I work on an ambulance where lives are lost every day. Some die peacefully, some from purposeful acts of violence and some from simple bad luck. Here are a few things I’ve learned by being present at the end. 1. The shock felt when confronted with the finality of sudden death is overwhelming, but not […]
We love to eat. We love to cook. We love to visit the stores, familiarize ourselves with the district, interact with the people we are paid to protect and contribute to the local economy. It’s one of the many great parts of the greatest job in the world. Generations of firefighters have shared the experience […]
by Michael Morse If your department doesn’t have a standard operating procedure for an active shooter/mass-casualty incident (MCI) that includes joint training with law enforcement, it’s time to push for one. Try not to assume that somebody knows what to do. Probably somebody does, but what if we all think somebody else is that […]
I didn’t think I cared. The frequency of the calls made it hard to care. Nuisance calls made up a large part of our routine. Spaced between medical emergencies, calls from the city’s underground emerged. Sivine Thatch made a lot of calls. He was a nuisance. One of many. The tone from the station’s […]