Some of the calls we get from time to time are to help our fellow responders at emergency calls. Of these a lot come from the ambulance service to help transfer patients. I have gone on a number of these calls and it’s usually a minor affair in which they need just a little more muscle to get the job done. It is always best to ask for help than to go it alone and get hurt.

This community does produce some large customers for the ambulance crews. This phenomenon is known as “Mohawk Medium”. They have had to make accommodations for just such incidents by purchasing heavy duty stretchers, larger blood pressure cuffs, etc..

The only problem is we have sixty members and they might need just one extra person to help out. When our tones go off the odds are that at least a dozen firefighters are going to show up at the scene. This is because we all have the mentality that no one will show up for a call like this so we go just to be sure.

When I first got in the fire department we were attending training one Saturday morning and afterwards we get a tone. The request was for a lift assist at the bingo parlor. The Chief said “Let’s Go” and we took an engine and a couple of firefighters to see what we could do.

We arrived and were directed to a bus in the parking lot. We got there and one of the employees said “Super Dave is having a heart attack.” I knew who Super Dave was since I used to work there and I tell you this, he was a big gent. He was having chest pains and was situated in a bus seat while the EMT’s tried to figure a way to get him off the bus.

We sat there and discussed different idea’s that were thought out and shot down. The EMT’s asked us to get off the bus and give the patient some room. We got off and someone suggested that the only way we could get the patient off the bus was to cut a hole in the side with the K-12. The K-12 was a gas powered circular saw that was used to cut through cars to extricate patients.

The Chief looked at me and said “Go get it!” As I walked away he said “Start it up before bringing it over!” The K-12 was notorious for running perfectly at the station and giving us a hard time at the scene. I went to the truck and pulled the K-12 out and attempted to start it up. After a couple of frustrating yanks on the starter rope it fired up and came to life.

I warmed it up to make sure the saw would still work when we needed it at the bus. I shut it off and walked back around the bus to where everyone was standing. They were going over strategy at that point and doing a lot of waving and pointing towards the bus where the patient was sitting. I just stood there with the saw waiting for final orders before cutting up the bus.

In the meantime the patient wide eyed with terror defied the odds and stood up and walked himself off the bus. The EMT’s were supporting him and we dropped everything to help load him on the stretcher. They got him in the ambulance and took off to the hospital. He made it and eventually recovered.

What got him to jump up and walk off the bus was total fear. He heard the saw start up and looked outside to see a bunch of firefighters making invisible cut lines in the air with their gloved hands while pointing right at him. The whole time I was just standing there holding the saw and nodding in agreement and occasionally looking his direction.

He wasn’t thinking we were going to make a bigger exit to get him off the bus. The poor guy thought we were going to make a smaller patient with the saw. The fear gripped him more than the chest pains and he used his remaining strength to get himself off the bus before we could get at him. I’m not so sure he came up with the idea on his own or the thought was encouraged by an EMT that didn’t want to carry this guy. I’ll never know, Super Dave has been gone a few years now.