Holy C&$p ... Its over

Finally finally finally, over and done with. No more fire school...at least not until Driver/Pump Operator School (hopefully this coming september, assuming i make minimum staffing by march).

Got my spiffy black helmet and all that jazz, its definitely nice to be able to ride the engine in a supression capability rather than as "the emt" ridalong type dealy. No that there's anything wrong with EMS only providers but there's just something about hearing the tones drop for a supression call and having to hustle to the apparatus bay and gear up with the engine crew.

Rode the week before graduation with an all volunteer crew at one of the other volunteer houses in the county. Filling a slot left open by career drills. Meaning that district was left open for us to take all the calls that the career engine normally would have taken. My last couple days as a redhat, YIPEEE!! Maybe we'll actually get something good that day. Start the day by running 4 ALS Assist runs. Nothing too fancy, syncope, vertigo, diabetic crisis, and a MRSA patient, fun fun fun. Just when i was giving up hope of a supression call and had resigned myself to be "slave labor" to the medic crew for the rest of the day i sit down at the CAD terminal to see whats going on in the county, i refresh and scroll down. See an FTH (Fire in a townhouse) in waiting to be dispatched status, i click it open to see the suggested units and #1 on the list is E414B, i keep reading then it sinks in WE'RE E414B!!!! Holy crap, i jump up and i think my voice actually cracked as i kinda screamed townhouse!!!! Everyone gallops (yeah thats the best term i can use to describe 6 highly eager vollies charging to the apparatus bay) to the engine and gears up, i think we're dressed, buckled down, and on the road in record time...at least it feels like it. We're barreling down the road all the fun of lights and sirens and i look down to grab my helmet, DAMN RED HELMET!!!!!! means i'll be throwing ladders and basically anythign thats not inside, i remind myself one more week and then the sound of the radio chatter and sirens kinda wakes me up again, we're on our way to a real fire. Or so we thought, we get to the address and its kinda like hearding cats, there's engines everywhere, the truck and tower are sitting on teh side of the road waiting, in and out of office complexes looking for any sign of the reported fire. Nothing, a giant case of blueballs, as my officer on the day put it "a giant goat rope". Someone thought it would be fun to call in a false report of fire i guess. Oh well, pack down and head back to the station. Roll in and not 10 minutes later we're toned out again for an inside gas leak, kind of a big deal, more so than an outside leak since its a confined space and depending on the size of the leak the atmosphere in the space can become explosive fairly easily. Get there and well turns out to be really kinda nothing, a stove knob barely left on all day ... a little stinky but no real gas leak. All in all a good day 2 supression calls, one a letdown the other i actually dressed and charged a line and well did real firefightery stuff for the first time.

I've ridden a couple shifts with the career guys too, ran anther inside gas leak last night as well as an investigation for an acetylene cylinder left on the side of the road. Interesting times, slowly working my way up to my 30-40 calls to get minimum staffing status where i don't have to ride as an "other" and can fill a required slot on an engine shift.

I'll update either later today or tomorrow about some more interesting calls since fire school