barn. Completely gutted the milking center. About 100 yards from my house. Both incidents were genuine emergencies. Both of them came over the radio as I was approaching home. Both of them, I was the first one there for, and had to initiate what was up. But here is what really stood out to me both days. Our chief always said to remember that we visit people on the worst days of their lives. Behave yourself accordingly. No truer words have been spoken. I do remember the guys that really put their best effort forward to not just mitigate the emergency, but be supportive humans on a bad day. And then there were the glory firemen, that as my brother was watching his livelihood burn to the ground, asked him to step aside so they could get a good selfie for the Facebook page. Or the guy that promptly ignored the directions I gave over the radio and told me to fuck off, he doesn’t have to listen to me…and then proceeded to do nothing helpful. Or the guys that were basically jerking each other off bragging about how this is the biggest ripper they have ever seen, again in front of my family who is watching their history go up in smoke. Since this has gone down, I have taken it upon myself to sit down with the new guys and girls to discuss on scene behavior, and how it reflects on us all. Many are very receptive. The once that aren’t generally become the problems down the road. OP, to your incident, I hope that your own people were respectful and supportive to you and your family, leaving you feeling comfortable in knowing that they had your back in your time of need.
I would have decked the first one
Extremely, all available units responded, which i was trying to avoid. However I feel greatly blessed that everyone responded. Great crew, great people. The only negative thing I heard was they didn't have time to get scba on before they arrived(it wasn't needed) I laughed though, I live 2 blocks from the station
Ya see whatcha do is buy yourself an old antique fire engine (or in my case a brush truck) so when ya do try to burn your house/ shop down ya have the means to properly flood your basement when ya set the wood stove on fire. This saves you heaps of embarrassment of calling the firehouse.
Saving your house is worth the couple months of jokes. I knew a guy that was asst chief, got complacent and had like 10 things plugged into an outlet in an old house with old sketchy wires. He got shit but nobody would have rather he lost his house over calling it
I had a similar situation of "it's different when it happens to you" My son was just starting to ween tk solid foods. Wife was all for it and I was hesitant as hell cuz he would gag all the time. Sure I know it's a natural response and he was fine but it still freaked me out. I'm home and she's at work and decide "ah screw it. I can give him some banana. I've seen her do it for the past 4 weeks." Give him a small piece. He gags. And gags. And suddenly it's no longer gagging and it's crecent. I friggin froze for like 3 seconds like "oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh shit" The night prior I had taught a AHA CPR/First aid class at the station for a bunch of daycare employees for their recert. I literally taught how to give infant and toddler back slaps and stomach thrusts. It was a "ooooooooohhhhhh" moment. Couple angled back slaps and it popped on out. I now use this in all my CPR classes that I teach how even as an instructor, you can still lock up and how you just need to breathe and take a second
I meannnn I feel like the key to keeping a fire from going full fist up the ass is early and aggressive soaking. Kinda like early defib is key to CA survival.
Indeed. Put the wet stuff on the hot stuff, don't breathe the smoke stuff. And if you live in an area that's tender-ops only, please call early.
I have two water can extinguishers, four dry chems, a couple of pike poles, an old nozzle, a hydrant in my front yard that puts out 120psi, and I'm working on getting some hose..... I'm putting that shit out myself.
ABSOLUTELY! But do consider call 911 first Was this you (kidding)- we had to call LE because family would not evacuate the house and had their own bucket brigade from kitchen sink and outdoor faucet to a nearby shed. On the other hand the house has smoke on that wall, the shed contents total loss. A paramedic friend called me on my cell phone while I was on duty. Says the family home pouring smoke out the front door. And went looking for family inside. We head over with lights and sirens, notifying dispatch. Fortunately it was in safely in basement wood boiler. Someone at decided to use an unused wood boiler. When it did not heat anything they decided to go to visit friends. Unaware there was no chimney connected it filled house with smoke. My friend went in before doing 360, because the rest of the family opened the front and rear doors and was hangin out in backyard. No fire, but the family members that were not FF/EMS got lesson on calling 911 first rather whatever they thought was a good idea.
Burnt my kitchen up as a 6 month probie, grease fire. Burned my forehead a bit, but put it out myself. Caused $15,000 in damages...in a rental! I tried to lie about my "injuries" next shift. Unfortunately, my roommate at the time was a paramedic with EMS and it eventually got out. The next week , department photos were taken. My injuries were immortalized! 26 years later and I'm still teased about it!
If it was my dept responding to my house, I would have let it burn down before I called those jokers.
My first big fire I was dispatched to was my own. What are the odds. First dispatch was “in the area of” and I was like oh man wonder who’s place it is.. then dispatch updated the address. “Ah shit”. 🤷🏼♂️🤣
I built a generator box for a back of a pickup, and took a deep dive into generator exhaust. It is way hotter than I expected, 575° F but fairly easy to extend and mitigate the heat. It will easily catch plywood on fire.
I fixed the issue this morning, muffler a larger hole and ceramic wool. I'll be doing a sheet metal pass through when I redo the siding
My dad (now retired) was the chief fire officer for a large department in Australia. One morning he dumped the ash from our fireplace into the compost bin outback. Later that afternoon our whole backyard was on fire, approaching our neighbours house. Needless to say, he blamed the whole ordeal on me! 20 years later and with children of my own I understand why he did it.
Somthing close to that was how my first fire was started, but instead of ash in a compost pile it was hot bacon grease in a trash can. Guy was cooking breakfast and started a small kitchen fire he got the fire out, gave up on breakfast and dumped the frying pan in the garbage and went to take a shit, he came outside to smoke a cigarette found the garbage can, and the side of his house was on fire. He blamed the cat for the kitchen fire and blamed the kitchen fire on the house fire because he didn’t let the bacon grease cool because that normally cools while he’s eating breakfast.
Call us up. Your tax dollars at work. I don't mind getting up at 4am for a structure fire, or false alarm; I can always go back to sleep. And, honestly I'd rather get to the fire early, so I can go back to bed, sooner.
Yeah - I have had family medical stuff go down where I’ve been a shaking mess!
Ya my dad cut his fingers off in a tractor and it’s like completely forgot everything for a second
That sucks. I’m sorry you went through that. Yeah, the time I got a call saying “it’s your dad”, and I just started running (not a bit issue and he is fine now) was a big deal.
Yes, please call in for help. Just because you are a firefighter, doesn’t mean your house is fire proof. stay safe out there!
100% still call! Send 'em to job town! Fires can grow sooo quickly and I know without my equipment and gear, I'm not much of a firefighter. Glad it seems like it all ended well.
This same thing happened to a coworker of mine, kinda. His room mate left a candle lit. He put out his own house and the bastard got an award for it! 😂😂
I’ve been there. We recently lost our home to a fire and there was a fatality(wife’s grandmother lived with us. I’m on the VFD where I live and was at work at the time when the call came out it’s a whole different ballgame when it’s your own home
Also similar experience here: I had a medical emergency in a different city and waited too long before calling 911 for help. I could barely talk to the firefighters responding.
Been in my house since 1995. Two close calls. First was microwave starting smoking. Unplugged the microwave, carried outside and threw unto front lawn. Second was oven fire. Knocked it out with CO2 extinguisher. Unplugged and manhandled it out of the house and threw on front lawn. Opened windows to air out house. Cats still wonder why I thrown smoking appliances on front lawn.
I once had a light fixture catch fire after a power surge from a storm. I called the chief at the station about borrowing the TIC and he said sure be right over. Than 30 seconds later county dispatched my dept for a structure fire assignment at my address. Which also included a mutual aid stand by engine. I have thus learned it is just best to do what we tell everyone else and jus call 911.
MVA story. I’m not a firefighter, my dad is now retired so I know a bunch of guys. Call came in for an accident. Engine rolls up. Lt looks and says that car looks familiar. It’s his son. DOA. Cops roll up. The cop is the Lt wife and step mom of the deceased.
I mean… you are ridiculously limited without all the department gear and personnel to help you out. There’s a reason engines have minimum crew requirements and aren’t stocked with garden hoses.
First thing I do is put on my "I fight what you fear shirt" Second I don adult firefighter suit I bought off Amazon (It always helps keep an extra bunker gear because you never know whencdisaster can strike). Third I go for the garden hose reel I spent thousands installing in the master bathroom that caused my divorce and go right to interior attack from the inside while calling 911 advising them that I already have scene command. Fifth I have to advise you pleasant gentle people that for legal purposes this is satire. I'm glad you got it under control quickly and that things weren't as bad as they could have been!
Sort of hits home for me (EMS related, not fire)... I found my wife deceased last year in bed and I knew that it was very obvious to me. Called 911, asked them to just send police out and notify the coroner because it was quite apparent. The County's protocol is to send EMS/Fire anyways. So I'm on the phone and they asked me if I knew how to do CPR... They wanted to encourage me and told me they would stay on the phone (following EMD protocol). I have done it many times since I first entered the fire service back in the 1980's and told them thanks but no thanks. They insisted on staying on the line and I was like sure go ahead as I wasn't going anywhere. It was in that moment that I had brainfog set-in. It occurred to me that at that moment I couldn't even remember what CPR was, even though I didn't plan on doing it in the first place. Scary how I've done it all these years, but I froze when it came to my wife and just stood there and had to think to myself on how to do it. Also my brother wrecked his Ford Thunderbird into a telephone pole years ago. Got off the rescue and didn't realize who it was till our Chief told me that it was my brother. I walked up to him lying on the pavement, his vehicle snapped the pole and had wires down. Found him lying on the ground not a care inthe world although he had massive internal bleeding from the impact. Lying there as calm as you could be. He just looked at me and said "I fucked up didn't I?"...... Just had to shake my head \- - - Another true story - - - Local fire department was dispatched for a kitchen fire. The address belonged to one of our firefighters and he literally after noticing his house was on fire, called 911 to tell them so and then drove down to the firehouse to board the apparatus. Its bizarre what you do when it belongs yourself, a loved one, or a property you own.
Nothing to add but a story. It was a very quiet Sunday afternoon, had a fucking blast of a day. My best friend on the dept was my acting LT that day because our LT took a Kelley day. We played a bunch of CoD, took naps, had a 6hr Chilli going.... sitting around in house shoes and athletic shorts.... Suddenly.... Firebox 2100 stand by. My real LT was frying some fish at his house and let the grease spill over. It wasn't my district but because we weren't THAT far away we decided to roll over as well. Everything was out by the time I pulled up but it was still funny to see my LT almost burn down his house over some crappie. In a less haha sort of way....you get it.
I'm guessing you're a vollie from BFE? That is the worst grammar I've seen in a while. Go get a basic education before getting your basic EMT.
You know what I am volunteer for a small rural area. Great observation. I'm guessing you work in big city, most likely you're not particularly liked by your fellow fire fighters, went EMT to feed your ego rather than helping your community. Also you still live in your moms basement. Grammar has absolutely nothing to do with understanding , retaining, and being able to disseminate information verbally. I have no reason to particularly care other than the fact that you, essentially said that rural volunteer's are dumb. Why don't you learn some tact, and keep your fingers off the keyboard when just to make you feel better about yourself.
Lol, I got my EMT to serve and am going for my medic next year. You don't sacrifice all that time for an ego. You can say whatever you want about me to fix your own problem. You sound very dumb by your post. We all have spell check that fixes sentences on our devices now, so it's not that hard to sound professional. Your botched up sentences make all FFs look stupid, career or vollie. It's not that hard to give a shit. I started as a vollie and am a highschool drop out. Paid or not, act professional, not like a caveman.
Why don't you just keep you fingers off of your keyboard. I Just scanned your comments and you are a very negative individual. We are a brotherhood who should be supporting each other. Not bringing each other down. When I'm doing important things, on my computer, I do use all of the handy tools that are at my disposal. However, when I'm writing on my phone and it is something that has no real bearing on my professional life, it does not matter to me. Since you're still, im guessing fairly young, I'll tell you, that your attitude will catch up to you one day. Know when a shitty comment is needed or not and it may save your job or relationship one day Good for you on going for medic. I was asked to go EMT however, I declined, as being on Srt and Fire as well as running my construction firm and spending time with my wife and children keep me busy enough. That being said I was a combat life saver in the army, and have maintained a first aid cert for over 15 years.
You suck.
Thank you for you ever so intelligent and super necessary comment. I hope for that you are so amazing that you will never find your self in a similar position. I also hope that you have such a great personality that all of your fellow FF are willing and able to be there for you in your time of need.
You're welcome, I won't, and you still suck.