Starting Out

Although today has been work free it has been quite a busy day. As the little one was at school yesterday for her birthday we took her out today for her birthday treat. We took her to a small seaside town called Hunstanton for a trip to the Sea Life Centre . It is a place she really loves so she had a good time with MT and sister. I meannwhile, after an hours drive did not feel like going round the centre for three hours. Also, having seen most of the inhabitants in their natural environment during my travelling days, I do actually believe they should be free and living in the sea rather than poxy tanks.

So I opted out and went for a walk in the English rain instead. It was also very cold, so not feeling well anyway, it was quite a hard three hours. I can only drink so much coffee but at least it was nice to be somewhere different, I certainly got a lot of 'fresh air', I will probably be suffering from pneumonia by the end of the week.

While walking along I thought of many things, as you do, but one thing made me smile and I thought I would share it here. It was when I was 19 years old and with only a years experience as a Firefighter. In the early hours of the morning, about 2-00am we arrived at a serious fire in a house. Two of the occupants , the parents were outside in the street screaming and shouting that their 13 year old daughter was still trapped in the house. The officer in charge ordered two of the other firefighters to put their breathing apparatus on. In those days it took about three minutes to do this. Against every procedure in the book, I was told to go in without breathing apparatus on my own and 'have a quick look' to see if I could find her, while the others were getting ready.

With a great deal of adrenalin and fear, I took a big gulp of fresh air and went in. At that time of night one would expect everyone would have been in bed, so first job was to locate the stairs. It was so thick with smoke I was choking, it was also fucking hot. I had never been inside a fire on my own before (it was against every rule) so it was not suprising I was terrified. I kept trying to focus on my training, basic things like keeping low below the heat and smoke and feeling my way around.Of course the 'manual' actually did not cover going in without breathing apparatus, apart from that 'one' time in training when they send you into a fire in a controlled environment to let you feel the effects of smoke, gases and heat on you, I remember how shit that had been then.

By the time I had got to the top of the stairs my lungs felt as though they were going to burst, I started gulping in smoke and hot gases and knew I could not last long like this. I dodged into a bedroom, and opened a wndow (not good practice normally) and gulped air like I had never gulped before, it felt so fucking good. I knew I needed to search the bedrooms, but knew I would need some more air. There was no-one in the bedroom, by this time I needed more air so it was head back out the window to take a huge breath to get to the next bedroom.

As I sort of lunged across the landing I hit something really hard on the floor with my right boot and went flying forward and landed on something bulky and soft, it was the girl. She was unconscious and although only 13 years old was quite heavy. I tried the text book method of lifting when you are on your own but I could not get her up properly. So I sort of draped her arm around the back of my neck, pulled down on her arm to keep her in place and sort of semi lifted, semi dragged her down the stairs and outside. At this point, the two other firefighters were ready to go in, typical.

The ambulance crew (no paramedics in those days) took her and put her straight on oxygen and then away to hospital where she made a full recovery. I was given oxygen and there was no way I was going to let that mask go for a while. I still remember vividly how my eyes and nose were stinging and streaming, how sore and raw my throat and chest felt but of course none of that compares to how I felt about my first 'solo' rescue in a fire, which incidentally, was fortunately never repeated.

When I did let go of the oxygen it seemed like a dream, everyone was patting me on the back, head, wherever they could and telling me what a great job I had done. The parents came over and the look on their face said it all before they went into the ambulance with their daughter.

The funny thing about this and the main reason I started smiling today is this. The following day I phoned the hospital to find out how the girl was, they told me she was fine and would be kept in for just a couple of days and there would be no lasting damage. Her lungs were ok but she had a massive bruise on her rib cage which they could not understand how she got. I said nothing, but instantly knew it was where my size 10 boot had struck her....just before I had fallen on top of her. Neither did I confess my 'method' of finding her to my colleagues, I just took the praise and adulation.

I sort of feel bad some days about my deception, but then again, it does not really matter and I still feel very pleased I rescued her, but I also know if someone else had gone in instead of me she might not have been kicked in the ribs......see I was always into bdsm even if it was accidental.