Fire service, EMS, rescue good luck charms, signs of bad luck, superstitions and traditions

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Permalink Reply by Engineco913 on February 2, 2008 at 10:11pm

Whats that siren, I couldn't quite hear ya. Why you being so QU ends with IET? LOL

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Permalink Reply by Johnathan Turner on February 3, 2008 at 4:01pm

Yeah we've had to threaten the greenhorns with violence for saying it. And we make them clean the Unit afterwords.

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Permalink Reply by ILDisasterEMT on February 3, 2008 at 11:33pm

Well, I shouldnt say this, but in the interest of the Brotherhood:

I got labeled a ""sh** magnet" on my very first EMS shift because I used that word. 5 minutes after the shift, our first tone dropped for an elderly woman with a basilar skull fracture who died. Next call was a code that didnt make it. The 24 hour shift went on like this for the whole shift...except the 24 hours became 36 with 57 call outs, 9 involving babies. The only good thing of the night was that I got to deliver by first baby. My partner and I got an EMT only/BLS call out to a woman who just wanted to be check for possible braxton-hicks so she could quit worrying and go back to sleep. As we came through the door, her water broke and my partner got all grey and muttered something about "I dont know nothin' bout birthin' no babies" and sort of wandered out to the rig. I grabbed the radio and called for an ALS intercept and then explained to the mother that it meant that we would head for the hopital (eta 35-40 minutes) and she said, "I dont think its going to take that long." I reassured her that deliveries always take longer than we think they will just as I looked down and saw junior crowning. My partner reappeared with the sterile obie/gynie kits and I suited up, thinking at that point that the ob/gyn ppe was not unlike a hazmat suit. 7 minutes on scene and we had a baby. The family had a last name that started with T (for hipaa I wont say what it was) and the baby boy got the name Ernest Michael T. Initials:EMT. All because I said I wondered if it would be a q**** night. My partner made the mistake of saying it once after that and we had to wash the stink of the curse off him with a high pressure hose.

Also, I never carry any luck charms that I bought myself. I will only carry things given to me by others, like my EMT prayer coin, which I once lost when it fell onto the patients stretcher out of my pocket and two days later she showed up at the station with it to return it to me. So now I REALLY never go out without it. I also have one of the "1 a** to risk" patches (1/* is the logo) sewn inside the navy blue boonie i wear for EMS. I dont run a call without that boonie with the patch sewn in. It is totally not regulation, but my EMS command medic gave up trying to get me to stop wearing it a long time ago. I put a SOL pin on it and that made him feel better. I guess I have more charms than I think I do because I never run a call with my SOL pin that I got when I graduated from EMT school pinned to my work shirt collar. By the way...since I am writing a book on emergency services superstitions, charms, etc if you would like to have yours included or have the story about it included, etc, please email me at zenemt@hotmail.com giving me permission to use your story and or your name or initials and your departments name or whatever and if you would like, send me along your favorite picture of yourself in fire/ems gear and your good luck charm and they will go in the book. But Im not gonna print anything without anyones permission, so fill up that mailbox.

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Permalink Reply by Bill D on February 2, 2008 at 9:25pm

My good luck charms consist of my St. Florian necklace and our crew carries a firefighter prayer coin. The coin also determines who buys the next round (off duty of course). If they dont have it, THEY BUY.

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Permalink Reply by Andrea on February 2, 2008 at 9:53pm

I'm really suprised no one has talked about a full moon, it never fails, if its a full mood, we run all night, mainly BS calls usually....

As for good luck charms, I keep my little girl's pic taped on the inside of my clipboard along with a card that has the EMTs prayer on it...

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Permalink Reply by Tim on February 2, 2008 at 10:35pm

We have a silly thing that happens that I thought was just a vet pullin' my chain when I first heard about it but in the 4 years I've been with this district I've seen it happen every time. If a rookie states something like "Geez it's quiet." or something to that effect, we get a major call within 10 minutes. I'm here to testify that this is true! It blew my mind after like the 5th time it happened.

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Permalink Reply by Joe Stoltz on February 2, 2008 at 11:07pm

If we have two calls in one day (we're rural, folks, not too busy here) we say "see you at number 3" meaning that calls often come in threes. Most times it stays at two, but sometimes we get to 3 or 4 and on one recent occasion SIX.

Another thing I try to avoid is going to bed too early. If I retire early (before 10) seems like we always get something.

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Permalink Reply by Engineco913 on February 3, 2008 at 9:21am

I agree with you Joe. The crap hits the fan in series of 3's. (or so it seems) We generally will hang out at the station after the first call because often enough the tones coming for #2.

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Permalink Reply by Arkymedic on February 3, 2008 at 6:42pm

Codes definately do come in 3s

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Permalink Reply by TTES #32 on February 3, 2008 at 10:35am

Sometimes i think its the people I work with, when I work an ambulance shift with a particular Medic we always get weird calls. One weekend we even got 2 GSW calls, which is weird for the rural area I work in.

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Permalink Reply by Spanner 122 on February 3, 2008 at 3:35pm

I was given a St. Florian charm when I left my old job to come to the Fire Service. I have taken it off three times since then (wardrobe issue... lol) but always wear it to work. I always make sure at the beginning of each day (or night) to lay my gear out the same way every time. It's trivial and more so I don't have to think about it... but when something is misplaced or in the wrong spot (like the last time I had to fiddle with my flash hood), the simple alarm turns into a very smoky mess!!

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Permalink Reply by Eric on February 3, 2008 at 3:53pm

The only one i got is that i NEVER waer a fire helmet that dosn't have a 4 leaf clover on it. all my helmets have on (forestry ,structural,search and rescue) they all have one. I had't put one on my old helmet and went to a call and it flashed and burnt my ears,and melted my helmet! (see no clover bad luck!) but hey thats just me.

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