You learn quickly in the Fire Academy that calling any type of Fire Apparatus a "Fire Truck" is a punishable offense. When I stand in front of Engine 3, I can help but think that I have never lost my love of Fire Trucks. Even the Fire Academy instructors who put me through the ringer for calling the Engine a Fire Truck could not put a dent in my love of Fire Trucks. If Karma works, I hope the lead instructor (the Battalion Chief who made me wear a FIRE TRUCK name tag for days) is reading this. I would like to dedicate this to him by saying Fire Truck, Fire Truck, Fire Truck!
There is a reason not to call them Fire Trucks, there are a lot of different types of Fire Apparatus (the correct term). Crews are trained specifically when they are assigned to specific types of apparatus. Heavy Rescue Trucks carry specialized equipment for technical rescue calls, like vehicle extrication's, confined space rescues, building collapse, and swift water rescues. Brush Trucks (also called Type 6 Wildland Engines) are four-wheel drives that are capable of taking wildland crews and water to fires that are not close to roads that other Fire Apparatus can access. Ladder Trucks that have telescopic ladders and water nozzles to gain access to structures and fires that conventional ladders would not be able to reach. Tankers (also called Wildland Tenders) are large trucks that transport 2000+ gallons of water when fire hydrants are not immediately available.
But the work horse of a department like ours is the Engine (my favorite Fire Truck). Engines are primarily for firefighting and vehicle extrication. An engine will carry a limited supply of water to put out a fire and carry the hydraulic tools needed for the firefighters to extricate someone from a car. Hydraulic tools (Hurst Tools) move, cut, and separate metal are commonly called the Jaws of Life by the public.
Engine 3 is a magnificent red and black Pierce Engine, and it is the apparatus I spend most of my time on. I will never know as much as the engineer, but I make it a point to learn this Engine inside and out. I am blessed with that OCD that all good firefighters have. I carry two of everything and I triple check everything about my crew, my gear, and the Engine.
I am walking around the Engine and stopping in front of each compartment and making a list in my head of what is there. I then open the compartment to verify I have not missed anything and to confirm what should be there is. We have rookies and they are prone to putting things back in the wrong place. This is a drill that I will take the crew through when it is slow or at the beginning of routine training.
I
know from experience that when you are stressed or facing a tough
situation, you will default to what is in your muscle memory. That is
why we train the way we do. Real time and completing each task,
simulation will leave people drawing a blank when real stuff happens.
It is my quest to put the contents of each of the compartments
and hose lays in the muscle memory of each person on Engine.
As I round the corner, I find the new guy standing next to the engine with a Halligan in his
hands. A Halligan is a forceable entry tool used in structure fires and
in vehicle extractions. He is studying it really hard and
balancing it in his hands.
I called over to Chris, motioning him over to where I am standing and point to the new guy.
"Help him with that" I said and gestured over to new guy.
"I'll take him over to the prop and I will get him comfortable with it" Chris said.
"Remind
him he needs to know how to use and handle every tool on the engine.
He should be asking for help; we should not have to find him like this."
Telling
these guys "They need to always ask" makes me smile. I am the poster
boy for the guy who always needed to ask and failed to do so.
I was about the new guy's age when
I got hired at my first real job, I was working as a temporary worker
and was looking for a full-time job with benefits. One afternoon my
boss calls me into his office and extends his hands for a handshake.
"Congratulations,
I need you to get down to medical and get your physical so I can offer
you a full-time job here" he says grinning.
"Thank you, when do you need me at medical" I said with a grin that will not stop spreading across my face.
"Today, now...go now!" he says and slaps me on the back and points towards the door.
I am
on top of the world. The only problem is that I do not have time to go
home and get cleaned up. My feet have been baking all day in my fake
leather steel toed boots and I stink. I cannot believe it happened. A FULL TIME job!
"Thanks again, I will go down now" I said.
I
am self-conscious when I get to medical, I really do stink and when I
take off my boots - after work my dog even leaves the room. The nurse
who takes me back
for the doctor is a small, iron jawed, unsmiling woman of about 50. I
try to apologize for not showering and I am trying to tell her about the last-minute scheduling. She gives me a scowl and without so much as a smile
or any kind of small talk she starts to instruct me on what is going to
be done.
"Take your clothes off and put on this gown." the nurse says without looking up.
"Do you," I start to ask.
"Let
me finish, leave your underwear on under the gown, when you are done
come out and I will walk you down" she says exasperated.
My
confidence is fading fast and any attempt at small talk is met with
stony silence and an occasional glare. I have no idea what I did to set her off.
The
doctor is a different story. I apologize for my appearance and smell, and he tells me not to apologize because I work for a living. My 15-minute physical is done, and another nurse takes me back to the Iron
Nurse that I started the process with.
She
looks up at me with a scowl and points to the plastic chairs outside of
the bathroom. I am sitting on plastic chairs outside of a
bathroom along with 2 other guys who are scared into quiet compliance like me.
"There are cups under the sink, fill one up 3/4 full and put it in the plastic tray."
"You,
go" the first guy in the line goes to the bathroom and I am looking at
my hands and trying to ignore how bad I smell, waiting for her to signal
me to go.
"You" she points to me. I walk in and under
the sink there are small cups that are the size of containers for
condiments at any fast-food place. I pick it up and study it and after
a couple of minutes stick my head out the door.
"The cups are really small" everyone
in the place turns to look at me and then her.
She gives me a
withering glance and says in a louder voice than she needed "JUST--
FILL-- UP-- THE-- CUP-- ONE CUP-- 3/4 FULL". I can feel my entire face
flush. I did not expect the physical (for a job I wanted) to turn into a walk on hot coals exercise.
I (in what I know
now was a herculean feat) fill that tiny cup 3/4 full and without spilling a drop
and present her with my cup.
She turns and looks at the cup in the plastic holder. Her face is turning red, and her eyes are tearing up and she bursts out
laughing. She is talking in one or two words between trying to catch
her breath between hard laughing.
"THAT
IS--A--CON--TACT LENS---CUP."
She is wiping her eyes and reaches down under her desk and pulls out
what looks like a gallon cup and tells me that is what I need to fill.
The only reason I did not run out of the building right then was because
the Iron Nurse had already kicked my heart out of my chest.
I
look back at her and the one guy waiting to go (who is trying hard not to smile) and realize the last
shred of any kind of dignity I have is completely gone. She produces a
big paper cup and is still unable to talk because she is still laughing so
hard. I follow her finger that is pointing me to the water cooler across from the bathrooms.
I
cannot remember every drinking this much water so fast. What started
out as a painful afternoon turns into an excruciating endurance test.
The nurse looks at me with calmer
curiosity now, which seems worse than the indifference I was getting
from
her earlier.
Without
a shred of dignity or any confidence in my ability to perform the most
basic tasks, I fill up the proper cup and place it in her tray careful
not to look at her.
"Get dressed" she says without a shred of animosity I felt earlier.
Dressed,
I am walking out the door and she says. "Hey, next time just ask". I
nod and walk out the door not even stopping to pick up my heart off the floor.
Chris walks back in with the new guy and tells him to clean up the tool and shower because he stinks.
"He's good Cap" Chris says opening a can of soda and sitting down at the table with me.
"Good, thanks - Tell that dumb-ass next time to just ask" I said smiling.
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