When you were new, what was a mistake that you made that stands out to you to this day?

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Permalink Reply by Jonathan on October 17, 2008 at 9:24am

Okay well my stupid thing was not being trained on our early 80's walk through rescue (chevy with a small block 350 which was stupid to small for the weight) but anyway i left the parking break on because we never leave any of the gas burners without airbrakes parking brake on so chief said hey jon grab rescue as i explain twice real quick i have never driven it i am checked off on the engines, but he said just drive it so i said ok. which i didn't hurt the brakes to bad but it was still stupid of me but oh well live and learn, the day you stop learning, is the day you need to quit!!

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Permalink Reply by Art "ChiefReason" Goodrich on October 17, 2008 at 12:46pm

I was in 1980; my first year on the department.
My mistake was attempting to catch the tailboard of the truck as it pulled out of the station. As I jumped, I missed. I hung on to the bar, but scraped both shins down to the bone.
We never did that again. We still have the truck. I growl at it everytime I go by it.
Thank God; this was the only mistake I ever made.
However; I will always be "near perfect" and never "perfect" as a result.
Good question.
TCSS.
Art

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Permalink Reply by Joe Stoltz on October 17, 2008 at 1:02pm

Art, sounds to me that in addition to your many talents you've been blessed with a failing memory, as I've been. I don't recall making any mistakes in my career... unless you think that going into a fire with full PPE and SCBA on (except my helmet) is a mistake... or driving the pumper through the overhead door as it was coming down; or trying to pop the door on a car (unstabilized) and having to chase it downhill with the Jaws; or being missed by inches by a car as I was stretching hose across the road; or closing a hydrant too fast and setting off the waterflow alarm at our neighboring department.

I call these learning experiences, not mistakes. The rest of FFN will have to judge for themselves.

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Permalink Reply by lutan1 on October 17, 2008 at 3:56pm

They're called areas of opportunity for improvement... :)

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Permalink Reply by Kate on October 17, 2008 at 1:16pm

Before I finished EMT school, the medic and I were transporting a stabbing victim and he needed 2 NSL bags spiked ASAP. Well we hadn't got to the chapter of spiking bags etc in class but I had seen other guys on my shift do it so many times. So I went to spike the bag for the medic but I forgot to pull the ring out before puting the line connecter in (total rush of adrenaline going) and managed to get it through to get the fluids going. The medic didn't say anything until after the call but he was impressed that I got it all to work!

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Permalink Reply by Jeff Cole on October 17, 2008 at 7:08pm

My first "official" fire as a sworn firefighter was my first screw-up. Anyone who says they haven't, or don't occasionaly make screw-ups probabaly don't leave the station...or have been promoted to Chief. My first real "job" was a one-story strip mall with offices. The middle one was involved, with fire showing out the two show windows, the front door, and out the roof. As the engine approached and then stopped, I hopped oof and immedietly began stretching one of the 1.5" crosslay preconnects. (this was before the switch to 1.75", and LDH supply line). The OIC in the front seat was going to order a reverse-lay with the 2.5" skid-load off the rear. By not waiting for orders, I committed the engine.

So I stretched to the front of the building, and stood there witha limp line and nozzle in my hand of a line too small for the fire. Oh well, the second-due engine will drop from us and go to the hydrant. But as I looked back to figure out where the heck the water was, I saw the pump operator pulling the rest of my line...I never pulled the whole bed of line.

After water, a knock-down of the heavy fire, and the arrival of some of the other companies due on the box, one of the older members was discussing the lay-out of the office next door with the officers. He explained that since it was his lawyers office (he was fimiliar with the lay-out because of an impending divorce) that he knew of a doorway all the way in the back office that led to the original fire office of origin. The plan was to enter this area , which would be exposure "B", and gain access off the rear interior to knock-down the rest of the fire.

Understand this was maybe 1980. So no portable radios, no accountability, and infrequent SCBA use. So this guy turns to me and explained the layout, and hands me the nozzle. The exposure is charged pretty good with smoke. I figure it's time to make an impression, so in I go, with a charged 1.5" line, and no SCBA. I got in about 15' or so, crawling on my stomach, and it got really hot, and drop-ceiling seemed to be falling. I started to get light-headed fast, and turned around and made haste crawling out. When I came out the door coughing up what was left of my lungs, I looked ahead to see the yellow stripe of a pair 3/4 boots standing in front of me. As I stood up, there was Bob, all 6' 7" of him, a rough, crazy ex-Viet Nam vet looking down at me laughing. The BC asked what happened. He then became disturbed, and asked Bob "You let him go in there without a mask, while your standing here in one?"
Flicking his ciggerette to the ground he said sarcastically, "yeah...I was right behind 'em the whole time...the lil' mother-fu*#er will never do it again though, will he?"
Considering that was almost three decades ago, he was right. Never, ever did I make that mistake. Even when those leather-lungs still shunned thier masks, I never forgot.

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Permalink Reply by GelorupRookie on October 22, 2008 at 10:11am

* Forgot to look up at where we parked the Gang Tanker when we un rolled for mop-up at a burn and a large limb fell from a dead tree putting a nice dent in the top of the cab and snapping off the antenna.

* Forgot to lock in the reel hose and dragged 50mtrs of hose through the bush for 10 kms, not once but 3 times in a week :(

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Permalink Reply by Tim Green on October 22, 2008 at 10:32am

I was on a mva call, some drunk kid wrapped his car around a tree. as we were getting ready to extracate him i was hooking up the high pressure hose to the hydrolic pump i had medical gloves on and the connections were slippery. i though i fully connected it but when i turned the pump on the hose broke lose and hydrolic fluid sprayed everywhere all over the medical bags and everything. it wasnt major but it was still bad

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Permalink Reply by Humpy on October 22, 2008 at 11:18am

First live burn training, an officer told me to cool down a transformer on an electric pole across the road from the burn. It and the pole were smoking, so I straight streamed it. Fortunately no one was electricuted or hit by falling transformer parts. A very understanding training officer then instructed me in the proper method of cooling an electrically charged object. It was a true learning experience, I hope some day I will have so much patience.

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Permalink Reply by Stephen Nicholson on October 22, 2008 at 4:58pm

I pulled up to a house fire down a narrow entrance road with the rescue truck. Chief radioed me to move it over and make room for the engine to pass beside. I moved it over alright, right into the nicely mowed lawn, which looked dry and hard. It had rained the night before. I sunk the truck 12'' into the lawn, and needed a tow to get it out...

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Permalink Reply by Gaines Spivey(Smokestack) on October 22, 2008 at 5:13pm

We were fighting a small woods-grass fire on the side of the interstate, i was on the nozzle getting tips from one of our senior members when he turned around to retrieve a fire rake. I went to step bake to get a better postion on the flames when i stepped on the hose lost my footing and down i went. Luckly i was able to keep ahold of the nozzle but i wasnt able to get up because of the stream kept hittingmy other arm as i was trying to push myself up. After they could breath again from laughing so hard my Cpt and Sgt came over to help me out. Not onlt do i get ragged on by the FD but also PD who was onscene for traffic control but also some of my family who just happend to be stuck in the backed up traffic.

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Permalink Reply by Brittany on November 15, 2008 at 12:14am

Well, as someone so kindly dubbed it, I have had a few "opportunity for improvement" areas. Second week of fire school, we're playing monkey-move-up on the 1 3/4" line learning how to move hose inside a building. I'm last on the nozzle, and I hadn't learned a the 3-point stance my instructors had been trying to teach me. I have 3 guys behind me very enthusiastically shagging hose, and just about putting me on my nose. That was all great until I got into the first "fire room." The comedy of errors began as I have the hose and nozzle underneath my left arm, trying to remember what they showed us about controlling the line and right, I have to do an "O" pattern, and... it was about that point that I am watching my nozzle slithering across the floor and out a 3" by 8" drain vent on the side of the building... All I can hear is the instructor's voice saying loudly, "OOOOOHHHHH, that's not good... I've never seen THAT happen before..." It felt like a slow 50 years before I managed to wiggle the now open nozzle shut and back through the hole and complete the exercise. So, now I remember to control the nozzle.
Another one of my outstanding memories is the time on hose & ladder evolution day, I was the hydrant man. I tried both right and left to get the hydrant flushed and opened, and no water came out. I finally gave up. After the evolution was over (dry hose, thankfully), the instructor patiently informed me that "No, it is not always righty-tighty, lefty-loosey." In fact... they have the word OPEN printed on them... with an arrow... I got razzed about that through the rest of class, and when they gave me my Driver/Pump Operator certificate, one of my classmates informed me that it did NOT say Hydrant Hooking!!
As long as I can learn from each mistake... They truly can be opportunities to improve!
Brittany

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