07/24/09 @ Approx 1820

On the way home from the store on my motorcycle... I live 15 miles from the store so it is a bit of a drive. I see smoke on the horizon about 5-10 miles ahead of me. Grabbing your pager while riding a motorcycle is not the easiest feat in the world but not the hardest either. Pager shows nothing... hmmm. After another mile or so I check it again. Lots of smoke. Possible grass fire (then the page gave directions) This location we have been to about 5 times in the last 2 years... I almost know it like my own back yard. Alas, I am still 10 miles from the station. I turn the throttle to the stops and get to moving quickly to the station. As I get about 3 miles from the station I meet our 1st unit headed out to the fire. I wave and keep on trucking.

At last I am at the station. I grab the cold items I bought and run into the station and throw them into the fridge at the station. I call the chief (who was in the first unit). What unit you need me to bring. He says the big red tanker. I hit the garage door opener and start the big red Kenworth 3000 gal. tanker so it will build up air. I start grabbing all my gear and load up. Disengage the brake and out I roll lights and siren going. The wonderful thing about Big Red is it has BIG air horns on it. Traffic stays out of the way when you sound those air horns. Needless to say I had NO traffic issues in route to the fire. As I am about 3 miles from the scene I hear command shifting the grass units to the north end of the fire (The Head Fire or leading edge that is traveling fastest). I continue and meet the grass rigs as they turn down a dirt road. I notify command of my presence at the fire and tell command I am setting up where the grass rigs are cutting fence to enter the field. Being infront of a head fire is not the wisest decision but the grass rigs only carry about 300 gal or less and they need a tanker close because they can go through that 300 gal. fast. So here I sit watching the head fire about 500 yards away as the grass rigs go out to meet it headon.

The first strike- The grass rigs hit the head fire hard and fast and succeed in stopping it. They continue around the flanks to stop any lateral extention. All of the little rigs disappear into the smoke out of site. I am thinking we have this thing whooped....BOY WAS I WRONG!!!! The head fire was back up and running toward me again now about 400 yards away.

The second strike- All the grass rigs are blazing across the field headed my way... They are ALL out of water. I have 6 trucks pulling up tanking up and heading back out.... Needless to say I was a little too busy to worry about how close the head fire was. All the grass rigs tanked up and they go headon with the head fire again. Bang they knock it down and continue on around the flanks again. As you can probably guess my optimism at this point was not as high and you guessed it the head fire popped back up again.

The third strike- this time the grass rigs expected it and had circled back. Just as our 6X6 5 ton truck shows up. This truck is a grass fighting machine. It is geared with a 1200 gal tank and a large pump. It has a monitor (think water cannon with a remote control) and can go just about anywhere. The 6X6 pulls up we get the pump started and off he goes. He takes on the center of the head fire and carves a large hole in it as the grass rigs sweep up the sides toward the 6X6. The head fire is down again. Another tanker shows up which is a great relief because here come all the grass rigs in to fill again.

The beginning of the end- As I tank the grass rigs I check where the head fire last was (about 250 yards away). I see some small flames but nothing near as big as earlier.The grass rigs head in and hit it again. Finally the graders show up... The thing about graders is that they move the dirt and anything growing in the dirt over. So when they start running a couple grass rigs jump in behind them and establish our Fire Break. If there is no fuel to burn there will be no fire. Ok by now my tanker is down to 1/4 tank and the other tanker is almost full still. I call into command and let them know my water level. I am directed to travel east to the nearest fire hydrant (3 miles) and fill up. I roll hoses and climb in. The day is hot and I am soaked with sweat not water. The AC hits me and I realise I am really tired. I head to the hydrant and begin tanking. A little FYI... rural hydrants do not carry much pressure like big city hydrants do. It took roughly 20 minutes to get my tank full. As I am getting close to full our 6X6 shows up. I leave him the equipment I had been using to tank and head back in just as the other tanker shows up out of water too. I call into command that I am returning to the scene and command informs me to hurry there are 2 units waiting. I kicked Big Red and we flew the 3 miles back to the scene. I throw out my hose and hook up.

What I thought was the end- The grass rigs are coming in sporadicly now and not nearly as often. I think we about have this one done. That is also the opinion of the guys on the grass rigs. After using more than 1500 gal filling up units again I get the call. Our station has been released from the scene. I roll hose again and as our chief goes by he tells me he will meet me at the hydrant so we can top off all the units before heading home. We are hearing radio traffic about another fire. Off I head to the hydrant at a much slower safer speed. As I arrive all of our units from the station are there. The chief pulls out headed back to the station as I back up to the hydrant. I help fill the 6X6 and he heads off back to the station. I am alone filling my tanker... Since it will take at least 10 minutes to get my tank full I take this opportunity to sit on the tail of the tanker and reflect on how things had gone. I concluded that as a whole we fought hard but until those graders arrived we were ultimately loosing the fight. We did not have enough units to keep the flames down. Tanks full so I finally roll the hose that I left at the hydrant earlier and load everything back on Big Red. As I climb into the cab to head home I hear our chief on the radio calling for me. I answer and he tells me to head to the other fire Southeast of our current position. I answer and tell him I am rolling as I think "I am dragging ass". Mind you I worked my regular job today and did not get much sleep the night before. I make it about 5 miles and the call comes to cancel all other responding units the fire is out. I send a little thank you out to the good Lord and turn my truck around to head home. As I arrive in town I stop and fuel up the truck and then pull into the station. I call dispatch and let them know my unit is back. I put up gear and help the other guys put up gear and top off foam tanks. It is now about 2145 or 9:45pm. I am dirty, tired, and soaked to the bone with sweat. I head home.

Took Big Red south.........check

Tanked grass fighting units (approx 4500 gal used)........check

Back home safe......check

Money earned........$0

07-22-09 @ 2201

Pager goes off while visiting a friend. "medical unconscious male at (location) but is breathing". I grab my keys and drive to the station. As I arrive another firefighter is opening up the station. We grab the medical kit, start the truck, and out of the station we roll. Call into dispatch our unit out of station responding to medical call.

Within 2 minutes of leaving the station we arrive at the location where we are being directed by a bystander. Victim may have had a seizure and fell on a hard floor. Breathing and pulse are good. Blood pressure and O2 levels are good. Victim is stable. We monitor for any changes while waiting on the ambulance.

Victim begins to come around shortly before ambulance arrives. Victim in a disoriented state tries to hit me and another firefighter. Bystanders more familiar with the victim calm him as the ambulance arrives. We pass on all vitals taken and complaints the victim has expressed so far to the ambulance crew. We assist in getting the victim loaded and strapped onto the gurney. We gather our gear and head to the ambulance where we help load the ambulance and then we return to our truck and head home.

Respond to a medical call.....Check

Administer first responder level treatment to victim... Check

Return home safe....Check

Money earned... $0

July 15, 2009 @ approx 0945

Trying to sleep in on a day off from my normal sucky job, when my pager goes off. "Vehicle fire 7-6 miles North of town." Getting out of bed trying to find and put on clothes without doing a faceplant is harder than you think when you are in a hurry. Get on my motorcycle and haul tail to the station. Oh, looks like I am the only one going on this one from our station. Get gear on and load up in the grass rig and out of the station I go. Fortunately for me no traffic to deal with. As I get within 2 miles I see the smoke rolling. On scene 2 county Sherrif units and an emergency management unit... None of them seem to be doing anything but watching the vehicle burn. I pull in and position the rig behind and upwind of the vehicle. The front of this car is engulfed in fire. String out the hose engage the foam unit and start fighting. Two more units arrive shortly after I start hosing down the car. I yell at one of them we are going to need to pry open the hood. The visible fire is pretty much out. The driver upon exiting somehow managed to lock the doors. OOOPS. There goes this front side windows so we can assess whether the fire extended into the passenger compartment. and attempt to get to the hood release. Which after being exposed to fire normally doesn't work, but we try anyway. So we pry open the hood of the car... this is more difficult than you may think. We continue cooling the engine compartment as the fire is out and we fire fighters happen to like it that way. We roll hoses and get ready to release the scene to the sherriffs on scene when the truth comes out. The driver had a blowout and very logically concluded he should drive on to the nearest town a mere 16 miles away. Please listen to me on this. If your vehicle is defective or has suddenly become so STOP AND PULL OVER then CALL someone to help... wreckers are alot cheaper than a new vehicle. Then we all head home, refill the water tanks and fuel tanks, and pull back into station. Then I put up my gear and head back home.

Short trip North.... check

Fought fire... check

Back home safe.... check

Money earned... $0

July 14, 2009 @ approx 1630

A page comes in for the strike team to activate (strike team activates when another county has a fire and is requesting assistance. We send 1-2 units out of each station so all areas within the county still have units available.). My chief and I are rolling out of our station in a grass rig within a few minutes of the page.

We have our lights and siren going accelerating toward the assembly point for the team. Within the first mile we run across our first obstacle.... 1 eighteen wheeler refusing to yield to us so we can proceed at best possible speed. If only this was the only obstacle we encountered in the 35 mile jaunt to the assembly area. We end up stuck behind the truck for about 1 mile. Woohoo we hit 4 lane highway and are free to run. After a mere 7 miles the highway goes back to 2 lanes where we encounter many a vehicle that block our way and after a quarter to half a mile suddenly realize that there is a fire truck behind them. (If you have an emergency vehicle behind you DO NOT HIT YOUR BRAKES FIRST unless there is no shoulder to pull onto-Thank you) Then into the county seat... where most people kinda understand what to do... like talk on the cell phone and almost wreck into the fire truck (bunch of super observant people here-err maybe not). Finally back on the 4 lane highway, only 10 miles left to assembly area. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3... radio transmision "strike team cancelled"... We go on into the assembly area just to make sure we don't get home and have to come right back.

We arrive at the assembly area and talk with our brother from other stations. After about 15 minutes we head home and call it a day.

We refuel the truck and pull it into the station.

One run across the county... check

Fought fire... not... cancelled en route

back home safe... check

Money earned... $0

A little background...

I have been a volunteer fire fighter for about 7 years. I operate out of a small rural vol. fire department. Our main concern in this area is grass and wildland fires. We average roughly 70 runs a year. The last couple years we have seen an increase in medical runs.

I am going to share with you my thoughts and opinions on runs and events in general as I experience them. My sincere wish is that you will enjoy my plights and bear with my sacasm. Thank you.

Devilish1