Rescue 911 call

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certguy

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Remember the old Rescue 911 series ? Here's a call that would've been great for it . At the time I was living in Alpine , CA and working in San Diego for Schaefer Ambulance . I had to commute on interstate 8 , which was an experience . I would come across accidents on a fairly regular basis , but this one caught me by surprise . As I was going to work , a car 2 cars ahead of me suddenly lost control , went off the road , up an embankment , and rolled . The driver was ejected and I watched the car pivot over her , all the while trying not to become part of the wreck . It's one thing getting dispatched to this - you've got time to mentally prepare . It's totally another watching it go down . I'm not ashamed to admit , it shook me for a couple seconds . I got out , grabbed my jump kit and started toward the crash . After a quick check for additional victims , I started assessing the driver , a female in her 50's . As I was doing this , the driver of the car ahead of me came up and identified herself as a CNA . She was still shook up , having barely missed the rolling car . I sent her to the nearest call box to call it in and told her to tell dispatch an EMT is on scene requesting Lifeflight . I told her to come back and let me know they were on the way . ( yeah , this was in the stone age before cell phones ) My pt. was unconscious , unresponsive , with multiple fractures , several large lacerations , and extreme shock . I had my hands full . Then a driver a couple cars behind me came up and told me he'd control the traffic to make the scene safer . He was an off - duty cop with an armload of flares . After that , 2 off - duty firefighters from Camp Pendleton showed up and asked if I could use some help . I said sure and put one to work taking vitals and the other handleing in - line stabilization . The FD had a hard time getting to us due to traffic , and by the time the first unit arrived ( the BC ) , we had airway , high flow o2 , c - collar splints , dressings , and ongoing assessment all in place . They just needed to get her on the backboard , start IV's and head for the landing site . One minor glitch though . The chief walked up just as the chopper arrived over the scene requesting ground contact and landing site . OOPS , dispatch forgot to tell the units the chopper was responding . The pt. made it and I found out later that day , she was the night supervisor at my wife's work . The crash was caused by a blown tire . To this day , and at that time , I was unsaved , but I do believe god put us all in the right place and time to save that woman . The only way it could've gone better , would've been if a medic rig showed up . It still amazes me how everything just fell into place on such a serious call .

CERTGUY
 
Good story, amazing how things can come in line. I was in one of the episodes of Rescue 911. It was a pain.. the directors wanted to tell us how it occurred and recreate it. My partner was a staunch person in not "obeying" orders.. so our film length was shorter than it could had been...lol

R/r 911
 
Our agency was also involved in a 911 episode. The really funny part was the guy who did the ropes work on the original call (it was a cliff rescue) was this local legend in his 80's. The film crew brought out their 'experts' to recreate all the 'dangerous' stuff. The Experts looked at the cliff and said they weren't going to do it. They ended up using our old guy! He's like.. 'sure, I do this kind of stuff for fun' they're getting him to sign releases and all kinds of cover their butts paperwork and he's just grabbing a rope and going for it.
 
certguy said:
The FD had a hard time getting to us due to traffic , and by the time the first unit arrived ( the BC ) , we had airway , high flow o2 , c - collar splints , dressings , and ongoing assessment all in place .
Click to expand...

Do you carry an O2 bottle in your jump kit? How do you get it filled up when it runs out?

I just put together a jump kit because I go camping and airsofting with friends every now and then, and it's usually pretty removed from civilization and therefore EMS. I was thinking about getting an O2 bottle, but the only way I could think of to refill it would be to "borrow" some O2 from the cascade at the station where I volunteer. I know that's probably inappropriate, especially for someone who's not an actual FF and who's new. So I decided against it.
 
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seanm028 said:
Do you carry an O2 bottle in your jump kit? How do you get it filled up when it runs out?

I I was thinking about getting an O2 bottle, but the only way I could think of to refill it would be to "borrow" some O2 from the cascade at the station where I volunteer. I know that's probably inappropriate, especially for someone who's not an actual FF and who's new. So I decided against it.
Click to expand...

The FF cascade system is 'air' not O2.
 
Rescue 911 con't

That call happened back in the days before the FDA said we can't carry o2 in our personal kits . Mine was better stocked than some of the ones in our rigs , so I got permission from our field supervisor to use it when I was on duty and was able to borrow a small tank , regulator , and demand valve . I still think the FDA didn't think that decision through . If we have a duty to respond to incidents we come across , and are qualified to use o2 on duty , what's the difference if we're off ? We should be able to use all the skills we're qualified for .

CERTGUY
 
Oh, weird. I didn't even know there was a regulation against it. Glad I didn't buy it, then!
 
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