Crater Lake is always beautiful !

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Life is a Roulette Wheel

Larrieann and I just got back from the JoCoSAR Christmas party where we were entertained with a raffle for some items local businesses had donated to SAR.  As the winning ticket numbers were being called out it reminded me of another raffle I was involved in many years ago while attending the annul OVFA (Oregon Volunteer Firefighters Association) Conference...

...after the fire training classes held during the daytime hours were over this particular years conference, held in Coos Bay, offered the firefighters attending from across Oregon a Casino Night, for the evenings fund raising entertainment.  I have never been a gambler type with my money but I joined in with the casino activities anyway because they were raising money for a worthwhile cause I fully support, the Shriner's Children's Hospital (burn ward).  After I purchased my poker chips for the evenings festivities I stepped out into the gambling arena.  The fire guys at Coos Bay had done a great job in decorating the casino up, it looked just like I had seen in the movies.  At this point in my life I had not yet traveled to Las Vegas or Reno to blow any of my hard earned cash before.

Not knowing how to play any of the gambling games I stepped over to the one that had nobody presently crowding around it.  It was the game with the "rollie wheel" thing.  How hard could it be to call out a number, roll a marble around, have it jump and skip a few times before landing in a slot with a red or black number in it and wait for the wheel to come to a stop?  I figured the quicker I lost my poker chips the faster those kids at the burn hospital would get my money.  I placed all my chips onto the table, cleared my throat and proudly announced "Red 21".  Red for the color of my fire engine and I had seen in a movie once that 21 was suppose to be a lucky number.  The female croupier at the wheel looked at me some what dumbfounded and asked me "are you sure".  I just calmly nodded back at her because I thought that would look cooler then saying I didn't know what I was doing.  So she gave the wheel, later I found out it was called a Roulette Wheel, a big spin.  A marble shoots in the opposite direction the wheel is spinning and I stand there waiting for my number not to be called so those poor burned children could begin receiving the medical care they desperately needed.  Finally as the wheel slows the marble jumps, bounces and skips before landing in a numbered slot.  I'll be damn if it didn't end up in "Red 21" where my hostess yells "WINNER" from her gambling station.  I am horrified.  I have just won money away from small burned children, as a crowd of firefighters and their wives begin to mill towards my wheel.  Desperately I look around, clear my voice again and in the deepest cowboy voice I could muster I say "Let her Ride".  I had heard that line in some John Wayne movie once and I always thought he was pretty smooth as I pushed my initial bet and winnings into the middle of the table.   Again my cheerful hostess asks, "Sir are you sure?"  To which I tipped my hat and said "Yep" but in a clever deep voice. 

By now a crowd had assembled around me watching as this crazy ass firefighting cowboy purposely tries to lose his pokers chips so unfortunate children in a hospital far away could receive the life saving medical treatment they needed.  The big wheel spins again, as a shush comes over the crowd.  With a jump, bounce, skip, the whole crowd erupts this time with "WINNER" as the wheel slows to a stop with the marble firmly lodged, again, in slot Red 21.  With the new winnings added the pile of chips heaped upon the table was enormous.

About then Larrieann saunters over to where a huge crowd had developed around me.  She asks "Bill, what's going on?"  I am almost in tears by now because I am stealing money from these poor burned children.  I told her what had just happened.  She gives me one of those looks like, "are you SH**ing me".  To where she begins to explain the rules of Casino Night to me.  Buy poker chips to use while gambling, turn your winnings in later for raffle tickets, where random raffle numbers would be called for gifts lining several tables along the side of the auditorium.

I had wondered what all the stuff on those tables was for. Lets just say it took several poker chip trays to carry away my winnings that night, several tables had to be cleared to line rows and rows of raffle tickets out on and my whole gang of fellow firefighters from I.V. to help find our winning numbers when announced.  Everybody went home with some great prizes that night, and the Shriner's Burn Center won big too.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Have an Adventuresome Christmas

Fortunately when I moved into Grants Pass seven years ago I knew many of the firefighters at the new fire station I joined. I had actually helped train many of them to become firefighters when they were still kids, before they too moved away from my old rural community in Cave Junction. Everyone at the new station welcomed me with open arms and big pats on the back, except this one young guy nicknamed (Buttercup).  One day he came up to me and said “I’ve heard a lot about you". Continuing, he said “I’m going to kick your ass and leave you in the dust on the next fire”. I had to laugh at him because first I’m more of an “actions speak louder then words” kind of guy and also how could you take a guy with a nickname like “Buttercup” very seriously anyway...

Last winter Southern Oregon was suffering from one of the worst cold spells to hit our area in 25 years. The local roads literally had two inches of ice on them making them almost impassable even with traction devices on. Since it was just a few days before Christmas, even though the weather outside was frightful, like in the song, the adventurous were still scouring the surrounding mountains forests looking for that perfect Christmas tree when disaster struck. A family of five was returning home in the late afternoon, after a day with friends cutting down a Christmas tree. Their car skidded off a cliff on a remote icy mountain road. All the local fire departments, Search and Rescue, ambulance crews and the Sheriffs department responded to assist in the rescue...

For many years now my feet have had to fit into several different pair of work boots at the same time. Currently I am a member of JoCo SAR. On weekends I pull shifts with Rural Metro Fire. I work periodically with the fire boys at G.P. Fire and am a 23 year, past veteran of I.V. Fire, before Larrieann and I moved into Grants Pass to undertake a new job with the City of Grants Pass. My take on the tragic event on Shan Creek are my own thoughts and should not be considered an official statement by any of the aforementioned agencies. I am keenly aware that the victims’ family may read my blog someday. My hope is that if they do read my comments on the events that unraveled that night they will find comfort that everything possible was done to save their dad / husband.

After G.P. Fire shuttled the first load of rescuers and gear to the scene we began preparing for the descent. While I have been in the steep angle business for many years now I have never been one of the people left on top to assemble all the rigging. While I am aware of what rigging needs to be assembled, I am not particularly good at actually assembling it. When the word comes from command “who’s going over” I just always step forward because I know I can do more good down there…

…as Netti, Ben (soon to be called “Thing 1”, (because we ended up with 3 different Ben’s in the dark, on the side of the cliff that night) and myself latched into the stokes stretcher rails, pulling the chin straps on our helmets tight, we headed over the embankment. One of my R.M. fire "buddies" (Buttercup) had arrived at the scene earlier in the evening because he probably is the only person in the county who drives a 4 x 4 who could have gotten up that old road without chaining up first. He had already gone over the edge and was beginning to feed us spotty information from his portable radio. Being the first team over the edge “Rescue 1” we started our decent. It wasn’t too bad for the first 40 feet, while using just the light provided by our headlamps to proceed. Quickly we came to the cliff. Netta said “HOLD”. With her lamp shining brightly in my eyes she looks at me and in a calm voice informs me, “Blaze, we’re not in Kansas anymore”.  I began wondering how (Buttercup) had gotten down this fricking cliff when I noticed a tie down ratchet strap attached to a tree next to my feet with the end thrown over into the oblivion. At this time I did not know Ben (Thing 2, a family friend) had tied this conglomeration together trying to reach his injured friends below. If I did know that “Thing 2” had tied this mess I never would have done what I did next…

A rigging change needed to be made on top because of the new found dilemma (the sheer 100 foot cliff) and it was going to take a few minutes to set up. "Rescue 1" waited in the near total darkness listening to the family’s cries for help, still very far below us. Still thinking Engineer Buttercup had tied this self imposed decent line I told Netti “I have to go”. She just looked at me again and said “I know Bill, please be careful”. As I unsnapped from the basket, and down the tow strap, out of sight I slid. All I will say about this part of my evening is it was not OSHA approved. Finally meeting my new nemesis (Buttercup) at the bottom of the cliff he lined me out to where all the patients were plastered to the side of the mountain. As soon as I reached the family, I began doing what we are trained to do; patient assessment and helping re-adjust some of their positions to help them feel safer where they had came to rest on the side of that mountain. It wasn’t long before the rest of Rescue 1 had rejoined me and we began packaging mom and the young boy for their trip back to the relative safety of that slick logging road they had fallen off a couple hours earlier.

I have seen written where those of us over the edge that night were being called heroes. I have never claimed to be a hero before and still don’t think even after this arduous night, any of us rescuers are heroes still. We are all trained to do what we do. We learn how to fight back our personal fears and continue. I had personal heroes that night though. One of my heroes was the mom, for keeping her brood from any further injury while plastered to the side of that cold mountain waiting for the Calvary to arrive. She begged us not to take her on the first lift because she did not want to leave her two other children. We had to forcefully explain to her, your small son needs you most right now, so she allowed us to strap her and him into the basket for the journey aloft. Another hero of mine that evening was the teenage girl, hurt, cold, scared, holding the smaller sister in her lap she begged us to go help daddy, 200 feet farther down the steep mountain side. Leaving her in the darkness with just the dome light from the inside of the car slowly fading, I looked back and asked “Honey, are you going to be ok?” She just said “Please go help my dad” as Netti and I slide away over the mountain farther.

We now had slid so far down that mountain (550 feet) we couldn’t slide anymore because we were standing beside the iced over, Shan Creek. That’s where I met Ben “Thing 2” another of my heroes that night, personally for the first time. He was holding the dad trying to keep him as warm as he could under the circumstances, reminding him to hold on and not fall asleep, using his own body to deflect the rocks that were knocked loose periodically from above. He had sustained a pretty good lump to the back of his own head while shielding the dad. After quite a wait, G.P fireman, Ben, “Thing 3” arrived with the basket. The children’s father succumbed to his injuries as he was packaged for his trip to heaven…

…as we were pulled back up the mountain 200 feet to where the car crash was located, Netti and I peeled off to rejoin the two girls whom were by then sleeping and being held warmly in the arms of their two new best friends, Mr. G. and Thing 1. The Ben from below had helped carry our gear back to the crash site. He took the sleeping little girl in his arms already knowing he would be playing a different role in her life from now on. The rest of us quietly hunkered down awaiting the final lift for the two smaller girls because we too knew our lives will have changed after this experience that night. With the girl’s harnesses on, strapped in, away they went with Netti and with someone else, but I had lost track by now. Not wanting to wait for another shuttle to arrive, the remaining rescue members and Thing #2 began the hard steep walk out around the base of the cliff, back to the road carrying all the medical gear. I literally crawled onto the ice skating rink surface of the road at sometime around two in the morning, seven hours after we first descended over the bank.

...in the several days following the rescue we received several short notes thanking all of us for our efforts that extremely cold night. The compliment I most enjoyed hearing came to me in private though. Seeing Buttercup at the fire station a few days later he too admitted to me that “it was sure nice to see your ugly mug that night”, when I crawled down over that cliff to help him. After hearing that statement from Buttercup I slept very well indeed that evening.

Venture out and find a beautiful Christmas tree this holiday season. But please stay safe for all us rescuers this year.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

My Lies Reaching around the World

Blog hits from around the world...

United States 2,822
Canada 96
United Kingdom 90
Brazil 50
Russia 34
Germany 33
Pakistan 27
Poland 21
Czech Republic 20
Kuwait 19
Taiwan 19
Netherlands 20

The billy blaze blog stats show my misadventures are being followed from around the world.  I don't think I know anybody personally from the Czech Republic so I hope they understand my American humor.  All I need to find now is somebody who would like to help me publish a book.  We'll start with an English version first.

I recently ran into my long time firefighting buddy "Hollywood".  He went off on me about only having one story about him on my blog so far.  I told him "dude go write your own damn blog, this one's all about me".  No...  Hollywood and my mom have reminded me of some more stories I had forgotten about, which will follow once the holiday season slows down.  I have heard some of my long lost fire buddies are following along on my blog also. Just flash me an e-mail and I'd be happy to add your stories too.  Of coarse my version will make me look taller and more handsome then your version of the same story might.

Safe Holidays Everybody