A Few VFD calls written 3/28/09

Yes, I've had a few firefighter calls. There were 2 medical calls I missed, the second last Saturday, March 21, a man passed out at Belmont Cemetary. I couldn't make it out the door before they had already been answered and on the way, plus I was a little scared of medical calls because of no training. Then Sunday night 3/22 about 7:15 pm there was a call to Garcia's Campground. I didn't get to the Fire House in time but was coming up to the turn to Garcia's when I saw our second truck to the scene so I followed them in. It was a campfire gone wild, burned a few big dead trees next to the river. There were no flames by the time I got there but they did let me use the hose and spray the embers and hot spots! I followed Dale back to the FH and helped fill the water in the big tanker truck and watched how he filled the gas tank. Nick brought out a BVFD cap and said since I got to squirt some water, here was a cap! At least now I have some proof I'm connected to the unit.

Wednesday, March 25, we got a call to a wreck, a vehicle had rolled over on CR 105. Again I didn't make it to the FH, I saw the truck turn on 466 and followed them to the scene. It appeared a young man and his friend were driving on the gravel road and swerved to miss a deer, ran off the road and the Xterra they were in rolled over. The driver seemed to be OK and refused medical attention but the passenger was a bit banged up, I think he may have hit his head, and was taken in the ambulance. All I did was hang out and try to hear what was going on.

Last night, or rather this morning at a 3:10 another medical call came in saying an individual kept passing out off CR 105. My first thought - it's 3 o'clock in the morning, maybe they're sleepy!!! I jumped in my clothes and then the car and still didn't get to the FH before the emergency truck arrived at the scene. I just sat at the FH in the car until I hear our unit left the scene and then I went home. It was a bit hard to get back to sleep after all the adrenaline and being up for an hour but I finally did and slept til 10 am.

Search and Rescue Drill written 6/25/09

Last Tuesday was the Training Meeting at BVFD. We discussed how to go about search and rescue. Things like, if you start a right hand search, you stay in a right hand search and you always come out the way you went in. The front of a building is side A, the left is side B, the rear is side C and the right is side D, ya know clockwise. You always report your position via radio to the command center. If a firefighter goes down, that becomes priority 1.

Then the fun began! They lined face masks with foil and put them on us, paired us up and made us get on our hands and knees and crawl around the floor of the garage keeping in contact with the wall or your partner at all times while sweeping for victims [represented by life jackets]. Then we got to crawl on our bellies under the trucks [to simulate debris or obstacles]. Sounds fun, doesn't it? It would have been more fun if I hadn't been in shorts and flip-flops.  Note to self, remember to wear jeans and boots to training meetings!

After we finished that we pulled out the SCBA [self contained breathing apparatus] and learned how to use them. We learned about the motion detector, if we don't move for a determined length of time an alarm goes off increasing in volume. If you move it stops. If you are injured and need assistance there is a red emergency button to push and the alarm goes off like crazy! We learned how to shut that off my pressing the yellow button twice. Next, we removed the foil from our face masks and attached to the SCBA and tried it out. Mine wouldn't work and I almost panicked and I pulled my mask off my face. I guess my partner had turned it off. We also learned how to bleed air out to keep us cool and our mask clear but it uses up our air faster.

Our new bunker gear hasn't all come in yet but I did get my pager. Haven't figured out how it works yet. Haven't gotten any pages! I guess I will have to resort to reading the directions!

Tractor minus Trailer fire

4:30 am on a weekday. The fire department pager goes off. Jump out of bed, heart racing, throw on clothes and head out the door.  Several trucks have already left the department.  I proceed on in my pv (personal vehicle).  Heading north on highway 80 just passed the Gonzales county line an 18-wheeler tractor is fully engulfed.  Dale, Nick and Bob are all bunkered up and working the fire.  It is one of the most spectacular things I have ever seen.  I guess with all the diesel fuel once it got going it really burned!

At one point when the shot water at it, it actually flared up!  Man, there was hardly anything left.

Jaws of Life written 2/28/09

I went to my second Belmont Volunteer Fire Department (BVFD) meeting the other evening. It was very exciting. A sales rep came and demonstrated a gas generated portable jaws of life and I got to try it out! It's amazing. Cuts through a vehicle like warm butter! Also, got to wear a coat and hat with protective visor! We also learned about extraction of victims from vehicles.  There are so many things to remember.  Unhook the battery from the vehicle.  Wear full bunker gear.  Different make and model of cars have different air bags and you DON'T want to cut through that!

Brush Fire written Sunday, April 12, 2009

A couple of weeks ago we got a call late Sunday afternoon, there was a fire on Co. road 102. I didn't remember where that was. I was so proud to get dressed and out of the house and pass Kent's drive as he was headed out, too. We got to the Fire House about the same time and both got in the last truck and headed south on 80. We saw smoke and then the trucks on the side of the road just past Willie's place, my neighbor to the south. We parked the truck since it was a tanker and too big to get back in the brush and headed down the dirt road. Mike Turk, the local DPS officer, was headed out and stopped to say howdy to Kent. By then we could smell the fire and see the smoke. They put us in one of the smaller trucks with Bob and we headed out and back into my place along the south fence line looking for the fire which was supposedly crossing the fence line. We didn't see any fire so we cut the fence and headed toward the where it was crossing the fence line. That truck had 2 hoses and we sprayed and got shovels and shoveled dirt on little fires. There wasn't much fuel to burn so it was just a bunch of little fires. A log here, a dead tree there, a piece of cow poop over there. The smoke did get a little thick at one point. We had it pretty much put out in 3 hours. We weren't entirely sure we wouldn't have to come back cause the wind kept picking up, but we didn't.

July 4, 2009

At about 12:20 am my pager went off. Belmont Volunteer Fire Department was being called to a single vehicle rollover. I had only been asleep for about an hour. My heart was pounding. I dressed quickly and hopped in the car and drove to the fire station.

Bob was just pulling out in the Rescue truck and waited for me. When we arrived the Fire Chief and Fire Captain were there and Nick was on the way back with the big pumper tanker truck just in case.

There was no fire and Bob performed a walk around and determined there were no fuel leaks. The driver and 2 passengers were checked out by the ambulance crew but declined to go to the hospital. The DPS officers gave the driver a field sobriety test and apparently it didn't go well as they took him into custody.

We waited around for the wrecker to arrive. The wrecker arrived and turned the vehicle over and pulled it up onto the flatbed. We all headed home or back to the station. Those of us going back to the station arrived approximately 1 hour after we got the call.

This was my first Fourth of July with the fire department and I was expecting to be busy but this was the only call I had all weekend.

By the way, no one was injured and that is not blood but transmission fluid coming from under the hood. The final photo is from inside the vehicle. DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE. Luckily the driver is in custody and didn't kill himself or anyone else!