We've got orange!

Am finally getting back to work and am feeling better. Been staying busy. We've caught one if not 2-3 fires every shift lately. And the 2 other shifts have been just as busy as we have.

My partner and I were coming back from the hospital, waiting at a stop light, and watching one of those old VW vans starting to smoke. Looked like he was just burning some oil... then he's trying to start his engine... we pull on through the light and pull over to see if he's ok. I'm in the middle of texting someone on my phone and my partner hollers... "we've got orange on the


ground." The guy gets his dog out of the van and we use what we can with the water can and extinguisher. Its still starting to roll. We've already called for an engine, but it was funny only being able to stand there and watch it with our gear on.

Its been bitter cold here the last couple of days, makes the good calls that much more expeditious and the BS calls that much more frustrating.


Here are some pics from a fire we had recently along with some pics from riding lately. Had two riders last weekend that won them trips to the ER with concussions. The first ride nailed a tree and couldn't tell us what day it was. He knew everything else but looked like he was still seeing lots of stars. Then his brother tells us its common for him to not know what day it is. Huh? Are you kidding? mmmm... ookkkkk. If you say so. 15 minutes later we get called to the big track for another rider who nose-dived after over jumping a tabletop. He definitely took a good hit. His brain was on a recorded loop. Helmets.. such wonderful things... it did its job. Told the guy I'd give him $20 towards a new jersey since I cut it off after only 3 hours of him buying it.

Yesterday seemed to be sweet old lady day. Had 3 patients in a row that were over the age of 95 and who all just seemed ready to pass. One had been taken in by her family, yet they let her lay in the same spot for over 4 days without moving her. The only time she uttered a sound was when we were moving her to the stretcher and the pain from her bedsores were to much for her to handle.

We ran a call for a woman down, called in by her 6-yr old son. Both us and the engine pulled up at the same time to also find Grandpa standing on the front porch with the boy and a 4-yr old girl. The little boy says he was playing in his room with with his sister while his mom was on the computer in the next room when they heard a pop. They go in to find mom laying on the floor. I was thinking a possible electrocution. We find her laying on the floor with a blood soaked chest. She is gone. We look but cant find a weapon. We then see a hole in the wall above the computer. We clear the house and call in PD to search the house for a possible assailant. We come to find out a neighbor was shooting a high-power rifle at branches... BRANCHES!!!... when a bullet hit her roof, richoceted through the walls and kills this woman doing nothing but sitting at a desk and working on a computer. It is tragic and heart-breaking. We find out later that not more than 5 minutes earlier the little girl had been sitting in her mothers lap. I cant stop thinking about these kids.

As for my incident that you guys know about, we are feeling better and getting healed up. As soon as I get pics from that fire, I'll post them.