Date: Sun, 24 Jun 2007 03:00:23 -0700 From: Scott MacIlherron Subject: Beginnings, Firefighter chapter 1 Disclaimer: This story is pure fiction, a work of the author's imagination. This story contains homosexual relations between men and sexual intercourse. If you don't like this kind of stuff or are under age please leave now. Etc. Etc.. Etc.. Firefighter Hi my name is Danny Patterson but usually people just call me Dan. I guess I should tell you a little about my self at the start and you can find out more as the story progresses. First off I'm gay. Why the hell else would this be on this sight if the character in this story wasn't gay? I'm 6'1" and have an athletic build due to me playing soccer since I was 6. I have a dirty blond hair that is slightly wavy. I have blue eyes, not just any blue but a light icy blue that I have been told is very captivating. In the looks department I have always considered my self pretty normal but others have always told me that I am cute or hot. At least that's what I was hearing when I was in High School and College. Now my facial features are not strong and defined but are more refined or softer. More as to what you would refer to as beautiful or suave as some would say. Anyways, enough about me, now for the rest of the story. When I was little I had always wanted to be a Firefighter or an Actor. They both sounded really cool to me. I ended up choosing firefighting as my profession and acting whenever I could on the side. When I turned 18, which is the age you have to be to join the volunteer fire department in my area, I joined up. Our department and response area is called Battalion 14. In Battalion 14's are there are 5 stations, 111, 112, 113, 114, and 115. Out of those 5 stations my home station is 114 but I and others will respond to other stations if needed. The stations that I listed are also called response areas. Now it's not truly a volunteer department as you would think because we get paid 10 bucks every call we go on and we get a check in the mail twice a year. We don't have to work certain days and we can choose the calls we go to. If we are busy but in the response area and don't want to go we don't have to. To respond to the calls we are given a pager that goes off when a call is made. It's really loud and sometimes if you aren't expecting it to go off it will scare the crap out of you. Just a year ago our department turned to a partially paid department. We have 1 station it just happened to be 114 as the full time department. The full timers now respond to the whole area with volunteers coming in separate equipment. Now in the department we go on a few different types of calls: Accidents, Medical Aids, Public Assists, Vehicle Fires, Structure Fires, and Wildland Fires. Some times we are non stop busy the whole day and other times we can go 3 or 4 days without a call. To let you guys reading know I have a pager that goes off when there is a 911 call in Batt. 14's response area. My pager has 4 different settings. A. It only goes off when I get a call ie. Page or toned out. B. I receive El Dorado County and tones and constantly hear radio communications but no page. C. I receive Amador County but no tones and constantly hear radio communications but no page. D. It scans and receives Amador and El Dorado County I hear radio communications from everyone and tones and it will page me. When it is set on A. and goes off it starts with a very loud series of short beeps, then you hear the rest of the tone which is just different frequencies strung together that signifies what response area it is. You will then hear 2 beeps or 3 beeps dictating code 2 (get there as fast as possible no lights no siren) or code 3 (full lights and siren). You will then hear the dispatcher tell you what response area its in, what the call type is, ie. Accident, Medical Aid, Public Assist, Vehicle Fire, Structure Fire, or Wildland Fire, what we should take (such as engines or our squad [our squad is a F-350 with a large back that's loaded to the hilt with rescue and medical equipment.]). Then the dispatcher will then tell you where it is with the closest cross street. Dispatch will then repeat the address and the call type. 1 minute later during the day and 3 minutes later during the night I will hear 2 beeps which is called check back. At this point the dispatcher will say something like, Check back units responding to 24020. Beauman Rd. Battalion 14 chief officer. You will then hear our chief or one of our 2 assistant chiefs check back. Our chief is Battalion 14. Mike one of our assistant chiefs is Battalion 143 and Tom is Battalion 144. The dispatcher will then say Battalion 14 equipment. You will now hear what engines or squads are responding and with how many people, ie. Squad 145 responding with 2, or Engine 141 with 6. Enough about the pager and technical crap you will hear more about it as the story progresses. Now for the actual story. No I really mean it this time. I learned very quickly on how to do different things that were required of some one in our department. I had decided that I wanted to learn more so I started taking classes. First I took my E.M.T. class which is Emergency Medical Technician and then got my license to practice. I then took lots of other classes and got my Fire Science Associates Degree along with other certifications. 2 months prior I had just broken up with my boyfriend which was my third boyfriend so far. I had just gotten back into the mood to start dating again and was thinking about different guys and trying to figure out if they were gay or strait. Of course I was doing this daydreaming and thinking as I was driving up Lower Ridge Road to my house. About halfway up Lower Ridge is a turn off to New York Ranch Rd. and on that road is our local Indian Casino. There are always accidents where people pull out from New York Ranch Road but I thought it would never happen to me. I was wrong. As I was nearing the entrance the traffic slows down as people turn off. I am passing the turn lane and some one pulls right out in front of me. I slam on my breaks in my truck and lock the tires. I see him turn his head and look at me milliseconds before my truck plows into his car. That was the most scared look I have ever seen. I was seat belted in so I was fairly safe. It felt like I bruised where my seatbelt was and I know I have whip lash but other than that I am fine. I unbuckle and get out. Uhhhhhh. Well my leg seems to have been hurt also, but no bleeding so that's good. Now the normal person would be pissed at the other driver for pulling out in front of them but as a firefighter I know the worst type of crashes are side impact crashes because your body was made to take impacts from the front and back, it's the way we bend. But on the side you can get major damage. Your aortic arch can tear off of your heart and you will internally bleed to death. There is nothing anyone can do fast enough, no not even a surgeon. So at this point I am more worried about if the other driver is even alive. At this point my adrenalin is running rampant and I now don't feel any pain. I reach back into my truck and pull out my structure turn-outs. I pull off my shoes and jump into the boots and pull the suspenders over my shoulders and throw my jacket and some latex gloves on. As I was running over to the other side of the car I yelled at someone to call 9-1-1. I got over to the passenger door and tried to open it. Wouldn't budge, so I went to the passenger side back door and opened it with out much trouble and got in the car. I must have slowed down a lot because the drivers side door wasn't where the center console was so that was a pretty good sign. I immediately said in a very loud voice, "My name is Dan I'm a Firefighter E.M.T. can I help you. He, in a very pained voice said, "Geet ohhhhhhh, Get me out of here mmmmmmmmmm." The next thing that I did is something we call marrying the head. What we do is hold the persons head for C-spine precautions. I asked him in my loud voice again, "Sir can you tell me where it hurts the most?" All during this time that I am asking him questions and he is listening he is making moaning and pained grunting sounds. I can tell he is just about on the verge to cry. In an airy pained voice he said, "My mmmmmm my uumm necuuhhh andmmm leftsidmmmmm." "On a scale of 1-10, 10 being the worst pain you have ever felt how would you rate your pain on this scale?" I asked. "12" was all he said. "What is your name sir?" "Trevor Foust" he was able to groan out. "I'm 19." "What happened?" I asked. "I pulled out in front of someone and boom." I asked another question, "Where are you now?" "In a smashed up car." He replied "Who is the president." I asked the final question. "Bush." He replied simply. Good, he has an LOC x 4 (Level of Conscious x 4. this is to see if they are mentally competent to make decisions related to refusing medical care or if we are getting the truth out of them) I then started asking Tom more questions such as SAMPLE history which stands for Signs and symptoms, Allergies, Medications, Pertinent past history (have you had trouble with the areas that are injured such as former broken bones or a bad back), Last oral intake, Events leading to event or injury (dumb question). I also asked OPQRST since I had time till the Ambulance and Fire department got there. OPQRST is an acronym for: Onset (dumb question since I know the pain came on suddenly), Provocation (another dumb question because I know what caused the pain), Quality (dull, sharp, twisting, stabbing, etc.), Radiation (does the pain move anywhere), Severity (scale of 1-10), and Time (once again another dumb question because I know exactly when it started). I ended up skipping the questions that I already knew. I said, "The fire department has just arrived and we are going to get you out of here as fast as we can. We are going to be placing a cervical collar on you and end up putting you on a back board. We are going to have to move you but we will be as gentle as we can, OK." All he said was "Mmmmmm Hmmmmm." For those of you who don't know once anyone holds the head for manual C-spine is now married to the head till the head is in a head bed strapped to the back board. The person holding the head is also in charge of how and when movement is made. The fire department made quick work of the car and soon Jason (another firefighter) was in the car measuring for a C- collar and then putting on the proper sized one. They moved my truck away and ended up getting the door open and cutting away the middle post of the car. They then came up with a back board. "OK Trevor we are going to be sliding a back board under you and then we are going to rotate you and lie you down." I said to Trevor. I turned to Jason who was now going to help with the rotating and strapping. "One, Two, Three" on three we rotated him and gently lied him down on the board. Once again, "One, Two, Three" on this count Jason slid him up the board to the proper position. We got him strapped down to the board at this point I was able to let go and step back. We grabbed the board and once again on the count we lifted up the board and placed it on the gurney. We loaded him into the ambulance and the Paramedic got in and started to work. As I was leaving Trevor called back, "don't leave me, I know this sounds stupid but I am afraid of needles." "Just a minute," I said. I asked if the Paramedic could use another hand and if I could leave the scene and be checked out in the hospital. I climbed in the back shut the back door and we are off. The Paramedic, Juniper, said grab the EKG for me and then start setting up a big, big. What she meant was a 1,000ml bag with a 10 dropper which is an IV. I started setting up the line, hung it up and then pulled out an 18 and a 20 gauge needle and then pulled out all the other shit that you need to start a line with. As Juniper was getting the line ready to go Tom said in his pained voice, "I know this sounds stupid but can you hold my hand, I really don't like needles." I told him, "Its OK lots of people are." At that I grabbed his hand and told him to shut his eyes so he wouldn't see it. Juniper said, "Sharps out. Ok Trevor this is going to make a little pinch but after it goes in it will stop hurting." She inserted the needle pressed the button left the little plastic tube in and said, "Sharps retracted." She then threw it into the biohazard sharps container and said, "Sharps away." Juniper started pushing drugs as I rode all the way to the hospital holding his hand. More of this story to come. Please e-mail me with comments at alistairsstory@hotmail.com