Last friday, July 2nd, I was working a 24 hour shift at the fire station.  Right before I reported for my shift, the guys went on two calls, one of which included a fire. Needless to say I wasn't expecting much action for the rest of the shift.  Up until about 5pm it was a pretty sleepy day, then we got an aid call for a woman who had a steam burn on her arm.  We responded with ease, due to my skillful driving.  Upon our arrival the lady was doing really well.  We checked her out, took vitals, examined the burn and decided she needed to go to the ER to get it checked out. 

Right at that moment our pagers start going off like crazy.  We look down and it says 'Structure Fire'.  This is what we live for!  We asked the lady if she would like us to take her to the hospital.  Just so you know, we asked the lady like 10 times if she wanted us to take her.  We were not going to give her crappy service just because we wanted to go play.  Each time we asked she said she would take herself it.  Music to our ears!

The fire was about 5 mins away from our location so we started to head over.  Once we got there we were instructed to start what is called Rehab.  It is where we check the fire fighters who had been working to make sure they get enough fluids and that their pulse rates remain low enough.  After about 5-10 mins of doing that our Chief told the A66 guys to go back to the station because we were going to have some people coming for shift change and we also needed to get the Aid car back in service in order to be available for the citizens of Duvall.  It was at this moment I heard the magic words. 'Go suit up Smallwood'. 

Packed up I headed to the on scene Lt. to get my first task.  I started by tearing apart a wall looking for fire extention and hot coals/embers.  There was still quite a bit of smoke (which means smoldering fire) so the hose line started to spray water again.  This ment our wall tearing duties were put on hold.  I went and joined the hose team.  The nozzelman turned and asked me if I wanted to get in and spray some water.  HELL YES I DO! 

There I am, under the partially collapsed roof of a double wide trailer being a fireman!  I loved every second of it.  Breaking crap apart, spraying water on fire, it is a shame that my excitement comes at the price of someone elses missery.  All in all, no one was hurt.  This is always the best outcome.