Stories of the strange and funny!

Ok  So fellow smoke eaters I got enough EMS calls give me some good fire stories!

Take me to the new stuff

And a probie shall lead them

So as usual we get called to an automatic alarm at a private residence.  When we get there there is an actual smell of smoke so the decision is made to force the door.  So the captain and a Lt. decide to show a new probie how to force the door.  Yet try as they might they just can't get enough leverage to pry the door.  So then the probie says, " here let me" and the tow of them start chuckling as the probie walks up.  He then grabs the doorknob turns it and promptly opens the door.  Much to the shock of the 2 officers who never tried to just open the door first.

The Lunatick

An unexpected visitor.

One day my FD was given a house to burn down for practice.   It was a house from the 1800's that had fallen into such disrepair it was unsalvageable by the historic society so they sold it and the new owner approached the FD to get rid of the house for practice rather than him just tearing it down.  Anyway this house was right across from a small cemetery where the family of the original owners were buried.  Well when we lit it up we had the usual guys taking pictures.   Well when the pictures were developed we saw one picture of the doorway where the flames formed into the image of an old woman clutching the door frame looking like she was about to fall over.  The picture was Published in FireNews and made for an interesting story.

The Lunatick

WAKE UP!

One Saturday night there was several of us spending the night at the fire dept (rare to have more than the 2 paid personnel there on a weekend) in the hopes we would get a call and be on the first out engine. About 2230 everyone turns in except myself, I proceed to run an errand back home quick and return about 2300 or so. As I get out of my car my Minitor beeps a couple times than quits...I run for the door to hear the dispatch (the Minitor I had notoriously
bad reception in our area). Control dispatched us to a "Miscellaneous 10-70." Being as I was the only one conscious at the time I ran down the hallways and threw my turnout gear on as the others stumbled out to do the same. We decided to take the ladder truck, which is normally reserved for structure fires, just to play it safe since we didn't know what exactly was on fire. So here we were all aboard the ladder truck while the officer radioed control to find out what exactly was on fire. She again says she is attempting to get some more '14' (info) for us. Well we lit her up and rolled in the direction of the address given...as we get about 3/4 of the way there control advises us of a 10-70 Coke machine. As we round the corner there is a pretty decent sized glow in the sky and a plume of smoke rising...looked like it coulda been more than a Coke machine. We get within sight and sure enough it's a fully involved Coke machine, spouting flames out the front. Amid chuckles and laughs from ourselves and the 2 to 3 Sherrif's Deputies who showed up the fire was extinguished and we returned to the station to find one of our most 'gung- ho' firefighters still asleep in his bed. Turns out he slept through people coming in the door, 2 trucks leaving and the monitor blasting the radio traffic over the PA system, but an alphapager vibrating on the table woke him up. Needless to say, it was one for the Gag Book.

Chris Manee
Firefighter #180, Ashley River Fire Dept
No. Charleston, SC 29418

The pager sounds and I listen closely to the dispatcher as she dispatches us to a LP gas leak, venting into the garage of a home. As fire fighters arrive at the station the decesion is made to by-pass the current road construction, sending us 3 miles out of our way. The urgency is the, the sirens are sounding and the trucks are rolling. An update comes in from the dispatcher stating the homeowner has opened the overhead garage door. Visions of an explosion run through our heads as we wonder if a electric door opener is being used. We arrive on the scene and find the homeowner standing in the driveway. He states that the situation is under control as it was a Ostrige that he was holding in his garage for the local Human Society that kick over a 20 lb LP tank, cracking off the valve. He further states that the tank contained less then 1/4 LP. The Ostrige escaped into the wild once more which didn't sit well the the Sheriff's Dept as it had taken then three days to capture it the first time. Moral; Get as much info as possible while enroute as the emergency may only be in
the eyes of the beholder........HFD / Mak / 8/6/99

A street-corner box came in and two stations were dispatched. When the first-due company pulls up to the box, they see a little boy standing on the seat of his tricycle. When they dismount the rig to find out what's wrong, they realize that he is the son of a firefighter on duty that day. When asked what was wrong, he told them, "I just wanted to see my daddy!"

Roland R. Lafrance, Sr.
Disabled fire lieutenant/chaplain
P.O. Box 94
Redford, NY 12978

Cat in the Tree

The famous "My Cat is stuck in a Tree" call that many fire departments get, came in to our Volunteer Department on day, but it was not exactly a cat. We received a call about a Large Exotic Tropical Bird that got out and was up in a tree. The owner was worried because the wings were clipped and the bird could hardly fly. So the dispatch went out, One Pumper Truck and the Chief were the first ones on the scene. The worried Bird owned runs out of the house to beg us to get his bird down. The Chief looked at the man and said, "No problem, we will get him down. I just dispatched my Sniper." I thought the entire department was going to die laughing and that we would have to transport the Bird owner for shock. Needless to say, we easily climbed the ladders and retrieved the bird.

POOLER VOLUNTEER DEPARTMENT

IT WAS 2AM ON A WEEKNITE WHEN THE PAGER GOES OF AND THE DISPATCHER GIVES OUT A
LOCATION OF A SIGNAL 12 ( BRUSH FIRE ) IN OUR LOCAL STATE PARK. OK WE DID NOT
EXPECT A BIG TURN OUT BUT A FEW OF US REGULARS SHOWED UP. PLUS ONE PROBE !
WELL WE ALL TOOK OUR POSITIONS ON THE ENGINE AT OUR SUB STATION. MYSELF ONE
OTHER MEMBER AND YES THE PROBE . WE GO SCREAMING IN TO THE EARLY MORNING AIR
COLD AN CRISP. ITS NOT THAT EASY RIDING THE REAR STEP THAT EARLY BUT ITS THE
BEST SEAT ON THE ENGINE WE CALL 2 . BUY THE TIME WE GET THERE THE IS NUMEROUS
REPORTS OF SMOKE IN THE AREA. MY CAPT GETS OUT AND OPENS THE GATED ENTRANCE
OF THE PARK. WE GO RACING UP THE FIRE BREAK AND IN TO THE DARK WOODS.BY THIS
TIME MY CHIEF IS BEHIND US IN HIS 4X4 TRYING TO STAY OUT OF THE DUST WE ARE
MAKING. THE PROBE THEN GETS THE IDEA HE WANTS TO SEE WHATS A HEAD OF US SO
HE LOOKS AROUND PAST THE HOSE BED AND CATCHES A GOOD SIZED BRANCH RIGHT IN
THE FACE! AT FIRST IT WASN'T FUNNY BUT THEN IN PROBE FASHION HE TRYS THIS
TACTIC ONCE MORE.THE SAME THING A BRANCH RIGHT IN THE FACE THE CHIN STRAP ON
HIS NEWYORKER IS THE ONLY THING THAT HELPED KEEP HIS HELMET ON.BY THIS TIME
THE OTHER MEMBER IS LAUGHING SO HARD THAT HE ALMOST FALLS OFF . I GRAB HIM
BUY THE BACK OF HIS PANTS AND PULL HIM BACK ON. THE PROBE TRYS THIS AGAIN I
REACH OVER JUST IN TIME TO PULL HIM BACK .BECAUSE A BIG OLD PINE TREE HANGING
SIDE WAYS WAS JUST A HEAD AND WOULD HAVE POPPED HIS HEAD CLEAN OFF. I LOOK
BACK AN THERE IS THE CHIEF WEAVING BACK AN FORTH.THE LOOK ON HIS FACE WAS
WORTH A MILLION .HE WAS LAUGHING SO HARD HE HAD TO STOP. BY THIS TIME I AM
YELLING AT THE PROBE TO KEEP HIS HEAD IN.WE FINALE REACH OUR DESTINATION TO
FIND OUT IT WAS A HOUSE WITH THE FIRE PLACE A LITE.WE HEAD BACK THROUGHOUT THE
WOODS WITH OUT A PROBLEM .HEADING BACK TO THE STATION.THE PROBE TELLS US WHAT
HE WAS DOING AND TRYS IT AGAIN WITH THE SAME RESULT BUT THIS TIME THRU A
LONG ROW OF HEDGES ON SOME ONES FRONT YARD.WE START LAUGHING ONCE MORE . I
LOOK BACK AND THE CHIEF IS WEAVING JUST AS HE WAS BEFORE .NEEDLESS TO SAY THE
PROBE WONT RIDE ON THE TAIL ANY MORE.

FIRE FIGHTER TIMOTHY KING OF THE
ISLIP TERRACE FIRE DEPT

We got a call to a popular steak house, smoke filled If I may. We arrived on the scene pumped and ready to do battle. You could see a major amount of smoke in the structure.We pryed open the door doing little damage, but some anyway.Got inside , and to our amazement, found the machine that was
creating all the smoke. They were spraying for bugs!!!!!!!! That wasn't so bad until we found the " small " note on the door saying " SPRAYING FOR BUGS ".
ONE FOR THE BOOKS

Working in a rural volunteer department, we have the chance to deal with some very interesting and backwoods people. There is a certain house in our district home to a sweet old lady in at least her 80's. At least once per year and usually more than that, we receive a call from her with some very unusual requests and circumstances. They have ranged from asking that we protect her pet bull so that the neighbor's kids quit having sex with it to telling the refrigerator to please not threaten to burn the house down again. You see it was romantically involved with the stove, and when her son rearranged the kitchen so that the stove was next to the dish washer instead of it, it got jealous and threatened to make some heat of it's own and brn the house down if it didn't move the stove back next to it. (This is no joke, I swear!)

Well this time it was to save the three (imaginary) people in the attic. Seems that they went against her wishes and slept on the heater in the attic to stay warm and ended up melting just like she said they would. While trying to control his laughter, the chief instructed me and another fireman to go get a ventilation fan. Although confused as to what his motives were, we went to the salvage truck and brought him his "save the melted ones" fan. We proceeded to hang it up in the doorway and explained to the woman that this would cool them off enough so that they would "un-melt" and be OK. We
let it run for about five minutes and she was just the happiest old lady she could be when the chief announced that he just came down from the attic and were OK again. So far it has been a while since we last heard from her, so we are anxiously awaiting what dire emergency will stretch the bounds of
fire duty above and beyond the call again.

Scott Hix
Anderson County Fire Department
Anderson, SC

One day around 1800, a call went out for our fire dept. to respond for a car on fire. Being a volunteer company, I quickly ran from my house to the fire house, and pulled out the fire rescue, so that it was ready for a driver. With lights and sirens blaring, we pulled up on the scene only to find a county sheriff and our chief standing around a smoking air filter. Our chief then radioed to dispatch that there was evidence of a car fire, but no vehicle. It was later remarked by another fire fighter that when he passed
that area ten minutes before, there was a car with its hood open and smoking a little bit. The sheriff said that the owner of the car, must have opened the hood, taken out the air filter, and left the scene. (The call was made by a passer by on a cell phone.)

Colin Coleman
J. H. Ketcham Hose Co.
Dover Plains, NY

I don't remember what the call was but at about 0130 the house tones went off, lights came on and 3 pagers began outlining the call at full volume. My partner for the night jumped out of bed, turned off all the pagers and lights (I figured he was being nice to the other guys not on duty since this was a dorm room set up). Well, I proceeded out to the bay grabbed the run sheet and paused, my partner was no where to be seen. I went back into the room turned on the lights and asked him If he was going to join me on the call. He turned over and asked me "what call?" When I held up the run sheet and pointed out that his pager had been activated he jumped up and exclaimed "SHIT, I missed another call!" (Surprisingly he had slept through others) We were running out of time so I had to quickly convince him to get moving so I explained the situation again as he followed me out to the bay. Needless to say I offered to drive.

Janet
KCFD #20

I volunteer for a local fire dept here in my hometown, and weird and bizarre calls are no strange thing to us. Our fire dept has the biggest district in the county and believe me when I tell you that when the "weird" ones come in they come in. We were all sitting around our fire dept. one night, the tones dropped and the dispatcher called off structure fire, we like these kinda calls. So we humped it to the trucks, pulling on turn out gear as we did. We responded in a timely manner, only to find a frantic woman outside running around swearing she was gonna kill her 8 yr. old grandson. We were all a little confused but we dropped lines and went into the house as it wasn't fully engulfed yet. What we found was so hilarious we almost couldn't put the fire out. The fire was contained in an upstairs bedroom, and a had apparently been started by the grandson. According to his grandma he had been upstairs
playing and had come down and asked for a glass of water, so grandma gave it to him. A few minutes later the little boy was back asking for another glass of water stating he had spilled the first. On the third visit grandma started getting suspicious and then she smelled smoke. She asked the little
boy what he had done and he stated the following: "Grandma I cant lie, I was playing with matches. But I heard my older brother say how much fun it was to play with "HOT" pussycat, that I sat the cats tail on fire, just to see how much fun "HOT" pussy was." Now keep in mind while your reading this
child is 8 years old. The pussy"cat" had apparently not enjoyed having its tail on fire and had ran up the curtains of the bedroom set them ablaze and well the little boy made his kittys "tail" get cold again. But couldn't manage to put the big fire out. Needless to say the older brother was grounded forever. And was told never  to mention "HOT" pussy around the 8 year old again.


Michelle Williams

Kentucky

My pager awoke me at a little after 3a.m."house on fire, all occupants are out". The morning was cold but thankfully no wind. It was a older house balloon construction . It was one of those nights where if anything could go wrong it did. We managed to contain the fire to the kitchen and bedroom directly above the kitchen and the bathroom that was right off the kitchen. I was on the initial attack team and as we were taking a breather while another team was performing overhaul I felt the unmistakable rumbling down in my stomach, knowing that soon I would be looking for a place to relieve myself. I went to our personnel carrier and couldn't even find a roll of paper towels I started towards the house to look in the bathroom. I suddenly remembered that I gave the bathroom a good washdown before I gave the line to our relief team. It was then that the point of no return was here so I quickly disappeared out into the grove. Now this is something that I definitely did not want to do , but what could I do?
I dropped my bunker pants pulled down my sweat pants and my shorts and took care of business. I used the only thing I could think of,my NOMEX hood. I rolled it up and found a plastic bag and hid it in a compartment on the pumper. End of story , right?!?!?!?! Wrong I soon had that same feeling and knowing we still had a good hour of work left at the scene, nature called again. Only this time I had nothing to use so this night definitely went from bad to worse!

You can bet your a-- that I have a roll of toilet paper stored in our personnel carrier!

my funny story? As a rookie... 5 1/2 years ago, I went on my first call, (structure fire) I was excited as hell, I am all of 145 lbs. (for a girl, that's kinda big, it's all muscle I swear!) Well, the asst. chief told me to get out grap the 4 inch and connect it to the hydrant, he told another rookie to get out and help me then they were going to drive the rest of the way to the house which was appox. 250 feet, well, Raymond (the other rookie) grabbed the end of the 4 inch, and I was to pull the rest of the hose off, well, I grabbed the hose put it over my shoulder turned around and yelled at the driver to go ahead..... surprisingly, I held on tight enough that I pulled that hose off while he drove away, but I was the talk of the dept. for awhile.

thanks again,
Kellyann

During the month of April 2000 the dept I'm with had had training on a house burn (an old farm house) that was owned by the county.One of our firefighters fathers work for the county and cleared it so we could burn it for training. During my rotation in the house my Capt., was showing us the sings
of a flash over during this time I told him that it was getting hot in this room (which was maybe 7x10). His response was no it's not and again I told him its getting hot in here.and again he said no its not, then I asked him if its not HOT in here why is my face shield melting. So I turned around so he could see it, he grabbed it and changed its shape his response was ok so its hot.  And to let you all know 1I never say the flash over. 2 my Capt., was in the door way blocking the air.


Allyn K. Pierson 1st
North Oakland County Fire Authority
(N.O.C.F.A.)
Holly MI,

A couple of years ago the city fire department in my area responded to a large beverage company fire just a 100 yards or so outside of the city limits. Before they even had a chance to get the hoses out goo one of our city supervisors showed up on the seen. He told the city firemen that this fire was in the county and that if they did not get the truck back to the station that they would all be fired. Needless to say they left and the county volunteers had to deal with it. Two weeks later the city got a call of a house fire and when they responded to it found the same supervisor standing in the street pointing to his house which was on fire. His house was about 200 feet outside the city limits so the city fire firefighters told him it was a county fire and went back to the station while the county volunteers handled it. I reckon you could say if you make the bed you better be ready to lay in it. 

jerry mills
bobo volunteer firefighter
Mississippi

I live in a very rural area with all volunteer fire dept. I decided I would take an EMT-B course so I wouldn't feel completely useless on ambulance runs. In our county, they only offer the course twice a year and in 1 spot, so most of the students are from different areas of the county. In my class was another "rookie" firefighter from the neighboring district. We began talking and the subject of the lack of structure fires came up. She stated all they had were MVA's...and I said "We don't even get THOSE anymore" Our fire
dept's are very competitive and the next day they had a car fire. That night during class she came up to me, laughing and bragging about it. I said "hey...that's fine...you guys stick to the small stuff.....we'll wait for the big stuff" Later, I was listening to my scanner and another car fire came over...the fourth in 2 days for another area fire dept. I shrugged it off and thought "Poor bastard" about the car's owner. The day of our state EMT-B exam came around and in comes my fellow firefighter from the neighboring district, cranky and just no fun. When I asked what was wrong she stated "YOU HAVE YOUR CAR MELT NOWHERE NEAR YOUR HOUSE AND YOU SEE HOW CHIPPER YOU'LL BE!!"Needless to say, the first words out of my mouth were "Poor Bastard"

BJ

This is a good one when I was a probie on my volunteer dept. one of my first runs was at about 0100 one cold winter morning for a
man trapped in a construction ditch. I figured this was gonna be really cool so I bolted out of the house at mach 3 lucky for me I lived close seeing as I was able to make first eng out we arrived on seen and looked in the hole it was rather large but only about 20 ft deep so the LT decided we would just use a ladder to go get the man the LT whom had a very weird sense of humor climbed down the hole. by now E.M.S had arrived and had joined us in conversation. from the top of the hole we could not see the pt because of the darkness and he had positioned himself under some debris. from above we could hear the LT talking to the man and then all of a sudden heard LT scream what the f*** and started laughing hysterically. we knew this was weird because he never laughs. he then called up for a blanket we threw one down and he and the PT made their way up when the PT got to the top we could see what was so funny the man was wearing make up fish net stocking hand cuffs ankle cuffs a chain around his waist going to the hand cuffs and duct tape wrapped around him as under wear also high heels . the man told PD that he had been fulfilling a fantasy when a car started to pull out of its garage the head lights shined on him. seeing the ditch but not knowing it was so deep the man decided if not to be seen to jump in even though the people in the car seen him and knew how deep the ditch was they called 911 we first felt sorry for the man but after we got back in quarters we laughed extremely hard. we later found out the man was lying it was a fraternity hazing that did this to him he was just covering for his buddies. that call I will never forget. oh yeah he didn't get hurt he signed off AMA.


LT Mark Dodge
Salem Volunteer Fire Dept
Salem WI www.salemfire.com

Hey I've got one for ya, one night I was sitting at the firehouse before a work night the tone drooped. Nothing came over but a lot of giggling so or Car 1 called dispatch to find out what was going on. He walked out of his office with the biggest smile that you've ever seen when I asked him what happened he just started to giggle him self. Then the tone dropped again and then you heard "40 Control to Lake Carmel Fire Department your need to respond to ____________________ for a ummm ummmmm" then you heard the chair that the dispatcher was sitting in lean back and him say "holy $hit that do I say" in a whisper then he started to finish "for a portly women wedged in a van". None of us could go on the trucks because we were giggling so hard. When we finally got it together we got there and there was this 400 pound women stuck in the door we thought it was the funniest thing. OSHA says no more then 4 people in the back of our rescue well I know we over did it by like some 30 people. The whole time were trying not to giggle in front of her but it was so hard not to.

One of the Probies in our district woke up to the sound of his pager going off at 0230, this past June. He sat up in bed, listened to the dispatcher repeat the address and realized it was HIS address. He opened his bedroom door, only to be greeted with a fully-involved living room. Luckily, both he and his father, who was in the basement sleeping, made it out okay. When I got on the scene, he came over to me and said "This isn't supposed to happen to me- I'm on the fire department". Needless to say, being on the fire department failed to teach him that smoke detectors are an important addition to the family home. The really ironic thing is that his father had been on our department for many, many years, and he had never learned this either!

Submitted by R. Copeland, Nimishillen Township Fire Department, Louisville,
Ohio.

At the scene of a car accident on I-495, a cop wanted to put some flares up, but the OIC said no. The Cop then walked away from
them and took the flares out to put them on the road. Well, the OIC had the FF with the charged hoseline (standard at accidents with the risk of explosion) point it at the cop and when he was about to light the flare, to soak him. Well, he did, and he did. The cop
called his supervisor, and I can only imagine the laughter!

Cops really care for EMS and Fire Fighters, a little while ago a fire fighter was attacked, and the chief drove to the scene at speeds
sometimes exceeding 100mph and they weren't even on major highways, but the entire time he was being passed by the cops
Occured in Fairfax County, VA

It was about 0345am in early 1999 in a New Hampshire town where I was a Vol. Fire Fighter. As was usual, the one night of the week that I decided to get a goods night sleep was the night that we got called out at the crack of dawn. I awoke to the beeping of my miniotr III, the dispatcher proceeded to inform us to" respond 182 Old Main St. for a reported plane crash, once again please respond to 182 Old Main St. for a reported plane crash." This took a second to sink in. Mainly because the scene was only about half a mile or less from my house. And I most likely would have heard something.  I decided to respond to the station, which was also only about half a mile from my house. While getting in to my bunker gear, another fire fighter came in and asked me if he had understood his pager correctly. I advised him yes, a plane crash. in about 2 mins we were enroute with L2 (ladder truck) Just as we signed on, our chief came up on the air and told us to hold at the station. Well to make a long story short, we were at the fire house
till about 0530, there was no plane crash and the lady finally admitted that it was most likely a dream. we advised her to make sure that it was real next time she heard a plane "in distress" as she put it.


Fire Fighter Hardy
NLFD

Coming back from a call at 2am We passed a strange object in the road.  I shook my head, and my driver asked what was up.  I told him I could have sworn that we just passed a dildo in the road. 
     "Ya know, that's what I thought I saw"
     The wise ass probie thought there couldn't possibly be a dildo in the middle of a major road.  So my driver pulled around and told the probie if it was a dildo he was going to go get it.  We pull up and sure enough it was a penis shaped dildo in the middle of the road.  So the probie donned gloves and retrieved it.   After much laughter on the way back to the station over the many things to do with it, I placed it  on my captain's helmet.  Sure enough the next day there was a working fire and the captain couldn't figure out why they kept calling him "Capt. Dickhead" 
        He found it back at the station, took it and threw it into the pick-up next to his gear rack.  Well someone else found it and came up with the same idea I had, and in a strange coincidence we had another working fire.   This time since his name was Phil they kept calling him "Phildo"
     You would think that would be the end but this captain isn't the brightest of people and kept tossing it in the same place.  Sure enough someone kept putting it back.  It took him 3 weeks to throw it in the garbage, but he couldn't throw out "Phildo"

The Lunatick

working as a Vol.Firefighter everyone is bound to recieve a strange and unusual call sooner or later . I and My partner were just hanging out at the station after a false fire alarm . SO at about 0230 p.m. we recieve a call about a cat stuck in a very large
Tree about ten miles down the road from our station . i simply advise that 1516 and 1582 were enroute with 1 pumper and our Tanker followed by our Brush Truck , i kept talking back and forth with the dispatcher trying to get more info about the 20.
Then our Cheif thundered past me with The Ladder truck from the other station . the girl was frantic and upset , while i tried to calm her down , the cheif asked me to pull the aerial truck closer to the tree . well trying to get the cat out from where he was - The cat bit my arm . well here's the funny part i think, all of a sudden i hear "Let's try to blast the cat right out of the tree with
the hose "!  My partner ran back over to the tanker and started unraveling one Hose . needless to say i was still in that tree when my Partner turned the hose on . The cheif was laughing his head off at me and the cat - i fall off the branch with my hand on it's tail still . anyway we got the feline out of the tree and the girl that called us kept thanking us for coming out to help her .
Back at the station i felt Revenge coming on , another Firefighter had left a half full Gatorade Jug on the tailgate of the Brush truck, i i pick it up walk over to where the cheif was standing , and dumped it all over him and the Bay floor . He hasn't asked to climb any trees like that since then .

The traffiic officer get's revenge
Adam Stelton MFD

I work in a City Department in the North East, we recived a "Walk In" report of a  Fire in the area of the firehouse, as the watch(?) man opened the bay doors, the smoke was like fog in the street, LOL I was driving the Tiller truck that night and proceeded door by door , seeking the sorce, which turned out to be a taxpayer a couple of doors down... we spent about 6 hours trying to get the seat of the fire, I  cut inspection holes, began a trench cut of the roof, etc , the store had 2 drop ceilings 2 tin ceilings and hardwood ceiling as well, so the operation was extended, snotty, complicated by a Billboard and concerns it would collapse and bring down a 80,000 volts (feeder lines) to parts south of our location, but eventall we returned to quarters.. clean ourselves and the hand tools up...15 minutes later (about 3:45am) we hit the street responding to a report of smoke, 2 blocks east and 3 blocks north of the firehouse, the tillerman was the last to take a shower, and we ended up behind the 1st due ( of the 2 engines in my house) as we turned left we had a small rise to overcome , Eng 4 came back into view , three blocks ahead of us, I looked over at the LT. and said, Um, hey Bobby, I..Ya... think we should stop at that buiding up there with all them folks in they're underwear? I mean seeings how, well, all the smoke coming outta the place? The Lieutenant concurred, and as we placed the apparatus, gives his report Ladder 3 to Bridgeport,
Ladder 3 is @ Iranistan & Worth , a 21/2 story wf occupied dwelling with Heavy smoke from the rear, and it looks like most of the tenants are in the street..... the dispatcher, repeats the report, and the Captain, on Engine 4 now 6 to 8 blocks past the scene, realized that they had passed the scene, so they turn around , and it happens, both engines pull up at the same hydrant, (2nd due always takes the long way around...) well, needless to say, water was slow, but we eventually
got the fire out... no one got hurt.... after the fire, the Capt, trying to remain all knowing, tryed to use , the hydrant north , was on a larger main.... we have the 5" while the other company has 3" ... All well and good Capt , but you should have advised them of your plan....

the driver of the engine , admitted , they had 1 not seen the 15 people in the street  in underwear, nor any of the smoke banking down as we arrived 25 seconds after they'd past......LOL selective eyesight.... 

back in the 80's FDNY was always good for the unbelievable, the pure numbers of incidences alone were madness...

I recall an incident, where radio dispatch the officer was having trouble getting the address to which he was being dispatched via radio, whether, his radio was bad, or his hearing... backround noise , something  the dispatcher gave the address several times, (ficticious >>)

 ~ Bronx to ladder 38, your available? 

 ladder 38 to da bronx yes we are10-8 .... 

~Bronx to ladder 38 , "take in box 1588 the address 1237 grand concourse between E 162 and E 163 for a reported fire in apartment 4C
ladder 38? ~ "ladder 38 to the bronx , what was the apartment? 

Bronxto Ladder 38 , apt 4 c as in charlie ....38? 

 Ladder 38 to the bronx we have 1237 Grd Concorse, E162 an 163 bu we dont have the apartment, it getting cut off ..."
"~4c as in charlie ladder 38 " 

by this time the ever patient and professional Com center is far from calm... and upon the next request by the company.. you can tell the exasperation ....

"~Bronx to Ladder 38, did you get that apartment 4c as in charlie
???" 

"Ladder 38 to the bronx, Negative.... K"

~ "Bronx to ladder 38 , the address 1237 Grn Concourse E162 and 163 
reported fiya in apartment 4C LIKE IN BREAD CRUMBS !!!! Ladda 38?"

>Ladder 38 10-4 on da bread crumz

LOL
while I use ladder 38 and a fictitious address on the Grand Concourse,
the jist of this is the same ..... sometimes even the phonetics we are
used to are greek , in your mind , if your mind is someplace else ...lol

A few months back I was "Acting Lieutenant On the Other Engine company in my City house, I have been assigned in the house over 9 years,  averaging time on both engines after they closed my ladder company, back in 94.... Engine 3's company is made up of the Capt, engineer mike, and the
most senior firefighter, has going on 3 years (almost as much time on the company as I have been off it) and two newer rooks....

This Saturday afternoon , we caught a Job in a 2/12 story frame that is "vacant" in close to exposures (6') etc. Joe, the 4th man was off, he had fractured his wrist snow boarding with the guys , and was depressed at the idea of missing any work, when I and my Rookie Keith pulled up,
as I was donning my mask, Keith stretched a line (his first real fire!...LOL) and he went to the front doors , forced the right one open and entered, I walked up to the left one, I put my size 16 warringtons to it and entered , making my way to the 2nd floor I found the rear kitchen wall involved from top to bottom I banged on the wall and yelled to keith to bring the line over on this
side, with the fire, and we went to work.....I stand 6'9" weigh 257lbs since closing my truck , I often am my truck ...lol well, we knocked the fire down , over hauled it without incident, went out to the street and found our boy joe... who had come to take a couple pictures..... needless to say , he wasnt too happy .... (missing a job) 

a few weeks later, he was back on duty , I was again covering the officer's spot , and about 1:30 am we get a call at the same address, that relates , the neighbor reported seeing someone in the building trying to ignite or extingish a fire , we get sent on a still alarm....

the vacant building is all boarded up, except one area the kitchen on the 1st floor where the fire burned away most of the rear wall leaving a gapping hole , behind the pile of overhaul rubbish, I climbed in , flashlight in hand , Joe with a halligan (cause this is the ghetto ) behind me and I told Jay to hang in the rear, in case we needed a line.....
well Here I go , walking through the familiar 1st floor of this duplex  and I get to the first room from the kitchen going forward and there is this guy hiding as if to hope we would pass him without seeing him... well, his position, he did startle me a hair, I yelled at him.. 

WHO THE F*** ARE YOU < WHAT THE Hell are you doing IN here...

LOL I guess MY loud Voice got Joe, who was 2 steps behind me, cause he dropped the halligan on the floor .... and jumped about 3 feet in the air! 

the "dreg" was startled too, an began babbling about how he was the neighbor  who had spotted the fire and called ... Just then Jay (outside) calls me an tells me the PD is On scene, and I told him a civilian was coming out to meet them, to hold him for a minute till i go through ...

we went through, up the stairs and the real neighbor , told me through the windows that was were the fire had been  and we went down through the other side to the basement , finding new evidence of people squatting and using crack... when we exited the house, the guy was gone, whne I asked the cop and my firefighter, they told me, he got on a bike and road away... after telling them he lived next door...( living next door 6' away you see a fire your going to walk down , get on your bike to ride around the house and go in to Check it out? LOL 
well, anyway , its been 3 months and we haven't been back for the third fire there, 

So I have to suppose, that the dreg just doesnt need the sort of stress on his ticker as having a 6'9" 300 lb guy scare the crap out of him at 2 am ....
I know that Joe now velcros the halligan to is gloves so he doesn't drop it anymore when I yell....lol,,, but often the signs of shell shock pop up with him.....lol 
Poor Joe ruined a brand new pair of undies that night, I think 

Just read the "You might be a Rural Firefighter If . . " thanks for the laugh - it's been a rough month for firefighter's family's all over!! 

For a laugh yourself - picutre this . . .rural firefighter's wife borrows his vehicle to drive to work and on the trip home notices that other drivers are unusually accommodating . . .only to realize (after she parks!!) that she's accidentally knocked against one of those darn light switches on his
do-it-yourself center console. She drove through town with red lights flashing!! 

Yep, that was me - I kept wondering what that humming noise was!! (lights rotating)

One summer day our chief was working on his farm. While working he heard a call go over the radio for any member form our stn to call com center (dispach). Being the officer he called and told them who he was but much to his surprise they started laughing at him. By this time he was getting really curious as to what was going on and why they had ask him to call in. When they finally stopped laughing they told him what it was. Someone in our dist. had called 911 and ask them to send the fire dept. out to help him get his dog out of a tree. We were going to go and help him, after all that is why we are here, so he started to the stn to get a truck and some members but while on his way to the stn the person called back and told them the dog had jumped out of the tree and we could disregard. That is a first here at this stn and hopefully a last. Not real sure how we would have got him out but it would have been fun. 


Chad Cardwell 
ncfireman3837@alloymail.com 

One day sitting in the firehall I heard a loud screeching noise, as we looked out the window we noticed that a car had gone out of control and had struck a tree on the side lawn of the firehall. I ran to the pump to get the first -aid kit and began to run out the front door around the side of the
firehall, upon doing this I was met by a bystander who saw the collision at which point see pointed at me and said " you call 911" I slowed for a sec and then continued to the car when I heard in the background her husband say " he is 911" I don't know weather it was the uniform or the large orange first-aid kit that tipped him off.

We were working a small hazmat/mva...big rig rolled into a ditch. No injuries, but the fuel tank had ruptured. After a rather boring cleanup, we were packing up to head back to the station. We had several bags of absorbant compound that didn't get used, so we had to lug all of the 50 pound bags back to the truck. Rather than spend all day getting it done I grabbed two bags. Only 100 pounds, no big deal I thought. As I was walking to the truck a Highway Patrol officer walked passed and said smugly, "Two bags? Tough guy huh?" I looked him dead in the eye and said "Of course, I'm a fireman....not a cop!" 

We were toned out one night for a chimney fire. Our SOP's state all crew be in full PPE and SCBA...but we never did for chimney fires. About ten seconds before we were going to arrive on scene we here command on the radio..."Dispatch, re-tone general alarm, we have a fully involved structure fire." About that time we rounded the corner and saw a good sized house completely engulfed in flames. I think every one of us broke a record for the fastest B.A. donning. Needless to say, everyone had thier SCBA's for the next chimney fire.

To start with...this is a Fire Story, so dont fret! About 20 years ago, I was a member of a very large Volunteer EMS crew. I came home from my real job at a bar, and had a hard time getting to sleep. So I put on my "walkman" radio. Batteries were dead. SO I took the 9 volt battery out of my Smoke Detector. I lived in a house made into a 4-plex. I awoke to my pager alerting the night crew of a call across town. I noticed that my room was glowing bright orange, and it wasnt exactly cool in the room either. Instinct told me to roll off the bed and check out a quick exit. I remembered the other 3 elderly tenants in the building, just as another tenant across the hall started screaming the house was on fire. I looked and was able to tell that the actual fire was next door, at my landlords home. I looked out in time to see the roof go up in flames. I told the lady next door to stay low and get out quickly. I then got on the phone and called Dispatch. The only thing Dispatch could pull out of my "professional demeaner" of swearing, screaming, etc....was that I was EMT so and so, and that my house was on fire! (lucky for me, she had our Roster there with addresses and phones...it was before enhanced 911). I then went down stairs and helped get the other ladies out of the house. By that time, it was way to late for the landlords house, I hoped he had made it out. He did not. BUT, I gave my story to the police officer on the scene...and told him that it was me who called the fire into dispatch on the phone. He looked down at my hand, and asked one question. "Why didnt you just get out and use the two way with Dispatch that you are holding?"
SO>>> the moral of the story is...We all laugh at the dumb things that we see people do at our scenes...but till it happens to you, you never see the true humor! The fire was blamed on a lit tobacco pipe. The Police Officer arrived on the scene just moments later, as he was coming down the street anyway, and did what he could to assist in all rescue efforts. Kudos to the Dispatchers and Police Officers!

On a ride for my paramedic training we were scaning the fire channel on a slow day. A call came in for a propane tank on fire by the garage. A few minutes later a call can in saying the tank was now by the house. A minute later a laughing dispatcher called to let the crew know the tank was in the street. Later the crew told up the asked the family why the kicked it everywhere by the in-ground pool. Needless to say, the didn't have an answer.

I was a member with the Ringwood Vol. Fire Co. #1-Stonetown. I was just getting on as a Junior Firefighter, I was lucky enought to get a pager, the tones went off for a tree down w/ power lines almost takin over the whole road, only small cars could fit under the tree. I remember I was standing with 260 (Chief Truck) with all them damn red lights and one blue one (this was before I convinced the Chief to get more color to the truck) It was a streethawk red domes, 1 blue flasher and 1 red flasher and 2 red flashers on the bumper.errrrrrrrr! Anyways, I was standing there with the pretty lights flashing and rotating for about 3 hours on my feet and off directing cars under the tree, little by little. And I got to use the radio for my first time! ohhhh baby! I had a portable and a base radio in the truck. My friend who lived 2 houses down was like "What are you doing,Dan?" I felt inportain, people were calling me sir, and where smilin at me, includin this 1 car with two hot blondies! That was the longest I'v ever been on my feet. When I got back to the Firehouse, I sat down and I LOVED it. That was my first Fire call, and I will never forget it. I have left Stonetown because of personal problems due to some members, but hopefully I will come back sometime, I am currently a Firefighter w/ TEVFB (Where I have my summer home).

Well send in your submissions to our forums I want some good stories!

Back

Last Updated:05/25/05 13:37

Copyright ©1996-2002 The Lunatick's weavings