Firefighter Instructor I Class, Day One

I spent a fair amount of the day getting the final chapters completed before my Firefighter Instructor I class was to get underway. While working on my stuff I heard the dispatchers send an ambulance to a call where a guy was doing CPR on the side of the road. Patti ended up getting called out on that.

The class was starting at six o’clock pm in Colfax. I am actually doing this class for both Pullman and Colfax fire. I got the books and got signed up through Pullman, but I will be doing teaching at both places now. Keith went down to the class with me. We got through several of the chapters in the book. We also got our lesson plan assigned to us for the teaching on Sunday. I was given the Becket bend knot.

While in the class Colfax Fire was dispatched to a car accident. It was not long after that when we found out it was a fatal. We were nearing the end of class and Patti called me. She asked if I wanted to come help. I still had to wait until we were done with one more chapter. It was short one. I was on my way.

We got the scene where a SUV rolled several times and the person was ejected. It does not appear that he was wearing a seatbelt. But I am not sure about that. From what I was able to find however it appears it was not worn. Also the state patrol said it appears that elevated speeds were involved.

I helped get the deceased on the cot and to the funeral homes’ van. They drove it to the funeral home and Patti and I made our final photos. We drove in to the funeral home to complete the investigation. There were a lot of injuries. It was clear what the cause of death was.

I finally got home just after midnight. I then spent the next two hours working on a Powerpoint presentation to go with my classroom teaching of the Becket Bend. We were doing a practice teaching on Saturday to get an idea of what we need to work on for our final on Sunday.

Mid-day Coroners Case

I tried to get to the show early to get my laptop working for the interview with Jerrid of the Evergreen Football League. I could not get the wireless to work on my laptop then I thought that I could just hook the laptop to the headphone jack and have it record directly. I did that and it worked out well, but I was running up against the clock because I started it so late. I was able to get on the air and the computer recording.

I tried to get Jerrid on the air, but we were having a problem with him hearing me. So we did the three-way call method that Peter and I have used. That was able to work but it gave off a slight echo through out the interview.

I also got a call from Pete about a coroners case in Pullman. He asked if I could go. I told him I could get out early if I could get a replacement. I was not able to find one, but I still ended up going after my show was over with.

I got the scene, it was a natural death. What was interesting is that unlike many of my cases I had to look for evidence all over the place to try to determine what happened and when it happened. I was able to come up with a timeline that Pete agreed with, that the cops agreed with, and that fit all the evidence. It was interested to get to use those kind of skills.

Following the coroners case I went to Mike’s for poker. It was a full house with Loren, the kicker from the football team as well as Robbie and a couple other guys from the basketball game. I was doing well for most of the night, but then I lost a close hand where I got trip aces and someone else got the straight. That cost me some of my winnings. But I ended the night up almost twenty bucks.

Crazy busy… for an hour

I was kicking butt on bugs today. I was able to get two of them completed and turned in after talking to Brian about one of them I had needed more information about. We had a call-in meeting today as well. I got a call from Pete about a coroners case in Palouse. Patti had already gone on one today. She ended up going on the second one as well. But then she called me about coming up with my camera to help her take photos because her camera was not working.

I had to hurry because I was going to be on call for the fire department before too long. I made my way to Palouse. I called Whitcom to let them know I was en route. I said “Whitcom, Paul Sixty-six.” Jamie answered and said “Paul Sixty-six on Pullman Fire.” I had a long pause and then said “Disregard.” She responded by saying “Received. Talk to you on Steptoe.”

I got to the scene and made good time. We got the photos and I assisted with the removal. Then it was back to Pullman. I heated the oven for dinner. Just as I pulled my dinner out a call came out. I tried to call Tyson with no luck. So then I decided that if I hear someone stand by I would go down otherwise I would eat.

Then as I finished up eating a second call came out. I went to the station and stood by. Within a few minutes of that call a third ambulance call came in. Brian had shown up. The PL said it was going to go back and get an ambulance. I had Brian let the PL know we had a crew of two and were getting ready to leave the station. We could switch to the Ambulance if he wanted. After a pause he said to do it. So we switched to the Ambulance and ripped off the chains before hitting the road. We went code to the scene. On the way a fourth call came out for a fire alarm. It was probably a good thing we were able to keep the PL in service.

Following the transport and getting everything back in order it remained a pretty quiet night for a while. I was trying to make some new CD’s for Rescue, but they were not burning correctly. I went through three CD’s.

We finally got a call. But before we knew it we were running back-to-back-to-back calls. We had three in a row. We were running for two hours. We did not get back home until nearly three in the morning. But that was all the night had in store for us.

First Coroners Case of the year

I started out the morning out with a meeting in the jail in Colfax. It was time for the Sheriff to just open the floor to discussion and to talk about some plans and goals on the year. I was at the meeting until around nine-thirty in the morning.

I got back to Pullman and had some lunch. Just then my neighbor came over with some food for me. It was a soup-type item. I had eaten so I took it and put it into my fridge for later.

The Culligan guy showed up to look at my system and determine what kind of water softener I need. I am going to get away with the cheaper one because I have the smaller pipes. That is scheduled to be installed next week.

I was working on spotting my gas meter. I am having an odor of natural gas around the stove from time to time. Parrish told me how to spot the meter. So I went around the house and shut down all the gas stops and checked where the meter was at.

I went to my office and got some work done for about fifteen minutes. I did not see any movement so that meant that the leak was not between my meter and the stops. So I had to turn on one appliance at a time and see which one would make the meter move. I turned on the stove and waited for about fifteen minutes. I went out and there was no movement.

I was going to turn on the other stops when Pete gave me a call about a case in Albion. I told him I wanted to go along with him. I left only the oven on and kept everything else shut down. The case took several hours. We had to call for Albion Fire to come help us move the deceased out of the bedroom. It has also started to snow like crazy around the time of the call.

The snow was piling up really fast. We had about six or seven inches in a matter of hours. The highways were getting closed due to the slide-offs and problems. We cleared the scene and made our way back to Pullman. We waited at the funeral home only to find the lady driving the body went the long way back to Pullman. She got stuck in the traffic and ended up turning around and going to Colfax instead.

I left Pete around five o’clock to go back home. I was working the Men’s Basketball game tonight. I got to my place and checked my E-mail. Then I got ready and went to The Deuce for the game. I got some Little Caesars on the way.

The game was good, I was able to go in and out of the first aid room to watch parts of the game. We had a patient near the end of the first half and ended up dealing with her for the rest of the game. So I missed the rest of the game, but the Cougs won it.

A Year in Review

Jan – I Have Problems with Vomit – I was dealing with the patient when the patient fell over and started to puke. I was doing well until about the third time puke came flowing. Then I started to dry heave hard core. My second one was so bad. I was facing a cop who jump and got out of the way because he thought I was going to puke. After having my dry heaves keep going, Chris got there and saw me. He asked if I was okay. At first he thought I had gotten hit or something. Shane told him what was going on. Chris said I should just go downstairs. My pride was hurt hardcore. I did not feel really bad, it just sucked going downstairs with people watching.

Feb – Grandma Dalen Died – After about thirty minutes of trying to sleep the pager went off for a call. But it was about seven in the morning so I decided not to go. I was way too tired. About fifteen minutes later I got a phone call from Mom. I had a feeling what it would be. I was correct. My grandma had died over-night. So now I had to figure out how to get to North Dakota.

Mar – Mariners Spring Training – You can get really close seats at Spring Training. We got to see a lot of the Mariners players. It is a pretty neat experience. Everyone is very laid back. We were always sitting close to the field. Close enough to hear the umpires and players speak. Very strange in deed.

Apr – Championship Game – We got to the South Fairway fields into for our game. Don’t Care is our opponent. They are a very good team who have not lost a game yet. We had to be on our A-game. We started off well. And early on had a small two-run lead. But as soon as we got it, they went to work, coupled with several errors, cost us eight-runs. So we were down by six. After that it is like the team gave up a little bit. We could not hit the ball and ended up losing the game. We are the number two team in the competitive league this year! So we are happy about that.

May – I Have Sleep Apnea – Dave and I left around midnight. We had chatted through out the day about the CPAP machine and his situation. He also has a CPAP machine. I got some distilled water for the humidifier. I went home and had it all set up.

Jun – Tory and Brandt Died – I thought about Tory. He fit all the descriptors. He lived on Merman, he had past medical problems and he is about twenty-nine. So I got this sinking feeling in my gut…I met Brandt through Garrett a couple years ago out boating. I have written about him in my blog before. He loved to go balls to the wall on the tube. He was fun to have around boating. I have been trying to find out when he is coming back to the area to get him out boating again.

Jul – Becoming an Engineer – We went to the tower and pumped water for about an hour and a half. I took a hydrant. I flowed water and simulated the foam. I set up the relief valve and calculated friction loss and the whole works. I passed the test so now I am an engineer.

Aug – Sold My Colfax House – I got a call today from my real estate agent. He said the paperwork is signed and I can start to move my stuff from the house. I have set the plans in motion with renting a new storage place that is larger. I also sent out an E-mail to a lot of people looking for help. I am willing to throw a kegger with a free-roll Texas Hold’em tournament for those who help.

Sept – Crew Leader Anderson – I will forever remember the day I became crew leader. It is “the day.” September Eleventh. Five years after the terrorist attacks on America.

Oct – Mercer Island Boat Patrol – While at work today I got an E-mail from Heston regarding employment on a Mercer Island boat patrol. I jokingly asked Heston if he would miss me this summer. He sent me contact information for the Sgt in charge of the boat patrol. I called him up and he wants me to meet with him when I got to Seattle next week.

Nov – Buying a House – Following the show Peter and I went to Moscow to get my boat. We took it to my place and put it into the garage. It fits in there. I was happy about that. Peter and I went around the house. He thought it was a nice looking place. I think over all I am going to be happy with it.

Dec – Thirteen Deaths on the Roads – I got on scene of a truck that had rolled pinning the victim. I did my photos and investigation. Following that I went to the funeral home to complete the investigation. I also went to the coroners office to do my paperwork and print the photos. Pete showed up there and we went over the case and the photos.

This was pretty hard there were about four different things I wanted to post about in September, but I think the longest lasting is my promotion to Crew Leader at Pullman Fire. Over all one thing that has been big the final three and a half months is the high number of traffic fatalities in Whitman County. We were averaging about one death a week. I also had my chance to be the IC on a major call for Colfax Fire.

It has been an interesting year that has allowed me another job with Mercer Island. I also got a lot of experience with the coroner’s office on two suicide hangings and many car accidents as well as other deaths.

Today, to start off the new year Brian and I were on Rescue running some calls today. We started with three calls for the night. We broke the ought-seven ice for both EMS and fire calls. But they were all pretty minor calls.

Another Fatal Car Accident

This morning started out as one where I did not have to work, but I decided I would get a couple bug fixed. Then I saw that something I checked in was causing some problems with one app. So I started to fix that when I was listening to the radio traffic out of Colfax.

They were going on a car accident were a truck rolled. Upon the ambulance’s arrival I heard them put Paul-Sixty-Four on stand by. As it turned out they needed the coroner. I was given a call by Pete. So I headed out to the scene. It was out on highway Twenty-Six.

I got on scene of a truck that had rolled pinning the victim. I did my photos and investigation. Following that I went to the funeral home to complete the investigation. I also went to the coroners office to do my paperwork and print the photos. Pete showed up there and we went over the case and the photos.

He agreed with my assessments and with my conclusions. I felt good that I had gotten it correct. I got the report completed and printed out. Yet another fatal car accident in Whitman County.

Christmas Coroners Meeting

Today is the final day without power at work. The power came on and we are going to be back at work tomorrow.

I got my dishwasher installed today. I also had the house cleaner there. I had to be someone to come and switch some plumbing pipes around for the dishwasher so it would get the hot water. It had only been getting cold water. I also got a coroners call. It was a cancer patient. We ended up not taking jurisdiction of the case.

In the ending we had our meeting down in Colfax. We went to Eddy’s for dinner then to the office. We talked about two cases, but that was all we go to. We also discussed a new computer and the printer for the coroners office.

After I got back from the coroners office I spent time working on a bug at work. It was a heck of a bug. It took me a long time to follow the data and to figure out why it was not working. It took several hours to come to the conclusion. But I could not do a check in last night. I finally got to bed around three in the morning.

Got me some French Toast

After nearly forty-eight hours of waiting, I finally got my French toast. At first I needed to get some eggs. Then it was later I realized that I needed milk. Plus I got called to a coroner’s case followed by rig checks. So, finally I was able to get my ingredients. I made bacon and put on the French toast. It was great.

There was also some poker to be played tonights at Mike’s. I went up there and for a fair portion of the night I was winning. Actually, I was up pretty much all night. At the end I lost some ground, but over all I was up twelve bucks.

The big shopping trip

I started out the day with a shopping trip, but that start time was nearly two in the afternoon. I didn’t get up until it was pretty late. I was over at Safeway doing my shopping. It took quite a while since I started to look at TransFats. I didn’t really pay attention to the issues of TransFats until the NY ban on it and all the media started to do stories about it. Sounds like the stuff is bad. So I spent a longer time picking things out, trying to balance a good deal with quality food.

I made it to the parking lot when I got a phone call from the jail. It was McNannay letting me know that I needed to call the hospital. I knew it was probably related to the person the ambulance had brought in earlier. Turns out I was correct.

I decided to take the case because the person was younger and had no history of what he died of. I went to the hospital after getting my groceries put away. After dealing with the case for a little bit and talking to Pete, he was comfortable with allowing the doctor sign off on the death after I was able to gather the information that I gathered for him.

I got back just in time to make it to the weekly rig checks at the fire station. We spent a couple hours working on those. We were done by nine o’clock and I started to watch the Family Guy, only to find it was a re-run.

Shredding Stuff

I spent a lot of time today going through boxes of papers and items. I worked on shredding a lot of stuff that needed to be shredded. Then I spent more time scanning items so I had a digital copy of them. That will allow me to throw away many of the papers I really don’t need to keep any more.

We were going to have the Palousitics party today. I had been in Colfax. I got a computer from Poffenroth to work on. I also talked to the people at IS for a while. I was at the fire station. We were there with some troopers having Subway subs and talking about the number of fatal car accidents.

I got home and I was on my computer when I hear Colfax get dispatched to a Bravo response for a car on fire. Then they upgraded to Delta for a head-on accident with someone unconscious. That was all I heard about it.

I was on my way to the Palousitics party when I heard the people on scene talking about Paul Twenty-Two and Paul Sixty-Four. I knew I would be going on the car accident. I got a call from Pete about ten minutes later asking if I could go. I responded to the scene and started to do my investigation. It was clear that it was a really bad wreck. I mentioned that it seemed that each wreck was trying to outdo the last one based on how bad they were getting. Someone else spoke up and said that he had thought the same thing.

I also mentioned to Krause that it was interesting that the debriefing that was supposed to happen for another department this evening was cancelled. Because of that several of the people on scene would have been at the debriefing. Krause mentioned that it was Divine intervention.

Following the removal I went to the funeral home with Pete to look over the body and determine the actual case of death. We spent time doing that and getting all the data we needed for our reports.

I went to the Colfax Fire station following that, I talked to the family and then I was inside talking with the guys there. Scott blamed me for this one because I (as well as the others) had been talking about this down at the station a few hours earlier.

I finally got home around three in the morning and I was ready for bed.

The Office is Gone

After years of renting office space on Nye Street in Pullman, I have closed the office and turned in the key. I will take the money I was spending on the office and put it towards my new house payments. I also will cancel my phone and DSL service. It is cheaper for me to use cable and it will work out okay, as far as I can tell at this point.

I got my cable installed today. Because of the savings of not having the telephone bill, and the offer that cable has at this point, it is going to be the same price to have cable TV and internet service. So I will have both for six months. Who knows I may keep cable TV, with just the basic channels, but then again, I am so unproductive when I have TV calling my name. I will decide soon. It probably was a bad idea to get TV.

I would like to hook up a computer to the cable system so I can record shows and watch them when the time is good for me rather than being locked down to watching the show when it comes on the air.

I went to my OTEP training tonight, but then I got a call about a CISD about the car accident from the other night, so I opted to go to that instead. That went about four hours. I got home as it was snowing and ugly. I only have three hours until I have to get up again.

Incident Commander

When I woke up this morning, if you had told me what I would have been doing today I would not have believed it. I started out as expected. John came over and helped me load up all my trash from the boxes that I have been going through the last few nights. I have been getting rid of a lot of things that I don’t need, but I have held onto over the years. Anyway, John and I went to the dump and threw everything away. Then we went to my office and he helped me get a couple more items from there and dropped them off at the house.

We went inside and just hung out for a while we were talking about Pullman fire and the divide between the reserves and career guys. We talked about the union and their position on things as well as how Moscow Ambulance covers Pullman when there are no career guys left to cover the city. I told John that I thought it is strange the union would argue that a reserve cannot run the ambulance but at the same time allow a volunteer from a different state cover the city. John argued that the volunteers have experience running the ambulance but the reserves don’t. That I would be one of the only reserves who would be able to do what is necessary to run the ambulance and only because of my experience from Colfax. John said he felt I was experienced.

After John left I headed to Colfax to work on my coroner’s report and printing the photos from the case I had on Thanksgiving night. I was in the Coroner’s Office printing the photos and typing up the report for about an hour and a half. I got everything completed and was starting to gather up all the case files for this case and organize it when Pete showed up. I went through the photos with him and he agreed with me about my findings. I took off and went to Rosauers to get some pop and my plan was to go to Colfax Fire and hang out for a few hours because I wanted to relax from all the moving stuff I have been doing over the last two weeks.

Jim was working and we just were talking about the weather, with the snow coming, plus the case I had on Thanksgiving, as he was a responder to that case. It had been a little over an hour when a call came in for a roll-over accident. I was shotgun with Carl driving. We got on scene and pretty much were cancelled by Squad Eleven-Thirty-Five who was first on scene. We went back to the station.

Carl left, David, Craig, and I hung out with Jim. We were there for about twenty minutes or more. We were watching some TV and talking about the call. Plus we were listening in to WSP and Colfax PD going to slide off after slide off in the S-Curves outside of Colfax. The snow was not falling too much, but it was cold and things were getting slick. Then Craig mentioned that we should get some food before we get too busy. I said that if you eat, go to the bathroom and are totally ready for the call they will not happen.

I said that as I sat on the couch thinking about how bad I needed to go to the bathroom. But no sooner than that we hear tones. A two car injury accident the S-Curves south of Colfax. David jumped in the drivers seat, I took shotgun and Craig got in the back. I was going to wait for Carl to show up, but then I hear someone was unconscious so we hit the road.

As we were en route I thought about the number of patients and what we would see. I told Whitcom to make sure Rescue Eleven was going to be responding, so they toned out Rescue Eleven. When we were getting closer we were told it was near Huber. We could see the car accident as we rounded the last corner. I had been thinking about my size up and what to do when we got close to the scene. Dispatch advised us that we had something and one code black. I cannot even remember what the “something” was because when the words code black were thrown at me I did not have time to think about it more than someone died. I had to get on the air and give a size up. I could see a big suburban and a small car. I Suburban had eating the small car. I could see the deceased in the front seat of the small car. I saw people gathered around the backseat of the small car. I saw someone in the front seat of the Suburban. I gave my size up, but I lost my train of thought with all the things I was thinking about at once. I cannot even remember my whole size up. I had a nearly impossible time saying who I was and what I was naming command.

I went to the car at first and tried to open the door of the back seat. It was jammed. I wanted to make sure it was unlocked. David could not get to it from the front because of the deceased. The EMT who happened on the scene was not able to get the door unlocked. We needed extrication.

The small car was handled by the people there so I went to the suburban and started to talk to the people there. Seeing they were not really badly injured I knew they were green. I went back to the small car briefly. In that time the people had moved around in the Suburban. I went to the passenger side where the driver was now sitting. I spoke with him briefly. I told him that someone would be coming to do patient care. Ambulance Eleven-Two was coming on scene. I took Milt with me to a truck where the others from the Suburban were sitting. I had the others go to the guy in the Suburban.

With my nerves jumping and the cold weather I has shivering really badly. My teeth were chattering and I was trying to see what was wrong with the patient, if anything. I talked to them and they seemed okay for the most part. I went back to the Suburban. The guy agreed to go to the hospital, but he did not want to go by ambulance. The driver of the Suburban agreed to go to the hospital. When I was explaining that to the driver of the Suburban, Jenny, who was holding C-Spine was shaking her head “no” because of the mechanism of injury she felt they had to go by ambulance. I went back towards the truck. During this part I was not really thinking I was command even though I initiated command. Then Milt sort of inadvertently got me into command-mode. He started to ask me about what resources we had and what I should call for. I knew that if all the patients were to be transported we would have two red, and three green. Which would mean four ambulances. One red would have a prolonged extrication and the green were ready to go if we could convince them to go.

While I was thinking about resources I knew I needed another ambulance. I asked Whitcom in Albion Ambulance was en route. They told me it was. One red was already en route to the hospital. I soon got word Whitman Community was putting us on divert. So all additional patients needed to go to Pullman. I contacted the people with the car and tried to find out about the patient who was still in the car. I was told the patient appeared to be in bad shape. I knew we needed MedStar but I was not sure if it could fly. I contacted Whitcom and asked them MedStar’s status. I was told they could fly. I said to launch them and have them go to Whitman Community hospital for the LZ. I told Albion Ambulance when they arrived where to park. We got two patients with Albion and one in Ambulance Eleven-Two. Now I only had one patient. I also had Paul-Sixty-Five put on alert. About two minutes later I got a call from Whitcom. I saw the number and knew what they were doing. I answered the phone and they were putting me on stand by. I informed them I was IC and that they needed to put Patti on stand by.

Rescue Eleven’s crew and some of the others who were on scene were working on getting the Suburban lifted and the patient extricated. I got called on the radio by Scott to see if we needed him up at the scene. I told him we needed ILS and had him come. He came POV. He started an IV and did patient care. We were trying to find out where MedStar was and they were getting close, but extrication was taking a long time. The Suburban had T-boned the car at a slight angle. The drivers wheel was on top of the patient in the back seat. It was ge
tting dark and we were still working on everything. I was not cold anymore. I was quite comfortable in an odd way because it was cold outside, but I still needed to go to the bathroom really bad.

Ambulance Eleven-One was back and Ambulance Eleven-Three out of Steptoe had been called to assist on another accident that happened. It turned out to be non-injury so they asked if we needed them at the scene. We had all the people we needed and had no ambulance in the city. I told them to go to Colfax Fire and stand by for additional calls.

We had the Suburban cribbed and using airbags to get it lifted high enough, but we were starting to run out of cribbing. Carl asked me if we could remove the deceased. That is not something that is done unless there is a good reason. I asked if it was necessary for the rescue operation. He said it was. I told him the living that priority. So I said that we could remove the deceased. I took a bunch of photos for the coroner as the deceased was removed. All of a sudden a loud noise happened and I saw the Suburban break some cibbing and the airbags came out and the Suburban fall back into its original position. We called for a tow truck to help. When it got on scene we had it lift the Suburban.

MedStar then wanted to know if we were nearly ready for them because they wanted to transport the first red patient. I contact the people doing the extrication and they said they were close. I was then told they wanted to know in minutes how long. I asked Scott and he said if they need to leave send a second bird. I told that to Whitcom. Within about seven or eight minutes the second patient was free and I told Whitcom we were transporting the patient to hold the bird if it had not left.

We were finally in clean up mode. We were done. Chief Krause pulled me aside for a moment. He said that he did not take command from me because he thought I was doing a good job. He let me know I had done a good job. I had been asked by State Patrol how long the coroner would take. I said she was coming from Garfield. They asked if we could have the coroner coming. That was a while back and I had the coroner en route. She arrived just after we got the last patient free. I told her what happened and she started her investigation. We cleared the scene and I terminated command. It had been nearly an hour and a half since the incident started that we had the final patient freed.

I went to Colfax fire and took the camera to the coroners office to download the photos for Patti. I went back to Colfax fire and spoke with the people there for a few minutes. Scott said that I had done a good job. Then I went to the funeral home to work with Patti there. The deceased had massive injuries. Following the time at the funeral home Patti and I went to the coroners office to print photos and she wrote her report.

I finally left the coroners office around nine-thirty at night. I took a body bag to the ambulance to replace the one we had used from there. Then I went to Pullman. But as I got to Colfax Body I saw the cars and state patrol there. I stopped in and spoke to the trooper. I got a copy of the drivers license and looked at the car some more. It was amazing, a miracle that the patient in the back passenger side even lived.

I went to Pullman and then to Whitcom. I showed Jamie the photos from the wreck. We talked about it and how the whole scene went. I spoke to the other dispatchers who were also there for part of the wreck. I stayed at Whitcom for a couple hours unwinding and talking with them about various calls and learning more about how they dispatch things.

That was my first time being command through out a major incident. Normally I can stay command on Pullman calls if it turns out to be a small call, like a fire alarm. Many times I initiate command but it is taken from me as soon as someone else arrives. I have been thinking about all the things I did not do that I probably should have done. Nothing affected the outcome that I did “wrong”. It wasn’t necessarily bad, it would have been better form if I had done certain things. When Scott got there I should have put him incharge of a patient care group. And I should have put Carl or Krause in charge of the extrication group. That is pretty much what had happened anyway, but I did not verbalize those things. I just wish I had verbalized them. I should have had someone on safety detail as well. I was doing that job myself. I made sure that I mitigated the things that I saw that needed to be done for safety. It was a great experience. I had five patients, two car, extrication, cops, the coroner, and multiple agencies and rigs that I was dealing with. Everything happened that needed to happen and things went pretty smooth considering what we were working with.

Happy Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving. I spent most of it working on my stuff. I have many items that needs to be thrown away because I just shouldn’t hold on to it anymore. I also stopped at Blockbuster to buy a couple movies. I ended up buying twenty-two of them. I watched one and I started on a second one when I got a call for service.

There was a car crash with a dead person right outside of Colfax. As it turned out the person had a heart attack before the crash. So the person was dead before the crash even happened. It was down a thirty foot embankment so Colfax Fire was there using ropes to help get up and down the hill side. It was cold, rainy, and muddy out there. I did not get home until after two in the morning.

Quiet On Call Day

With all the car accidents killing people it was nice to have a quiet day being on call for the coroner. With my upcoming move I started to think about what items I needed to get moved and making plans for the actual move.

Back to Back Suicides

This morning I got a call from Patti, about twenty-five hours after the other suicide call. This time it was a hanging in Colfax. It was just outside of Colfax really. When I saw the name I remember hearing it. I asked if the cops were running his name the night before. They said he was a missing person out of Pullman. Then I remembered that Whitcom called for PPD to see if my suicide from yesterday was their guy.

So we figured out where the missing guy went. We seemed to have walked to Colfax and then hung himself. His mom had come in from South-Eastern Washington to look for him. So we had to let her know it was her son.

We went to the funeral home and checked the body and did more photographs. Patti was on call for the rest of the day, but it turned out to be uneventful. For me there was not a whole lot.

At work I had my normal call-in meeting. There was not a lot to report on my side. I have been working on bugs and getting some completed as I go.

Yet Another Fatal Car Accident

I was thinking that we were done with car accidents when I got a call from the State Patrol. A car accident took place down by Red Wolf Bridge. A guy in a Dodge Neon went into the cliff side at about eighty miles per hour. He car would normally have a wheel base of one-hundred and four inches. His car was about fifty-eight inches. He pretty much died nearly instantly. The car also burst into flames.

I got on scene and took photos there. Then we took it down the road so Lewiston Fire could extricate the guy from the car. I had the body taken to Kimballs where I did more investigation. I spent some time on the phone talking to family and witnesses. It turned out that the call was a suicide. This call had a lot of firsts for me. My first burn victim. My first suicide by myself. My first time dealing with another coroners office. It was interesting over all to see how back the crash was. The cops and firefighters all agreed it was the worst one they had ever seen.

Busy from Start to End

The start of the day was a phone call at five-thirty in the morning. I knew it was Whitcom calling me out on a case. Turns out there was yet another fatal car accident, this time however, it was not on SR One-Ninety-Five. This one was near St. John. I went to the scene and did my investigation. It was a single occupant who had crashed and was throw from the car. It does not appear a seatbelt was used and that aided the person with being thrown from the car. There is a high likelihood that had the person been wearing a seatbelt he would not have died. My message is to wear a seatbelt.

Between being on scene and photographing the scene and then going to the funeral home and doing an exam there, I was not done until nearly nine-thirty. Then I had to zoom to Pullman for Reserve Testing. I was helping with the physical agility test. That took a couple hours between running everyone through it as well as set up and break down.

Following the testing I went to the station and watched some TV and waited around for six o’clock to roll around. We had rig checks and map tests tonight. One of the guys did not study so he planned on memorizing the numbers and then writing them on the answer key. So I made a new answer sheet and changed the order of the roads. He of course did not pass that. I was disappointed that he wanted to do such a thing.

After that was done we started to do the rig checks. In the middle of the rig checks we got toned out to a call outside of town. We were more than half way there and a second call came out in town. They had been discussing canceling us, so we asked if they would like us to go to the other one. They did so we turned around and went to the one in town. After transporting to the hospital we went back and worked on the rig checks some more. Because of all the things that we had to check it was taking a long time.

We also had an out-of-date inventory on the Engine. So I had the guys go through and write up a new inventory form. That took some time to do, but it would make our checks go better next week.

Gary’s Birthday

Today is Gary’s thirty-third birthday. We have been friends since just before we turned seven. We are not as close as we once were because of the distance between us and the fact he has a family and what not. But he is my oldest friend. It is pretty amazing that we have lived so much of our life knowing each other and sharing in so many memories. My turn to turn another year older is just around the corner.

Just when I was thinking that all the cases I could get would be done, I got a call from Pete asking if I could take a case in LaCrosse. So at around six-thirty I was off to LaCrosse to do another investigation. I am getting pretty good now that I am getting so much experience doing them. This one was a natural death with no real issue to resolve except for trying to determine time of death due to the fact that it was clear the deceased had been there more than just a couple hours.

Another Case… Not an Accident

I got woken up by Pete letting me know we have a coroners case. Outside of Pullman. But this one was not a car accident. In the last three weeks we have had five people die within a five mile radius of Pullman. I was on one as a coroner and one as a rescuer.

I got up and went to the scene of this natural death. The investigation did not take but about two hours to complete, but I spent almost as much time doing the reports, printing the photos, and counting the meds.

I am trying to get finalized numbers on the houses so I can see what way I want to go. I am waiting to hear more from Ross. I was expecting a call from him around five-thirty. He never got me until nearly seven o’clock. By then I was in Colfax for fire training.

We pulled out the rural rigs and did hose testing and practiced using the pumps and spraying water. We got through about a thousand feet of hose or so before calling it a night.

I then had to go to the SO and do my coroners report. I got it all documented. I found a book in the office on death investigation. It is huge. No way I could get through that in a couple days. It has nearly a thousand pages. I am going to go through it quickly and find the areas of interest then work on those sections that more pertain to what I do for the coroners office. I also want to get a drug reference program for my pocket PC. I need to look them up and find a good one.

A Day of Carnage

After only being asleep for just over an hour my Pullman Fire pager had a second alarm sounding. It woke me up. They were looking for all available people to respond to their station. I also heard Lewiston Ambulance on the radio talking to One-Ninety-Five command. They asked where the two Lewiston ambulances should go. Command said to park behind the other ambulances. So I figured there were at least four ambulances on scene of something big. I listened in some more. I heard them talk about calling out Paul twenty-two and advising Paul sixty-four. So I figured I may be called out to something.

I got up and started to gather my coroner’s stuff. I sat around listening to the scanner and waited by the phone. By around three-twenty in the morning when nothing else was said about the coroner I went back to bed. Before I fell asleep I heard them say that sixty-four was notified and he was going to contact his deputies to respond. I got up and started to get dressed. My phone rang and Pete advised me to go to the scene and what was happening. We had two who had died at a car accident.

I got my camera from my office and got some pop and headed to the scene. When I arrived I asked Deputy Waltz where I should park. He pointed out where I should go up the road a little more. When I pulled up I was parked next to the Chaplin. A couple D-twelve firefighters, including Whetzel, came up to me and started to talk to me. They told me it was not pretty. They said there were “body parts everywhere”. I was preparing myself for a very gory scene.

My typical investigation routine is working from the outside to the inside of a scene. I started by getting my camera and tripod. I set it up and started to take photos working my way into the scene. I was taking photographs of the overall area as I got closer. It was very cold outside. In fact it was about four degrees before freezing on scene. Summer is officially over.

When I got closer to the main part of the scene, I was not hit by what everyone was saying I was see. In fact they had been exaggerating. I don’t believe it was on purpose, but it was not as bad as they would have had me believe when I was being told about it.

Pete was on his way as well. It was still very dark and I was not getting all the photos as good as I would want them due to the scene lighting. But after Pete arrived I told him what I knew about the scene and the car accident. He went up with his camera and started to take photos. By the time we were ready to do the removal of the bodies it was light enough to get some better pictures of the scene. We cleared the scene a little after six in the morning and went to the funeral home where we did a more indepth look at the bodies. We did our normal stuff at the funeral home. But it was taking a lot time because we had two bodies.

A state trooper came to do his stuff. I assisted with what he needed. But it was really starting to get later in the afternoon. I told Pete I had to call it a day. It was past ten o’clock in the morning and I had been working this whole thing for nearly eight hours.

I went to the office and worked on getting Kim’s picture for the picture board and website updated and put up. I also got the photo board at the fire station fixed.

I went back to my office and got some information for Shawn at work that he was looking for. He is working on fixing the issue with the E-mail problem. As we were getting closer to three I realized we did not have our weekly dev meeting, because we had changed it to bi-monthly. I wrote up my normal weekly update and sent it in E-mail to Chris. Then I went to the fire station again to sign my PAF for my new position and pay raise. I went to city hall to get my pay check from last month, and then I was off to the Deuce for training.

Erik, Tyson, and I were going to take out Engine Thirty-Three from some pump and drive time on it for me. I got a primer on using the pump. It is a lot easier to use than the one on Engine Thirty-One (the old green engine). We only pumped on it for about forty minutes but I think I had it figured out. It was a lot less work to run that the old green one.

We then did drive time until five-thirty. We got back to the station, lifted the cab on it and went over the places where the oil and tranny fluid dipsticks were located. Erik left, and Tyson and I each went to get something to eat. We were going to be working the Pullman high school football game.

Walker got Reed to cover for him, so Reed showed up and Tyson showed up. We did our daily check of the Rescue and we were off to the football game. Pullman High school did not dominate like last year, but they played a good game and won it. Erwin from D-Twelve was there and chatted with us for a little bit before making his way to the stands.

When the game was complete we left to go back to the Deuce. We were all staying there for the night so we could get first on-scene to some calls. We were watching some TV and trying to stay awake. I was dragging because I have been up since really early and running on a small amount of sleep.

It was almost eleven o’clock and even the cops were quiet. I was a few minutes of going to sleep when a call came out for a structure fire on Larry Street. We checked the map and took off for the scene. Engine Thirty-two rolled when we did. We were following them into the scene. When we got close to Larry I saw the flames on the building. I knew we had a real fire and we were going to be fighting it. I got out and packed up. Reed and I reported to Turpin. Wilcox was with us. Turpin had us put out a dwelling lay. I asked him if he wanted us to put some water on it from the outside as the desk and part of the outside of the building was burning. He said to lay the line around back and then come up and put water on it.

I did that and got water. I sprayed the deck and wall as other units were arriving. I got the fire on the outside put out. I could see into the attic through a couple in opening. I was able to spray water inside the opening. I knocked down the fire. Then I waited a few seconds. The glow grew a tiny bit so I hit it again. I did that a total of three times, then we were ready to go inside the building. Reed and I were made into the backup line. Gollnick and Fritzke were on the entry team. Wilcox helped up hump hose inside the building. We went back to the bedroom where the fire was and pulled down the ceiling. We found the fire was pretty much out. We found some hot embers from time to time, but I had pretty much put it out.

After we were relieved by a second crew we were assigned to find the cat that lived in that unit. We could not find it, but the homeowner did. She got her cat and I put them inside the PL at the direction of the chief. The homeowner and her friend went inside. The homeowner asked to come out for a minute. She told me she thought she knew what happened. She said her friend who was with her may have used a planter on the deck as a ashtray. She did not want to say that in front of the friend, because the friend felt really bad.

Rich got there right afterwards. I told him what I had been told and went back to the staging area. Medic Thirty-one was back in service. D-Twelve was on scene and their guys were helping out.

While things were really starting to wind down we got dispatched to a roll-over accident where the car was on fire and someone was inside. I asked James if we should go. He released us and we took off. D-twelve was go as well. We were cruising out to the scene. I was thinking of the worst. We were about three miles out Medic got on scene and said there was no fire.

D-twelve and Rescue pulled up. I parked next to D-Twelve’s rig. They had people on patient car. Erwin was pulling out hose for fire protection. I asked if he wanted help. So I got the hose and had Tyson help me flake it out so we could get water. I had them charge the line and bled the air. I was holding the line when
Reed yelled that we needed to do extrication. I told Erwin I had to get going on that and left the line. He had two of his guys get the line and got the tools with Tyson.

We got the tool set up and going. The cutting was slower on the combitool than the old cutters we had. It also has a smaller bite. I went to work cutting the A, B, and C post to roll the roof down. The guys doing EMS were yelling to hurry up. I was going as fast as the tool would let me.

After some work on it, we got Colfax’s cutters out for the final parts of the cutting because it was going to be faster than our tool. When we finally got the roof cut we rolled it down. I backed up and let the people who were ready with the backboard and other equipment to step in and do their thing. I got the cot from the ambulance with Tyson.

I also drove the ambulance to the hospital. We went in code-three. When we arrived I helped get the patient out and took C-spine. We got the patient into the ER where the trauma team was waiting for us.

We spent about twenty minutes cleaning the ambulance and equipment. We also spent some time making sure Rescue was back in service after the fire and car accident. I was surprised that it was pretty much ready to go. We needed air in the bottles and we needed to close the cutter blade on the combitool, but that was about it.

We left the hospital and got our air bottles filled and cleaned the SCBA regulators. We went back to the station. I was talking to James about my experience with the combitool when we got toned out for another call. This one turned out to be a non-transport. We cleared the scene and went back to the station. It was nearing four in the morning and we were ready to get some sleep. I made my way to the bed and conked out.

Non-Stop Working

The day started with a call from Pete at seven in the morning. I forgot that I was on call, but I had been up late and I was tired. I answered it and he said there was a case in Rosalia. I called Whitcom and got more information. It turned out to be a twenty-six year old found in a car. But they had the bike rally starting up that day and wanted to take care of everything as quick as possible. I got going and raced to Rosalia. I also called Patti and Pete and let them know what was going on. I invited Patti to come out and work the scene as well.

I arrived about ten minutes before Patti. The guy was found in his car and CPR was started, but it was not successful. He was pronounced dead at the scene by MedStar. I started to do my investigation. Patti showed up and helped me with everything. We got the funeral home there and they took the body to Kimball’s in Pullman was we finished up the scene. I got all sorts of photos and talked to the family. Pete showed up and helped talk to the family. Patti and the Rosalia Town Marshall went to the dad’s house and interviewed him. It was looking like an OD.

I left and went to Kimballs. Pete wanted me to get blood and urine to send to the state. I also took temperatures.

I went to Taco Time and got some work done then I went back to my office and got my paperwork completed. Pete called and asked if I could go to the Autopsy. I said I could. I planned on getting my clothes on for that but then I got another call telling me that it was ready to start and I had to get there right away because Pete was not in the area and it was starting early.

I got to Kimballs and watched the autopsy. It was interesting. I was able to see inside the Abdominal Aorta. It was full of really rough substances due to age. It was like feeling sand paper. Pete showed up at the end of the autopsy and we talked about it all.

I was on call tonight. While at the station Tony called to see if Rescue could help with the First Responder class. We had Drew coming to do more with the Rescue training. We worked on it and was mostly done when we got called away to a medical incident. When it was done we went to the station and started to do check offs. But we got two calls in the process of the check off’s. We had all our calls when we wanted to get other things done, but by the time we were done doing our work the calls also stopped coming in.

I was supposed to have gotten my Modem from Verizon, but it had not arrived. I called

Hurt my back

Because the softball tournament was cancelled for me I decided that I would get more moving done. I also called Patti and asked to take Sunday from her so I could do some boating on a weekend to come. There was more stuff to pack and start to move. It was slow going. I only had the basement to do, but I really hated to start on it. I hate moving and the stuff in the basement is full of cob webs as well as the fact there has been a presence of mice down there. I am worried about hantavirus in the droppings, so I am looking up information about it and trying to be careful about what I do down there so it makes it real slow going.

I got some stuff done, but I also started hurting more and more as the day went on. Steve, the guy buying my house wanted me to show him around the property. I went up on my quad and he took his motorcycle up there. We drove around and looked at everything.

When we were done I was really hurting. I went to the fire station. Around seven in the afternoon I got a call from Patti about a case to do. So I called the hospital in Pullman and found out what happened. It turned out someone died of a AAA. Because of that I knew I should investigate to make sure there wasn’t a medical misadventure as Pete calls them. There was a AAA in the past where the doctor did not do what he should have in diagnosing it.

I went to the hospital. But I was hardly able to stand and walk. I walked hunched over into the hospital. The chaplain was there and carried a bag for me. I did my investigation. Craig from Kimballs showed up and we removed the body. I went back to the funeral home and did more of an investigate. Pete decided and autopsy was in order.

I called the family and talked to them and went to my office to start on my paperwork. I got it all done and went to the coroners office to get it all printed off for Pete.

My Day on Jury Duty

I started the day in Colfax for jury duty. I have waited since I was eighteen get get called in. I was sitting in a courtroom full of people. I knew a couple people there. As the morning went on a few people were excused. I made it through the first round of cuts. But it was becoming pretty clear I would probably not be chosen. It was a civil suit against Fred Russell. With working for Pullman Fire and the coroners office I knew they would think I would be biased. In the end I was not selected. But I did have a chance to let them know that I am a philosophy major. That I can be fair and listen to arguments. That I don’t let my emotions get in the way of making logical arguments. I was not selected.

I went to the SO and got some sunglasses orders from the guys there then I went to Colfax fire for a while and talked to Jenny for about a half hour. I went to work for the remainder of the day.

The reserves had their first RIT training in the CUB today. We get access to the top three floors to do what we want. We are breaching the walls and crawling through them. We are getting a chance to do stuff we don’t always get to do. It was weird being in the CUB. I did not recognize the building very much. There were a lot of things already removed. On the main floor you could see from the CUB Aud all the way to where the little store was on the west side of the building. It looked like a parking garage on the main floor. The radio station was torn down to the floor. There was wood on the floor and the walls were bare. I did find the door that was on the studio on the fourth floor in one of the rooms up there.

We mainly worked on the third floor. We broke through the walls. I had to take my pack off to go through the wall on my stomach, but if I was able to stand I could get through the wall. Keeping in mind we only had sixteen inches of space to get through. It was really hot in the CUB, plus wearing the bunkers did not help.

The next event was to follow a hose to get your way out. At first we were told to go to the people at the end of the hose. We did that just fine, but then they said we went the wrong way. So we had to back track and get to the other end of the hose. We followed it through doors, down hallways and through a wall. But we were able to get to the end of the hose finally. It too forever it seemed like.

We had some time to rest before we had to do a drill where we got tangled up in wires. First they wold get us wrapped up in the pack and we would have to undo it. Then we had to make our way through a room full of wires. I made it through pretty well. But by this time my knees were rubbed raw.

We left and I was so sweaty. It was pretty nasty. Keith and I went to Cougar Country for dinner. While there I heard about a coroners case. I talked to Patti and I was going to go with her. I took a shower and met her at my office. We drove to Colton and spent about an hour on the scene doing our investigation. It was a natural death. I did not get to bed until after two in the morning.

Pullman Coroners Meeting

Patti and I met for the coroners meeting today in Pullman because it was cancelled with Pete. Patti and I went at Sella’s and had dinner then made the call schedule. I got done in time to run to the Deuce for rig checks and training. We took the guys to the training tower and did our one minute drill followed by sending them through the collapse drill.

I went back to the office after training and made up schedules for the coroners office. I need to send them to Whitcom so they know who is on call and when they are on call.

Today was really quiet at the fire department. We did get some ice cream from Cougar Country and we filled the SCBA tanks on rescue. That was about it for the fire department.

They come in threes?

So today I found out about Brandt, as seen in my other post, and this week I also found out about Tory. So if they come in three’s then I have one more coming my way. Let’s hope that is not the case.

I finally went to bed around nine this morning so I slept in until three this afternoon. When I did get up I got some lunch and then went to the office to try to get some work done. I wanted to have something to show for all the work I put in yesterday. But it was not to be early on. Finally I changed focus on my bugs and switched to something else. I was able to solve that one and get it checked in.

I decided that I would go down to the fire station at six o’clock pm and help C-Shift with their truck checks. With only two people it is a pain in the rear. Having more people really helps. It took about two hours to get them done. I was invited to Station One for some ice cream. I went down POV because I was on call for the coroner.

While at the station I got a call for a case out in Hooper. To get to Hooper you have to leave Whitman County into Adams County and then re-enter Whitman County a few miles down the road. I got fueled up and headed to the scene. It is about sixty miles from Pullman. I cruised out to the scene and did my investigation.

Once I was done I went back to the SO and typed up my field notes, printed the pictures, and counted the medications. I got done with the case at nearly three o’clock in the morning. I went back to Pullman and went to sleep.

Golfing and Softball

Today started with Ben, Ron, Joe, and I playing eighteen holes of golf at the Colfax Golf Course. We rented a couple carts and went out. I did okay for a while. I only lost one ball. For about three holes I was on fire. I got a birdie and that was the only one of the day from the whole group. It was nice that I got it. Joe is a good golfer.

When we left there Ron, Heather, and I went to Zeppoz. We had some beer and talked about baseball, softball, and golfing. Then I went to their place and helped them set up their new DVR.

I went to my office and got ready for softball. The fields were the worst I have seen them. In a game before ours a guy was running to first and his shoe fell off. Well, more accurately, the mud held his shoe and his foot came out of it. For our games they moved the home plates to the outfield and played into the field. In the first game Dave retired the first five batters on five pitches. Then they started to get hits. We got some too.

We ended up with the winning run on third base with two outs in the bottom of the last inning. I was at the plate and I flew out. So we ended the game as a tie. In game two we played Ron’s team. They beat us pretty easily. No one was getting hits. It was just ugly.

After the games I was invited to Jory and Chad’s place to play cards. It was a five dollar buy-in. I held my own. I was one of the last three people there and the top two places were paid out. I was the short stack and figured the others would just wait for me to lose the rest of my money. But as it turned out one person went all in, and the other called him. It was Chad who had gone all in. He won everything. So it was Chad and I heads up. I kept playing my game but I was down to only a couple blinds.

In did a couple all-ins and won some money. Then at one point I caught Chad trying to buy my blind, but I had a good hand and I beat him. I was now the chip leader. But that would only last until I got the Big Slick. I went all in and Chad called with a pair of fives. Nothing came to help me and I lost the chip lead and I was back down to a couple blinds again. A couple hands later I found a hand that I could play and nothing came again. I lost to a pair of queens to my pair of jacks. I won fifteen bucks.

Then I was on my way home when I heard about a coroners case. I told Whitcom I was available if Pete wanted my help. As it turned out Pete just had me take the case. Someone had choked on some food. I did my investigation and got home around four-thirty in the morning. I was very tired by that time. It was nice to get to bed.

Early Morning Coroners Case

At about five-thirty in the morning we got a call for a possible unattended death. We got on scene and were told the person was dead and we were sent home. I figured that Pete would be giving me a call about it.

Sure enough a little bit after getting back to the station I got a call from Pete. It was six o’clock in the morning and I had yet to really get more than two hours of sleep. I went to the scene. It is where we had gone on the unattended death.

Pullman PD was there. After doing my part of the scene we learned that indeed it was a case that could be considered attended so I only have to do a short report and I will give it to Pete. I was pretty tired so after being up for a couple hours following the call I went to sleep for about four hours. I wanted to sleep some more but I kept on getting calls from people. It was really annoying. I guess I could have turned the phone off.

After getting up and doing some things on the computer, trying to get problems solved with my computer over in Bellevue, I got ready for working this evening. I am going to be covering the Fashion show tonight. No, it was not because I wanted to, it was because they needed someone and I am willing to help out as much as I can. So Travis and I went to Beasley. Tadema was up there. We relieved her and sat around until it was close to time for the show to start.

With the craft fair going on all the doors going into the coliseum were blocked. The only way in for us was on the opposite side. I talked to someone from Beasley. I was told to just go inside the arena area near section twenty-three. So that meant we would be forced to watch the fashion show, whether we wanted to or not. It had some points on interest for me. It was neat to see all the students’ hard work get shown off for the moms. But it is not my thing, and I was very bored by it all.

When the show was done we saw Blake there. We talked to him for a few minutes. His cousin was in the show so that is why he went to it. I sort of wanted to do something else tonight when I was done working, but it was getting sort of late and I have to be back early in the morning. I decided to go home and relax there for a while before going to sleep.

Late night coroners case

I went into work today and started to work on some stuff with Sollen when I saw several bugs bounced back to me. I investigated the first one and found that everything was done right, like there would be a question of that to begin with, but I double checked. Everything was okay. After some work with Ricky he realized the build they were using to test our work on was hosed and they were not getting the correct results. So all the bounced bugs went back to them, but that ate up a lot of my day.

I went to the fire station around five-thirty for training on trench rescue in Pullman. Pretty much the bottom line is that we are not trained for it. We don’t have the equipment. There is very little we can actually do.

Towards the end of training we got called for someone needing a ride to the hospital. We took care of that. Following the call I watched Scrubs and House at the Deuce. Then I got some dinner and went to do some work. I was working on making some videos from some of my video tapes that I had made. I was also eating my dinner. When a call came out. I got to the station when we were cancelled. So I went back and finished my dinner.

Around eleven I started to work on some stuff for NU. I got my box put back together and talked with Ricky about the problem we had today and fixing out boxes. It was a little after midnight I heard a deputy say he was en route to the jail and to notify Paul-One. That is usually something big. I listened in some more trying to figure out what was going on. Then I heard Colfax Fire get dispatched to an attempted suicide at the jail. I listened some more and I heard an ambulance go en route to the hospital with one. So I figured a life was saved and headed off to bed. After about forty-five minutes of sleep I was woken up by my cell phone ringing. It took me a moment to realize what was making all the noise.

Mark was calling from the jail and said that Pete would like me to come down there for someone who had committed suicide. So I was running through my mind why I heard the ambulance go to the hospital and someone had died at the jail. So I was starting to think it was a double-suicide attempt or something like that.

I headed to Colfax as quick as I could with the thick fog. I got my coroners uniform on and went to the jail. I was told to go to Yellow and when I went inside the captain, several deputies, the funeral home director and Pete were there. I was quickly briefed on what happened and went into investigate the scene. Pete said seeing what I saw was very rare as most of the time the person is taken down and life saving attempts are started. This was an obvious death and the people did what they were supposed to do.

So after I did my investigation at the scene and collected some evidence we went to the funeral home to do a more thorough investigation. Once that was completed I got some pop from Jackpot Foods. Mark was down there. We talked about what had happened for about ten minutes before I headed back to Pullman. I got to bed right away. I needed to go to Les Schwab in the morning so I wanted as much sleep as I could get.’

That is when a call for a structure fire came out. We all started to head to the sewer treatment plant where someone said they could see flames inside the place. They had watched it for about twenty minutes before calling. When I heard where it was I was thinking that it was a situation where they saw the flame from the gas being burnt off. And sure enough that was the situation. So there was no emergency.

Almost Two Cases

I am pretty tired. In fact I stayed up all night long and finally got to bed around nine this morning. I get a phone call from Pete about someone who had died in Tekoa. So I got ready and headed out that way. Dan and Bryson were on scene. A guy had died sometime in the morning. I did my investigation. Afterwards I was on my way to Colfax.

We were going to play cards down at Jim’s. Just as I got on the highway I got a call from Whitcom about another death. So I called the hospital and got some information. From there I called Pete. Turns out we were not going to take jurisdiction. That was good for me. I did not have to worry about a second case in a row.

I went to my house and got changed and then to Jim’s. More people started to arrive. We played a Texas Hold’em tournament. I ended up winning it. We decided to play a second one which I also won. So I took home around ninety bucks for the night.

EMS Call in Hooper

I started with a visit to the dentist. He said things are looking good. There was a small chip on one of my back teeth. He wants me to come in so he can fix it. That will be a free visit. So that is nice.

From there I met Ryan at Rancho Viejo for lunch. I had a big taco salad. It was good. They put some peppers in it so I had to dig them out. But they had a lot of cheese and I liked that.

I went to the office and started to work on getting my NUSource rebuilt. I did a scorchedearth build. Then I deployed the project. It took a couple of hours to make it work because I was not getting help quickly when I needed it. When I finally got everything done I was getting an msxml4.dll Access Denied error. That really sucked. So I worked on that for a while but I was not able to resolve the problem. I spoke with John and we are going to see Robots tomorrow around four-thirty.

I left around five o’clock to go to the coroners meeting. On my way Pete asked me to stop and pick up the pizza from Bulldog. I got there and it was not going to be ready until five-fifty. They said to grab a pop if I wanted. When the pizza was done I went into the coroners office.

Pete and I started to eat the pizza waiting for Patti. When she did not show we made some calls and could not get a hold of her. So we did the meeting. I got coverage made up for the rest of next month. We went over some old pics talked about different causes of death. There was one of a WSU student who was accidently shot with a three-fifty-seven Ruger pistol. He was carrying it outside getting ready to leave school for the summer when the shooting happened. I was surprised that I had not heard about it. He said it was probably because everyone was gone for the summer already.

After the meeting I went home and watched CSI and started to watch Without a Trace. With about ten minutes to go in the show we were toned out for chest pains in Hooper. The call came in twenty minutes earlier, but there was no address or anything so we were not toned until they got a phone number. The bird was launched and we flew out there. To get to Hooper we actually take twenty-six into Adams county and then turn on a road that takes us back into Whitman County.

She was in a bed and breakfast there. There was a large grass area right in front so we set up a LZ right there for the bird. We started to work on her getting an IV going and had a hard time doing it. Finally the bird landed. We took her down stairs and they tried about five more times before finally getting an IV going. We got her to the bird. They loaded her up and took off. We drove back to Colfax. It was about a two hour call when it was all said and done.

While at the bed and breakfast one of the La Crosse EMTs asked me if I saw the haunted room? I asked what she was talking about. She said at the end of the hall one of the rooms had a guy who died in it. And now if you move something in the room he will move it back where it goes. I went do to the room and it was closed with a piece of tape on the door attached to the frame.

I went home and watched a little more TV before finally calling it a night. I turned my pager off and went to bed.

Last minute Coroners call

When my alarm clock was sounding I started to get up. I was tired, but I had to get to Pullman to go golfing with Ben. Ryan and Jen also were with us. On the first hole I teed off and hit the ball really high and about twenty feet down the green. Not a good start, but I always seem to do poorly on the first hole. My next shot flew into a tree. We did not see it bounce out. It was stuck in the tree somewhere. I could not find it and ended up dropping a ball. I got an eleven on the first hole. It did not get better after that. I was having a hard time keeping the ball doing what I wanted. A few holes I had a good drive. A couple times I was on the green in three and needed fifteen or twenty foot putts for par. I would usually three putt.

On one hole I spent three shots on the fairway of another hole. Finally losing my ball around the teebox. I had to do a drop, and with the bad hits, it still took me three shots to get the ball to the green which was only forty feet away.

After we were done golfing I went to Zeppoz and no one was there to play poker. It was before the opened. So I stopped by the fire station. I talked to Michael and Brian. Chuck was there and said John was going to stop by. Chuck got called to do a transfer. John came down and we played Halo Two. I was getting my butt kicked. I had never played before. After we played for about an hour or so we played cribbage. I lost at that. John had to get going, so we dealt a couple hands of Texas Hold’em. Then we both left.

I went back to Colfax and watched some TV. Around dinner time I went to Subway and brought it back to the jail. I hung out in control and operated the doors while Dale and Curtis did rounds and a booking. Then I got a phone call from Pullman Regional Hospital. A person had died. After getting some information, I confirmed with Pete we wanted to take jurisdiction. The call came in about seven o’clock pm. I was planning on going to bed at eight because I needed to be up at four am. So I figured that plan was shot.

I drove to Pullman and went to the hospital. Kimballs funeral home was there as well. I had called for them to meet me. I spoke with the family and with one of the people in on the operation. Kimball’s took the body back to the funeral home while I gathered everything I needed to from the hospital.

I went to the funeral home and did my body exam there and well as photographing the body. There was a question that we wanted to do an autopsy. So we put the body in refrigeration. Then I headed back to Colfax to get the report completed. I spoke with Pete a few times about everything I had. He asked me to call the hospital and put a hold on the blood draws. I called the hospital and had them do that.

I went to the SO and printed the pictures out as well as wrote up my report. Because I was going to be gone I wanted to get everything done. Dale came downstairs and we talked a little bit about car accidents and people who died in them.

By the time the report was done and turned in, I would not get much sleep, so I headed back to Renton. I filled my truck and hit the road. I was doing fine for a while, but I planned on stopping at a rest area along the way to nap. I got to the one on top of Vantage hill and I was able to press on. But when I got to the one outside of Cle Elum I decided to stop. I went to the bathroom and then took a hour long nap. I woke up and hit the road again. I got home and went upstairs and went to bed at six-thirty am. I set the alarm clock for eight am. I was in for a long sleep. NOT!

Welcome back Haymon

Today started out with my last day of work for the week. I went into Pullman. Ryan and I met up for lunch at Pizza Pipeline.

After I got off work I went to Colfax. I hung out at the fire station for a while. I sorted through my change that I had on my night stand. I had more then one hundred bucks. I got it all rolled up.

I grabbed the pizza from Bulldog pizza near the meeting time for the Coroners meeting. I went to the Coroners office and saw Kris from District Court. We chatted for a few minutes. She asked how I like life and about my job. Pete arrived and I went inside just ahead of him and set the pizza in the office. I got some plates out and he asked where Patti was. Finally he called her house and found out she thought the meeting was on Saturday. So Pete and I met and ate pizza.

We talked about a few cases. I asked Pete his advice about my ankle and the pain I still get from it. He said I should go see Pennington about it.

After the meeting I went to the fire station. Carl was working with Dan to redo the computer. I hung out there for a few hours hoping that we would get a card game going. It turned out there was no game. I was planning on heading home and going to bed because I was getting tired.

Ryan called and said Haymon was in town. I knew he was coming, but I did not expect him until Sunday. He got in early. He said I should meet up with them. At first I was not going to go, then I decided to go. As I was heading to Pullman I remembered about the After-Party Nic was throwing. I was thinking about going there too.

I arrived at Rico’s. I saw Neil outside. I followed him inside but he was too far ahead of me. He went upstairs. Then into the bathroom. I thought at first they may have all been playing pool. So I sat outside the bathroom waiting for him. Haymon walked up the stairs then saw me. He got really big eyes and smiled big. He came over and said hello and gave me a handshake and a hug. After he went to the bathroom I followed him down stairs.

Haymon, Moe and a guy chat

I sat at a table with Ryan, Moe, Haymon, Neil, and a few other people for a while. Haymon was going to get a round a beer and asked if I wanted anything. I said a water. Then he gave me a look. So I said I would have a Coors Light. I drank that down and people were getting ready to head out. Our plan was to get someone from another bar and go play cards. The game would be Killer Uno. We were also going to get some beer from the store. Once outside of Rico’s I had them line-up for a photo-op.

We left to meet at the Coug. I went inside first. The others had not arrived yet. So I got a glass of beer and walked away from the crowd. I got bumped in the process and spilled beer all over my shirt. The I worked on drinking it while the other arrived. Ryan and I went outside. The Coug is a big-time Greek bar. It is all sorts of better-than-thou people that hang out there.

After one person was missing inside, Haymon, was a one-man search party to find the person. We got her and then headed to Shakers where the person we were looking for was located. We walked to Shakers, another Greek bar. When we went inside and I told Ryan to keep up with the others. He failed in doing so and we lost them through the crowd. Finally we made our way downstairs. They walked out to the dance floor. I did not want to push my way through the crowd so I waited near the stairs and the pool table. I saw Pete from WSU Fire there. He said hello to me. Ryan went to look for the others. He located them around the corner and they found the guy, Lars, that they were looking for.

While Ryan was gone I saw Jory from the softball team. He said hello and then asked if I was married. I told him I wasn’t. He said “great, let’s go pick up some chicks.” I laughed and he did too. Then I told Jory I needed to go meet up with my group of people. It was near closing time. Moe gave me half of his rum and Coke that he had. I drank that and we walked outside. I headed from my truck and they headed for the cars. We were going to go to Dissmore’s before they stopped serving alcohol.

We got down there in time. They got three half-racks of beer and I got something to eat. Moe rode with me to Waller. I dropped him off at Waller. Then I parked my truck by the hospital. I walked up to Waller and they said that Haymon remember he had a hotel room we could use to drink and play cards rather than sitting around in the Waller library.

Ryan has beer… In hand!

Neil with lots of beer.

We drove to the Holiday Inn and Haymon checked into his room. We walked up there and no one really drank any beer. In fact we never opened the brand new decks of Uno cards we purchased at Dissmores. Instead we spent the next two hours telling jokes and talking about some sex stuff. One girl was talking about what men and women like in terms of sex and how it changes with age.

Ryan is getting Frisky

Haymon demonstrates how to get a promotion.

Then Neil said something about Russell being gay. I played stupid and Ryan and I kept making them feel dumb because they would show some of the “evidence” that Russell was gay and we would give an example of someone else doing that thing and asking if that person was gay as well. That went on for a while. We laughed so hard that my kidneys felt like they had been used as a punching bag for the evening. I took some pictures and videos while in the room.

We put beer around Haymon.
He woke up just as I took this pic.

Around four o’clock AM Haymon was pretty much out. The others were starting to fade. So, we all left. We walked to the cars. As Ryan was talking to me we was not watching where he was walking and bashed his knee into the hitch on my truck. I was laughing hard about that as well. It was a fun night and to think I was ready to go home at ten o’clock PM.

Intramural’s week two

I was woken up to a EMS call. I rushed to the station and made the call. It was a lady who was sick. After the call I hung out at the station. I talked with Carl and watched some TV. I was going to hang around to see if any more calls would come out. I was getting tired so I went home and I planned on taking a nap.

When I got there I found out I was supposed to be on call for the coroners office. I didn’t think I was on call today. So I called Pete and let him know I was around and available. I then went to my bed to take a nap. I slept for about an hour when Pete called.

There was a death at the hospital. I called the Colfax hospital and found out the details. It sounded like a case we would turn down because the doctor would sign off on the death. I was happy because it was getting close to game time. I went back to sleep.

My alarm clock sounded and I drove to Pullman for the games. The weather was better. We started by playing the Longballs. We lost two to fifteen. We did not make it through the order twice. I only had one at bat and it was an out.

We went to the next field and did some BP and infield practice. Then the second game started. I pitched the first one so I let Dave pitch the second game. It was a closer game but we still lost. Three to four. So we have to win one of the two games next week to make the play offs. I again went oh-for.

I grabbed some dinner and went home. I watched the Simpsons and the Sketch Show then I went to bed. I had to get up early and get some stuff done before I left Colfax.

All day with Ryno!

With my alarm clock buzzing I got up and headed to the coroners office for the meeting. We went over the last few cases and we looked over the autopsy shots from the murder that happened a few weeks ago. It was interesting to see the bullet path and the damage to the brain.
Following the meeting I went into the SO and printed off a few things for my softball team and checked my E-mail. The plan for the day was to hang out with Peter like we had planned. I called him around noon and let him know I was free and to give me a call when he was available. I sat around the house for a while relaxing.

Then I decided to go to my office and get some stuff on the computer done. I had a few thousand E-mail messages I had to sort. I spent a lot of time doing that. I hate paying first step internet for spam service and still getting as much spam as I do. It is horrible.

It was getting later. I was going to get a pizza from Little Caesars. When I was there I called Ryan. He said he was at Blockbuster. So I went in there and found him. We rented a movie called Blackball. It was about a young guy who breaks into the British Bowls scene that is dominated by old high-class people. It is by National Lampoon. It was okay, but I understand why it never had a huge following. Ryan has a membership at Blockbuster where he can rent as many movies as he wants for a flat fee.

We went back to Blockbuster and got Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle. I also bought a couple movies that were on sale. I got Saw, Anchoman, and two other movies. We grabbed a pizza from Little Caesars this time through. I was still waiting for a call from Peter but none were coming and by now it was after five pm.

We started to watch Harold and Kumar when I got a call from Ben. He was going to have a poker game and wanted to know if Ryan and I wanted to come. I did but Ryan didn’t. I didn’t want to leave Ryan, but I wanted to go. I tried to get him to go but he was refusing. He is like a bump on the log. If he does not *think* he will have fun he will not do it. It limits some of the things we can do together. So after much coaxing I got him to go. I was surprised because normally he will not change his mind about that stuff.

So we stopped the movie where it was and went to Bens. We were only going to be there for a couple hours. It turned into about four hours. We started by playing tournament style Texas Hold’em. Then when enough people were eliminated we played Apples to Apples. It is a real fun card game I had never heard of until tonight. Ben also got Ryan and I in the helmet club. When I get a copy of the pic I will post it. It is terrible!

After the tournament was over we started to play four-five-six. I played that for a few hours. Everyone was really liking the game. At one point Ben was up more then twenty bucks. I did a twenty dollar bet. Ben “aced-away”. His girlfriend got really mad. We joked about Ben sleeping on the couch because of that.

Later on Ryan and I left and finished watching Harold and Kumar. I laughed a whole bunch more. I took off after the movie and went home. I watched TV for a while before finally finding my way to bed.

As it turns out Peter never called. I am glad I did not sit around waiting for him to call me. It seems that he is really flaky. I am not sure what the issue is with him, but I have to believe there is still something there.

Sleepin in.

I woke up on the couch where I had fallen asleep watching TV. So I went into my bedroom and went back to sleep. I was there for a few hours when a phone call from Ben came in. He was seeing what I was doing. It was just after noon. I had been sleeping. He teased me about still being in bed. He wanted to go golfing, but I realized that it would not be the best thing to do with my ankle. I wanted it to rest some more.

I got the checks made out for my home repairs and posted so the realtor can come and get them when he stops by the house.

I went to Rosauers and got some lunch and then to the Sheriff’s Office. I checked for some stuff in the coroners office that Pete said should be there. It was not. So I went into report writing. I got on a computer and check my E-mail. Dan was there and I helped him with a few things. We talked about stuff in general and he showed me some pics from his recent trip to Disneyland.

I left after a while and went to the fire station. Tim was working for Jenny and Dale was working for the PD. We were in the rec room at the fire station watching some TV and talking about what we were watching. It was a show about crime. The show went to someone’s house and asked the home owner if they could break into the house and steal stuff and then show the home owner why their house was a target and how to make the house more secure. It is pretty interesting to see the peoples’ reactions. I figure it will not be long before someone does a copy cat type crime and claims to be the show, but in fact not be the show and then steal stuff for real.

The show also gave me some ideas for making stuff more safe. One dealt with deadbolts and one dealt with bars on windows. I honestly think they could be something that people would be willing to buy. They would not make the house any more secure then the bars and current deadbolts, but it would make it more attractive for someone to get them and use them because it would be more user friendly and safer to use.

At seven o’clock was closing in I got some dinner and want home. I watched my Sunday night TV shows including the new “The Sketch Show”. There some really funny skits in it. I will continue to watch that show for sure.