challenging changes

Challenging C h a n g e s

BY

K e i t h CrOssler

The one thing that can make or break a volunteer organization are the people in that organization. I’ll tell you that when I first started in the MVFD, I never would have imagined the changes that have occurred in the last couple of years. I truly think that, as a young person starting out anyway, that you have trouble seeing forward. What would it be like in 10 years, 20 years, etc? Most of us put on the cruise control and think that you don’t want the change. You get dependent on your peers, lean on each other to grow, and ultimately want to continue the goodness of the organization together. Unfortunately, change does come. The guy you went through basic with moves on to something different and can’t volunteer anymore. Or, that cruel reality of growing older. The folks you looked up to and learned so much from, retire. It’s a good thing. Until it isn’t.

The last couple of years brought some large change. The reality is the department has become full of younger folks. I was completely content with how things were going. I had taken more of back seat trying to focus on other areas of my life. Kids, my business, family. I still go on calls when I can, though it’s not that often. The change has been a 180 from what I knew of the organization. I’m trying to roll with it, but the truth is I’m struggling. My friends are disappearing, there is a huge divide, no communication. It’s tough. What keeps me here is my love for the department. My love for being a volunteer firefighter. Plus, I feel like I’m pretty good at it. I find that when we do have a call, and I can go on it, we can still come together and do the job. We do it well. I just hope we can pull through this tough time and continue to be here. To serve. To protect. To volunteer. To be the best that we can for our community and for each other. The call went out on an early summer evening. I just sat on the couch for the night. Kids were in bed and the chores were done. My phone rang out for a structure fire just outside of town. I looked at my wife and said “I’m going to go help out on this one”. I took off for the station. I remember feeling excitement. Not just because I caught the first truck before it left, but because even after 21 years, my adrenaline still pumps when it’s time to go on a call. I love it. Pulling up, the crew was anxious to go. So I grabbed my gear and ran over. I jumped up in the back seat and started pulling my gear on. The truck rolled out. Lights were reflecting off the road signs and the siren rang out. As I look around at our crew, I realize we had a pretty damn good one. Over 50 years of experience in that cab. We all quietly got ready. Boots, pants, coat, protective hood, air pack, gloves, and helmet. Then we get the update that you want, but know the excitement is just a little less. The fire is extinguished at this time. We roll up and park where instructed. As our crew gets out, we go and take a look. Well color me excited, there are still flames rolling out under the porch. It wasn’t extinguished completely. Time to go to work. Disclaimer: I truly don’t want someone’s home to burn. I’ve experienced my own fire and I wouldn’t wish that feeling/experience on anyone. Not anyone. It sucks. As a firefighter, you have a passion and a draw for these types of events and you tend to get excited. We don’t have fires like we used to, so when there is a real fire, you get a little pumped up. Let’s be honest here, that’s a good thing. An excited firefighter in a real fire situation will suit up and get the job done quickly and efficiently. We pulled a line and tried to get a quick knockdown on what we could see. It was showing from the exterior, but we knew it was interior at that point. It wasn’t fast moving and we could tell it was small. We pulled in some salvage covers (tarps) and covered all we could in the laundry room. That’s where the door led to and where we would do the most work.

We needed to pull the ceiling and look for extension. There was a small access point where the fire had burned through. I dumped a bunch of water in the attic space to slow any progression. The crews outside set up a ventilation fan to blow the smoke out in order for us to see. Next we had a small ladder brought in so we could access the attic space and see what we were really up against. After a quick look, I knew we would have our work cut out for us. The old heavy wood construction with sawdust insulation would be a challenge. One of the other guys pulled out more ceiling while the other one got a chainsaw to open up the walls more. The sawdust insulation is a smoldering mess. It’s quite difficult to get extinguished. You really have to be careful to make sure you don’t end up with a rekindle situation. We opened everything up the best we could with making the least amount of damage as possible. Then we soaked it. Then soaked it again. Working together, we would take turns going through the roles. Pulling insulation, stirring it, soaking it. With some small smokers still showing up, we found a new problem. This house had big, rough cut timbers. They also will hold the heat and be difficult in getting the fire out. In an effort to minimize damage, we tried using some foam. Foam is basically a really soapy water. All our engines, at this point, have onboard foam educators. With a simply flip of a switch, you can add foam to certain lines. Usually the smaller hand lines and not the large diameter lines. The trucks are equipped with around 20 gallon tanks that are all plumbed in. It truly makes it a really easy and effective tool. The soap from the foam can penetrate the wood and help hold moisture to obtain extinguishment that just water may not be able to. My low air alarm began to sound, so out we went. We updated the next crew with what we were doing and what was next. They went to work. Turned out that the foam did the trick. It knocked out our little smokers that we could see. So, we started to pick up while still watching the fire area. After giving it a few minutes, we checked the area again with our thermal cameras and felt confident in our job. We cleaned up and headed back. Something I experienced on this call that I don’t think I really ever have before, was our ability to go to work and know what we were doing. We didn’t have to talk much. We had our tasks and we accomplished it without problem or conflict. That’s what I mean when I say lean on your peers. Each one of us that night had that experience to go to work, to get the job done. We leaned on each other in a way to grow each other without even realizing we were doing it. We kept calm and got the best result we could with the circumstances presented. I’m proud of those guys and proud of what we did. Here’s to the next 20 years. Change comes, and we’ll have to embrace it and do the best we can to keep on keeping on. I just hope we can all get along enough to get there while embracing these big changes.