It's the people...

While it seems that I am posting less often, it still amazes me the number of responses I get from various people based on the posts.  The post on life at the firehouse lead to some comments on here, several emails and even a couple phone calls.  More than one of them came from people who had either left the department, or are currently inactive.  That people read that post and felt a renewed commitment or a desire to return to running calls is touching.  A big thank YOU to those of you who commented, wrote or called. I have been struggling with deciding to write up the real story of why I run, how I joined etc, but the more I got the comments the more I realized that I forgot part of the big thing about being in, or at the firehouse….perhaps the biggest part, the people there.

See, much like running calls, one of the things about going into duty, particularly on a new or different crew, is you never know who you’ll meet.  I have met people from all walks of life on duty.  Sure, some, even many are firemen or medics by profession, but most have other ‘day jobs’ to pay the bills.  Now, this seems obvious at a volunteer house, but the impact of that is not so obvious at first.  

Need some yard work done?  I once knew two different people at the firehouse who owned landscaping businesses.  Buying a home?  Realtors a-plenty, and Home Inspectors too.  Boat Issues?  Got that covered too.  Need how-to advise on damn near anything, pretty sure you can find someone who’s done that a few times to help.  Everything from baby-sitters to National security advice can be had at the firehouse.  I have to tell you, if I didn’t meet these people here, there is no doubt that I may not have ever met them.  And I’d be poorer for it.  

To say that these people spend their time at the firehouse, or give time to help a community doesn’t quite touch it.  I know people who drive over 2 hours to get to the firehouse on duty night.  I know some who pay up to $300 per month in child care just to run calls (many people call that a car payment).  I know some who run two nights a week, fill in for others, work a day job, are trying to sell a house and will STILL work your bingo for you if you need it.  There are several guys who live at the firehouse and are available for calls four or more nights a week.  We have high schoolers and we have retirees.  I know people who have run marathons, and I know one who has been offered a job as a professional partier in Aruba.  (I was with him on that one, and I swear I would have never believed it.)  Speaking of which, if you ever have cruise questions, I know some experts on that too.  


I have run calls with Soldiers, Coast Guardsmen, Airmen, Sailors, and Marines.  Highest rank I KNOW I have run with is Lt. Col.  I am probably one of a very few people alive who has told an active US Marine Lt. Col to grab my bags before he leaves.  I know a guy who when delayed indefinitely on the domestic leg of a returning international flight, was able to call one of our then Fire Captains and have his flight given priority service to get them home.  (The guy had the dubious duty to call over a flight attendant and say, “The pilot is going to get a phone call from control offering a round-about route….he should take it”.  Let me tell you, in a post-911 world…THAT gets you some looks).  

I mentioned “that I know of” before.  You see, the people who do this, for all the bravado and BS we sling around the firehouse are generally somewhat modest, or reserved about life outside the house, or even other parts of the firehouse.  For example, I know one fireman who has been a medic of sorts in the past, and is welcome to work my patient’s airway anytime.  (For those of you not medics, that is a HIGH complement).  But he spends his time on suppression and actively denies any ALS skills.  Of course, he’s a salesman during the day and also steals cars for a living, so you can’t trust him.  Grin.  Okay, so he steals cars for Repo, so it’s all good.  

I think at one call I looked around and realized that I was on scene with a policeman, a lawyer, a repo-man, a marine, an aluminum siding delivery man, a defense systems engineer, and a network security guy and a just-out-of-college student all at once.  Of course, we all had on “fire and rescue” uniforms.  It is times like that that you don’t feel all that far removed from the neighborhood bucket brigades and hearse drivers from years past.  Just one of the common threads I have seen between us.

I have heard people, often from those who make this their profession, say that this is a hobby for us, or that we are somehow less trained or able than others.  I understand where that comes from, but I resent it too.  I don’t know of a hobby around that has this sort of draw, or hold on people.  Many of our ranks do this as their paying job too.  I don’t know many people in other professions who work at their job all day, come home and do the same thing again for free.  The people I have met at the station love it, or came to love it if they didn’t when they got started.  As for training, many people here seem to absorb as much as they can as fast as they can, and in a way you don’t see on the job.  Speaking for myself, I’m personally kinda proud of the fact that I recertified my ALS certs for state and national registry in spring of last year, and before the year was out had my letter in hand stating that I had already exceeded the training hours needed for my next recert, two to three years away.  

It seems that everyone I meet at the firehouse, particularly if they have been around for any time at all, actually might have a hard time telling you in words why they are there.  I think it is because they all just really want to help people, and be the ones that do the unusual, exciting things that not everyone can.  Of course, saying that sounds either cheesy or arrogant depending on how you phrase it, so you don’t say anything at all.  

I had a conversation with a relatively new person to EMS the other day.  She could not ride at the time for a couple reasons, but had been recently.  It was fun to watch her agonize that she could not be on that next call out.  Even when you know it is likely no big deal, there is still something that makes you want to know what is on the other side of that response.  We have all felt that.  We have all had those first nights at the firehouse where you are almost afraid to sleep at night thinking you’ll miss a call, or too amped from anticipation to sleep.  I bet I didn’t sleep right at the house for a good year.    You get past that one.  I drop into full REM, drooling, snoring sleep now between calls.  I sleep fast and hard now, but then I’m old, so maybe it is just practice.  On the EMS side, the other really common thing  I see is the look on new leads faces.  You get your EMT card, go through training as a preceptee, and pass an oral board to become a lead in our department.  That means you can go out on your own unit and run calls.  (The process is the same to become a lead medic, just longer and more controlled in the precepting phase).  Usually, you are turned over right about the time you start to settle into precepting after class.  You think you kinda know what you are doing, and you are really glad to have that preceptor there to answer questions, or provide another set of eyes.  Then you get turned over, and BAM, you are in charge.  Your partner may be a non-EMT firefighter as a driver, the tones drop and your out the door and there is no net.  I remember my first call like that.  I got turned over at about 730pm, was leading that night with one other guy and my preceptor was GONE.  First call was an overturned truck on the highway and a 15 min extrication.  I was sweating it bad.  We all survived, even the patient.  As a Medic Lead, you break into a small sweat for about a year after turn over.  I don’t remember my first solo medic run though…isnt’ that odd?  I have to imagine the same is true for being a new Incident Officer (the lead on the fire side) on an Engine or Truck company for the first time.  We have all felt that, and lived through it and despite our various outside lives, we have so much in common this way.  

I guess I’ve met almost every sort there is at the firehouse:  Geniuses and window-lickers, saints and assholes (Dennis Leary stuck in my head now), wizened vets and newbie kids, company owners and housewives.  I’ve seen people grow up, mature, grow old and even die while they were members  (Different people for each…I’m not THAT old).  I have celebrated weddings, births and graduations.  I comforted during divorces, unemployments and deaths.  And still, after it all, I’m struck with how very different we all are, and how very much the same.  And I really don’t think the experience would be at all the same without each and every one of them.  So it seems the firehouse is more than the calls and the activities, and the walls and the equipment, it’s more than the firemen and rescuers, it’s all the walks of life, points of view, experiences and goals of about 300 people who have found the one thing around that could possibly take such a diverse group of misfits and mold them into a common course.