The Dreaded Phone Call

Ever since David confessed his desire to be a Firefighter I have dreaded that fateful phone call. You know the one where you are called and told that your husband has been injured while doing his job and is being rushed to the trauma center.

Well, my wait is over. I finally received the dreaded phone call this morning around 5:30am. Thankfully, it was from David, so right away I knew he was ok enough to speak to me. What I didn't know at the time was that he was speaking to me while being tied to a back board with C-Spine. He told me he was being taken to the trauma center, only this time HE was the patient.

Let me preface the following story by saying, he is Ok. Sore, and a bit battered and his hand is torn up, but nonetheless able to walk, talk, and function. Thank God he had a Guardian angel watching over him. He was VERY lucky. So here's what happened (at least from my understanding)...

His crew was fighting a warehouse fire and had just extinguished it and was working to clean up. They were inside the warehouse and David was on a 15 ft ladder hosing down some shelves that were continuing to ignite. There was a surge in water pressure due to another hose line and such being shut off quickly. This caused all of the water pressure to come through Dave's nozzle causing such pressure that it threw him back off the ladder. He landed on his SCBA (Self Contained Breathing Apparatus) which landed on some metal landing of sorts (which apparently was VERY lucky for David. Had he not had the SCBA or landed differently he could have broken his back or even have been paralyzed). This metal landing sheered the metal right off the SCBA causing it to break away from David and spin.

Well this is never a good situation as the SCBA is what helps you breathe (he has a mask on). He couldn't get air, so another firefighter helped pull Dave out. The people who saw him said they thought for sure that he had broken his back because of the way he landed. They said they were surprised when they saw him slowly turn over and start crawling away.

He was checked out at the trauma center and released to go back to work. His hand was damaged (can't tell if they are steam burns or cuts and scrapes). He also cracked his helmet.

Needless to say, I am VERY grateful that David is ok. This has been a scary experience for both of us. When I married David, he wanted to be an English teacher...not a firefighter or a hero. I can only thank God that he was watching over David. I appreciate all of the help that the firefighters gave David and the kindness and concern that they showed him after his experience. It's a bit of a wake up call. Life is short, and in an instant your life can change or even end.

Thank God that today was not that day.

So my parting advice to you is to go hug your family. Tell your husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, mother, father, daughter, or son that you love them and appreciate them. You never know when a time may come when you won't be able to tell them.