Look who made the paper....

Yesterday,we recieved a call for a City Works payloader on fire...single Engine response,routine call. Upon arrival,we found it to be fully involved,in front of a residence with the threat of one exposure.As the Senior Man,I grabbed a 45mm attack line and my Junior Man and I advanced it to the exposure(right) side of the machine and knocked down the heaviest of the fire.We then moved around to the left side and put out some fire at the base of the cab,and I noticed that the cab itself still had a fair amount of fire inside.At this point,I handed the nozzle to my JM and approached the ladder between the two tires......Just before I raised my leg to step on the first rung,the left rear tire,an inch to my right exploded......According to some of the City workers and Police,I was airborne for several feet,(the distance increasing as the story went on,).My first recollection is being on my hands and knees about 20 feet away with my Officer asking if I was OK.He says I told him that I thought my leg was broken,and he immediately called for Rescue and EMS.As I slowly shook the cobwebs out I realized my facepiece was covered in liquid(hydraulic fluid) and I thought I was in trouble.My whole right side was numb and my first thought was that I had lost my leg.I did a quick inventory,leg-check,arm-check,head-check,and it appeared that everything was intact.As my hearing returned,I asked to be helped up and we went back to fighting the fire.EMS arrived and I was assessed and while this was going on,I experienced a massive adreneline dump and started shaking and got a little confused.I felt that transport wasn't needed and we stayed on scene for a few hours while they dealt with the machine.Workplace Health and Safety arrived and interviewed everyone involved and we discussed what happened.It's easy to look back on these things and say should'a,could'a,would'a but in this instance it was just an unseen hazard.We try very hard to be safe but sometimes shit happens.....

I'm feeling just fine today,and am back in for my first night tonight......We definitely were being watched over yesterday and for that I'm greatful.

Here's a link to the story in the local rag:

http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/city/article/708274

 

Dang dude be careful out there! We need our firefighters on one piece!

 

Awesome story and GREAT WORK!!!

 

the most important thing is that you are still here to tell the story, and for that, I am glad for you. That is some scary shit to read about, so I could well imagine it probably gave you a little scare. To you squad, my hat goes off.

 

glad to hear your ok. you have a cool ass story to always tell now.

 

Thanks for your service. Glad you are ok. Keep up the good work.

 

Geez, that must've been scary! Glad to hear you're okay. I think if I were you I'd still go to a doctor and get everything checked out just to make sure. I know you're probably always careful on the job, but you just never know when a freak thing like this could happen. Again, glad to hear you're okay!

 

glad your ok. yea i can remember about two years ago we went out on a front loader fire at a local lumber yard. it was the loader they used to load trucks with mulch so it was sitting right in the middle of a giant mulch pile. when we arrived it was fully evolved. i was the engine operator and staged about 100ft. from the loader, as my guys advanced the lines and began suppressing the fire we heard a huge explosion. i was at the pump panel and didnt have a view of the fire at that moment, i ran around the side to see the huge 4ft tall tire, wheel and axle laying about 10ft. from the front of the engine. the fluid inside the differential had boiled and expanded enough to blow the axle, wheel and tire about 80ft. or so through the air. luckily no one was in front of it when it happened....

equiptment fires can be scary and really dangerous thats for sure...

 

Marc so glad you were able to tell us that story!

 

Glad you and everyone else is fine, thanks for what you do. My Dad was a volunteer firefighter in the small town we are from, he tells me stories about how he would take me along but I was only 4 and don't remember.

 

Thanks for the kind words everyone I really appreciate it .Now the ball-busting has started.....The guys on our Heavy Rescue,who were dispatched after the mishap,asked our District Chief to drop off a 4 pack of undershorts to our crew cause they thought we might need some new ones......Bastards .

All kidding aside,I have always tremendously admired and respected our service men and women,but to experience 1/1,000,000th of the unexpected that they(you) face or have faced on a day to day basis makes me appreciate them even more.....Stay safe everyone,in everything you do.

 

Damn! Glad you made it!

 

Wow Marc!! glad your ok!!!

 

Glad your okay man!!! I hate tires next to fire!!! Approach it from 75 degrees!!! Good work!!!!

 

or just chill from a distance with a duece and a half... ehh i've gotten to spoiled being an operator for so long.. dont like getting wore out anymore...

 

Oh come on....1 1/2" is the way to roll....straight stream it on approach then stick that bastard in there and fog the hell out of it!!!

 

yea yea yea.. thats the exciting way to do it...

i remember one car fire i went on right after we got our new brush unit.. it has a caf system on it.. we rolled it just for shits and giggles with an engine right behind us. ended up completly covering the entire car with foam until it wasnt visible anymore.. was kinda fun actually.

 

boys and their toys.

glad you didnt sustain any major injury Marc!