Station Life of a Firefighter #1

So I was on shift yesterday, 3-12-18, and it was a little different of a day than normal. We did our shift change like normal at 0800 and then we had a training opportunity at Richmond International Airport in the morning so I began my day as the Driver of our Fire Engine. We went over to the airport and toured the ground level as well as the high concern areas. It was fairly basic training but was interesting to see some of the hangers and stuff...the Governor keeps his plane there as well and we did watch time take off. We finished up our training and ate lunch at the airport (hotdogs and baked beans) and headed back to our station.

Next, we had to complete our daily checks of the vehicles that we would normally do in the morning, but couldn’t because of the early training. Each day of the week also comes with a specific duty as well. So yesterday was Monday and every Monday, we have to do a larger scale check of the vehicles. It’s a pain but necessary. It’s a weird shift because I switched over to the medic at this point because of a staffing issue.

After a couple hours of maintenance, our first call came in around 430pm. The first call was for an 8 year old boy who had fallen out of his seat on the school bus and hit his head on a piece of metal. When we got there he had a nice size knot, a small laceration, and a controlled bleed to the back of his head. We took him to a nearby hospital and continued on.

Next, around 6pm we responded to a motor vehicle accident on a nearby Inerstate where a lady lost control of her vehicle in the snow and wrecked into the median. We took her to a nearby hospital for an injury to her knee and kept pushing.

On our way back to the station from that call we received another to respond for an altered mental status. This was around 745 pm. The 70’s year old man ended up being ok enough to make a decision that he didn’t want to go to the hospital, so we headed on back to the station.

We received a call around 1030 pm for difficult breathing in a 60’s year old female who was in rough shape. We rushed her to a nearby hospital and they got her taken care of quick and breathing much better.

Last call was around 615am for an 80’s year old male who was sick and dizzy, he was doing alright but we took him to a hospital of his choice to get further evaluated.

Well that’s the shift, my next one is on Thursday so I should be writing on Friday, hope you enjoyed!