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Life as a
firefighter has surprises
Every day, firefighters train to handle a multitude of emergency
situations. We spend many hours preparing ourselves to extinguish fires,
which is one of our main responsibilities. We learn how to advance hose
lines, search for trapped victims and ventilate to remove smoke and toxic
gases.
We learn how to use a b reat h i n g ap p a
r at u s, hand tools and ladders. We c o n s t a n
t ly train trying to i
m p rove efficiency as well as safety.
When we arrive on an emergency scene, it is our job to bring calm to
chaos, and we always try to be prepared for the unusual as well as the
unexpected.
Even with all this training and preparation, we sometimes encounter
a situation we were not expecting.
I recently had just such an incident on what I thought was a routine
house fire.
When I am dispatched to a fire, I try to formulate a basic plan of
attack while I am responding to the call based on the info! rmation our dispatchers give
us.
Are there victims, will the structure be safe enough for an interior
fire attack, and do we have an adequate water supply are just a few of the
things that have to be considered and planned for.
When I arrived on the scene of the fire, these were the things that
were going through my mind. Much to my surprise, what I encountered was
definitely the unexpected as well as the unusual.
When I got out of my vehicle, everything looked normal. A hose line
had been advanced through the front door and a fan had been set up for
ventilation.
Then I noticed that firefighters out in the yard were running back
toward the truck swatting at something. I looked back toward the porch and
the firefighter who had set the ventilation fan on the porch was walking
toward me and there must have been 200 yellow jackets swarming around him.
They had a huge nest at the base of the porch.
Now I don’t ! mind
telling you I hate bees and I would prefer fighting a rattlesnake . So as
you can imagine, I was backing up.
Luckily, the firefighter had full protective gear on so none of the
bees stung him.
He told me later that he pulled hundreds of bee stingers out of his
gear.
We started entering through a different door so the bees quickly
calmed down, leaving me greatly relieved. No one was seriously injured and
the fire was quickly extinguished. Definitely not a situation I a n t i c i p at ed
.
24/7/365 you call, we res p o n d .
Even with bees.
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