WHAM! Crunch! Thunk! My Tuesday morning late start was morphing into brunch as I sat in the last car struck at a red-light intersection.
As we discussed in Spheres of Influence this will add to my reputation backpack:
Every firefighter has a reputation that begins the first day they enter the department. The reputation grows with each activity, on or off-duty adventure and emergency incident. Truths, rumors and stories fill the backpack.
SOME CONTENTS OF MY REPUTATION BACKPACK
I am a motorhead without a good driving reputation. My backpack includes a couple of broken mirrors, dented rear ambulance bumpers, a left-rear corner strobe from a pumper, left front suspension of a staff car, a pumper windshield and the front end of a 1987 Chevy Suburban.
I was filling in as an ems supervisor when I crashed the EMS 6 Suburban. That cost a promotion – the written reprimand put me in the “do not promote” penalty box for a year. Died #1 on that EMS Supervisor eligible list.
Five years and two more promotional exams later I finally was getting promoted.
I celebrated by destroying a nearly new Oldsmobile 88 in front of Fire Station 18. The dispatch was “car crushed by truck in front of station.” At least I picked a station that houses a heavy rescue company.
While strapped to a backboard and waiting for an MRI, the supervising trauma service nurse stopped by and commented “you have gotten balder and fatter.” A true statement since she taught me her secrets of perfect IV sticks when I was a paramedic student.
THEY NEVER FORGET
Yesterday’s wreck, for me, was minor. My FaceBook comment with the picture:
Morning meeting with C-shift Engine 440, Medic 421 and Medic 433. Short discussion on paramedics clearing spines in the field. Nice to meet some old friends.
Now I gotta finish paperwork, I am in the front of this four-car applied physics demonstration. Gonna need a new bumper cover.
Comments and emails were supportive, ball-busting and reminding me of other driving misadventures. I appreciated hearing from colleagues from the era when we believed that we could save the world. Handled 10 incidents and drove 100 miles a day on the EMS 5 car.
RELIVING A REPRESSED MEMORY
Tom H. reminded me of the remote-controlled crash of the EMS 5 Ford Explorer into the back bay door of Fire Station 14. A vehicle with a too-small alternator supported by an even smaller battery. In the rain you could use the red lights/siren or the wipers/defroster, but not both.
Winter nights I would leave the truck running, with doors locked, at station visits. It would have been prudent to put the transmission in park and apply the parking brake. When the truck cycled into a higher idle, the vehicle moved forward.
Hilarity ensued when I and others tried to get into the locked truck before it struck the bay door.
The battalion chief failed to appreciate the hilarity.
Edited to add: I was not the worst ems supervisor during that era, two colleagues have more interesting backpacks. One managed to total two Suburbans. The other one was required to have a driver for a period of time, a lifetime of at-the-edge driving incidents catching up with risk management.
Mike “FossilMedic” Ward
URBAN COMMANDER is an irregular feature aimed at career staff working in metro-sized fire departments. It will cover topics that were too esoteric, short-term or “sharp” for the Fire Officer: Principles and Practice textbook. Click “Urban Commander” under Categories to get all of the articles.
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