volunteer

Too many volunteers? Or Too many cooks in the kitchen.

~ Ron Walker ~ 20 Comments

I was mowing a small section of the lawn Tuesday morning. It wasn’t real hot, but I hadn’t felt 100% for a couple of days. Didn’t take me 10 minutes, but it was really humid out there. I got through, came inside and checked my blood pressure and pulse. Pulse was 88bpm and I thought that was odd as I never run over 65-70 after exertion due to the meds they have me on to control my heartbeat. BP was slightly elevated. I decided to lay down for a nap. After an hour, I got up and felt awful. Shaky.

Pulse at that time was 120 and BP 191/102 way above normal for me (120/80). So even though I’m not one to complain, often waiting until it’s nearly too late to seek help, I decided to do it differently this time. I had Michelle call the paramedics to check me out since my heart felt funny and there was tightness in my chest and throat.

Keystone Medics, I’ll need a bigger yard.

Let me start by saying. I am a staunch supporter of medical personnel. They are the front-line defense in times of emergency. I am, however, very intolerant of inefficiency and stupidity. So I call it as I see it, as fairly as possible. I have blogged before regarding volunteer emergency services here in Alabama. I have given praise in the past and criticism as well if deserved. Sitting here, not feeling all that well, I did hear some of the traffic on the police scanner here on the desk. I thought it was a lot of chatter for one call to check out a person with chest pains, but didn’t think any more of it. I figured, either they like to talk a lot, or I must be a celebrity and didn’t know it. It sounded like an awful lot of radio traffic for one call. The first unit paramedic drove past the house which the address was plainly marked on the mail box by the driveway in 6-inch letters 4121. He thought the call was 4131, Michelle had to run outside and flag him back toward the house. Then the true Keystone syndrome kicked in. Three, count them, THREE ambulances arrive and fill the front yard. So we now have three ambulances and a paramedic truck. We told them on the phone it was chest pains, and that we needed a unit for assessment. So rational people would expect a medic unit and maybe one ambulance. However, the med units here also transport. Basically, I had four ambulances in the yard.

The men on the primary (first in the house) unit hooked me up and determined I was indeed in Atrial fibrillation status. Since I was ambulatory, and they didn’t transport to the city 10 miles from us, I opted to have Michelle drive me.

12 guys standing around.

I thought perhaps having moved some miles from our last residence close to a small city with it’s own fire department I wouldn’t be seeing volunteer units racing to each and every call. Apparently being just outside the city limits, we fall into the first arrive, first paid category. I have mentioned before, volunteer fire units get around $32 each time a member rolls and arrives at a call. So anyone and everyone within fuel tank range apparently decided to try to collect on my single medical call. What if, someone several miles away, had been in cardiac arrest or had a limb amputated and had to wait for one of these speed racers to leave my residence and get to them. I mean, really. Three ambulances and a paramedic unit that doubles as an ambulance for one call? Anyhow, once I was checked out, Michelle and I thanked everyone, which took a while with about 12 guys standing around. The neighbors next door came over. We rarely see them, but I guess it looked like a mass shooting might have occurred and people love to gossip.

I would then begin the adventure in the hospital that was overcrowded, but that will be the next post. Gives me a little something for post material, and keeps this one from being so long. Suffice it to say, I am back home after a 26-hour stay at the large hospital in the capital city, 10 miles from here. I’m fine now with the Atrial fibrillation under control but just worn out.

On the bright side, the “Chaplain Truck” didn’t show up. I might have suffered a cardiac event at the sight.

Correction: Michelle says there was a tanker fire truck and another paramedic truck. Total of 6 units in the yard.

Volunteer Firefighting: Keystone Cops version. How to be inefficient without trying.

~ Ron Walker ~ 25 Comments

I had to wait two days to post this. The anger and frustration I felt, was just too great to attempt a measured, objective post. I apologize in advance for a rather bitter, dark, angry, and very long post. There are great professional and highly trained volunteer firefighters out there, my frustration, is just from what I have actually witnessed. I also learned from police work, that in the heat (no pun intended) of the moment, A minute can seem like an hour. Also, variables like heavy equipment can make people move slowly, however anyone with a professional eye can see a lack of enthusiasm and urgency, or cavalier attitudes.

Tuesday night, I was just preparing to shut down my computer at about 10:45 pm. On the police scanner I heard a call go out regarding a fire. Of all the strange coincidences that could occur, it was the man’s home whom we are buying our trailer from. It was on fire. Michelle and I drove the 1 mile and arrived just before the large fire trucks, this is where the nightmare begins. As we park you can see there was a “command vehicle” which is basically worthless in my opinion, other than getting to paint up an SUV and decorate it with lights. The firetruck/s are pulling up as well.

Initial arrival

As we pull up, flames are roaring out of a room on the end of the residence. Mr. Jimmy (81 years old) his nephew 15, and his daughter who has heart problems, and is on a list for transplant, are sitting on the ground. She is crying, begging someone to get her “babies” out. Her two dogs that are still in the trailer. Only one room is on fire at this time. The dogs are, one 2 rooms away that had run and hid under a chest of drawers, and one on the far end of the home that was not involved in fire for a while. You have to be there to feel the anguished cries of someone that fears for their pets and no one seems to care.

No One seemed to have a sense of urgency

No One seemed to have a sense of urgency as they arrived on the scene. Remember, these are units that respond many times a week to fires of different kinds. They are fully equipped with great firefighting gear. We stood there in amazement as it took nearly 15 minutes to get two hoses pulled from two large trucks. Most of the firemen are just standing around, doing nothing in full gear at the front door. Finally, in my video after a good while you see 4 men pulling a hose with some urgency. That will be the only urgency you see in the whole incident.

15 mins later they pull a hose, 2 deputies, ambulance driver, one firefighter. Other firefighters standing around front door talking.

Odd thing is, three of them were not firefighters, they were ambulance drivers from an ambulance company and deputies, only ONE pulling that hose was a fireman. They begin spraying water in the front door, down the hallway towards the burning room. It’s doing nothing for the fire roaring in the bedroom. I finally ask why they don’t apply water into the burning room through the open window. “We don’t want to drive the fire through the rest of the trailer” he says. After 30 minutes they finally pull the hose from the front door, and blast water in the window, putting the fire out in less than 30 secs. There were 3 large firetrucks there, but only two hoses deployed?

 

No firefighters made an attempt to look

There was no sense of coordination, no urgency, no logical assault on the fire, no concern over the pets. Of course human life is often valued over animal life when a choice has to be made. The owner of the home says they were trying to contain the fire with fire extinguishers and had it all but out when the first firefighter arrived. They were ushered out of the home (naturally) but no firefighters made an attempt to look in the rooms to retrieve the pets, even though they were given exact locations where the pets were. The fire was allowed to grow while the fire fighters stood around at the front door, Taking an inordinate amount of time to get a water line to fight the fire.

This is what I have learned from this horrific incident, and another incident here in our park within a single year, that I also personally witnessed. Information from current, and former volunteers, on this scene that night.

  • They usually automatically count a trailer fire as a total loss anyway. I guess that accounts for the non-urgency. However by allowing one to burn destroys many family items that might have been saved with a little effort to contain the fire more.
  • They don’t put a priority on animals/pets. So the cute little refrigerator magnet they give out or sell for donations, mean nothing.
  • There were about 30+ personnel there, most doing nothing. The most active people were the County Deputies and personnel from a private ambulance company, doing work that the firefighters that were standing around should have been doing.
  • There were at least 4 “Command Vehicles”, 3 full size pumper trucks, and about 25 other personal vehicles of responders.
  • Sources told me that this is a bad practice the departments in this area of response have of allowing structures to just burn instead of applying effort.
  • One source said two family members had volunteered/joined, and then left, after not being given a suitable answer for allowing structures to simply burn for lack of effort.

We know that if we ever have a fire, all is lost. There is no way this group, or apparently many of the departments within miles of us, have the training and leadership to efficiently battle a fire. There were 3 separate department entities there, and numerous private volunteers, a one room fire could not be contained in an efficient manner.

I plan on delving deeper in this. I have not verified it from actual active volunteer members, but a former volunteer source stated the department receives a small amount per call responded to, and each volunteer that shows up is compensated. This would explain the mad reckless dashes, to far away calls in other jurisdictions in private vehicles. As I stated, I would like to update this with official sources. This is something that needs more improvement since lives do depend on their skills. I intend on shining a light on the departments that are poorly trained and cause unnecessary loss of property and life, be it human or animal.

Lastly, here is a video I pieced together from the 3 hours were spent on the scene with our friends during the fire. The nine-year-old dog found in the farthest area from the fire was deceased from smoke inhalation. It was revived however. The large 6-month old puppy had run and hidden under a chest or drawers scared, and snapped at the boy when he tried to get him. They hoped the fire department would go in quickly since they were there with gloves and suits on and save the puppy, which at that time was a good two rooms from the fire. However, the firefighters made no attempt to enter, or start fighting the fire for over 15 mins, and the smoke and intense heat as the fire increased, overcame the dog, it’s throat was burned to badly from the intense heat, to incubate him.

One Hero of this entire group

There was one firefighter, a female that was also a Vet Tech in personal life. She entered the building while it was more involved, and located the 9-year old small dog in the far end of the trailer. She then went in later as the others finally stopped standing around, and put some water in the hallway, and retrieved the larger 6 month old puppy. She work feverishly doing CPR but it was too injured to be revived. You will note, that while everyone else was just standing around talking, she had retrieved the pet, and she and an ambulance driver are carrying it. He is from a personal company. Why were not 2 firefighters carrying the animal.

I failed to get this firefighters name, but she went above and beyond.

Comments welcome,

When the emergency help, is worse than the problem.

~ Ron Walker ~ 12 Comments

Let me start by saying, volunteer emergency persons, especially firefighters/medics, are a good thing to have. Many times they may be all that stands between life and death. That being said, they should also show restraint, professionalism, and leave the egos out of the job. There are some links in this post to previous post I have done that make for pretty good reading.

I don’t know about other areas of the nation, but here in the South we tend to have a myriad of people that join the volunteer departments that have huge egos. While I can’t lump all of them in the same basket just because of a few, I’d have to put the percentage of those in it for the adrenaline rush and status, at around 80%. When you see a jacked up 4 wheel drive truck, with 30 inch wheels go screaming by, with only a vehicle theft-alarm and some white strobe lights in the grill, sporting a muffler system so loud you can’t hear his make-shift siren, you know you’re in the south.

I was sitting here dodging the heat outside and realized I had posted this to my forum but forgot to put it here. After watching some regular large tired  white 4X4 pickup go rushing past the house with strobe lights in the front and rear flashing and some type of siren that could barely be heard above the clamor of his “Flow Master” exhaust system.  It reminded me of the piece I had done on the Chaplin Unit and the downed tree. So without further delay let’s get that out there.

Here in this area they dress their vehicles up with all kinds of lights. Not just enough to get by safely, they look like ornate Christmas trees screaming down the road. This post was prompted this morning from a near head-on collision between a volunteer (unmarked) vehicle and myself. The unmarked large pickup truck with only it’s flashers on moved into my lane in a no passing zone forcing me to take partially to the shoulder of the road. The irony is the person was responding to a head-on collision that had just occurred about 7 miles down the road.

Give me a Badge

Even though they have modern radio communications, they over respond most of the time, leaving their own areas of coverage with no one to respond to an emergency. They love to direct traffic in the hopes of getting to put someone in jail over not following their directions and ending up in an argument with “emergency personnel” at an accident scene. A special clause in the law written just for them.

I watched in wonder a few months back as a trailer burned here in the park, a firetruck arrived, but they realized after 10 minutes that they did not have a fully filled water truck. They also stood around debating whether to kick the door in because the owner was at work, to save the animals inside that people were telling them were there. Two cats, a snake, and a lovely dog perished while they debated. The scene was pandemonium. Approx 30 vehicles of all types parked in the roadway with various types of lights, many with just 4 way flashers on.

Someone forgot the water…

30+ responders, a firetruck with fully dressed/equipped emergency firefighters and they couldn’t decide to kick in a door and save the animals that were barking in the one room that burned. Oh yes, let’s not forget they brought the truck, but forgot to make sure it was full of water.

Sadly volunteer firefighting has become more of a business in some areas. They get funds from federal grants based on how many “calls” they respond to. They have even been known to “generate” their own business. This results in all of them from surrounding areas running over one another to get there first, to claim the call. Federal funds means free money, which opens some departments to the temptation of misuse.

Volunteer firefighting used to be an honorable calling. A service you gave of your time to help your fellow man for very little reward. You held bake sales and donation drives. You cobbled together equipment to serve. Now it has learned to nurse at the breast of the federal government funds, this invariably leads to corruption with most. They also don’t seem to screen volunteers for egos, or maybe they rely on recruiting those with egos just to fill slots to get funds for training and equipment.

It is a sad change that I have witnessed over the last 30+ years. From a time when people responded to help others, with just your flashers running and driving as safely as possible, to dressed up personal vehicles with tons of flashing lights doing 70-80mph. NONE, of these vehicles are “legal” unless approved by the director of public safety of the state, or a police chief. How many of the fore mentioned persons do you think will sign off on being responsible/liable, for the driving of a personally owned volunteer firefighter vehicle.

Comments welcome,

A couple Alabama homemade emergency response vehicles.

Volunteer Firefighter Assistant Chief charged with Arson (Monday Musings)

~ Ron Walker ~ 1 Comment

Let’s start by prefacing this as I often times do, that not all volunteer Fire Fighters are bad, just as all Police can’t be lumped in with one or two bad ones. Now that it’s out-of-the-way…

You may recall my post of July 27th about the escalating craziness to raise money or get extra federal funds for responding to as many calls as possible. It seems there was a reason for the extra activity in our area with all the screaming sirens and vehicles. I’ve never heard this many sirens in the city, they are constantly running up and down the road here. Some are legitimate vehicle crashes and brush fires.

It seems the Assistant Chief of a Volunteer Fire Department located just a few miles away, who just happens to have the same last name of the Fire Chief but no one is confirming relationship at this time, decided to drum up some extra fire calls. In August (right after my earlier post) there were 4 suspicious fires of vacant homes. Now it seems that the Assistant Chief has been charged in August with at least 1 of them.

Kind of creepy feeling when you depend on them to provide service to you in time of

Nothing says Dedication like wearing your Department shirt for your Mug Shot
Nothing says Dedication like wearing your Department shirt for your Mug Shot

need. While researching that Department this morning relating to the Arson I noticed that in the same month (August 27th) that the Assistant Chief was arrested, the Treasurer and her husband were arrested for misuse of Department funds.

The investigation was led by Lt. T. Evans, who said the two are accused of using a fire department debit card to pay for personal matters, such as their house needs and utilities.

Where do they find these people. I remember while working in a small Police Department for a short time one of the officers reporting for duty remarked about a grass/brush fire at the edge of town. He jokingly asked the Chief why he hadn’t stopped to lend a hand. The Chief without missing a beat said he was afraid he would have had to arrest half of them on outstanding warrants. Now THAT is funny stuff.

Meanwhile the Little Chaplain 1 truck is still trundling around out here responding to trash fires in backyards (since we are under a fire ban). I don’t think it is even from our area or our Volunteer Department. I need to find out where it is assigned to. I still wonder “why” you need a pickup truck for a Chaplain, or is that thought better left unfinished. It has no firefighting equipment in it other than maybe a small hand-held fire extinguisher and someone designated as a Chaplain after having attended classes.

Comments welcome,