Your Name is Everything

Recently, I picked up an overtime shift with a crew that I had never worked with. For those of you who have not worked for a Fire Department, this situation is always a little awkward at first, you never know how it's going to go. Here's a little run down of how my day went.

0630, an hour early to normal changeover, I show up for shift and immediately introduce myself to everyone going off shift and I go into the station locate the Captain and Crew I am working with that day and introduce myself. I get a "Hello, I'm Rank So and So." no emotion that's it. I also drop off the goodies I bring in for the day.

0635, throw a second pot of coffee on and head out to the rig. Coffee(1st pot), newspaper, and Flags are always done by the off going ambulance crew.

The rig checkout is a little more crucial here. It's not my normal rig so I have to make sure I know where everything is because I don't work on this rig and the Firefighters love to test you. So a great way to learn where everything is, is to pull everything out and clean. One, this makes you look good because you're in your rig learning where things are and two, you are cleaning.

0730, *BEEEEEEEEEEP* LINE UP, LINE UP
0731, I make my way into the kitchen and shake the other Firefighter's hands whom I had not met yet.
0732, Captain starts talking about what's going on for the day and they are joking around and I see one of them staring at the wedding ring on my hand and all of a sudden I see him look up and say:

FF: "HEY BIGS. HOW FUCKIN' LONG YOU BEEN MARRIED!?"
ME: "Two years sir."
FF: "You got any kids?"
Me: "No sir, just a dog"
FF: "Good, you don't need any kids yet."
FF: "Where you from?"
Me: "XYZ, sir"
FF: "Holy Shit, that's near me, a good spot."

CAPT: "Bigs, what you guys want to do today?"
ME: "Sir, I am going to wash the rig, clean, perform a full arrest drill, do paperwork, do some area familiarization, and work on a class that I need perform for my next shift."
CAPT: "Good, you guys are dismissed."

I now have a nickname "Bigs" I am 6'-2" and about 240, I'm a big strong guy, I actually feel pretty good I got a nickname right away.

I go out with my partner and wash the rig, clean the office, clean the heads, dorms, office, and sweep the apparatus bay for about two hours. I am noticed.

*RED LIGHTS TURN ON IN STATION, BOOOBEEBOOO BLS97 UNK. MEDICAL AT 123 Maple*

Run a call with a different engine in a different part of town because their BLS unit had gone out on a call. I come back to the station and the engine was gone. I go into the kitchen and wipe down their table, rearrange the newspaper, clean all the dishes, and clean the microwave out.

They arrive back at the station and I hook back up the Plymovent and plug in the engine before they can and I don't say a word just keep going about my business.

Then the Engineer walks over to me while I am doing a little project I came up with in the back of the station with about 20 different hose fittings in his hands.

ENG: "Hey Bigs, you know what these are?"
ME: "Yes sir, these are hose fittings."
ENG: "Ok, pull them all apart and tell me what each one is."
ME: *looks at first one* "2 1/2" Double Male."
ENG: "Bigs, give me a little more confidence when you tell me what they are."
ME: *smiles* "Yes, sir"

We proceeded to go over about 20 more fittings.

ENG: "Bigs, you're going to do great around here if you keep up what you're doing."
ME: "Thank you sir, I will."

At the end of the shift, they thanked me for all my hard work, and that it was nice working with me. They said I was welcome back anytime. I felt really good leaving.

If you work hard and don't expect anything in return, good things will happen in the end.

Exercising for the EMT or Firefighter

What is the number one thing you do as an Firefighter or EMT? Lift patients. I see a lot of posts on different blogs and websites about what exercises to do but a lot of them have nothing to do with your legs. Work out your legs and your back. Your biceps are good looking but that's not what is supposed to be doing all the lifting. Check out this article.

...carrying patients is the task most likely to require time off from work, the study says.

Here are a few SIMPLE exercises you can do at work while you are waiting for your next call. All the links are to videos of the exercises.

1. Air Squats

2. Lunges

3. Side Lunges

4. Calf Raises - You can use 2x4s to do this.

5. Jumping Rope - Jump rope needed.

6. Push-ups

7. Sit-ups - Good with a partner.

8. General Core Exercises

Supermans

Side Plank

Bird Dog

These are just a few simple exercises to get you started. It's something you can do throughout your work day and it doesn't take that much time.