I WAS CALLED A "HERO" YESTERDAY

[MalahatTwo7]

At about 1515hrs I was out for my daily run around the National Mall yesterday, and had just rounded the corner of Madison Ave and 14 St NW, heading towards Jefferson Ave, when I heard the BANG from behind me somewhere. As I turned around I was thinking to myself, I know that sound, and its not one of the good kind.

When I turned around to look, I saw a 3 ton truck stopped in the middle of the intersection with a Ford Escape a few feet in front, but even from 100 yards away I could see the damage to the Escape.

Something between conscience and training kicked in and I made my way back through the traffic, to investigate the situation. The driver and passenger of the Escape, brother and sister as it turned out, both in mid 40’s had escaped serious harm, although the sister was complaining of some lower back and neck pain. Add to this, when I started to interview her, she identified herself as an ER nurse. In any case both drivers of the truck was on their respective cell phones and making the appropriate calls.

About all I could do was get them all off the street and to sit on a nearby park bench, and continue to talk with them. As things turn out sometimes, their personal story started to come out. The brother has just recently been diagnosed with cancer, and they had just come from the doctor’s office to discuss radiation treatments, which apparently will start today, the vehicle accident just added “icing to their cake”.

There were many people who came up and identified themselves as direct witnesses to the event; that the Escape had come to a stop at the intersection, because the light had turned yellow. One man even stated that he had taken digital photos of the event.

At around 1525 or so, the District police showed up and on his heels, Engine and Ambulance 16 arrived. As the medics came up and began their interview, I gave my name to the male driver, and my best wishes, stating that they were in good hands now. It was at this time that he noted my Malahat FD t-shirt, and asked if I was a part of the DCFD. I told him, “No, I am with Fairfax County.”

He took my hand to shake it and said, “Thank you for stopping by. You guys are my heroes. Thank you for your help in New York too, you guys are great.”

I mumbled something about not having really done much here, and his answer was, “You stopped by.”

So the short side of this story is, that while I was the one who stopped to check on these folks and stayed to talk with them, everyone here on these boards deserves as much of the credit and in most cases even more than I do.

[GeorgeWendtCFI]

HOLY BAND AID! I am married to an ED nurse. If she said she was hurt, she must have been damn near dead!

Good job.

[LeuitEFDems]

It's the little things like that, that make all the craziness, death and destruction we see bearable...Are we in it for the glory? no...but a nice little "thank you" like that goes a long way....Nice job Rick...I'll buy ya a drink in the Pub...

[Resq1scnd2none]

I was heading to a family members funeral and was wearing my FD work shirt. And my seat mate said similar things. While I am far a from a hero, it still makes you feel pretty good....

[superchef]

Good job Rick.

[TrapperJr]

It is a good feeling isn't it? Here the other night we got paged out to a possible house fire. When we got there, futher investigation found a smoldering trash pile behind a neighbors residents. The lady who called it in came running over to me and was all tore up thinking her house was on fire. she had almost lost it about a month ago because of some kids playing with fire works in a barn across the road. (Which was burnt down). She thanked us for coming out and I told her that , that was what were here for. she shook my hand then gave me a hug. That made me feeel realy good and i know it made her feel better. Its those little things that seem to matter so much. We're all Heros to sombody...thats why we do what we do. Thanks all.
TrapperJr
Hiseville 318

[tfpd109]

HOLY BAND AID! I am married to an ED nurse. If she said she was hurt, she must have been damn near dead!

Good job.

Funny you should say that George. When I was growing upmy mother was an ED nurse for about 25t years. Think we ever got to go to the hospital if we got hurt? HA She always told us "They are to busy to see people like you" If it was something somewhat serious, she would go get the supplies and "fix us up"

[CALFFBOU]

Good job. YEsterday I was called a "moron". Oh wait....

[Dickey]

According to you, you didn't do much but to them you did a lot. People don't experience those types of things everyday so it's a big deal to them. To have someone calm and reasuring around right afterwards is a comfort to them. Sounds like a Halmark card but it's true. To us it's really no big deal, we see traffic crashes all the time. For someone who doesn't, it's nice to have someone there who has experience in this to know what to do.

I know it makes me feel a little uncomfortable to be called a hero because I know I am not. It is nice to hear praise once in a while though.

Good job. That's why we do what we do.

[backsteprescue123]

Congrats Mahalat.

While I have never run into a burning building or anything of the sort i have had my share of medical emergencies that I have dealt with and while I felt that I was just doing as trained I got the same response from the victims and public.

The first I was coming home from Boy Scout camp in NM and we were stoppedd in a little town for longer than scheduled and to make a long story short, the PT was from Alexandria, Va and was coming from LA. She was in no condition to continue and after much urging after my assessment she finally allowed the personell to call 911. She told me that I was her hero and I got a standing ovation from the car. The amtrak personnell however, that is a different story.

Numerous times in church the old people decide to conk out....plenty of stories there.

And at 730 in the am after water polo practice a teammate collapsed started convulsions and went into stroke. His mom is an MD and said that I was calmer than she would have been. The FD/EMS arrived, took over and I gave them my assessment and what I had done and afterwards they said that my advisors should be extremely proud of me and that they would love to work with me anytime.

I love those days where you can walk around with a smile knowing that you have helped someone. Greatest feeling in the world.

[MalahatTwo7]

As with everyone, I've had my fair share of "Thank you's" over the past 6 years, but this was the first time I've heard a direct reference to the folks from New York and me in the same sentence. I guess that made this recent experience all the more humbling than usual.