Fire Department Involved MVA

[B. Jacobowski]

Hearing our unit toned out, I run to the bay floor, jumping into medic 1. MVA! And they're sending everyone. It's going to be bad. I'm ready to save someone though!

I look right as we pull out the door and start driving. Once we're on the road, I check the MDT for information.

"It's a fire truck, they're thinking one of the fire fighters is dead. Ladder 14." I read out the incident notes to Lt.

[A. Breslin]

"It's a fire truck, they're thinking one of the fire fighters is dead. Ladder 14."

'With all the radios you have on you I thought you would have heard.'

If they're thinking hes dead than hes dead.

*I try and tune out dipshit next to me.*

'This is an MCI, There's also more than likely going to be a dead firefighter. Meaning everyone and their mother is going to be there. If I am the first EMS officer on scene I will take care of triage and you take over PT care. I will be acting as the angel of death and you will carry out my will.'

[B. Jacobowski]

RAdios or not, I can't read minds. No one is there yet. And I haven't figured out how to listen to 911 calls yet, so... I get why they call her lieutenant bitchlin.

"Looks like there's 4 of us going, and the platoon chief. And you're right, we'd all want to be there to help our brothers and sisters. I'd say you won't be the only officer for long though, thankfully. I'm just an EMT, so I can't do too much ALS stuff. I'll need the medic for that."

I look in the mirror and see the EDO SUV chasing us to the scene. I wonder if a day crew will beat us. 

"Do you get to do much medic stuff any more? I mean, since you've made officer. It's not often you're on an ambo anymore."

 

[A. Breslin]

"Do you get to do much medic stuff any more? I mean, since you've made officer. It's not often you're on an ambo anymore."

'Really? Is this the time to be asking questions about my career? We are responding to a dead firefighter. A member of our own department. And your asking me if if I get to play medic anymore. You really think this is the right time?'

*Before he opens his mouth*

'Yes I do get to be a medic because of the staffing situation I am rarely anywhere else besides the truck.'

*I see a sea of red lights.*

'Looks like thats us.'

*I park the ambulance and give me room to get out.*

"Medic 1 is out"

[B. Beard]

*As we pull up I pop the door as I feel the truck start to slow down, my foot hits the ground as soon as I hear Dave pop the air brake. Coming around the front of the truck I can see the scene full scale after riding backwards the way here*

'Holy fuck.' I mutter under my breath. 

*I set my helmet on my head lopsided with the leather strap hanging loose under my chin. I reach in my pocket and start pulling my extrication gloves on as I head towards Jen with her hand up*

[J. Grimm]

*Arriving on scene I hop out and watch in disbelief as I see the big puddle of blood and the soaked coat hanging there. My moment of shock I quickly interrupted as I here the words ‘Fire in the back!’ I quickly grab a line, connect it to the outlet, pop a nozzle on it and get in position*
’Line pulled! Im ready for water!’ *For a moment I don’t see the gruesome image*

[L. Cook]

Hearing the call for water from Grimm I get it sending from the pump controls.

'Water coming'

[J. Grimm]

Hearing that waters coming I can feel the line getting charged. I move a bit closer and start spraying the fire. It’s rather gentle since I don’t know if there is anyone in the vicinity and I don’t want to drown them. It’s rather a small fire and is put out quiet quickly. I shut the nozzle again. ‘Fire out!’

[I. Boorne]

*Arriving on scene and hopping out of the truck I walk around to the Officers side of the truck and open the ALS Compartment*

'Stone where do you want Patient care set up'

*Pulling out the ALS Bag I turn around and take a moment to take in everything that's happening... Grimm starting fire attack the clearly messed up crew and what appears to be a dead firefighter'

[W. Anderson]

*I get out of the vehicle and is ready to the what ever i am orderd to do*

 

[B. Jacobowski]

Not even biting the angry lieutenant's words, we park and I hop out while she radios ERT. That's our brothers. We need to move quickly. I go around back to the box and open the door, pulling out the stretcher and popping on whatever gear I think we will need. Actually, I pull most of it out. These are our brothers. I pull the stretcher around and see there's a body in front of the truck, either extricated, self extricated, or possibly ejected. I don't know which is worse for an outcome. I make my way over to him and already see a fire fighter on his way to attend as well. Paramedic front. Good. I am out of my depth here.

'Hey, Jacobowski. Did you get any vitals yet?'

[J. Noel]

Order all to jouin rescue crew, extricate

As the ladder crew assembles. "Alright, Captain Hewitt is down a man, if at any time you need to tag out, do it. We're not playing rambo, we're doing a job. It's going to be hard. We're with the rescue on this one, we're going to start extrication. We've got two still inside, and one pinned, he's probably gone."

Holding for questions, or more likely, resignations, I nod when no one speaks up.

"Okay, that seals it. With me, come on, Rescue is getting in, we need to stabilize this. There's a fire in the back, but Engine is controlling that. Ours is rescue. Got it? Get the cribbing."

[M. Stone]

I look over the scene as we arrive and grimace. It is not a pretty sight.

"Engine 1's on scene, L14 overturned. Small fire showing. One man on the ground. Engine 1 Officer has the command. Standby for further."

Establishing Command was really a formality. I doubted I'd have time to do much of anything before the shift commander arrived to take over, let alone all the other chiefs that would be on the way to this. I dismount the Engine, heading towards the man on the ground. I give him a quick check over. Alive. Unresponsive. Breathing. Red tag. I yell for Boorne to start with him. I move on to the ladder to look at the guys there. As I walk up, I see the fatality. His head's been crushed by the cab. Black tag. I read the name on the coat. Fuck. The lieutenant. I glance inside the overturned truck and can see their firefighter. He's awake, but I can't tell how bad off he is. The Rescue 1 officer and his crew walks up, and I step back to allow them to begin extrication.

"ERT from Bay St Command. It's confirmed, one fatality. Two critical."

Back behind the Engine I can see the shift commander pulling up. I start heading to meet him halfway so I can give him report.

[A. Tai]

"Copy Engine 1, Bay Street Command."

Given the flow of gold braid, that'll be gone in moments, not minutes. 

"ERT from Bay St Command. It's confirmed, one fatality. Two critical."

Fatal. Confirmed. Fuck. Before I have a chance to key the mic to respond, I hear another voice come over the radio. 

"ERT, Unit 22 on scene, I'll be assuming Bay Street command from Captain, uh, Engine 1. Engine 1 Captain, do you have status on the fourth firefighter?"

4. Jesus Christ. He only said 3. Does that mean someone might actually make it out okay?

Waiting on a response from the radio, I start the grim notifications. Fatality automatically notifies coroner. I select resources from tab and assign to this call. Unlike others, the coroner will just receive a message to their phones and respond when able. Given the nature of the incident, I look in the contacts for the Coroner and call Dr. Hudson.

"Hudson."

"Hi Dr. Hudson, this is Amy from county comms. We've got a reported fatality at a vehicle accident, actually it's fire department. One of the firefighters."

"Oh. I see. Okay, I'm going to call downstairs and get some units there as soon as possible. Thank you for the call."

"Yes sir."

This will definitely see some red lights from the coroner's office. Likely the coroner himself. 

I send a notification out to the appropriate parties for a LODD, fire chief, all the deputies, the ERT Directors, as well as SCSD and county and city management. The first few are for the managers to go, the last few are to prepare for the impact. I don't remember a firefighter ever dying while I was here, but I can't imagine there isn't going to be a stream of brass responding. 

Lastly, I flag Aylward and Goodricht, we'll likely activate something, maybe the ICST, if nothing more, to give somewhere to grieve in private.

[H. Goodricht]

Receiving notification from the CAD alert on my phone, I open the incident, a motor vehicle accident, to see the dreaded news. Line of Duty Death. 

I breathe in slowly and hold it before exhaling and reading further down. I bring myself up to speed, call over to Aylward and let him know what I'm doing, and then call over to the intern. Time to get her ears wet.

"Kristen, Director Goodricht. Make sure you're in uniform, get a collared shirt on if you don't have one on already, and meet me in the apparatus floor. We're going to a scene to assist. It's a firefighter who died on duty. Did you get your EVOC yet?"

"Yes, as soon as I got the internship!"

"Okay, I'm going to get you to take 50-01, I'll drive a command unit. I want you to follow me, and follow my lead."

Checking my uniform to make sure it's impeccable, tightening my tie knot once in the mirror, before putting my cover on and heading downstairs to the apparatus garage.

[D. Valentine]

*after setting up all the road safety stuff i could find i link up with the rest of my crew having heard just about everything jen said im about to ask what we need when i hear a call for cribbing and spin in place*' got it lieutenant' * i reply shifting to a more professional tone as i start seeing onlookers with there phones out the press probably will be here soon too but i cant focus on them, arriving at our ladder i grab just about all the cribbing i see as im closest to the truck though im so pumped right now i feel like i could roll 14 back on its wheels even though i know its impossible for one man* ' shit........' * i utter now that i see the full scene i still dont know if i know anybody from this crew yet and while im prepared for the worst,im hoping i dont espically if its one of the dead* ' cribbings comming,grabbed all i could!' * i call out as i jog up to the wreck,i was right this was going to be a looooong day'

Edited September 6, 2022 by Vanguard

[A. Breslin]

*Before I hang the radio up Jacobowski jumps out. I quickly follow and grab the front of the stretcher as we maneuver it through the scene. As we walk past the mangled ladder truck I can see a lifeless body, Head crushed by the cab rest of him is under the truck, Gray matter showing. He had no chance. No need to stop or even slow down, I can deal with trying to forget that memory later. I see Captain Stone and a fire medic working on an unresponsive. I'm assuming he's still viable.*

'Cap what do you got?'

*I say as we wheel the stretcher over to him*

[D. Chorzepa]

*Waiting for a toxicology report to come back I sit at my desk scrolling through my phone. The pager app on my work phone goes off. Something about a dead firefighter involved in a MVA involving a Fire engine. My desk phone rings, Its coming from the reception area, Julie the Receptionist/Office manager/Doc's assistant*

"I just saw it."

"Doc wants you to get a few guys and take the emergency response truck out there, This is going to be real messy. The Doc is actually responding himself."

*I hear one of the investigators cars take off with the siren blaring. I assuming its Dr. Hudson going to the scene.*

"I'm on my way. I'm going to grab Sam and Kurt"

*I walk into the Lounge and see Sam reading the newspaper and Kurt Playing his switch.*

'We got work, dead firefighter involved in a rollover MVA with a fire engine. Doc wants us to take the emergency response truck. This sounds messy so I'm gonna grab my PPE and meet you out by the truck.'

*I quickly walk to my locker and grab my gym bag turned PPE bag. I walk out to the back door as Sam pulls around with the truck, I Kurt being the newest Coroner Office Employee in the back as a nod of respect to me. I hop in the front and Sam fumbles around with the siren controller for a moment to get the lights and siren on. I pick up the mic to the radio.*

"Coroner Emergency response to ERT. We are responding from our office to the SCFD MVA."

*Looking over at Sam*

'Never thought I would be doing this as a PA'

[L. Cook]

With the fire out I shut down the pump and stand by just in case I'm needed again.  There's already a lot of personnel here making me feel like there's not much else for me to do here.  No way am I going to go up front to see how things are up there though as I already got a good look at the carnage when driving by it.

[J. Grimm]

As I heard „one fatality” my heart drops and my knees weaken. Fuck. A life gone just with a snap of a finger. I still see some thin smoke coming from one compartment in the back. I grab myself a halligan tool and open up 3 deformed compartments. The one holding the buzz saw I still smoldering. I grab the nozzle again ‘Cook some water please!’

[A. Tai]

"Coroner Emergency response to ERT. We are responding from our office to the SCFD MVA."

"Danielle, It's Dr. Hudson, you'll probably have to stage back a ways, I'm not there yet, but there's a lot of equipment there and we don't need to be blocking ambulances."

Not waiting for the response, I but in quickly, "Copy Coroner Response."

 

[J. Noel]

As the cribbing starts into place, I assess entry points. The normal entry point, the windshield is a hard no on this one. I see the lower half of a lifeless firefighter. 

"Hey, someone get a tarp, let's cover this window."

I walk around and see a few points of entry. After a quick chat with Cap Hewitt, we make the decision. Ladder is going in up top, Rescue guys are going through the roof. We'll take any survivors out as best we can. I try to not stare at the scene in front of the ladder, the medics attending to firefighter on the ground are working hard. They've already got a stretcher. I feel like this is a grab and go scenario. I quickly recognize Breslin and Jacobowski. If she needs help, she'll ask. Him, I'm not so sure about. 

"Valentine, get the ladder in place, we're going to use the bucket as an entry point. Let's move." I call out on the radio.

[W. Burke]

My phone buzzes and the toner app goes off. The three second chirp gets my attention, and I see notification of a fatal vehicle accident. Placing my phone down, I log in to the CAD on my desk computer, find out what is really happening, and when I see it's a firefighter, I take a deep breath to chill to pit in my stomach. 

Picking my phone up, I open the phone pad, type 324 and when I see the keypad autocomplete David Eveland, I click dial. 

"Eveland." A voice answers with sirens blaring in the background. 

"Dave. It's Will. I just got the word from comms. What do you need?"

"My men are going to need somewhere..." his voice trails off.

"I'll get a command unit and a rehab support on the way. I'm leaving headquarters now. I'll check in with you when I get there. Do you have your CISM people?"

"I don't know. Cordell usually coordinates that."

"I'll get our guys to reach out to him. If your team isn't/can't roll, I've got the ERT guys who will be available. You'll probably get there before me, if you need anything, call me right away. I'llsee you soon."

"Thanks, Will."

I hang up the phone, even though I hear the chimes that the call has been disconnected already. I put the phone back in its clip on my hip and look out my window as I hear sirens start. A command truck and rehab are both leaving. Good, they're already on the move. 

I pull a necktie out of the top drawer of my desk, put that on and clip it in place on my uniform shirt, do a final check in the mirror and then leave the office, heading down to my truck in the front of the building parking spot. 

"ERT, This is 50-12, I'm responding to the Bay Street accident." I say once the engine has started and the radio comes to life. I wait for the CAD to load up, select the incident on my screen and assign myself to it, to start the GPS interface that'll guide me to the scene. 

Navigating to Bay Street at South Ninth Street in Fort Shannon. Traffic is heavy in the area, you are currently on the best route. 

I reach over to the siren controls mounted on the roof, press master and hear the relays clicking in the lightbar mounted on my visor. Holding my hand to the panel, I move the vehicle out of the spot, and chirp the manual siren tone a few times to clear traffic, before merging onto the road and following guidance.

 

[L. Cook]

Hearing Grimm call for more water I open the pump again.

'Water coming'

[D. Valentine]

* im helping set the cribbing when i hear jen on my radio stopping what im doing i break off the crew i tagged with keying up as i jog to the truck* "got it lieu anything else?"  *releasing my mic i arrive at the truck opting to pull it foreward so when i swing the bucket over i dont need to angle it to steeply to get the bucket over the cab of 14 then while i doubt ill need them i place the plates for the outriggers and set them ready  then i get our rope bag out opting to set it in the bucket so the guys can rig it how they want,then finally i fire up the hydros and swing the bucket over not over 14 but nearby so it can be riggged up as i key up* ' waiting on how you want it rigged lieutenant then i can set it over 14 otherwise its as ready as it can  be" * i glance back at the scene  and the buckets placement the crews can access it and rig it ill just move it when there ready for extraction*

Edited September 7, 2022 by Vanguard