While washing the ambulance, I made a mistake

[Hockey]

that I'll never do again



We didn't run any calls other then do a standby at a local place that is very muddy, and very dusty. No problem, we get back to the base, nothing going on we decided to wash the rig up since nobody has washed it lately it seems.

Well we have the mod so of course, everything was stuck on the rig.


Well stupid ole me thinks to myself hmmm, I'm betting that nobody has ever washed the top of the rig (top of the box). We look for a ladder and of course can't find one. I say forget it, I'll just monkey my way up there from the front of the rig. No problems. Get up there and of course, its dusty, dirty, gross and yeah. So I'm spraying up there, and crawling around as I'm cleaning and must have hit where I spilled some soap.

Slid right off the truck and right on my front and side. Knocked the wind out of me pretty good and cut a few cuts. Let me tell ya, thats a lot higher drop then you think though. Shift was over almost and waited till relief got in there and got dragged to the hospital to get checked out. No broken bones or any of the fun stuff but got called dummy (other word was used) a lot :blush:

So todays lesson is, don't climb on top of the box of a mod to wash it.


Gotta admit though, I never thought that would or could happen


But I'll bet I wasn't the first one

 

[mikie]

Ouch! Sorry buddy!

I'll just monkey my way up there from the front of the rig. No problems.

Were not you concerned about dents or scratching the paint?

 

[blterry]

Were not you concerned about dents or scratching the paint?

Yeah tell us how the truck turned up

 

[guardian528]

Were not you concerned about dents or scratching the paint?

probably wouldn't scratch with rubber soles, and i've stood on plenty of hoods and didn't dent them.

i can see what he was trying to do, because in my opinion the roof is the most important part of a car to wash. the roof generally has the most surface area to get battered by the elements and by bird crap and other things harmful to paint, but few people take the time to wash the roof because they don't see it. i always see these old cars with their roof peeling but nothing else

 

[Hockey]

Were not you concerned about dents or scratching the paint?

No dents its very well made. As long as you know where to step you're good

Scratches? Nah not with rubber sole boots. I was half kneeling anyway.

Feels like I got kicked by 2 horses

 

[Hal9000]

Interesting

Sounds like no fun. At least you remembered to put up the windows first.

One service I work for actually has a little platform with stairs from which you can power wash the top. Our mods collect so many bugs right by the front lightbars that it's depressing to look at after you've done a couple calls. I can't stand when people come back (Usually from LDTs.) and leave them all bug-splattered.

 

[Kendall]

YES! Our service doesn't have a power washer... we're old school and still scrub it down, we don't have any brushes that are small enough to get in between the cab and the lightbar - its so annoying!

 

[JAM-EMT]

I like where I work, we wash the trucks after every shift so we always look presentable and its never too dirty. I think I will try to clean the top now though..lol.

 

[WannaBeFlight]

In the words of Bill Engval: HERE"S YOUR SIGN :excl: Glad you are okay! What did your supervisor think? :wacko:

 

[mycrofft]

It's not the rubber soles, it's the grit on 'em.

We used to use a squeegee to get the gross water off the units, but the trick was you had to have it CLEAN beforehand. One new guy took a squeegee and dragged grit across the painrjob with it, had sprayed cleaner and a litle water then figured he could lean it like a windshield.
We also had a 1943 Maytag open tub washer with power ringer. Washer was inop, but we used the wringer (strictly called a "mangle"; see where they got the verb and adjective?) on our chamois's. Talk about dangerous...