water department

This is how we do it.

So today I got to work and saw that I was on the Engine, not the Medic. Which is good because I wanted to take my final Monday and needed the time today to study for the exam and work on my PowerPoint presentation for my research paper.** Little did I know that as the tones dropped before the official change of shift and we scrambled to switch our gear over to relieve the off coming crew, that this was just a taste of what was to come.

Instead of the fire department, we became the water department. We ran "water hazard" calls (aka: the pipes in my house froze, busted and are now spewing out water) all day and into the night for a total of 24 calls. For a station that averages 2-5 calls a day, that is a big change. We had 2 EMS calls (normal), 2 fire alarm calls and 20 water hazard calls. And to think I was looking forward to a slow day of getting stuff done for class. We had breakfast at 11am, bought lunch at 1pm, ate lunch at 4pm, and had dinner around 9pm. The good news is we never got bored.

Other highlights: I mastered the art of flipping the bottom of my pant legs to slide easily into the boots of my turnout gear. I learned how to shut off the water from the street and also in the house. I learned how to figure out where the power box was located and shut power off. We got to play burglar and break into 95% of the houses (because they were either unoccupied or the people were not home) and we never once had to force entry. It is a little scary how easy it was to break into peoples homes.

Another bonus - I got to play with water. I like water way better than fire. I mentioned at one point that day, as we were squeegeeing three inch deep water out of an abandoned home, that I wished people's homes caught on water instead of on fire. Because I would totally like to run into buildings and fight water. That would be fun. Apparently the boys did not agree with me. I got a few dirty looks. Oh well.

All in all it was a good day. And luckily I have the option of taking the final Monday or Tuesday. I need a long nap. Looks like Tuseday will be the day.

** sidenote: On the Medic unit, after spending an hour on a call I still have to come back to the firehouse and sit in front of a computer for another hour re-doing the report on a tedious computer program so we can have statistics. It feels like I am always on the computer doing reports. The Engine crew goes to the call for 20 minutes, goes home and gets to relax. I get jealous of them getting to hang out with each other while I am trapped in the radio room chained to a computer. And while I love my job, having to spend a good chunk of my life on the computer doing stats makes me resent it sometimes.

PSA: prevent your pipes from freezing it will save you money and us time.