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Post by Major Pain on Apr 2, 2016 2:06:42 GMT 1
You know... I have been blessed with so many friends that continue to support my work and projects. What more could anyone hope for in their life.
There is not secret about my health issues last year. Let me assure all of you, I just went through a PET Scan and CT test to look closely at what is going on inside my body. I passed with no new cancer growth detected. So let me put any concerns about me to rest on this now. And thank you to the many of you that reached out to me by email recently asking about my health.
So what is behind my absence? Well the continuation of our Wild Fire Season which just will not quit. We have had historic fires this year, so our Region is under a Federal Disaster Declaration. And we have also seen the extremes...
Late on Wednesday evening, we had a very intense and strong series of Thunderstorms rush thorough part of our State. As part of its Gift in much needed rain, it delivered a Super Cell Mesocyclonic Event. That is the long definition of a long lasting tornadic cell. The National Weather Service is still looking at the data to determine what classification of tornado this became. It stayed on the ground for 60 miles and at times destroyed everything in the path up to a mile wide. Thousands of homes were damaged or totally destroyed from Tulsa Oklahoma to around Locust Grove two counties east. The number of injured is still being collected, but we know of at least 170 walking wounded and 35 to 50 seriously injured, some life threatening.
This tornado did not strike in our jurisdiction, but was just north of us.... we did provide units until this morning.... and again... we are back on fires once more.
More later as I have time.
I started this message about 5 hours before it was posted... Just a sample of how my days are going.
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Post by Major Pain on Apr 2, 2016 2:09:09 GMT 1
Thank you MAT... keep up the hard work...
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Mat
General
Posts: 1,814
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Post by Mat on Apr 2, 2016 3:51:24 GMT 1
yes sure i know and in my view theres no reason to feel sorry Doug! Me personally i can only wonder (and thank you, Sir!) that youre still spending so much time here after all and beside your important Job as a Firefighter Chief!
You gave so many knowledge to this community and to the future of THE game, its inctredible!
Regards and greetings to the Family! Mat
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Post by Major Pain on Apr 3, 2016 1:16:03 GMT 1
Thank you.
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Post by Major Pain on Apr 7, 2016 3:44:24 GMT 1
Quick update: Our fire season continues with red flag alerts almost every day for the last week. We had a major blow out today on a large fire where a crew was overrun by a rollover and trapped between two fronts. One firefighter was burned badly on his back and legs.
Other crews had to respond to assist with getting to that crew. I also moved to the area from the command post to make sure we were doing everything we could. The trapped crew was trying to run through a 10 foot high wall of flames as we were trying to knock it down. One of the men came jumping through the fire and collided with me on the outside, knocking me down into the flames. I scrambled as two others grabbed onto me to pull me back.
Just one of those things you cannot plan for... the guys trapped were in a panic and could have all died right there. None all of this crew were my people, although one of my Captains was the Section Chief and was on another part of the line. We had 35 mixed (7 & 8 man) crews on this fire; 14 fire dept.
So long story short... I burned both hands on the back, and the right palm to 2nd degree. I had all of my gear on except my gloves, and had rolled my sleeves up about a third. So I was burned on the wrists and forearms as well. Lost all of the hair on both hands and arms below the sleeve cuffs. I have just made it back to my office to write the accident and injury reports. I will be in pain for a few days but nothing that I have never dealt with before.
I have to say, the longer that this season lasts, has reached a point where this will likely expand into May... We have been getting day time highs in the 70-75 range followed by lows around freezing each night. Climatologist are saying this is caused by the El Nina Effect on our west coast.. We really did not have a winter as such, just two nights of freezing rain in November. This already has been called "the Year without Winter". The rest of this week and into next week looks pretty much the same situation. The grasses and plants just are not greening yet due to the lack of rain and nightly cold temperatures.
More later... I will be in my office for the rest of this week.
My work progress has been slow due to this situation... I am ready for this to end
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Post by Herr Kodax on Apr 7, 2016 9:18:16 GMT 1
Major!!! Take care of yourself and colleagues! Hopefully no more incidents like that will occur.
I only ever had to "fight" (see dodge) the bottled version of fire - aka molotovs, but 10 foot flames?? I can't even begin to imagine what that is like.
Always equipment on, no matter how tiresome or annoying it is. Your story reminds me of a guy who took his elbow & forearms protectors off because it was summer, then had his hand smashed by a fire extinguisher at a local riot. An injury that could have been prevented.
Take Care!
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Post by Quintaxel on Apr 7, 2016 11:18:33 GMT 1
Major Pain , you can join "La Main Rouge" now, if they still excist. I wonder what Mrs. Pain had to say about your latest mishap. We know you have seen much worse, but do take care sir.
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Post by Major Pain on Apr 9, 2016 10:05:00 GMT 1
Actually she thought it was funny... the way it happened was kind of funny.
This guy just comes through this wall of flame from nowhere... and mows me down. He came through fine, but a bit panicked. But when he hit me then saw where I landed, he was all of business..
Funny how we seem to focus on the service part of this when we have just had our butt handed to us.
The fire did something that we had predicted, although we had not predicted it there. We were looking at another part of this vast frontal line. But due to the conditions, Fires have a tendency to do the unexpected, and can create their own weather to optimize what it is supposed to do. The most significant change that a Fire can affect are the winds.
In rough land areas with bluffs and saddles, fires can create what we call Fire Thermals Winds with are greatly accelerated compared to the current wind condition. This is one of the most dangerous situations that firefighter ground crews can face. Once they are cut off or surrounded, the mission changes to fight for their lives.
We had the same situation the next day.. The winds were just not helping us yesterday. We have no choice but to insert the crews on the ground where there are no roads. We have 5 Dozers with sheep-claws trying to build fire breaks where can try to stop the fire progress, but so far, the fire just continues to jump these line with the winds help.
We did get a break today in the wind shifting to the south which will pick up moisture from the Gulf of Mexico that is currently over the state of Texas. This improved the humidity lows we have been seeing. The wind speeds were below 20 knots for the first time in two weeks, which allowed crews to make some progress since most of the fire was trying to move back into burned out areas... what we call the black. Our Local Ops Chief thinks they will have total control over new breakouts now that it is 100% contained.
Hopefully by mid-day Saturday, we can begin to pull down fire crews so they can get some R&R before they are called again. Saturday night we expect a line of sever storms to roll through the region, again with the risk of hail and tornadoes. So far, we are not seeing that much precipitation associated with the Warm Gulf Air so this could have a serious impact on the cold front (or wave) arriving Saturday afternoon.
If everything always went perfectly, I might be selling wagons loads of horse crap for a living instead of the Job Security we currently have.
And yes... the hands do hurt. It is a challenged to type when you have all of your fingers separated by gauze pads and tape. They do this so they do not try to regenerate new skin which are webbed between fingers.
More Later...
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Post by Major Pain on Apr 15, 2016 4:14:00 GMT 1
UPDATE
Finally the weather has been coorperating the last two days. All of the large Fires are nearly contained around the area. We expect a couple of days of showers and perhaps thunderstorms, which will help usher in the fuels to green up. It has been a hell of a season so far.
And some news that is not so good. My latest episode with the colliding firefighter seems to have caused more damage that we first thought. I went to the doctor for an MRI on Monday to find out my recent hip replacement has to be done again. I broke the top part of the femur knob, which is original bone they left next to the implant. So it must come out and a new rod must be replaced since it was bent. I did not think Titanium could be bent. But the Doctor said it can in certain situations. He has added my case to the list of known situations - Number 16 - Colliding with a Fire Chief.
So, let there be a lesson learned here... do not go around hurling yourself at any Fire Chiefs with a Titanium Hip Replacements. Surgery scheduled at the moment for next week since this really hurts.
And this will give me time to get some work done finally. I will be in the hospital for 3-4 days, then home in bed for another week before therapy starts. I can't drive for 6 weeks... so they will have to come get me... if they need me around here. Otherwise... I will be working on my stuff... and playing catch up...
It is possible that he might delay surgery a week if he thinks he might want to bank more of my blood before surgery. (I hate that crap)
So be happy I am, kind of, sort of, in a way, BACK to work.... Surgery will be a piece of cake this time...
MP
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Post by Herr Kodax on Apr 15, 2016 17:19:08 GMT 1
Damn it Major, will you EVER catch a break?
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Mat
General
Posts: 1,814
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Post by Mat on Apr 15, 2016 18:09:22 GMT 1
No Good News MP! I wish the Surgery will be fine without unexpected Problems.
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mongo
Razvodnik
Always remember,Never Forget:Box 8087 5 - 5 - 5 - 5
Posts: 13
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Post by mongo on Apr 15, 2016 20:43:32 GMT 1
Hey Doug enjoy your medicated paid vacation
Be safe Brother and Godspeed
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2016 22:54:34 GMT 1
I wish wholeheartedly that the operation ends well. A hug friend.
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atlas555
General
I know not what course others may take. As for me, give me liberty or give me death.
Posts: 1,069
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Post by atlas555 on Apr 16, 2016 18:34:50 GMT 1
Doug, you sure have away of keeping people on the edge of their seats.
Good luck, sweet talk the nurses like you know how to do, and get back to rocking and rolling cyborg.
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Post by Major Pain on Apr 17, 2016 8:50:27 GMT 1
LOL.... I cannot get a break.... I used all of those up. That is what I get for being hard-charging all of those years without a scratch. Time for payback now.
So, just because I can, and because this is my boring old topic.... here is how I spent a normal and typical day on the job...
Just as I stated that things were improving... we caught another round of fires today. These were all local and should not have been an issue... except people think they can light a fire and it will stop on the edge of their property. Really, they do... "The fire shall stop here!"
4 of 5 fires crossed property lines, but didn't cause a big issue. One crossed the property the line and burned the neighbor's boat building. Yeah, that might cost some money since one of the two boats was in there. Luckily, the owner's 2nd boat was in the shop for repairs. None of those fires were like what we have been dealing with for months, these were minor compared to those.
And just when I was about to go home for the rest of the weekend... I was called back on duty as I was walking to the car.
We received a GRAY ALERT, which is a missing Senior Citizen.
She was in her 80s and had not been seen since this morning. That gets your blood going since we have a lot of wooded areas and this huge lake surrounding our district. So we started at her home to visit with family to get photos and personal belongings for the Search Dogs. She had some medical issues but nothing major for here age.
One of the crews (without a dog) found her after 20 minutes, sitting on a log. She was singing to herself and expected someone to find her when she didn't come home. She was sure glad to see our guys. She had decided to take a walk and used streets early in the day, but cut through the woods on the way home. Hell she lived there most of here life so she knew better than we did where she was. One of the dog crews caught up with the group once they figured out she had made a huge circle.
And after her ordeal, which says really was not a big deal, she offered our guys cookies and milk. This happens all the time. Our guys love their jobs, just for the food. And no, I did not get any... As soon as she was safe back at home, I turned the scene over to a Captain and headed for home. I did not want to get caught up in the next call. That one came in after I walked in the door, another small fire... trash and leaves. I think 14 hours today was enough.
Dogs are good, but they do make mistakes at times.... and 2 of ours made loo-loos. They made tracks in the opposite directions... so back to training for those pups. But it could also be handler mistakes too, so they get to go back to school too.
Other than a couple of smaller events today... Saturday was kind of like a vacation. We did not have to send a crew 75 miles from home in the last few days. That is always a good thing.
Sunday I get my first day off in a month. So I will sleep late then open MAYA around noon. I still have a couple of details to run down in a few models before they are ready. Time for a day of relaxation and the Western Channel on the Satellite TV.
**
Monday, I get to visit with the Workers Compensation Board to see if they will pay for the hip surgery. Initially they rejected it on the spot Wednesday when I turned it in on a Supplemental Report. But because of the urgency, they agreed to Arbitration. Because it is an on-the-job injury, they should cover 100% of this, instead of my Medical Health Provider. But they claimed a pre-existing medical condition caused the injury.
Huh? How did they come that that conclusion? They haven't said yet... but it might be like this... My Hip should not of have been in the way of the airborne firefighter? Sometimes Insurance Companies drive me nuts with some of the crap they come up with.
Later...
MP
I'm considering suggesting to the Olympic Guys to add the 'Airborne Firefighter collides with Fire Chief' event. I think people would pay to see that...
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