Firefighter War Stories

I'm a Firefighter at a large Fire Department at an extremely busy Firehouse, These are just a few of my stories.

#1 Get disaptched at 2 A.M. to a vehicle accident, dispatch updates as an auto fire, then first arriving PD officer updates that a victim is entrapped in drivers seat. I'm Driving this shift, hauling ass to get on scene hoping we have enough time to get to the guy before its too late. Pull up on scene to find a pick up truck hit a tree and a power pole and was fully involved, meaning the truck was now a ball of fire with a vague silhouette of a person still in it. I'm focused on getting water setup to put on the car for the rest of my crew as a power line falls and starts arcing around the ground surrounding the truck and fire creating an even bigger predicament.. We attempt to gain access to the vehicle while also attempting to extinguish the fire. The truck is damaged beyond the ability to gain access without using our extrication tools to cut him out but at this point it was beyond obvious that there was no signs of life any longer... He was most likely dead before we even arrived.. After we extinguish the fire, we have to hang around for the medical examiner and get tasked for body removal from the vehicle.. Imagine what was once a 250 lb 6ft dude now burnt to a crisp having to be removed from what was left of the wreckage.. Not. Fun. The smell is something I will never forget as well as the sight. especially having to out hands on and remove and package the body for the medical examiner... I could go the rest of my career without having to run another car fire with a burn victim..

#2 This one was just as crazy as it sounds.. Man was most likely texting and driving, veered off of the interstate and flew off a 20 ft embankment and flipped his truck several times and was finally ejected from the vehicle. Upon arrival, He was laying a good ways from the vehicle with his chest cracked open, still breathing, his heart visibly hanging out of his chest cavity... Yeah... So, What do you do? You do your damnest to attempt life saving interventions.. Not easy.. I attempted to relieve pressure on the by slightly re-positioning it to where circulation was more viable. Actually worked for a minute until we realized the entire extent of injuries. We then realized his left lung was detached and 5 ft away from his body, obvious spinal injury, brain trauma, neck fracture, and who knows what else. His respirations turned to what you would consider agonal, which essentially is your bodies last reaction before death of an attempt to breathe which is futile due to the lack of communication with brain and heart, as the body shuts down. Just about Felt his damn heart stop beating in my hand like the above scene from Indiana Jones Temple of Doom. He was beyond help at this point and later found that a portion of a tree had ripped his chest cavity open upon being ejected... Dont text and drive, and where your seat belt. He very well could have lived if so.

#3 Seemed we were being dispatched to the typical wreck where someone ran a stop sign and got hit by another vehicle. Not Quite... Old lady in her car pulled out in front of a box truck at a 4 way stop. He was unable to stop in time or react, and thus hit her from the drivers side front. We get there, everything seems to be going alright, She is talking to us and answering questions but door is stuck shut. Slight amount of blood around her neck but unable to find the source. As we start to pull her out, there is massive pool of blood under her in the seat that was coming from a neck laceration behind her head where the seat belt had evidently ripped through her thin skin and ran down her back... Alright, we can handle it, not the end of the world. We try to control the bleeding, slightly successful, and then pull her all the way out to find that her right foot was dangling off by skin at the ankle.. Just about a full amputation that could not be seen under the dash until we pulled her out. At this point she is going downhill quick and we do our best to rapidly get her in the ambulance. Turns out, they got her to the hospital, she went into hypovolemic shock from blood loss. unfortunately, She did not make it. Shows you how quickly one can rapidly decline in a matter of minutes..

#4 This one was one of the worst calls and best calls of my career thus far.. In fact, I made and entire imgur post to get it off my chest about a year ago. Here is the post to save some time and heartache on my end http://imgur.com/gallery/4Wl7vq8 Long story short if you dont read it, We are working a wreck on the interstate, a young mother who was driving, stopped in middle of interstate, and was hit from behind. Car looked almost exactly like the above google image.. One child was crushed out of the back of the car and hanging out of side of car when we arrived on scene. He did not make it.. the extent of his injuries were beyond help and obvious death was apparent.. We worked on getting mom out and then started hearing cries from the ball of metal that the back of the 4 door car had become. Put of that crushed metal we saw a tiny hand reaching out and immediately began attempting to cut out the other child we did not know about. 20 minutes alter we pull a 2 year old out with significant injuries but stable. At the end of the day, A life was lost but another was saved. A very bitter sweet moment...

#5 We get a medical call for a Infant not breathing. Never a good sign.. We arrive on scene to find the frantic mother confused and attempting CPR. We immediately take the child and continue CPR in an attempt to hopefully bring her back.. Ambulance arrives, we run, child in hand to the back of the ambulance to continue care on the way to the hospital. All lifesaving interventions were unsuccessful and the infant most likely died form SIDS ( Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) a very tragic and mostly unpredictable condition that proved tragic for yet another family.. These calls I always hate..

#6 Dispatched out to a house fire with confirmed smoke and flames showing. Shits gonna get real. Arrive on scene expecting to go fight the fiery dragon and instead get assigned patient care for a victim in the front yard. First thoughts were that someone had inhaled some smoke and was frantic and scared. When I walk over, I instead find an adult male covered in blood while blood was spurting from an arterial bleed on his right arm. Tourniquet Time! Wrapped that thing down and did our best to control the bleeding. He had lost a lot prior to arrival. He was rapidly declining so I rode in with the ambulance crew for an extra set of hands. Had lacerations all over his body and actually wasnt burned anywhere. Super confused as to where the injuries came from and he is unresponsive. After getting him to hospital, turns out that he attempted to commit suicide by burning the house down while still inside but instead realize it was too damn hot and a terrible idea so he jumped out of the window which his only escape left. as a result, he dragged his entire body across shards of broken glass in the window sill but made an eventual recovery. Suicide isnt worth it guys..

#7 One of many interstate wrecks, a semi ran off the road with a fully loaded trailer, flips and hits a tree down an embankment resulting in very similiar damage as the above picture. Got excited thinking we were about to do some life saving and cut some dude out of this ball of wreckage. Turns out after looking all aorund, he comes walking up, stating he kicked and crawled his way out of the front and crawled up the embankment with only a forehead scratch to show for it. Happens all the time.... The craziest looking wrecks can have the least injured patients...

Hopefully this wasnt all typed in vein and you enjoyed it. If So, I will gladly make another and maybe even another! Also, for all the Imgur doctors and firefighters, or know it alls that feel like critiquing these incidents, dont waste your time. But I am all for educated conversation. Also, I did not violate any HIPPA laws and all these pictures were taken off of google images and are NOT of the actual incidents talked about but they do however resemble as close to what I could visually portray to all of you for each one.