Sending Thoughts and Prayers to a Blog Buddy

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I got this from my dear friend Callie at Scrappin' With Life ... and I have to say that her timing as perfect as I had been wondering how Bob was doing with all of these fires. I hope that he is safe and that his home is not in any direct danger but I'm sure that just being in San Diego County is a horrifying experience right now no matter where you are. To that end, as Callie posted: "Our good friend Bobbarama needs our thoughts and our prayers. Bob is located right in the way of the dreadful fires that are currently sweeping through the Great State of California.

I would like you all to add your name to this post and then pass it on to someone else so that we can send Bob our best wishes and let him know that we care about him and that we are thinking about him. Please copy this post, post it on your blog and pass it on and let's all let Bob know we are with him during his time of need."

Bob - wherever you are and however you're doing - you are in my thoughts and in my prayers. Be safe, my friend!

The Important Stuff

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I was talking to my friend out in Northern California tonight about the wildfires that have been ravaging Southern California the past few days (thankfully she's up near San Francisco and is nowhere near where this is happening) and that conversation led to a discussion about what she or I would want to save if ever there were a fire near our homes that threatened to overtake and burn them to the ground.

Cyndi is a major cat person - and I do mean major! - so naturally the main thing she would want to make sure she got out of the house, other than her beloved husband, would be her cats. Hopefully she has a lot of advance notice of any sort of fire as she has lots and lots and lots of cats! I swear the woman is a 'cat magnet' as any and all strays in Stockton seem to gravitate to her. They know they're going to find a kind and compassionate woman who opens her heart and home to them regardless of how disheveled, bedraggled, or feral they may be. Cyndi has a heart as big as all of California when it comes to cats.

The other thing that she said she would have a hard time leaving behind would be her plants and she has almost as large a collection of those as she does cats. Now I'm not talking about silk trees here - I'm talking about a plant that sat in her father's office at the business he owned and is one of the few things she has left from him, a plant that her grandmother had back in 1965 that she has lovingly cared for way too many years to count, and a plethora of other plants that mean just about as much to Cyndi as her menagerie of cats does.

Beyond that - there isn't too much that she said she couldn't live without. Things can be replaced.

I agree with her completely. I can't really think of too much here in my house that I couldn't live without except maybe for some family pictures and maybe a memento or two - and my laptop, of course. Other than that it's all 'stuff' ... stuff that can be replaced if I felt that I really needed to replace it or I could learn how to live more minimalistic. Sometimes I think that minimalistic might not be a bad thing - a lot less clutter to try to clean up around here.

I'm not saying that having one's house burn down is not a tragedy because it is and it has to be more than devastating to those people in Southern California who are coming back to their homes to find them completely gone. I cannot begin to fathom the heartbreak that they must be feeling or the sense of loss that must be pervading their lives right now. In no way am I trying to minimize what they're feeling in any way, shape, or form. I'm just saying that sometimes you need to sit back and take stock of what's really important in your life and what can or can't be replaced.

Despite their losses, I'm sure that those people who have been affected by the California wildfires are still ecstatic that they and their loved ones got out alive - much like those people who lived through Hurricane Katrina and went back to live another day. Your life, your family's lives, the lives of your friends and loved ones, and the lives of your pets - those are the important things to try to save no matter what disaster might be knocking on your door.

I Am Sad

One of my very favorite places in all of the country has been steadily destroyed by smoke and flames since Sunday when a forest fire (thought to be sparked accidentally by human activity) broke out in the Angora Lake region of South Lake Tahoe, California.

Over 3,100 acres - about 4.7 square miles - as well as 220 homes and other structures have fallen victim to the fast-moving flames which, according to the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Control Unit, are currently 44% contained. Over 1,809 personnel have been battling a fire that they hope to have fully contained by July 3rd though they still face the possibility of high winds in the region over the next three days which could cause the flames to jump the fire lines again.

“This is the biggest disaster that has happened to this community in, probably, forever,” said Lt. Kevin House of the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department in a televised interview.

I'm going to have to agree with Lt. House as it has always been my belief that Lake Tahoe is one of the most beautiful areas in the country and there is no doubt that a fire of this magnitude will leave scars on the area for a very long time to come.

Some of my best memories of my years in California are from various trips to Lake Tahoe with not only friends I had made in California but with my Mom & Dad when they came out to visit when I lived in Stockton. No trip to California was ever quite complete without a trip to Lake Tahoe, though I'm sad to say that my last trip out didn't provide the opportunity for a drive through the mountains to visit a place I have come to love.

The shores of Lake Tahoe were the home of the Washo Indians for thousands of years before John C. Frémont, an American explorer dubbed "The Great Pathfinder", and his guide Kit Carson first spied the lake on an expedition in the Sierra Nevadas on February 14th, 1844 from an area now known as Carson's Pass on Route 88. The first non-indigenous man to view Lake Tahoe from what is now Highway 50, my preferred route of travel, was John Calhoun Johnson, another Sierra explorer.

There is just no way to describe the beauty that lies before you as you round the last turn on State Highway 50 from Sacramento and look out towards the lake - which is still 10 miles in the distance. Lake Tahoe is the second deepest lake in the United States with its depth plunging to 1,645 feet. It's 22 miles long, 12 miles wide, and has 71 miles of shoreline, two-thirds of which lies in California. Is it any wonder that Mark Twain, when visiting the lake in 1861 for several weeks declared: "The eye never tired of gazing, night or day, calm or storm."?

I came this close to taking a job as a dispatcher at the City of South Lake Tahoe Police Department in the late 80's before I remembered that I didn't really like the cold weather in Connecticut so how much more would I not like it in a place that has an average winter snowpack of 225 inches, or nearly 20 feet! In retrospect, though, I always wonder if that was the wrong decision and how different my life might be now had I taken that job. I guess I will never know.

Though it has been way too many years since I've had the pleasure of coming around the bend on Highway 50 and having my breath taken away, yet again, by the natural beauty that stretched out before me it truly pains me to watch the news reports of what is happening to that beautiful land. Rather than the fiery images above this is how I will always choose to remember Lake Tahoe:


I hope they are able to get that fire under control soon without too much further loss of land and property. Best wishes to all the brave firefighters and to those who call Tahoe home.

Capulus rumpo ... iterum!*

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So … last Sunday I wrote a post about the number of fires that we have had in this part of the country this winter and the impact that it had on one of my days at work. This Sunday, I get to write a post about the fire that happened on the same road as my house and the impact it had on my day at home before I went into work yesterday!

After spending a good part of the morning looking at some great architecture (the theme for the Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt), I had just settled down on the couch with a cup of coffee and some toast while Amanda was in the dining room attempting to draw a picture of a large mouth bass, when we both heard what sounded like a very large truck go past the house. On a Saturday that’s fairly unusual because we live at the top of two very steep hills in the middle of a dead-end road and generally the only large trucks we get are the garbage man or the UPS guy during the week. Though it piqued my curiosity, it wasn’t enough to inspire me to get off the couch and look out the window.

Moments later, we heard what sounded like another large truck in front of the house and this time it was enough to pique my curiosity so I swallowed the last bite of my toast, put down my cup of coffee, and left my comfy spot on the couch to look outside. Imagine my surprise when I saw a fireman hooking up a hose to the hydrant in front of my house while a very large firetruck idled next to him! As Amanda might say – oh snap, son!

Sticking my head out the door, I noticed a very large cloud of thick black smoke coming from the house four doors down while a group of neighbors was gathering in the street. Two things immediately ran through my head – 1) I needed to move my car out of the way (I park pretty close to the hydrant) and 2) I needed to make sure everyone was okay (it’s that whole 911 dispatcher thing!). Of course, first I needed to throw on something more than my robe and slippers!

Looking towards the fire

Grabbing the closest clothes I could find (my work pants, a t-shirt, hoodie, and sneakers with no socks), I moved the car and then went to the gathering of people where one girl was kneeling on the ground and crying. After assessing that everyone had gotten out of the house and was okay, I joined the rest of the neighborhood in discussing what had happened while a multitude of firefighters continued to trudge up the hill.

I knew that an ambulance was enroute as Jen had called from work to make sure it wasn’t my house that was on fire but I was beginning to think that more than one might be needed as I watched the firefighters struggling up an extremely steep hill in full turnout gear with Scot packs strapped to their backs. Knowing how I feel walking up that hill with nothing strapped on my back, I was envisioning any number of heart attacks or incidents of respiratory distress!

Why were they walking up the hill rather than arriving on the back of a firetruck, you may well ask? Well, like I said, we live at the top of two very steep hills on a narrow dead-end road that doesn’t have room for a lot of fire apparatus; plus, there is only fire hydrant on the road. The next closest hydrant is down at the bottom of the main road so once an engine had hooked up to that and driven up the hill dropping hose behind it, there was no way that anyone else could drive over it and come up the hills. This meant that any other responding personnel (fire, police, and ambulance) had to park at the bottom and trek up on foot. And trust me – it is not a fun trek on the best of days!

Pretty soon I saw the ambulance crew arrive pushing the stretcher over the crest of the hill and my heart (and lungs) went out to them! One firefighter had been injured in a fall so they didn’t even have time to catch their breath before they needed to start patient treatment. After getting the injured party loaded onto the stretcher, they now had to start back down the hill which was probably going to prove even trickier because if the stretcher got away from them, the guy on it was going to have one wild ride and he’d have a lot more than an ankle injury to deal with!

At that point, I decided it was time to do more than stand around and talk with the neighbors and offered to carry some of the gear back down the hill to help out the ambulance crew. Due to the incline, I ended up not only carrying the gear but helping to hold the stretcher back until we got to the bottom of the second hill where the patient was loaded into an ambulance and sent to the hospital.

Not being in any great hurry to climb back up to my house, I stayed down on the main road for awhile talking with some of the cops I used to work with and the ambulance crew that was standing by at the scene should additional medical help be required. But I was just putting off the inevitable as I needed to be at work myself in just a little over an hour plus I had never finished my cup of coffee!

View from the bottom

Finally, having no other choice, I climbed back up the first hill and then took some time to catch my breath while I watched one of the engines backing down the hill and rolling hose up as they went. After a couple of moments I began the second part of my ascent and eventually reached the summit and wheezed my way back into the house. Amanda wasn’t having a whole lot of sympathy for me as she walks up those hills every school day while lugging a 20-pound backpack so she just smirked when I collapsed on the couch to finish my coffee. I can’t say that I blame her, had the role been reversed I probably would have done the same!

By the time I was ready to leave for work, almost all of the fire apparatus had left the area though there was one engine still at the scene doing overhaul. The fire could have been a lot worse than it was but the City of Norwich Fire Department had done a fine job getting it knocked down and extinguished before it engulfed the whole house.

Sadly, though, a single mom and her three children are now without a home as a result of a microwave oven spontaneously combusting. Still, it could have been so much worse. Which reminds me, I’ve got to call my insurance agent about that renter’s insurance we were discussing just last week …

If you're interested, you can read the article from The Norwich Bulletin about the fire here and for my more pics (including the firefighters climbing the hill!) click here.

*Translation: Coffee interrupted ... again!

"Those who can, do. Those who can do more, volunteer." ~ Author Unknown

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The above picture is how my day started out last Monday ... minutes after I walked into the room and started getting turnover from the out-going dispatcher we heard Norwich Fire toned out for a possible structure fire on Stonington Road. The scanner had barely stopped squawking when our direct line to NPD lit up with a request for our Rehab Unit to respond to the scene.

The Rehab Unit is that 16-foot trailer you see sitting behind our paramedic chase vehicle (also known as Gamma 1). The trailer is a climate-controlled environment where trained medical personnel can monitor vital signs (blood pressure, heart rate & rhythm, and respirations) for firefighters and Haz-Mat technicians. The NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) requires a certain range of "normal" vital signs for post-fire activity and a stricter set of vital signs for Haz-Mat technicians both pre- and post-entry. The range of vital signs is based mostly on height, weight, and physical condition. Once a certain amount of body weight is lost through fluids it has to be replaced and medical personnel in the Rehab Unit provide rehydration so that firefighters can continue their job of fighting the fire.

In addition to sending out the Rehab Unit, we also send out at least one ambulance to standby in case someone needs to be transported to the hospital. In the case of this particular fire, we sent out three ambulances as the fire was at an apartment complex and there was the potential for multiple victims. This was a lot to deal with at 6:50 in the morning sans coffee but I couldn't exactly throw everything on hold while I got a much-needed caffeine infusion (memo to self: pick up coffee on the way into work!)

Thankfully most people were evacuated from the buildings very quickly and there were no fire victims, though we did transport several people from the scene for other medical issues. It wasn't until almost 1:00 that my units at the scene were freed up to do other calls and by then the day had gone the rest of the way down the tubes. Suffice it to say, it wasn't fun but I did eventually get some coffee into my system and that helped immeasurably.

Back when I worked at the Norwich Police Department in addition to dispatching police officers, I also handled fire dispatch so I had a pretty good idea what my compatriots across the street were going through on their end. If the noise the scanner was making was any indication of the type of day they were having, I fervently hoped that they had gotten their coffee on the way into their shift as chances were it was too busy for them to make a break for the coffee pot in the Chief's Conference Room! But knowing the people across the street, I know that they, like myself, were pretty much glued to their consoles and chairs for the duration because most dispatchers are going to want to stay with "their" people throughout the incident. Call it an occupational hazard but we get attached to those people we send into harm's way.

Whereas I may be sitting in a nice cozy (well, maybe not cozy!) dispatch center, there are a lot of guys and gals out at the fire scene who are far from cozy. Instead they're putting their own lives on the line to save other lives and protect property in a job that some might call crazy but which is vital to every community. Granted I might be juggling six things at once but none of them are going to kill me - unless I have a stress-induced heart attack and have sent all of my medics out of the building on other calls and left no one to revive me! The people out fighting fires run many risks including falling through a roof, smoke inhalation, burning debris, etc., etc. The risks are innumerable.

But they love it ...

I have never had a great desire to run into a burning building no matter how many times I may have watched Backdraft (it's one of those things that's right up there with jumping out of a perfectly good airplane - other people may enjoy it but it's not for me!) but since I went to work in EMS I have met a lot of people who not only like going into burning buildings, they do so on a volunteer basis. At last Monday's apartment fire in Norwich, the City of Norwich Fire Department was assisted by no less than ten other departments - eight of which were volunteer departments.

Volunteers. Why do they do it? What could make people dedicated enough to get out of their warm beds in the middle of the night, to leave in the middle of a meal, to forego whatever it was that they were doing at the dropping of a set of tones or beeping of a pager? What could make them put in hundreds of hours of unpaid training and practice? What could make them want to endanger their own lives for free? Well, more than the flashing lights, blaring sirens, driving the big red truck and wearing cool turn-out gear it's a sense of pride and desire to help other people in a time of need.

I asked one of the many volunteer firefighters I know why he had joined his local department and he said, "Because I like to help those that need it the most. When people call 911 they are in need and I like the feeling of being able to step in and provide that help. I also like the feeling of being able to walk into a situation that is completely out of control and recognize what needs to be done and do it. Knowing I had something to do with a good outcome is a great feeling and knowing that the training and sacrificing I have done paid off is ... great."

Considering the overwhelming number of fires we have had in Connecticut this winter alone, I think it's more than great that there are men and women like him who have that dedication and desire to help others. Without them there are many communities that would have no one close to come when they called 911 for whatever their emergency was - water in the basement, car accident, fire, medical emergency, or _____ - you fill in the blank.

Fire Prevention Week won't be observed until October 7th-12th this year but it's never too soon to tell your local volunteers thank you. The job they do is nothing short of amazing and awe-inspiring. Please join me in thanking them for the tough job that they do and for being there should we ever need them; I'm sure they'd appreciate hearing it!

A big thank you, also, to Josh Maloney of Windham County Fire Shots for allowing me to use his great fire pics! More photos, as well as a video recap of January and February fires, can be found by clicking the link and visiting his page. Tell him I sent you!

Some days at work are better than others. Wednesday was not one of them!

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I had a sneaky feeling that it wasn't going to be a good day even before I left the house when my pager went off advising me that a particular road in Norwich was closed due to a working structure fire. For those of you who aren't familiar with fire terms, a working structure fire means that a structure is on fire and firefighters are working at putting it out. Leastways I think that's what it means!

The road in question wasn't one that I had to worry about traveling but whenever there's a working structure fire in the area, American Ambulance sends out what is called the Rehab Unit. In a nutshell that's a trailer that is equipped with heaters, blankets, hot beverages, water, medical supplies, etc - anything that is needed to help firefighters who are battling not only smoke and flames but also weather elements like extreme hot and extreme cold.

Having never been bitten by the 'fire bug' myself, I have no desire to don 80+ pounds of turn-out gear and battle a fire but I have come to know a lot of people who do and from them I've learned that fighting fires can be pretty intense. It only makes good sense to have equipment nearby to help these guys out - a lot of whom are volunteers with their local departments.

Upon getting turn-over from the midnight dispatcher I was informed that, sure enough, a crew had been at the fire scene with the Rehab Unit and I was going to have to figure out who was going to go down to replace them as the current crew was off at 0700 hours (7:00 a.m. to you non-military types). Not everyone who works at American as an EMT or Paramedic is trained on the Rehab Unit so before anyone can be sent, one has to consult the list of qualified people and see who's working that can go.

What that meant for me was that I was going to drop down a full BLS car when I sent that crew to replace the crew that was already at the standby. On top of that, there were two burn victims of the fire and it sounded like we would be transporting at least one, if not both, to the closest hospital with a Burn Center. In our neck of the woods, that just happens to be Bridgeport Hospital which is about 75 miles south of us. Needless to say, it wouldn't be a quick trip.

The first hour of my day went by relatively okay and then someone seemed to open up the floodgates somewhere as I took several emergency calls, a couple of long-distance transfers (including the expected one to Bridgeport), and the hospitals that we service started calling in with one discharge after another. This was all in addition to the calls that were already scheduled on the spreadsheet laid out in front of me.

Soon I had every car at my disposal out running calls and yet the phones kept ringing. Add on to that a suspected HazMat spill at one of the local elementary schools developed and before you knew it I was giving serious consideration to biting my nails as I found myself starting to clench my teeth! Every time I thought I had a little bit of breathing room, the phones would ring again and I'd have to juggle things around a little more.

The crew at the fire standby with the Rehab Unit cleared from there basically just in time to go to the elementary school for the HazMat spill as somehow a small batch of white powder had turned into a Level 3 HazMat incident which took up two additional ambulances along with the Rehab Unit. Things were not looking good as I started to wear out my eraser moving calls from one spot on the spreadsheet to another.

Shortly after that I had to put two of the guys who work in dispatch that are also EMTs out on the road with medics to make up a couple of cars as I had run out of regularly scheduled road people and I had a need for more ambulances. Before the day was done the Director of Operations, the Director of Quality Assurance, and the guy who does the mountains of paperwork that we generate were all out running calls in various parts of the city. Falls, seizures, chest pains, alcohol intoxication, difficulty breathing - it seemed like if there was an ailment out there, someone was calling in with it!

It wasn't until 2000 hours (for the militarily challenged, 8:00 p.m.) that I finally had a clear screen on the computer in front of me. No calls were glaring at me from the open work module, there was some white space actually showing on the spreadsheet, and I could at long last breathe a sigh of relief after what had been one of the busiest and most stressful days that I can remember in awhile. Granted, calls kept coming in but at least it was at a slower pace that didn't require a high level of erasing or teeth-clenching!

I'm sure it would have been much worse were it not for the expertise of my Supervisor and his many years on the job (he always seems to make it look easy - damn the man!) but I have to say that I was quite glad when 2300 hours (11:00 p.m.) finally rolled around and I could put another double shift behind me for another week.

For all I know, today is going to be just as busy but I'm not going to worry about it as it's my day off and I plan on spending it not thinking about work. Unless, of course, I hear a siren wail past the house ...