The Life and Trials of FFcowboy

For those that have talked about work with me know that 99% of the time I get to sit around watching T.V. or sleep very soundly in a comfortable bed. Every once in a while I’m actually required to work while I’m in a station earning my paycheck. This past Saturday was the 1% day.

Before I dive too deep into the story, I must provide a little background. On most regular working days I get the pleasure of driving the big red firetruck. Occasionally I’m required to be the officer in charge. This only happens when 1 of 3 people is gone, either my Captain, the Captain at Station 4 or the Battalion Chief. When one of them is gone I transform into the company officer. This means that everything that goes on during the day is my responsibility. This usually makes for some stress filled days in the rather stress free life of a fireman. With that explained, let the story continue.

The Saturday started like any other Saturday, with the only change being that I’m in charge. The first look at the training calender showed an easy day of relaxing in front of our T.V. We did our truck checks and were starting the Saturday ritual of cooking a fat filled breakfast of sausage, eggs (with cheese of course), and pancakes. The peaceful conversations about home life stopped as the dispatch center dropped the department’s all call, as well as many other station tones. Two of the pairs of ears perked up to see who was going to work, while I dreaded what could be coming. As an acting officer I’ve managed to dodge every major call possible. The first two trucks out of the dispatchers mouth were MY engine and MY tanker. That could mean only one thing……FIRE. We now listen to the rest of the dispatch as we start the run to the trucks. My driver remembered to unplug the sausage that was cooking on the griddle. We started to pile on all of our gear when I heard the building name and address. I cursed as I realized that the fire was 2 blocks from my station and I would have to be in command for a while. What a first major call to catch, a building fire at a restarunt. We pulled the trucks out and I looked in the direction of the address and could see smoke pouring out the roof. It took about 1 minute to drive the 2 blocks and it seemed to take 3 seconds. My heart is racing and my mind is swimming as I try to remember everything I’ve ever learned about smoke and what it means.

We pull up and I get greeted by the manager that was there to open the store. She tells me that she heard sounds from the kitchen and that the smoke was starting to get thick. I asked if anyone was still inside, praying she said no. Fortunately no one was in the building and that allowed me the first “good” moment on this already crazy scene. I did a lap around the building and didn’t have fire poking out anywhere, which meant I would have to look inside to attempt to locate it. When I made it back to the front door I stopped and tried to look inside, but the door was black, not a good sign. I opened the glass door and got pushed to the ground by some of the thickest, blackest smoke I’ve seen. So much for seeing the fire on the inside. I couldn’t see more than 2 feet in front of me. We broke the windows to help get the smoke out of the building. Soon there after the rest of the responding units arrived and I got relieved of command.

All of this took place in the first 3 minutes of this call that lasted almost 6 hours. We got dispatched on the building fire at 9:15 in the morning and didn’t get back into the station until almost 3:45 that afternoon. By about 6:00 that evening we were done putting our truck back together and cleaning all of the equipment we used. We ate our first meal of the day at 7pm. The fire was extinguished after about 45 minutes on scene and the building left standing, but severely damaged. The rest of the time on scene was spent overhauling the building and investigating the fire.

Filed under: FFcowboy