"All in a Days Work" by Explorer343 (FICTION)

[Explorer343]

DISCLAIMER
I just want to begin by saying that the title and the contents in the book are completely original. There may be, coincidentally, a published book by the title of "All in a Days Work" but there is absolutely no relation.

Chapter 1
At 4:45am, my pager sent off a tone. I was in the middle of a good, restful sleep that I rarely get so you can just imagine how I felt! So I race down the stairs - well more of a stumble - and head by the front door to put on my jeans and my pair of $100+ Timberland workboots that I bought at our local mall, and grabbed my "I Love Dad" coffee mug that my daughter gave me for Father's day. Then I grab the keys to my '95 Chevrolet Blazer, put on my lights, and head for the station.

When I arrive at the station, my buddies were already wide awake and half dressed in their turnouts. Me, I was just hoping that this would be cancelled soon so I could get some more rest because I had a gut feeling that I was going to have my fair share of calls during the day. Well anyway I don my gear and jump on Engine 3, the engine I'm assigned to.

"Everybody geared, strapped, and ready to go?" That's somewhat mandatory. I don't know why. We're all above the age of 5 and know enough to buckle up. Not to mention the millions of car accidents which resulted in the victim being jettisoned out of the windshield because they forgot or just didn't care to buckle up.

So we are going about 10-15 miles per hour above the normal speed limit, code 3 all the way. Dodging traffic and blowing the horn at snobby, no good drivers who just feel the urge to cut us off. When that occurs, all I do is sound the horn. After a couple hundred times they start to get the message.

Our destination is 9544 South Street in St. Michaels. St. Michaels is about 15-20 minutes away from where we are - Lawrence. I am traveling with one of the most experienced bunch of SOB's the fire service has ever seen. Lieutenant/EMT Bob Robertson, Captain/EMT-Paramedic Jim McDonald, Firefighter Alan Tinsley, and Firefighter/EMT Thomas Jacobson.

So we arrive at 9544 South Street to discover a two story colonial engulfed in flames. The first floor windows were already blown out and flames shot out of those openings like a bullet from a gun. The garage was also engulfed in flames. One of our biggest concerns was the possibility of gasoline or fluid that could've leaked from the automobile that was kept in their throughout the winter times. Plus the garage was practically a cement box. There were two tiny windows on the garage door which would just be a big waste of time breaking. The owner also explained to us that cleaning products and aerosol cans could be in the basement. So we just had to hope and pray that the flames had not reach that point yet. Once the chief got word of this "lovely" piece of news, we all stepped it into high gear. Hose lines up the ying-yang were being prepared and the chief was urging dispatch to tone out a second and third alarm and to send out our two tankers.

When the hoses were all prepared and ready for water we had decided that four men would run four hose lines to the fire and two would be active and would spray towards the downstairs window openings. The other two would be waiting on "stand-by" and would attack the top floor window openings (once the windows break). Well, five minutes after the call was given to send more water, windows three and four shatter and eventually break. So the "stand-by" crew would now become active. They did just what they were told and sprayed towards the top two windows.

Now back to the garage dilemma. As previously said, the garage was more of an enclosed cement box. There was one door that was located at the side of the house so that the occupants could easily enter the garage through a hallway that ran horizontally through the house. Of course the hallways would be engulfed in a raging frenzy by the time we would have the opportunity to reach it so thats where our dilemma begins. The owner walks up to us and says that he has an electronic garage door opener in his car (which was, thankfully, parked in the front of the house for some reason or another) but the sensor that detects the signal from the opener was obviously melted like cheese on a chicken quesadilla so that piece of information wasn't too helpful.

So as far as the garage dilemma is concerned, we all put our heads together and decided to let the garage burn and turn all the attention to the home. The hose lines were still dousing the house with water and the flames seemed to gradually subside.

"My garage! What do you plan to do with my garage? Can somebody tell me what the hell is going on here?" Well I had to think deep down about that question. What do I say to him so he won't hyperventilate any more than he already is?

"Sir, we are going to do what we can to save your house. Calm down." Apparently he wasn't satisfied with that response. "No, I will not calm down. My valuable tools are in there! You're kidding me, right? You're really kidding me?"

He was testing my patience but I kept as calm as Ghandi. The Chief intervened in this ranting and raving episode so I could return to the line.

Needless to say, it took a total of two and a half hours to finally extinguish the flames and even after that the embers were still glowing. The house was salvaged (just barely) so we were satisfied with that.

Chapter 2
It's about 10:30am when a 9-1-1 call comes in for a lift assist. So Rescue 1 - Medic 4 load up followed by Ambulance 1. We arrive at the house about five minutes later.

We knock on the door a couple of times. "Sir, this is the Ambulance. Sir? Are you alright?" We get no response after about five minutes waiting at the door. "Rescue 1 - Medic 4 to dispatch. Recieving no response from patient. Request law enforcement." That's another one of those mandatory rules. When the patient doesn't respond to the door, we request law enforcement because we don't know if a crime could have been committed and what-not.

So, ten minutes later, the Lawrence Police show up and knock on the door. So the "knocking" officer tells his partner to go to a neighbor's house to check for a spare key. Thankfully, the next door neighbor had a spare key so he kindly handed the key over to the officer. We also found out that this patient was epileptic and he rarely takes his medication. So, as a paramedic, I put my brain to work here and said to myself Lift assist. Epileptic. Off meds most of the time. Disaster.

When the officer arrived back with the keys, the two police officers entered the home first then us. One of the officers directed us to a steep staircase where we found an unconscious elderly man laying at the bottom. I yelled for c-collars, blocks, and a backboard. I held the patient's neck in place and place oxygen on him. We backboarded him, loaded him into the ambulance and away we went to Lawrence Memorial.

We arrive at the hospital where he comes to and tells us that he may have had a seizure while going downstairs to check the fuses in the basement. He tells us that doesn't like taking the medication. He didn't say why, just that he didn't like taking it.

Chapter 3
Today was an off day for us. We had one call this morning and that was about it. Our probies did some work around the station like they always do and we just sat down in our living room area and reviewed ALS/BLS interface. That's basically what an off day here at the station consists of. You know, as firefighters, we have to maintain a balance of work and of relaxation. If we overwork ourselves, that just spells disaster physically and mentally. So, whenever we can, we watch sports games, work out at our department's gym, joke around with our buddies, and the like. But when those tones go off, we're as serious as a heart attack (no pun intended).

As we are reading the ALS/BLS interface, my buddy Jim is throwing a couple pretzles at a time on the floor then quickly turning back to what he was doing as if he had nothing to do with it.

"Ugh. Do you mind?" one of our probies said in more of a fun tone. "Look at this mess. What am I gonna do with you guys?" We all laugh because we know that it's all in fun.

We were just working out, studying, and goofing off all day. That's why I love working here. We get our fair share of calls and some time to goof off as well. That's just all part of being in the fire service I guess.



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That's as far as I got but there will be more on the way. Tell me what you think of it so far. Some information may be inaccurate so feel free to point out any information that is not accurate and help me how to make it accurate.

[Motorhead90]

That's awesome Mike, keep up the good work

[frenchfireball]

it is well written ,i would like to read more....great beginning.

[StiffDoggyGolD]

Why do you insist on being unoriginal. No one is going to buy that!
Why don;t you tell me what city your in so I can look up the suspicious fire statistics.
I bet a million dollars you have something to do with all of them kid. Your creeping me out.

Just when you thought it was safe to enter the water.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAH

Stay Safe...Not!

[StiffDoggyGolD]

Oh, a truck and engine are not the same. You should have learned that by now. I'm beginning to think your not even an explorer.

[Explorer343]

I just finished Chapter One.

SATURDAY OCTOBER 20, 2007
8:15pm EST

[firecat1]

More please.

[Explorer343]

Chapter Two finished.

SUNDAY OCTOBER 21, 2007
11:01am EST

[ffbam24]

Good job overall. Great vivid descriptions. Keep polishing it up.
Three things real quick:

...and head by the front door to put on my jeans...

You keep your jeans by the front door and not your bed upstairs?

...When I arrive at the station, my buddies were already wide awake and half dressed in their turnouts...

You just drove to the station. I hope you were wide awake for that.

...I donn (-2 sp) my gear and jump on Engine 3, the truck I'm assigned to...

So which is it you are assigned to? The engine or the truck?

Keep up the good work! Looking forward to more.
bam

[Explorer343]

Good job overall. Great vivid descriptions. Keep polishing it up.
Three things real quick:
You keep your jeans by the front door and not your bed upstairs?

You just drove to the station. I hope you were wide awake for that.

So which is it you are assigned to? The engine or the truck?

Keep up the good work! Looking forward to more.
bam

The first two questions kinda stumped me but for the third one, the main character is assigned to Engine 3.

[Res343cue]

Your story is going to get really bland and boring if you don't have things to contrast the calls.

You also need to watch what words you are using. "He doesn't like taken the medication"... "He doesn't like taking the medication".

Firefighting isn't just about going to calls and big fires. There's housework, being a probie, working on tools, house pranks on the new guy, etc.

[Explorer343]

Your story is going to get really bland and boring if you don't have things to contrast the calls.

You also need to watch what words you are using. "He doesn't like taken the medication"... "He doesn't like taking the medication".

Firefighting isn't just about going to calls and big fires. There's housework, being a probie, working on tools, house pranks on the new guy, etc.

If you want that stuff added in, I'll do what I can.

[DFDMAXX]

"Me, I was just hoping that this would be cancelled soon so I could get some more rest..."

Just an aside here, and maybe just me commenting on one of my pet peeves, but I don't want the guy who is hoping to be cancelled on my crew. I have a few of them right now, and they can be counted on to be sidetracked by minor issues which of course takes away from the hard tasks.

In officers school we had a video which was kind of a spoof made by Phoenix Fire Dept. It was about a new officer taking a shift in a new house. En route to the call the crew in the back of the engine turned into howling drooling dogs, dying for the action. I WANT THAT CREW!

[Explorer343]

"Me, I was just hoping that this would be cancelled soon so I could get some more rest..."

Just an aside here, and maybe just me commenting on one of my pet peeves, but I don't want the guy who is hoping to be cancelled on my crew. I have a few of them right now, and they can be counted on to be sidetracked by minor issues which of course takes away from the hard tasks.

In officers school we had a video which was kind of a spoof made by Phoenix Fire Dept. It was about a new officer taking a shift in a new house. En route to the call the crew in the back of the engine turned into howling drooling dogs, dying for the action. I WANT THAT CREW!

You know that this is just fiction right?

[DeputyMarshal]

Remember, you chose to put up the poll.

I'm going to keep this short and sweet:

1) Take some writing courses and keep writing.

2) If you want to write good fiction; read good fiction authors. Lot's of them.

3) Write about what you know. IMHO, you've got a long ways to go before you want to tackle writing about the fire service.

[Explorer343]

Remember, you chose to put up the poll.

I'm going to keep this short and sweet:

1) Take some writing courses and keep writing.

2) If you want to write good fiction; read good fiction authors. Lot's of them.

3) Write about what you know. IMHO, you've got a long ways to go before you want to tackle writing about the fire service.

Thank you for your input. About #3, I am doing some research about some advanced things that will be in the book. If you find something inaccurate, please feel free to correct me on it. I mean, we're all here to learn from each other right?

[Explorer343]

Chapter Three finished.

MONDAY OCTOBER 22, 2007
4:36pm EST

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REWRITTEN

[Res343cue]

You know that this is just fiction right?

You know that he has a point, right?

You need to edit your story before posting it here. I'm not saying it needs perfect spelling and grammar, but there quite a few words that are either misplaced or do not make sense in their current positions.

Thankfully, the next door neighbor had officer.

Say what?

Your story also lacks "reality" to it. The fire scene isn't cohesive, the medical call seems very broken up and lacks a story to it. You seem to be writing just whatever pops into your mind, instead of building up your characters and creating a plot.

There's no story line, no climax in the chapters, it's rather dry in terms of how it's structured.

[Res343cue]

Thank you for your input. About #3, I am doing some research about some advanced things that will be in the book. If you find something inaccurate, please feel free to correct me on it. I mean, we're all here to learn from each other right?

This might help you with the writing portion a bit:

http://hrsbstaff.ednet.ns.ca/engramja/elements.html

Stick to what you know. Your EMS scenes leave a bit to be desired. Checking for a pulse and breathing before using a defibrillator, etc.

What "pain relievers" are you giving him? Why aspirin? Is he on oxygen? Did you ever check the airway? See what I'm getting at?

[Explorer343]

You know that he has a point, right?

You need to edit your story before posting it here. I'm not saying it needs perfect spelling and grammar, but there quite a few words that are either misplaced or do not make sense in their current positions.



Say what?

Your story also lacks "reality" to it. The fire scene isn't cohesive, the medical call seems very broken up and lacks a story to it. You seem to be writing just whatever pops into your mind, instead of building up your characters and creating a plot.

There's no story line, no climax in the chapters, it's rather dry in terms of how it's structured.

Thanks for pointing that out. I was a little tired when I wrote this so I did not realize that mistake.

The reason why I posted the story here first is so that I could get some of your input. There are going to be more advanced things in this story that I am not 100% sure of yet so I was hoping that you guys could help me out to try and make the story as accurate as possible.