We're Not Moving!

So given the outcry of the rumor mill of having blogger change to Google Blogs and forever be associated with Google +. Google came out with some sort of press release stating that they would not be doing such a thing. So with that, Smoke Before Fire will not be moving. (A big apology to those who updated their links to reflect the wordpress address.

Please look forward to September when Smoke Before Fire will come back from Summer Vacation. But while you are waiting I would love for you guys to check out a new personal blog. Go to it by clicking the image below.

With that, stay tuned and stay safe!

We're Moving!

Given that Blogger is changing to Google Blogs and further integrating with Google's own, very new, social network I did not want my blog integrated with my profile so I will be moving my blog to smokebeforefire.wordpress.com. So update your browsers and stay tuned. By the by if you head on over to that link now you will see a filler post and not much excitement, give it time, it will be up to snuff very soon!

Update: I was recently promoted to manager of the Billings branch of Eagle so I am currently trying to get that figured out. So as of right now, Smoke Before Fire will be going on hiatus until the end of July. Not much of a hiatus but don't abandon hope! I will return!

The Next Update

What's going on ladies and gentlemen? Again it's been a while and I do apologize. Here is what I have been up to in bullet form:

• Moved to Billings
• Survived a hellish thunderstorm with tornadoes. Not in Billings exactly but in surrounding areas. 
• Playing catch up on I-99 studying. (Taking most of my time)
• Building the Eagle web site. (You will be linked to it as soon as I get it up to par)
• Took over on managing supplies and airport security stuff for Eagle.

All this coupled with the lack of stable internet means I can't get a good post on here. However we will be getting internet soon and posts galore! So stay tuned for that and stay safe!

P.S. Also here is a link to a video I took of the swirling clouds. Stay tuned for next time where I post a video of the gas explosion that happened!

Life Goes On: The Comeback

So as you can see (for those of you that check) it's been a long time since my last update and I have a bunch of reasons why. First school was ending. Firefighter one was taxing an unsurmountable amount of time, coupled with working about 25 hours a week with the i-99 class I was struggling to find any spare time as it was. Then I graduated with a 3.79 GPA and right after that my fiancee and I moved to Billings. Finally after getting unpacked  and back to Helena to finish cleaning the apartment, gotta get that deposit back, I finally had a moment to breathe.

The aftermath of living such a busy life includes:

- Little time with my sweetie
- Putting off getting a beer with a buddy and not being able to anymore because he was killed in a work related    accident.
- Falling really behind in I-99 class but not too far behind.

The middle one really bothers me in that he was my friend and roommate and someone who I could count on. The first one bothers me because well, I love spending time with her and not getting to see her much was pretty lame.

But in that busy time my firefighting/ems career is moving forward. I am currently applying for a reserve firefighter position with Lockwood Fire Department which involves:

- Two 12 hour sleeper shifts a month
- One 24 hour on call period.
- General Alarm on call covering should the need arise.

Couple that with my full time EMT position I will have my fill of EMS. More on that as soon as I pass their physical and written consoritum tests. I will keep you posted.

As for everything else, that's about it, look for all the back posts I started that I will now have time to finish. Until then, stay tuned and stay safe.

Coming Soon

so it has been a while since I have updated this. not out of abandoning but more out of
the fact that I have no time to edit the blog. I have had a few things to write about and I
will be updating the blog this weekend probably with everything that is going on firewise.
stay tuned!!!!

The Patriot Flag Ceremony

On the third day of my internship was a ceremony for the Patriot Flag. For those that don't know the Patriot Flag is a giant, 30ft x 58ft to be exact or the size of a regular volleyball court, flag that will be flown at Fort McKinley. There is another flag that is signed by those participating in the ceremony along with a sort of guest book style book that you could sign. The flag will be displayed in each of the 50 states before it is flown permanently.

We started by shoveling the sidewalk of snow then brought weights up from the gym to weigh down the banner of the names of those that died in the terrorist attacks during 9/11. Afterwards we placed the banner and worked on the row of flags that adorned the side of the Civic Center. Afterwards the firefighters signed the flag and I stood back, not wanting to overstep my bounds in signing it I was told by the chief to sign it. As I was apart of putting the ceremony together I should be able to sign it. A humbling moment I am truly grateful for. Being able to sign something that will be on display at the memorial at Ground Zero was simply daunting. I didn't register it at first. I just signed it, but as the day drove on and I continued in helping with the ceremony the magnitude of it started sinking in.

I think the moment in which the gravity hit me was as we were raising the giant flag. It took a bunch of us to unroll the flag and as I looked up (picture left) to see the flag towering over me, blocking out the sun and casting a deep shadow. We waved the flag and as you can see from the pictures below it was a pretty impressive view.

Folding the flag was a task in itself. It took all of Helena Fire and a few others to fold it. The flag weighs 60lbs. We folded it up then set it inside it's case until the ceremony started.

We dressed in turnouts except those who were in the honor guard. They wore their Class A uniforms. We stood in a line as the honor guard brought the flag up to the podium. We watched as the governor, mayor, and a few others gave speeches and then we folded the flag. The ceremony finished and we packaged the flag and sent it to FedEx where it could be shipped to the next place of ceremony.

Those who died in the Towers; Police, EMS, the 343 firefighters, and civilians were given a fitting ceremony. They were honored and will forever be honored by the thousands of people who will share in seeing the flag flying in the breeze, those who signed the flag, and those who scribbled their chicken scratch in the signature book. They all came together with respect for the fallen. They all parted with the ceremony engraved in their minds.

I shared in a once in the lifetime moment with a brotherhood that I haven't fully been welcomed into but being able to participate in this, and having them share something so special with me put me one step closer. It's a memory I'll never forget.

You can read the Helena IR article here and watch the YouTube video here. Until next time, stay safe, and stay tuned!

Integrity: More Than Just a Word

We are faced with choices everyday. Some are mundane as what we want to eat for lunch, others define who we are, our very character. Everyone has a price, that point in which they put aside their integrity for convenience. Why am I writing about this you ask? Well we watched a scene like this play out at our own local fire department.

I recently received a press release in my email about two Montana City Firefighters being arrested. At first I didn't think much about it but I wondered whom.  We had a meeting that I missed but later found out the details of. Turns out that two of our firefighters, one a ranking captain that had been in the department for over 20 years were using the credit cards from our apparatuses to buy gas for their own cars. The amount totals somewhere between 8-12 thousand dollars. A felony. The captain had been doing this since 2005. His brother for a little over a year. However his brother, had also stolen an airpack from the station.

They were arrested and could face up to 5 years in jail. It created a need in the fire department for more accountability. What could have become an anti-trusting backlash turned into a push for everyone to be held accountable and a continuation of the trust officers have in the rest of us.

We all have a price. Watch the news, you can see it daily. I don't know what my price is. I don't know if it can ever be discovered. I don't look forward to the day it is. Those that chose to steal, commit fraud, etc choose to for a variety of reasons. Be it personal gain, be it falling on hard times, be it convenience and so on, we do it for benefit. Our captain fell on hard times in a lack of money. He found his price, his lack in integrity.

However it's not so black and white, with the human race it never is. I feel bad for the guy. He did what he had to because he was desperate. However, with the fire department it becomes that much more intense. We are held to a higher standard than most. Mostly because of the image we have to maintain. Pure, strong, moral are just three of the many positive traits we take on to maintain on and off duty. Does that make us infallible, not a chance.

Like I said, everyday we are faced with choices and everyone has a price. I don't know mine, and I don't know which direction I'd take. I like to think that because I have worked as hard as I have, overcome the upbringing I've had to get where I am that I am unmoving in my integrity, but everyone has a price. My drive will help me in keeping my moral compass true north, and each choice I make will continue to define who I am. That is all I can hope for, because hey, I'm only human.

Sexism and A Delay of Care

The other day at work I witnessed something that has plagued my field for years. A call came in for a lady complaining of chest pain and shortness of breath. One of our ACLS EMT's was going to go on the call and we sent one of our EMT-B's up from Billings doing 911 ride a longs. Well the Advanced EMT needed a partner so I told one of our female EMT's to go with him, and as I did he bluntly stated that he wanted a male partner in case the patient was heavy. After stating that the female EMT partner would still go the other EMT refused to go on the call, delaying care for what could potentially be, a serious call. Luckily we had a paramedic on duty at the time who went in this EMT's place.

This to me is a shocking and yet common case in Firefighting, and EMS. We talk of the fire department being a boys club. I've heard firefighter's talking about women in the fire department will never be a common thing. There has been a major boom in the opposite direction though as more fire departments are hiring females to shatter this image. Even in volunteer departments this designation of it being a boy's club is starting to go by the way side. So why is it that even with the move towards more balanced fire departments does this problem of sexism come play over and over?

The simplest way of putting it is, tradition. Tradition is what holds a fire department together. The glue of the firehouse if you will. Long has the this been a boys club. Since it's earliest days in the United States the fire service has the fire department been staffed by men. This tradition, as with most traditions is slow changing.  Listening to the older, experienced guys talk about how firefighting has been and always will be a man's game. The new firefighter, wanting to impress the older guys and learn the FD ways will take on this mentality. On tradition begets tradition.

How do we change this tradition? The simplest way to do it is to let the older firefighters believe in the boys club tradition, but not to let it change the new firefighter's mind frame. Welcoming everyone that can do the task and watch our backs shouldn't be discouraged. It should be our primary goal. So keep a positive outlook, welcome those who are willing to help, and don't let tradition of the wrong magnitude change your view on who is welcomed in the fire department. Doing that we can focus more on our customers.

Coming Soon!

I haven't forgotten the blog, I am in the middle of a post on being Retired on Duty so look forward to that. Oh I also received a new laptop from google, so I will be talking about that some. Stay tuned!

The Firefighter Anthem

I came home after a long day of work to find my sweetie bright eyed and grinning from ear to ear. I noticed her computer on youtube and she was like, "I have something awesome to show you." Well what she found was pretty awesome. In fact it is so awesome that it became my ringtone. These folk made a tribute to us Firefighters and I thank them for it. It does each one of us justice. So without further adieu... The Firefighter Anthem. 

The Weight Vest

Okay well I started this post and I thought I had finished and posted it but alas, I did not. That's what I get for taking 21 credits and working.  So without anymore stalling here we go.

The Weight Vest


So this past Christmas my sweetie got me a weight vest. For those of you that don't know it is pretty much what the name says. A vest that is weighted. You can add weight in 2.5lb increments. The weights I have add up to 70lbs. You can add more but 70 pounds is the equivalent of turn outs and SCBA pack weight. As this is a new tool for me I am currently looking for new workouts that will help me in using this to the best of my ability. So as I find work outs I will post them on here under the heading Physical Training. So look for that.

Stay safe!

Complacency

As described in the Fire Service it is a dulling of the senses, becoming content in routine and mulling over the day in/day out tasks. Complacency causes us to stop learning to look at calls as mundane. To not be prepared for the big one, if you will. 

I haven't been in the EMS field long. Certainly not long enough to be a victim of complacency but after a recent call I had I couldn't help but dwell on the fact that I had in the very essence of the word, complacent. Here's the back story.

It was this past Sunday and I had just started my shift. A bright and early 7am. I had just finished the daily check lists and the phone rang. I recognized the number, a local nursing home. I thought to myself oh great what could it be this time? A stubbed toe? A presumed fall that didn't actually happen? Who knows. I received the information from the nurse and it was what I had presumed. A patient with shortness of breath and had an 02 saturation of less than 90%. This is usually a pretty run of the mill call. Bring in to the ER, they check them out for pneumonia and we bring them back. Well we ran code to the Nursing home as per our directives. When we got there a scene unfolded that I wasn't quite mentally prepared for. We walked in and the nurses told us to run, the patient is coding. For those of you that don't know, when a patient is coding they are void of a pulse or any other vital signs, circling the drain or on the brink of death.

I ran to get the heart monitor and jump kit as my medic partner went to assess the situation. As I was running back the hospital medic service was pulling in. We went in and I fielded all the tools my partner needed and I was amazed at being able to remember where everything was. Thank you daily/weekly checks, I will never take you for granted again. I jumped in and started doing chest compressions. This was the first call where I was having to do them. My partner was working on establishing an airway and the hospital medics were working on hooking up an IV. Well sadly to say we couldn't get a line and had been performing CPR for too long and the hospital medics called medical control and called the guy.

Now I bet you are probably wondering just where I became complacent or maybe you have an idea. It was at the beginning of the call. Through countless Nursing home calls that turned out to be nothing I grew accustom to the routine. I did not treat each call like the big one. Did the patient receive a lack of proper care because of it? No. I was lucky, we showed up and did everything we could, the best we could. Could we have done anything differently on the call? I'm not sure. I could have gone into the call with a better attitude for sure.

What sticks with me and what will stick with me is I let a series of mundane calls cloud my judgment on other calls. What I swore not to do is the very thing I did. However what I came to understand is that it happens. Complacency hits everyone and no one is free from it. But if we are more proactive about our jobs, and we look at each call differently, or each shift differently, the job doesn't become mundane, it doesn't become routine. This in itself brings us closer to becoming less complacent and better care providers. 

A Year in Review, Resolutions, The Suicide and A Look Ahead

Well howdy gang, it has been entirely too long since I have updated Smoke Before Fire. No I haven't abandoned the blog, I have just been entirely too busy. So let's kick it off, my last post of 2010.

Helena


So after living here for a year come August I came up with the amazing revelation that in such a short time I had built a complete life here. Friends, a worthwhile job that I enjoyed and finishing my schooling combined into a nice place to live and thrive. Throw into that equation the fact that my sweetie came back from Japan and we "took the next step" and moved in together it comes as a complete package. As I stated before, an amazing revelation.

A Year in Review


This year has been busy. I've come into my own as an EMT-Basic and have seen some incidents that I still think about. I have even pushed myself further in becoming an ALS provider by getting my endorsements. I admit I am still intimidated by the fact that I can do these procedures but I am slowly becoming comfortable with them.  I have joined a volunteer fire department that I am proud to be apart of. We don't run a lot of calls, roughly 60 a year, but they take firefighting seriously and I am amazed at the amount of experience they bring to the table. All of this as helped push me further into the EMS field and I am thankful for every day I am apart of it.

Resolutions


As the year is coming to an end it's time for New Year's Resolutions... The promises we make to ourselves that seem to fizzle out and something we seem to start to dread every year we make them. Am I going to make a New Years resolution? Yes and no. I am going to work out more, I am going to love more, I am going to enjoy life more, not because I feel that I am obligated to make such resolutions, but more because that's how I want to live my life. So no in the aspect that it isn't a resolution and more of a daily choice. Lame sounding I know, but very true.

My Third Semester


Well I am 75% of the way done with school. This semester didn't end in the 4.0 I had expected but in a 3.5 bringing my accumulative GPA to a 3.8. Everyone chalks it up to my sweetie being back but I chalk it up to being busy. A 3.8 isn't bad in my eyes. So I'll accept it. This semester was a lot more book learning and a lot less hands on which made the semester drag on but I made it through.

The Suicide


About two months ago I wrote about that call. The one that haunts us and at the end of the post I wrote about how I would see more calls that would stick with me. Well about three weeks ago my medic buddy and I were working when we were paged out for an apparent suicide. We got there and came into see a person who had used a gun to commit suicide. Once we saw the gun we backed out and waited for law enforcement.  I'm not going to go into details anymore other than I helped officers with their investigation and then helped transport the person to the morgue in Boulder. The person's kid found them and that is where it hit me. But thanks to my friends and family for being supportive of seeing something so shocking. My heartfelt condolences go out to the family in their loss.

A Look Ahead


So after a busy year I look forward to my final semester in Helena, my final few months here and a new start in Billings with my lady. I look forward to the internship with the local Fire Department and I look forward to a few pleasant surprises and whatever life plans to throw at me. I wish everyone a Happy New Year and hopes that you all get to spend it with the people that make you happiest. Thanks for reading in 2010 and I look forward to seeing you for another edition of Smoke Before Fire in 2011.

Updates!

Hi everyone! It has been an entirely busy few weeks. I battled strep, registered for my final semester of fire and rescue classes, had some 911s, hunkered down for a blizzard and so on. Without wasting time lets jump into it.

My First IV Patients 


Now I know what you're probably thinking. He's already talked about his first IV patient. Well that's true I have,  but that was my first IV patient with people supervising. This was my first patient on my own after the endorsement was applied to my license. A 93 year old lady with dehydration etc. Every IV I tried to do I lost the vein. They would disappear. I was hoping to tell you all of my first successful patient stick but alas, I did not get one on this lady. I could have continued sticking her but rather than treat her like a pin cushion we just got her to the hospital.

Two Sundays back I had to run a trip to Kalispell for an ALS (Advanced Life Support) run. It was an ALS run because the hospital had a bag flowing with Normal Saline (NS). Plus the doctor wanted us to give the patient insulin. Which I didn't mind you because it is out of my scope of practice. But it wasn't bad. Just watched the bag to make sure it was flowing.

Wildland Fire v. Snow/Sleet Storm


Well it is November as you all know which for the state of Montana usually means cold rain storms that turn into sleet then snow. So it was safe to assume that our Wildland fire days for this year were over. Well it just so happened that during a storm like I stated above MCVFD was paged for a wildland fire. We all wore our structure gear and even though there was a combination of rain and snow hitting us, these spot fires had 20-25 foot flame lengths. Pretty amazing for being in a storm. However exciting as it sounded, all it turned out to be was two people with 7 slash piles burning. We waited with a charged hoseline for the fire department whos district it was to come down and tell us what they wanted to do. They were okay with the giant flames and we were cancelled. Lesson learned from this call, Wildland fires can happen all year round, even in cold wet rain/snow storms.

My Battle with Strep


Well about three days before Halloween I was hit with an obnoxious cold/flu thing. Fever, chills, nasty sore throat and so on. Real nasty. Well I expected to be over it in a few days. I wasn't. The sore throat was miserable. So I went to the doctor and my quick strep test was negative. So I thought I was fine, but I got a call the next day and the 24 hour culture test was positive. So after 10 days of sickness and 10 days of anti-biotics I am strep free and feeling awesome. Going back to the gym was rough but I did manage to get back up to speed.

Other than that, not much is going on. As I stated above I registered for my final semester of classes and I really can't wait to be done and off to paramedic school. I don't know why but I have the itch to learn more and more. I blame my sweetie. Always pushing me to be better and stuff. But I'm off for much needed gym time so stay safe and stay tuned!

To The Left...

You all may have noticed a widget to the left of these posts showing the names, faces, fire departments and so on of various firefighters. This widget shows those who have died in the fire service, be it a Line of Duty Death (LODD) or something related. It is important to recognize what others have done in this service and what they have given for the safety of others.

Coming soon to a blog near you:

- My first IV patient
   - Patient's since my IV endorsement
- A wildland fire in the middle of a rain/snow storm.
- My battle with strep throat!

So stay tuned!

That Call...

When I first got into the EMS field I heard stories; stories of close calls that became saves, calls that turned out to be stranger than fiction, and even calls that turned out to be nothing  Every EMT has them. Every EMT loves telling them. However when asked one simple question you get a completely opposite reaction. "What's the worst call you've ever been on?" Most people's face expressions become stoic, the moment they remember the call that continues to haunt their thoughts every so often, the one that still comes to them in their dreams.

It would randomly be brought up from time to time, some able to share that call that got to them, others just dismissing it by changing the subject. Others would blow off their own recollections with suggestions as what was to come for us new EMT folk. Most of the EMS people I talked to were curious as to how I would handle my first truly bad call. I have to be honest I wondered that myself, the thought coming up at least once every time I was paged to a call. Would it cause me to lose sleep like it does most? Would I freeze up being completely useless during the call? Was I cut out to be there in someone else's worst moment?

Well having that call is inevitable. Sooner or later it is going to happen. The best I can do is do what I have been trained to and do it to the best of my abilities. So I was told, and what I told myself.

Well I was hoping to finish this rambling with a quip about me still having yet to experience this call and how I think I can handle it. The truth is, Last Friday night, October 22nd I experienced that call. ATV crash with a patient who was DOA. I won't go into details on it as I would rather not like to think about it, but forever will the patient's face, body, everything be burned into my mind, forever will the screams of hysteria and the patient's significant other clutching me haunt my thoughts. I did my job and did what I was supposed to, but I didn't sleep the rest of that night. I'm still waking up every so often with my mind going to that night. Yeah these calls will become easier in time and yeah I am going to see a lot of these calls in my career.

I've been told that I need to not take my work home with me, and I am getting a stronger stomach in taking these calls but having people tell me that I will get to a point where they won't affect me at all. In all honesty I'm hoping I never reach that point. I have to learn to not let these calls take a hold of my life and strangle it and I need to learn to accept that call for what it is and move in but it won't. That call, my first bad call, will forever be with me. I hope to learn to let it not affect me so deeply but to not let it affect me at all in my opinion causes us to lose the very thing that made us want to lose sleep in the first place, to see people at their worst and help them. Without that empathy, without that sense of what those people are feeling and a longing to make that go away we become complacent. We lose our urge to do our best and we lose a chance to make a difference.

I end on the fact that I will probably continue to lose sleep thanks to my career choice and what I have/will see. I am learning how to handle these calls. Most importantly I am learning how to be empathetic without letting these calls eat me from the inside. It will take time, it will take struggle, but in the end, that's what makes it worth it.

Facing Your Fears... Or Those Things That Make You Question Your Sanity

Hello everyone. Here it is, another blog post. I know, I know, it has been a bit since my past post. Well I have been busy. Cranking out three tests a week, volunteering at more than one place and work just seems to fill up my entire life. So here we go.

For our Rescue class I believe I mentioned the fact that I was going to be going repelling off of a 200ft cliff face. Well I did and it was a hoot. Moving on. Ha not really here we are. We go up to an area called Blue Cloud which for those of you who don't know where that is, it is by Baxendale Fire Department on the way to Missoula. The road was bumpy and it took some off-roading to get to, plus a half mile hike up the mountain and there you are. We had a stokes basket with 300lbs worth of gear to carry up too. Needless to say we got a workout before we even hit the actual cliff face. Once we got up there two facts were quite evident. One, the view was amazing, two, the view was amazing because we were really high up. The second fact playing a lot into what I am about to write.

We set up all our stuff and got it ready so that we could repel down the cliff face. Anchoring to a tree, getting our helmets and harnesses on, and strapping in. So we went one at a time and I spent most of the day taking pictures for the programs Fire and Rescue Facebook page. I was second to go over the cliff face. So I get strapped in and after triple checking my harness and rope I start making towards the point of no return. I get there. Staring down I see our belay guy staring up at me. Two thoughts are going through my mind, man are we high up, and this really gorgeous view isn't going to mean anything if this rope snaps. Words of encouragement are shouted, prayers to the powers that be are muttered and look out below. I was scared out of my mind but I proceeded cautiously. You know that feeling of panic you get when you're doing something that causes the voice in the back of your head to shout "WHAT THE HECK HAVE YOU BEEN SMOKING!?", the same feeling you get when you look at that first downward path of a rollercoaster? Well yeah that feeling was very much present. I very cautiously started leaning myself back until my legs were perpendicular to the rock face. The only thing between me and a very fast approaching ground being the grip of my left hand on the rope. I found that as I inched further down the feeling of dread went away and as I got more comfortable The repel came quicker and more comfortable. Once I hit the ground and shouted "Belay off!" I looked up. The wall had been conquered. My sanity had been questioned. My heart was still racing.

We spent a few more hours repelling and getting over our immediate fears of height. As the day progressed so did  the wind and we decided to call it a day.

Unrelated Notes


On an unrelated note or two, my sweetie passed her first responder practicals. All she has left between her and her license is the National Registry test but as we all know she will pass with flying colors. We volunteered at the Boulder Rodeo and there were no injuries short of the minor breaks and usual dislocations.

Other than that, that's about it. So stay tuned. I'd make a mention of promises to update this more frequently but who knows when. So stay tuned. There will be updates. Sometime in the near future.

Coming Soon to a Blog Near You!

Stay tuned for a new blog post tomorrow, complete with pictures!

School Part One

Well hello everyone, it sure has been a while since I've updated this blog. I haven't forgotten nor have I abandoned it. School has been ridiculously busy. I've had a bunch of tests already and we are only a month into school. Here is a break down of each class.

Math - The first two months will be review, starting from 4th grade math to basic algebra. The math is so simple it's hard. What I mean by this is that I do it so much in my head that actually taking the time to write out the step by step arithmetic I make simple mistakes.

Rescue - This class is probably the most fun class I've had. Right now we are learning how to do low angle rescue with 3:1 pulley systems  and repelling. We use these to go down hills lower than 30 degrees. We will be learning high angle but that will be coming later. We are tomorrow (09-18-2010) going out and doing live scenarios so expect a post about that with pictures.

Fire Inspection - So far a lot of book reading in this class with lectures. We are going to actually go out today and do mock fire inspections. I'll write more on that later, but we are going over the basics of fire inspection with an advanced class down the road.

Building Construction - We are learning various building techniques and construction methods used to build all sorts of occupancies. The basis of this class is to teach us what to look for in the new light weight construction that can kill us firefighters.

Fire Suppression & Detection Systems - We learn about different types of alarms for fires and the systems used to extinguish them. A lot of book learning to this class.

FIRE & EMS

We have had a few calls since I've written last. One was a structure fire with a CO count in the 600+ parts per million. As defined by OSHA, anything about 500 ppm, is something we shouldn't be in. In 2 minutes or so you die. Paper and yarn on a 100w bulb was the culprit of this fire.

We have had a few rollovers but everyone was fine and walked away. That is a good thing but still no chance to get my last two patient sticks for my IV endorsement. However I did just recently get hired on by Boulder Ambulance so I will probably have my endorsements here shortly.

Other than that, I'm spending my time working and going to school. Trying to get ahead in all of it. My sweetie has her interview to get into PA school so I'm wishing her a whole lot of luck. Stay tuned!

The Way I Look at Life

Busy with school, and work, I will write on that here this next week, when I have time, but I was going through some old emails and what not and stumbled onto something I wrote a long time ago that kind of is the way I few life. It was written after my twin sister's passing and was inspired by that tragedy. Happy reading.

"They say how one deals with hardship is a definition of this person's character, I say that there is only so much character that any one human being should have to exhibit. When they don't realize their potential, they are deemed as a waste of time, discarded, thrown away like any common piece of trash. There are some that embrace this idea, and then there are some that take this idea and use it to fuel every movement, every action and every thought to rise above it and walk in their own path. Some lose the daily battle that is life, others will find a way to coexist with it, passing by without even a trace and there are those who will make an impact so monumental that it shapes lives. This impact is seldom derived by a single exploding moment but rather through a series of simple actions in the way one lives their life. There within holds the idea that even a small impact could possibly change the way another person views this existence called life, and wouldn't that be better than impacting no one at all? I think this, to change the outlook of even one person based on our actions, our ideas, or even ourselves, is just an opportunity too hard to just pass up..."  

~ Anonymous