My first extrication
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Joined: Aug 2004
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My first extrication
hey all...so its 3:30 local time..i just got back to my house from my first extrication call at my fire company. i joined in august and just finished my training. its volunteer and our company does a lot of rescue (ie extrication) and dive calls. if you arent familiar, members are issued a pager through which audible tones and a verbal description are sent. well, i went to bed with my pager on full volume as normal. however, i was awaken at some time (not sure when...when it goes off and i am in a deep sleep, my body is trained to throw on clothes and peace out) to something to do with a vehicle. i was expecting some smoke or something.
i haul ass to the fire station and get there just in time to jump into our rescue truck complete with 4 or 5 pairs of the jaws of life, various saws, and a whole bunch of other cool shite
we pull onto the major highway around here going north bound in the south bound lanes (when its night time and im tired the ride is very surreal with the lights and sirens) and i dont even notice whats our apparatus is doing (i.e. going the wrong way on a major highway...it was closed). we pull up, and i jump out of the rig to survey the scene...
HOLY HELL!
basically if an 18 wheeler got hit with an IED, this would be it. apparently the driver fell asleep and straight up plowed into another truck. his cab was non existent. in its place was a mangled mess of metal trapping the driver. the only discernible piece of the cab was the engine block. fluids were everywhere too. anwyay, i originally thought his face was some sort of foam from a seat. i did not put it together since the body was on the passenger side of the truck away from where one would expect the driver to be. the way the blood covered it hid its true identity. since this was my first "real" rescue call, i froze for about 5 seconds before someone barked orders.
i end up hooking up the electricity to some saws and then helping position and carrying the backboard to get this dude out. his grimaces of pain were very difficult to take. furthermore, his face (which i now recognized as a face and not a seat cushion) made horrendous contortions as he was moved
hes out of the "truck" and in the emt's hands now. guy was alright..compound fractures and massive cuts everywhere.
sorry for grammar or incoherence...im pretty wired and the bars are closed so what better way to cool down than to post on s2ki!. hope you all enjoy the story
EDIT:
i haul ass to the fire station and get there just in time to jump into our rescue truck complete with 4 or 5 pairs of the jaws of life, various saws, and a whole bunch of other cool shite
we pull onto the major highway around here going north bound in the south bound lanes (when its night time and im tired the ride is very surreal with the lights and sirens) and i dont even notice whats our apparatus is doing (i.e. going the wrong way on a major highway...it was closed). we pull up, and i jump out of the rig to survey the scene...
HOLY HELL!
basically if an 18 wheeler got hit with an IED, this would be it. apparently the driver fell asleep and straight up plowed into another truck. his cab was non existent. in its place was a mangled mess of metal trapping the driver. the only discernible piece of the cab was the engine block. fluids were everywhere too. anwyay, i originally thought his face was some sort of foam from a seat. i did not put it together since the body was on the passenger side of the truck away from where one would expect the driver to be. the way the blood covered it hid its true identity. since this was my first "real" rescue call, i froze for about 5 seconds before someone barked orders.
i end up hooking up the electricity to some saws and then helping position and carrying the backboard to get this dude out. his grimaces of pain were very difficult to take. furthermore, his face (which i now recognized as a face and not a seat cushion) made horrendous contortions as he was moved
hes out of the "truck" and in the emt's hands now. guy was alright..compound fractures and massive cuts everywhere.
sorry for grammar or incoherence...im pretty wired and the bars are closed so what better way to cool down than to post on s2ki!. hope you all enjoy the story
EDIT:
I hope you don't see too many more of these.
