One of the best things about this job – outside of the occasional baked goods and entry into just about anything in the city for free – is that no day is really ever the same.
Sure, I’m doing interviews, writing stories and taking pictures on a daily basis, but it’s almost never with the same people and even more rarely on the same topic.
You really never know how the day is going to play out – and it’s one of the reasons I enjoy what I do. (That and the paycheck I get every two weeks.)
The same can be said for members of the Concord Fire Department. But instead of pictures, notes and computers, they deal with things like fires, medical emergencies and being responsible for the safety of everyone they come in contact with. So you can say it’s kind of the similar to working at the Insider, only slightly more important to the health and well-being of the city.
And like with just about anything else that happens within the city lines (and Bow), I wanted to learn more. Sure, I could have sat down with Chief Dan Andrus, a couple of firefighters and an EMT, but what’s the fun in that?
Instead, I got the okay for Andrus to spend a couple hours with the crew over at the Broadway Station (Station 4) to see what happens on a typical Thursday morning, and what I quickly learned is that there is no such thing as a typical morning – no matter what day of the week it is.
Unfortunately for the story’s sake, I didn’t see any major fires or respond to any severe automobile accidents on the highway, but that was a good thing for everyone else out there.
But it was still a busy couple hours.
I hooked up Broadway’s Battalion 4 at a little after 9 a.m. They were already more than two hours into a 24-hour shift that would have them working till 7 the next morning.
“By the time you’re done with a 24, you’re pretty beat,” said firefighter Eric Booker.
And that’s all they really do. They work on an eight-day schedule. It starts with the aforementioned 24-hour shift, then they’re essentially on call for the next 48, if a station doesn’t have enough to cover a shift, followed by another 24-hour rodeo. But then they get two-plus days off, so it could be worse.
“We do have beds at the station, but it’s not like the sleep you’d get at home,” said Capt. Tom Nault.
Why is that? ’Cause the alarm could sound at any time.
“It’s like when you’re sleeping and your kids are banging pots and pans together,” said firefighter Ron Palmer.
And before I even got to meet all three firefighters and the two-man ambulance crew, the lights in the station lit up for a call. It came in over the load speaker as a reported ankle injury on South Street at a bravo level. The levels run from alpha to echo, with echo being the most severe.
I put on a heavy Concord FD jacket to identify as part of the crew, hopped in the back left seat of Engine 4 and we were off, sirens blazing – although traveling in the safest possible way. I was riding along with Nault, Booker and Palmer and not far behind paramedic Stephen Lorenze and EMT Jean Vaillancourt.
Booker parked the truck in front of the ambulance to “protect the scene” from oncoming traffic. Since I’m not trained one bit, I didn’t really help one bit except for answering a few questions to the best of my ability from a concerned resident. Instead, I snapped some photos to document the call.
The woman had slipped on the ice and seemed to be in quite a bit of pain with the ankle injury. So Lorenze, Vaillancourt, Nault and Palmer worked to stabilize her on the Ferno backboard, while Booker put out sand to avoid having anyone else fall on the ice because as you’ve probably noticed, it’s pretty slick out there these days.
“A medical call is usually pretty quick,” Nault said. “A building fire we’ll be there for multiple hours.”
They loaded her in the ambulance and off they went to Concord Hospital, while we (I and the fire truck crew) made our way to Station 1. There was training going on this day, and my crew was next up for the hourlong session. So while they sat in class, I got to tag along with the ladder crew – the ones who drive around the truck with the big extendable tower on it.
It wasn’t long before I was back on the road responding to a call for difficulty breathing at a downtown apartment building, where the older woman was given oxygen to stabilize her breathing before being brought to the hospital. But before we went back to the station, the officials over at the New Hampshire Hospital complex needed to swap out a couple keys in their Knox Box. The Knox Box is located outside many city buildings that require key access. The fire department is the only one that holds the key to the box, so when a building’s lock is changed, it needs to be added to the Knox Box so the fire department can still get in. It avoids having to use an ax and cause any kind of damage when it’s not necessary.
“My office for the day is that truck,” said Station 1 Lt. David Dumas. “Some days are busier than others and some districts are busier than others.”
Once back at the station, I went over to dispatch to see how all the calls come in. And not only do they serve Concord, but 20 other surrounding communities. Once the call comes in, dispatchers try to get as much information for the responding station and then send out the call. It’s a little more complex than that, but before I got all the details, I was summoned back to Engine 4 for another call. This one came in as abdominal pain at Concord Family Medicine, which would have been for the Heights Station, but due to training Station 4 was covering that area of town.
“We try to do what we can so everyone can do the training and all the calls get covered,” Nault said.
They see all kinds of calls, although none could remember any for a cat stuck in a tree.
“We have lots of different ways to get called out,” Palmer said.
Outside of the calls, they have to make sure safety equipment is in order, all the necessary tools are on the engines and take care of the day-to-day duties around the station.
“We he asks me to get a tool, I better know where it is. Time is of the essence,” said firefighter Scott Marcotte.
Once the call was secured, there was a trip to the General Services complex to get the water gun on top of the Engine 4 fixed and a diesel fill up. You’ve got to make sure there’s enough gas if stuck at a call for a few hours. Even though I was only with them for about three hours, I was certainly ready for lunch when I was done.
And so was the Engine 4 crew, but right as I was about to head back to the office for a little grub, another medical call came in. But that’s just how it goes for the city firefighters – all in a day’s work.