Injuries

[MIKEYLIKESIT]

I was looking at Sherry's post about her paper and it got me wondering. How many of you out there have been injured at a fire? I am not talking minor cuts, sprains, strains, burns etc. those come with the territory no matter how safe we try to be. I was injured a little over 8 years ago at a fire, and while I only spent 5 or 6 hours in the hospital, I have lingering pain in several areas of my body to this day. It also woke me up to the fact I could have easily been killed. I was lucky. How about you?

[StLRes2cue]

..........

[MacInnis]

Of course this might not be a big deal. But in 1997 I dislocated my right shoulder on a woldland fire. By the next summer I needed surgery to repair it.

[arhaney]

I guess I've been lucky. My only ambulance ride was for heat exhaustion. Twice, guess I didn't know when to stop, but I sure do now!

[ROOKIELZ]

I wasn't exactly injured at a fire but I sure aggravated an injury at an MVA. I went to the house to find only 2 of us there. Since our rescue is housed 2 blocks away, we hopped in the first due, got on the radio and started out. Then I realized that rescue hadn't checked in. So I got dispatch to re-page and direct them to the rescue hall. We proceeded and I realized I was having trouble breathing and pain around my (L) lower ribs. Too late; we were short handed and rescue was way behind us. I fired up the pump and got going. The idiot I was with was not much help so I sent him to help the medics. When my part was done, rescue had arrived and relieved me on my request. I spent 7 hours on scene in pain and only breathing shallow breaths. To the Dr. early the next day to find out I had a hairline rib fracture. The Dr. figured that I had had it for 2 weeks (I had tussled with a wild granny at work) but that it must have moved slightly when I jumped into the truck and the work that night was aggravating it. 5 weeks later I had healed up enough to go back to work at both jobs. The Chief couldn't believe I hung in on the job and was careful to give me constructive advice. I think I might have garnered a slight modicom of respect. I told him the chips were down and what else could I do. Then I told him I asked for relief as soon as rescue arrived and he seemed better with my actions.
I am sure my story is nothing compared to other people's.

[captstanm1]

>2nd and 3rd degree burns to my leg during a training fire.
Cost me 50 working days off to recover.
>Sprained shoulder when I fell through floor and caught myself on the floor joists
>Hurt my back whe I slipped and fell on the ice during a barn fire in a blizzard
>partial tear of ACL when I got tied up in a hose line on a gas station fire

[Dave1983]

Ive been lucky. Years ago I was filling SCBA bottles and had one dropped on my foot (an old steel bottle:eek: ). The second was one of the first times (and the last) that I slid the pole at our main house. Somehow, I got my pinkie finger rolled up and I ended up with a nasty friction burn.

A couple times Ive slipped off a wet rig.
I got road rash and a hudge bruise on my arm from one, a nasty bruise on my upper back from another and the last time I jammed my shoulder. Doc says I will need surgery for that one. Its not too bad now but he says over time it will be:(

I have more problems at my pt ambulance job. Lots of pulls and strains, and I had a portable respirator drop on my foot. Man did that hurt

[Steamer]

I went through the floor of an Italian restaurant. The fire was set, and the guy that set it had rigged a couple of surprises for the FD. He had weakened the floor on the first floor about 10-15 feet inside the front door. I had gone in ahead of the hose crew to work ahead of them. They were just entering the door behind me. I stood up to get a better reach with a pike pole, took about 2 or 3 steps, and stepped on this weakened area. I went through the floor into the basement, which was bad enough, but part of the trap was a table with chairs upturned like punji stakes. The chairs were metal, and the protective caps had been removed. One of the chair legs went through my boot, and entered my leg at the ankle exiting about 2 inches below my knee. I bled like a stuck pig. Complicating the issue was the fire in the basement and several things hanging from the ceiling that looked like baloons found later to contain gasoline.

I know that standing especially under these conditions wasn't smart, but had I gone through while crawling, it would have been my chest impaled, and not my leg.

Oh...I've got a metal rod in my left arm from a fractured humerous a few years back too. I got that little souvenir from a fall on ice at work.

The rest of my injuries have been the usual stuff. Burned my ears enough to have skin hanging once. I had bailed from a second floor window when things turned to ****, but landed on a shed roof which shot me head first into a snow drift. That felt pretty good on my ears at the time.

[Weruj1]

Mikey........where is Sherry's info ? I am as a matter of fact currently nursing an old injury from 198? I aggravated a sciatic nreve problem and for some reason it is now mighty flared up, so bad I went to the Dr. I injured myself at a young age after joining my department and no idea it would affect me for the rest of my life. I did it lifting in a heavy set person in cardiac arrest back when all the cots we the old Ferno's you had to lower to the ground and then get people to lift it into the medic unit. OUCH>.............wish I would filed workers comp,been smarter and the department wasnt anywhere where it is now.

[VinnieB]

My throat was burned about 4 years ago..I was out for about 1.5 months. My mask failed (debis in the reg) on the 3rd floor of a ballon frame...fire in the basement, 1st,2nd, 3rd, and attic....I just entered a bedroom on the third when I had zero air.....It was very hot with heavy smoke in the bedroom....I made it back to the landing...but couldn't hold my breath...I had to remove the reg and breath out of my coat.....I took a wicked bad feed, but got myself out.....and ended up in the hospital for a day...I recoved and no problems since....

[Dave1983]

I went through the floor of an Italian restaurant. The fire was set, and the guy that set it had rigged a couple of surprises for the FD.

What a piece of sh**:mad: :mad:

I hope they locked him up and threw away the key!

[Pretender764]

Originally posted by Dave1983


What a piece of sh**:mad: :mad:

I hope they locked him up and threw away the key!

I am hoping that he was being sarcastic, but you never know.

[superchef]

Josh-(if you want to see the thread )
http://cms.firehouse.com/forums2/showthread.php?s=&threadid=66981

Over the ten year period from 1992-2001 the average number of firefighters injured on duty is about 82,250 annually. Slightly more than half (the averages were around 42,000) of those were on the fireground. The fact that these numbers have not dropped significantly over the past ten years when techonolgy and resources have improved is cause for concern.

You guys take care out there.

Now back to my paper....

[CaptainGonzo]

I have been fortunate enough not to have been seriously injured in my career *knocking on the wooden edge of the bulletin board in my office at the firehouse while I type this and thanking the "big guy" upstairs....

The list..

Hit in the face by a tree branch at a brush fire.. I now keep a pair of safety glasses with me during brush fire season and walk theough any wooded areas with one arm outstretched

Got debris in my eye overhauling at a fire.. looked like a pirate for a week...harrrrrrrrr! (and yes, my faceshield was down)

Sprained knee (trampled on by a probie when we sounded the evac signal at a restaurant fire).

Finger laceration (caught in the works while folding a pencil ladder..six stitches a clearcut case of not paying attention!).

Spent a night in the ER for dehydration and exhaustion. The rest of my crew had fallen through a burnt out floor and were transported and treated for burns, sprains and strains.

Threw my back out assisting the ambulance crew in lifting a morbidly obese patient into the "bone box".

My major "lost time" injuries occured while playing basketball and bike riding. We had access to a gym and a bunch of us would get together on Wednesday night to shoot hoops. I broke my foot (six weeks in a cast) and broke my nose on another occasion going up for a rebound (needed minor surgery to reset the nose, out two weeks. I don't play hoops anymore ;) .

I got run off the road while riding my mountain bike* and was out of work for 8 weeks with broken ribs (not fun.. lauging hurts, sneezing hurts, coughing hurts). My accumulated sick time covered these injuries.

*If it weren't for the fact that I was wearing a helmet... I probably would have been killed, as I hit a very large rock when I got run off the road. I had a severe concussion, the helmet was cracked in half (it could have been my head!) If you ride a bike, wear a lid!

[StayBack500FT]

1. Broken ankle (donning air pak in rig, slid off the seat to tighten straps, engine goes around curve, fall over, break ankle...get made fun of for weeks)

2. Hydraulic fluid from ruptured rescue tool line in eyes (training...should have used more than Bourkes...get made fun of for weeks).

3. Ummm...broken tooth, split lip and seeing stars from the now infamous road sign attack (get made fun of forever!!!).

[EFD840]

Busted some ribs when I tripped on a tree root at a mobile home fire and landed on the nozzle. Hurt like he!! for a couple of weeks.

[Steamer]

I am hoping that he was being sarcastic, but you never know. I'm not really sure what you mean about "sarcastic". The surprises, as I called them were essentially traps set with the sole intent of injuring firefighters. All of the traps were weakened areas cut into the floor, with the upturned chairs only under those spots. I was the only one to find one of them. It's not entirely uncommon for that to occur when the arsonist is particularly nasty, and aware that an injured firefighter often results in suppression operations being adversly affected. In this case, we didn't know about, nor did we anticipate traps being set; they were surprises. Especially for me. Nothing sarcastic about that at all.

What a piece of sh**

I hope they locked him up and threw away the key! Nope. The state investigators had what was believed to be a solid case against the guy, but the county prosecutor wouldn't take it. There was some discussion about exploring Federal charges since this was a business dealing with out of state companies, but nothing ever came of it. Charges were never filed. The insurance company did, however, deny the claim, and literally dared him to sue them. He lost the property in a civil seizure for the mortgage and taxes, and the insurance never paid the claim(s) on his property policy, nor the business interruption policy that was bought less than 2 weeks prior to the fire. There was some degree of solace knowing that he didn't profit from what he did.

[Pretender764]

I thought you werent serious about them actually being traps, I was hoping that someone wouldnt have the intention of hurting or killing firefighters. Whoever set that up is a sick piece of sh** as brought up before.

[snowball]

Originally posted by CaptainGonzo


If you ride a bike, wear a lid! [/B]

Lemme guess, your bike helmet is leather also??:p :D

[CaptainGonzo]

Originally posted by snowball


Lemme guess, your bike helmet is leather also??:p :D

ROTFLMAO! I wish! Good one! :D

[captstanm1]

oh...thanks stayback....speaking of fingers.... I almost cut my finger off when I was getting off the rig (from the top) and slipping, hangin by my ring finger after the ring got caught on the lip of the top rail. No more rings!

Stayback....did you hurt yourself when you took out the stop sign..:D

[warsbc362]

one time at a dual wood frame 4 story hotel in Ocean Grove N.J. I took a floor joist to the helmet, just a glancing blow but enough to put a gouge in the helmet and spend 6 hours in the emergency room in wet turout pants. One hotel was fully involved and had extended into the second hotel. Fourth floor of second hotel had burned thru the roof and master streams from the first hotel were in operation so all of that water had gone thru to hotel #2. We were checking for extension on the third floor of hotel #2 and trying to relieve some of the water buildup, about 6 inches on floor 3, when I stuck the pike pole into the cieling and pulled. Well lets just say more than plaster and lathe came down. Felt like I got hit by a truck. Walked around for 2 weeks after that like the floor joist was stuck up somewhere below my waist, and heard all the a$$ jokes I could have ever wanted to hear, but I was actually lucky it was just a glancing blow.

[stillPSFB]

I've managed to get myself in harms way a few times -
- Stung by coat-invading tree scorpion at a wildfire
- piece of 1/2 inch rebar through thigh when stairwell collapsed and I took the express ride from the 4th floor to the ground - that hurt!
- another job on the 4th floor of a warehouse turned to ****e and got badly burnt, plus trapped and out of air so sucked way too much bad stuff. Had the whole "out-of-body" experience in the ambulance as my BP crashed completely and the medics thought they were going to lose me before we got to the hospital. I can distinctly remember floating just under the ceiling of the ambulance looking down at myself lying on the gurney while the medics worked frantically and saying "you've really done it this time!". It was a really weird experience I can tell you. I don't know whether I crossed over briefly to the other side or what happened but jeesus it was weird. I certainly came very very close to being reassigned to the big firehouse in the sky that day.