FF Tim H 8.8

You're listening to Responder Chronicles with your host, Brian Dita. Today, I have a firefighter with me, a volunteer firefighter. And a lot of people don't realize that most of the United States are made up of volunteer firefighters. If there's a firefighting department near you, unless you're in a major metropolitan city or a very well-funded town or city, most of the time, you're going to have a volunteer firefighter. So today, I have one that is from Florida. That's all we're going to say. We're going to call him Tim. And Tim has many, many years in it. Tim, how many years you have? I started this back in 2013, so I'm in my 11th year now of volunteering with the same department. So when – so we had a thing at church, and there was a firetruck, an ambulance, a helicopter came in. And you met my son at one time. And somebody took a picture of him, because it wasn't too long ago. Somebody shared that. I'm like, oh, he looks so small. And you look – I mean, you don't look old, but you look really young then, right? So that was about 2013. So you were just like new. I was new into it, yeah. I remember that well. That was a good day. I remember that. I remember that photo when I seen it again. And I even told Tim we needed to reenact that photo. And we should have done it the other day, and I forgot to do it. And I knew we should have done it. But, yeah, that was when I first started. In fact, having the ambulance, the firetruck, and the medical helicopter come in, he got hooked on it. And I told the guys on the helicopter, I said, I think we may have one or two that's going to go into this. And this is why this podcast exists, why I started it. I want to get these stories of these men and women who are frontline, emergency response, whether it's police, ambulance, EMS, fire, right? And anybody that steps up and does something that helps the community, protects and serves. And so I do that so people can hear the stories, and hopefully we can get more people who say, yep, I want to do this job. Absolutely. We need it bad. It's needed more than anybody knows. And let's just be honest. I don't know how it is with a lot of other states, but in the state of Florida, they have some pretty high standards for firefighters. And so being that these are volunteers, they have to go through a lot of training. I mean, I have been in it, what, about three years now? It doesn't seem like it's been that long. And I look back and, dude, I've gone through a lot of training. Yes, you have. And I've done it for free. But we need people. We need people who will step up and really help. So what got you into wanting to be a firefighter? Well, my grandfather on my dad's side was a city fireman for a neighboring city, and he was a fireman through the late 60s all through the 70s and parts of the early 80s. And hearing stories from him, you know, about all and not just, you know, the cool stories about I mean, he would tell he wouldn't hold nothing back. Like he would he would tell the good and the bad of it. Yeah. And to me, that helped a lot because you got to see both sides of it. You weren't going into a blind. I mean, of course, I was, you know, I was 18 years old and hearing some of these stories, but that kind of first sparked it. And then growing up, I've always been I've always loved to help people. I've always been willing to help people. And my uncle was actually a volunteer in the same department, and I would always hear his stories and, you know, thinking, wow, that really sounds cool. That's something I think I want to do. And he would tell me every night, like, oh, yeah, we went on this call. It was so cool. We did this. And I'm like, man, I got to get into this. And then I was only, you know, 13, 14 years old. And I was one of the ones that waited late to get into it. You know, I was in my 30s before I actually started. And it was just something I've always wanted to do. But having kids, trying to keep a career and a family together, it kind of it never really seemed to work out. But it's called life. All of a sudden, I decided I got to make a phone call. I went to a local chief, and he set up a date with him and the assistant chief. Within a week, we talked, had a really good conversation, felt like everything lined up. And he basically asked, hey, when do you want to start training? He started telling me about all the training. And like you were saying, I was like, that's a lot of training. But, I mean, if I want to do it, I got to be all in. And I jumped all in, and he set me up. And luckily, the department I'm with is really, really hands-on and helpful about that. And they set me up, and I hopped the races. You know, no one told me about all the training. Which I'm glad nobody told me of all the training that I was going to have to go through, because I probably would have been like, I don't have the time for it. Right. And honestly, I don't have time for it. Something gets sacrificed, and that's the thing people need to realize. Absolutely. We have full-time careers. I mean, we have jobs, and most of us have families. So, we got a young whippersnapper in here now, you know, and he doesn't have a family. He's running and gunning the whole time. But those of us, you know, a lot of times, most of us, there are calls in the middle of the day that none of us can go on. A neighboring agency or maybe a retired, one that's retired can go on. So, it takes a lot. And I'm glad that nobody told me of all the training. But once I was in it, and after that second call that I went on, I thought, I need to know what I'm doing. Right. And I was glad to take the training. Yeah. And that's part of it, stepping up and realizing that, hey, if you're going to make a sacrifice, you got to either be all-in or none at all. Like, there's really no room for in-between, because if you're not all-in, you're not going to be all-in on a call that means, you know, it could be a life or death call. You got to be willing to put the time in. And you did it. You know, I did it. And luckily, the department we're in really has some fantastic, you know, staff and members. We're a small department. Yeah. But we do have some very dedicated folks. We need more. We do need more. We need a bunch more, unfortunately. But we make do with what we got. It's part of waking up at 3 a.m. to make that call, because somebody's got to make the call. And that's what you signed up for. So, yeah, we definitely need more, always need more. You know, the funny thing is, I actually, right out of high school, I wanted to go into law enforcement. Yeah. And if you knew me back in 1996, you know, boy, you're going to get killed. I mean, I was 110-something wet, a lot nicer and a whole lot more sweeter than I am now. It just wasn't for me. But my son actually got me in this. I don't know if you all know the story, but he got interested, really, I think it was that day that you showed up there at the church with the fire truck. Right. And he got 15, and he's like, I want to join the fire department. And we were in the middle of moving, and we moved out here. And I said, look at that, there's a fire station right around the corner. And so we went to a meeting, and he joined. And then I realized that I told him, I said, Mason, if you're 15, you can't even drive. If I'm going to have to refer you to these emergency calls, you might as well join. And I did, and I don't regret it. Absolutely. You made a good choice. I think I did too, yeah. But Mrs. kind of gets a little upset sometimes, but she knows. And the funny thing about it is, we go on a call, we leave, right? Come back. She may be upset. She always says, so you've got to go on this call. Right. I'm like, I've got to go. And then when I get back, she's like, tell me about the call. Exactly. What happened? And I'm like, yeah, yeah, you really don't want me to go, huh? I think everybody deals with that. That's part of it. That's part of it. Not just us sacrificing our time, it's the family members, the wives, the kids, all sacrificed with us. So yeah, it's a big part of it, for sure. And having the support. She says that. But I noticed this department, the chief, assistant chief, I mean, all of you said family comes first. Right. And so that means I may not show up for every meeting. I may not show up for every special detail or anything like that. And honestly, there's some calls, and I just go, nope, can't go to that one today. And that's okay. We're volunteers. Exactly. Exactly. All right. Now, since you've been in it, what is it, 10? 11 years. 11 years. Tell me a call that made you finally realize that this is some very real stuff. The first call that I can vividly remember, it was actually not even with this department. I was in this department. But at the time where I was living, it's had me close to where I can actually make calls to other neighboring departments. And they were actually, you know, hey, if you can help out, you hear a call, tone drop, you're around, help out if you can. And I really enjoyed that, too. Yeah, definitely. And this particular day, I was coming home from work. It was the middle of the day. And I had my radio on, and I heard the tone drop for an MVA. That's a motor vehicle crash. Motor vehicle crash. And it had entrapment. As the information was coming out, as they were dispatched and was given the information, it was getting worse and worse. And it was about probably five miles or so from where I was at at the time. So, you know, of course, I was in my personal vehicle. So I made my way there. I got there right behind the department engine that was in the district, rather. I got there right behind the engine. And I remember pulling up, seeing, and this was probably the first bad wreck that I've seen actually being in a department. And I remember seeing two vehicles. One of them, it was a T-bone type collision. One of them got T-boned and was just mangled beyond recognition, flipped upside down. The other one, the whole front end was smashed off in a ditch. And as you're pulling up, you really don't know where the patients are. You know there's patients because dispatch has relayed a few key information, you know, as far as a minor child or who's trapped, an elderly woman trapped. And so we're walking up. And I kind of get up with the driver of the engine of that department. And I say, hey, I'm here. Told him who I was, say, how can I help? He goes, all right, well, we're going to assess the situation. Let's see what we got. So we start walking around. I'm kind of following behind them because I'm new at it. And there's a couple patients laying in the ditch. And there's still two patients trapped inside one of the vehicles. So about this time, EMS is rolling up. There's a couple EMS units because there's multiple casualties. And I'm just kind of doing hands-on, like helping out where I can. Well, one of the EMTs grabbed my arm and she said, hey, I need you to help me over here with this patient. And it was a young lady. I have three daughters. And this girl, she was the same age as my youngest daughter. So I'm like, all right, this is going to be a little bit more personal than most calls. So I'm like, you know, I can handle this. And we got over there, and this poor kid, she was unrecognizable. Like, her face was bloody. I mean, it was swelled up. You couldn't hardly recognize her face. You know, she had some broken limbs, possible broken back. And she's just laying there, just calm. And I'm just like, wow, this is amazing. Like, this little girl just went through this horrible thing, and there's no tears, not crying. And the EMT said, hey, I need you to assist this patient. And you kind of like stay at the head because that's the main part, kind of keeping the head, you know, straight. And I'm like, okay, you know, still me being new at this, I'm like, all right, I got this. I can, you know, I've been through all the training. I can do this. So I got down, you know, at the top of her head, kind of holding C-spine is what they call it, holding her still. She's not really moving. A couple other firefighters came over and started doing some head-to-toe assessments. And the whole time I'm looking down, talking to this little girl, you know, because I can relate to her because I got a little girl the same age. I mean, exactly the same age. And she's talking back. And I'm like, this is unbelievable. Like, I don't understand. I mean, I couldn't understand, like, this girl, by looking at her, I mean, it was that bad. I was like, there's no way she should be talking to me. I was like, this is a miracle. And finally they get done doing all this, and there's other patients, and they're trying to figure out who's going to fly in a helicopter and who's going to go to the hospital and what ambulance. And the EMT looked at me, and she said, I need you to grab her, carry her to the ambulance now. So I'm like, yes, ma'am. So I kind of scooped her up as easy as I could, cradled her in my arms, and we walked over to the med unit. And I got inside the med unit along with this girl's older sister. And the older sister's on a stretcher. She's getting 10-2. And the paramedic asked me, he goes, hey, do you think you can ride to the hospital with us? Like, I need somebody in the back of this ambulance to ride to the hospital. Well, I was in my personal car. It was parked on the side of the road. I'm like, yeah, I can do that. I mean, I'm holding this little girl. There's nowhere to put her. You're like, she comes first. Exactly. So I'm like, absolutely. So I'm sitting there in the ambulance holding this little girl in my arms, just cradling her, you know, talking to her. And the paramedic's like, the main focus is to keep her talking to you. So I'm like, you know, it's an hour ride to the hospital. It's an hour ride. So I'm like, okay, here we go. My arm's already tired. I'm like, I got to do this. So the whole ride, and we had to take back roads because they had roadblocks, and it was just a mess. But I just remember holding this little girl in my arms and looking down at her and then talking to her, having conversations. Like, she wasn't even hurt. And she's responding back, answering questions. And I'm telling her about my daughter. She's telling me about, you know, how old she was, what her name was. I kept repeating that, asking her. And the whole ride to the hospital, you know, she stayed alert and was talking to me. And I mean, just covered in blood. And I remember getting there, and I just, I couldn't feel my back. My back was just on fire from trying not to move her. And she got to the hospital, got out of the ambulance. And I ended up carrying her into the emergency room and put her on the bed when they took over. And that was the last I'd seen her. And I heard that she made a full recovery. I mean, she had a broken arm, broken leg. I think she had some broken ribs. But she made a full recovery. And that moment right there made me realize, like, this is what you train for. This is why you have to train. This is what you signed up for. And that was kind of the real moment for me that was like, okay, this is what I want to do. This is real. And I wasn't even in this department. And there's been tons of calls after that that's been kind of on the same level. But that really stuck with me. And do you remember about what age she was? Yeah, she was five years old at the time. Oh, my. Okay. Yeah, I can just imagine. I mean, I remember the first call I went on. Well, first call I went on, I just rode in a truck. And I thought that was cool to go lights and sirens. Yes. But the first one that I actually went on, and I drove the truck. I went through the EVOC course. But I had been driving large vehicles for a while anyway. So, you know, it was nothing. And I get there, and it was an MVA. And then we realized, I think you remember that one, too. She was instantly killed. Teenager. And it's a very weird scene, very somber. Everybody there, all the first responders, police, everybody's doing their job. Right. But everybody has a sense of sadness, you know, such a young life taken. Very. Yeah, I remember that one well. All right. Well, that was a good one there. What about a very high-intensity story that you won't ever forget? Like, if I was to say some of the worst story, or, you know, something that just really got you pumping, what is it? The best story that I've, or the best call I've been a part of is, it happened a couple years ago, by far the best call. Actually, last year, I believe it was. And it was a call, as you know, we got alerts sent to our phones. We get these calls sent to our phones, like, from dispatch. Not only from our radios, but they're linked up to our phones. It makes it easy. Well, I was getting ready to wake up. My alarms already went off that morning to get up to go to work. And my phone goes off, like it does all the time. The alert drops. I look at a text message, and it said, structure collapse. Oh, I remember. I'm like, wow, I've never been a part of one like this. This is going to be something different. And then it said, structure collapse with entrapment in the little notes. And that's all the details you get. So you're like, okay, they can be just entrapped, just needing a way out, or they can be actually trapped under the structure itself. So you don't know as you're getting dressed and getting all your clothes on and trying to get in the vehicle. So I get up as quick as I can, put all my gear on, and start heading to the scene. And I get about halfway there, and some more information starts coming out. And they say it was a tree that fell in the house. And there was a little girl trapped under the tree. And that was the information. That was what they gave. So automatically you're thinking, all right, this is going to be the worst case or the best case. There really should be no in-between in a situation like that. So we're thinking, or I'm thinking, the worst case. And they start giving some more information out because 911 dispatch is still on the phone with the parents getting information too as we're going to the scene. So some more information comes out, and they say the little girl that was trapped was talking, responsive, talking to her parents. So that's kind of a big relief. Like you can kind of settle down a little bit. Still intense call that you're going to. Well, I wasn't probably 15 minutes away from the call scene. So myself and another deputy was the first ones on scene. And you pull up, and it's still dark outside. It's during a bad storm. There's debris everywhere. There's no power on, so there's no street lights, no house lights. You're going into this blind. And you can kind of look up with your headlights and your scene lights, and you can see this huge oak tree. Massive. Just crushed this house. I mean, if you were there, you know what. I remember that night clearly. Like I was there this morning. And that, going up to that scene and knowing that you're, you know, one of the first ones on scene, you and another deputy, or a deputy, and thinking, okay, what's the first move here? Like what do we need to do? Like we know where she's at. She's under this tree. That's where she's at. So I made contact with the deputy. We got her flashlights. We had her gear on. And we go around the back of the house and make contact with the parents. And surprisingly, they're fairly calm for what the situation was. I remember that. And I'm like, am I at the right spot? Yeah, I know we are. And they tell us, like, hey, this is where you got to go in, because some of the exits, the front door, you can't use it. You have to go through the back. And they kind of guide us through. And there was a couple trees. Well, the tree was a big oak tree, but it was almost like two trees. So it fell on this little girl's bedroom. The main part of the tree fell directly on her bedroom, onto her bed, onto her and was resting over her bed. The other part of the tree fell into the kitchen area. Well, it kind of blocked some entries. So you're kind of figuring out your way back, and the whole time you're going, you're trying to make sure nothing else is fixing the collapse. Yeah, because I remember walking through there, and I remember walking in that kitchen, and the lights were still on. I mean, they still had electricity. It was really surprising. Yeah, they had electricity in the kitchen for some, I don't know how. And I remember you walk into this kitchen, and there's this tree literally going through the roof. And you're going, this is unreal. And I'm thinking, second thought is, my son is in here with me, which he volunteered. And I'm thinking, please don't let this collapse. If it collapses, let it collapse on me, but not him. Exactly, because you never know. I mean, the tree's unstable. You don't know what it's resting on. And, I mean, you could see as we were walking up to that house on the back, the whole back wall of the house was leaning pretty significantly. It was ready to collapse also. So, we finally make our way in. The parents showed us, you know, hey, this is how you get to your bedroom. So, me and the deputy make our way into the bedroom. So, me and the deputy made our way into the bedroom, dark back there, trying to shine our best way in, trying to kind of assess the situation as we're going in. And we make it to this girl's bedroom, and we can see the tree. Like, the tree is taking up her whole bedroom. And you can, there's ceiling boards everywhere on the floor, like you're trying to get a feel of where the bed is, where, you know, everything's at. So, we see, we can kind of see part of the bed under the tree. So, I start calling out to the little girl, saying her name, trying to get her to answer. Well, another situation, a miracle. She calmly says, hey, I'm under here. I'm like, okay. And this little girl, I mean, you know, she's, to me, she's the hero of the story. Like, this whole story, she is the hero for sure. And I told her that, told her her parents is. And calmly, you know, I'm under here. Like, you can, I mean, there's a little stress in her voice, obviously, but there's no crying, no screaming. And I'm like, this is amazing. So, we're trying to talk to her, asking her, you know, hey, can you feel your feet? Can you see our light shining through? She couldn't see nothing. She was completely blocked off. The ceiling actually bead where the tree fell onto her and blocked her vision from seeing us, blocked us from seeing her. And as we started, you know, getting more details and seeing what was actually happening with the tree and trying to figure out, you know, what it was actually resting on. Of course, all these other responders show up. You guys showed up. I mean, the world. Oh, absolutely. I mean, countywide showed up. Every, you know, resource you can think of showed up from bulldozers. Cranes were in or out. I tell you, it was one of those early morning calls. My wife said, you got to go. And I said, hold on. I mean, I got woke right out of a deep sleep. Said structure collapse. I'm like, that's different. And then I heard something. I don't know what the age was. I think it said maybe 12, 10-year-old child. And I went, I'm going to this. Yeah. You know, and when I got there, it was you, a deputy, and me and Mason. Yeah. And it was, and then within minutes, literally minutes, it seemed like all those floors showed up there. Light sirens. They were trying to get a helicopter in route. I mean, it was amazing. It was a huge joint effort. And the amount of people that showed up quick, you know, that fast response just shows the kind of county that we work in. We had federal resources from the military base. Yeah. En route got there. And I was just, I was amazed. We had cranes coming from the next county over. I mean, big cranes. Police from the next major city. Everywhere. Which is an hour away. Everywhere. And that was very, very humbling to see how many people come together for a person in your district. I mean, they didn't have to, but they knew just like we did, they heard the information. Like, okay, this. They heard child. And they knew they had to get in route. Well, we got in, we started doing our thing, kind of clearing some debris away from the bed, kind of trying to see. The main focus was to see where this tree was. Resting at what it was sitting on. Because as far as we could tell, it wasn't. Like crushing her at this point, but we wasn't, we wasn't sure yet. So. Her talking to us. We're kind of like, okay, well. It shouldn't be crushing her. She's talking to us. Right. So that was kind of a relief off us. So we're trying to figure out where there's tons of branches coming down. There's tons of beans from the ceiling, the rafters, everything's just mangled. So we're trying to figure out. What this tree is resting on because. It should have kept falling. Like something stopped this tree for falling. Well, there just happened to be one tree limb. Probably about 10 inch diameter. Maybe a little bigger that came down and actually stuck on the floor board about three feet on the opposite side of her bed. And it was just enough. To where it stopped the whole tree somehow from crushing her. They went through a floor and was resting. I mean, it was within. I mean, I would say centimeters of. A little bit further would have been crushing her. Like, I mean, it was putting pressure on her. And now we found out that that was the only thing holding this tree up from. So we're like, okay, if this tree then breaks. This whole tree is coming down and. It's going to be completely resting on her. So the main focus was to get the tree stable. We took some. Airbags from a neighboring department. They came in. With their commercial grade airbags. I mean, it was. That was the focus we had us inside. We about this time, we probably had. 6, 7 people inside, maybe that's right. Fire departments. Police and outside was a whole nother world. It was a whole I was with that crew. Up and set up there. Yes. And that was that was an effort in itself. And I mean. To do that, that was probably. To me was a big relief off my mind. Like, what allowed us to keep working inside knowing that we had that tree from the outside with those airbags and that resource. Which luckily they had them and they got them there quick. Knowing that that tree was a little bit more stable. So we can actually work a little, you know, a little bit faster. Try to get her out. And the whole time this, this little girl. Never lost her cool. Never got, you know, never screams, never cried out. Like, you know, I'm hurting or just kept so calm this whole time. And I told her after her parents, after I'm like. You know, the biggest hero in that room was your daughter. Because if she had been screaming. It would have made us more anxious and working faster. And we made it. You know, we might've made a mistake and it could have been. You know, terrible. It could have been a lot different outcome. But by her staying calm. That made the difference that, that, that scene needed. But we finally got the tree stable. Started cutting ceiling boards away, trying to work away. Little at a time into her. And. The whole time this bed is on the little girl. Like little four, five inch. Legs come out this metal frame. And it's supporting a lot of the way to this tree. And. The only thing we can think of was how to get to her. Because we had to lower her down without the tree moving. Because there was, you couldn't cut the tree. Out. So we got to thinking, like, what's the best option here? And we all came up, we, we sat there for a good 10 minutes. Everybody kind of took a deep breath and we got the idea that. Maybe we can cut the feet off of this bed. If we get this tree stable. And it's going to lower the bed. And it's going to give us enough room. You know, five or six inches. Just maybe we can slide her out. While doing this, you don't know when you cut the legs off this bed, if it's going to the whole trees is going to, that's what it's going to take. So we had to trust that we had the stabilization outside where it needed, which it was, it was perfect. We had stabilization inside with some rescue equipment that we use for excavation on cars. We had airbags inside. We had braces inside. We had all the precautions covered. So we felt comfortable that. We could cut these feet off this bed and. It's going to give us just enough room. Now, the whole time we're doing this, you got a firefighter in there. It was also an EMT. And he's pushing medicine. That's being fed through him from the outside, like through a window by the paramedic. And I mean, they're like coordinating, getting medicine in her, keeping her calm, making sure she has fluids. Because it wasn't any of it. She was actually getting being held down. She's yeah. She was on her side here. She wasn't crushed. She could still breathe. You can feel her stomach going up and down. She said, but she was pin where she couldn't move. And so one thing I've learned, especially after this is if you have a limb or a body part that is impressed. And let's say you go ahead and just move that, move something off. It's been there for a while. That blood is slotting up in there. And I mean, you just made. You think you're saving them. Yeah. But you actually may have killed. And that was the biggest worry the whole time with this was. If it was crushing on that, exactly what you just said. That was, that was a big factor. Big fear. So that's what I would push in. So they're pushing medications in there. Yeah. And then, and they were doing that. They were, you know, cause we finally got to the bottom of her foot and they were doing it. They were foot. The only part of where we can see at the time. Yeah. And it was just, you know, pushing IVs and cutting, sawing. And finally. We got another firefighter in the cutting a few spots out from the ceiling. And was able to get in there enough time. And they, they made face contact and which I was a big step in it. And finally we're like, all right, we think we got everything stable. I think we can cut these legs off this bed. We're going to do it real slow. We ended up bracing under bed. That way when we cut the leg off, we can slowly take the braces out instead of it all falling at once. So we've got the first leg off. Everything seemed to go pretty good. We're like, okay, we're going to do it real slow. We ended up bracing under bed. That way when we cut the leg off, we can slowly take the braces out instead of it all falling at once. So we cut the first leg off. Everything seemed to go pretty good. We're like, all right, I think, I think this is going to work. It dropped a little bit. The tree never moved. That was, we have people watching all sides of the tree. If it moved, that was everybody stopped. Tree never moved. So we made a decision to go ahead and cut the next leg off, cut the next leg off of the bed. And it fell down probably five or six inches. The bed fell down and we're thinking, okay, this is, this should be all we need. I think we can get her out of here. Well, when it did, there was a, the beam from the ceiling kind of was in a V shape. And it was kind of, that was what was pinching her on her side. It was resting on her side underneath the tree. So that we kind of determined it wasn't really like, it didn't penetrate her. It was just resting on her, holding her in one spot. We can slide her over and everything's going to be fine. It didn't cut off enough circulation where it's going to cause any blood clots. So we kind of slid her a little bit at a time asking her, Hey, anything starts to hurt. Anything changes, you let us know. So we slid her a little bit. She's everything's fine. She was saying, okay, I'm good. Everything's fine. So we slid a backboard in, got the backboard under and we started easing her out, you know, inch at a time later, a little bit, let her a little bit. And finally, I mean, this was a way to go on for three over three hours, three hours. And I mean, this was an ordeal. We finally got her out and the whole time. She's like, like, okay, you got me out now. Now what? And also we can think of was tell her, all right, well, you don't have to go to school today. Like you're getting a day off school. That's kind of smile. And when she smiled, that was like, all right, she's, she's okay. I would have showed up to school person and, and, and, you know, make sure they didn't get her in trouble. Yeah. She was covered in head to toe and dust. And I mean, it was that thing. That was probably the most intense. And the most, you know, satisfying, gratifying call. That I've been a part of because it, the outcome of that call. I just shows you. The work of God and how, how strong these little, these little kids are. And how they can stay calm in a situation where most men, most women grown with men and women would freak out. And that, cause I've been on calls a lot less than that. Or they stubbed their toe when they're the whole world's over. And just, but she stayed so calm. Oh, and that made the whole difference of that whole call was her staying calm where we can stay calm and do what we needed to do. I remember hearing her mom pray with her. Yeah. You know, and I thought, this is a Christian home. Yeah. And then, and I remember, I don't know if you knew, but the station that we do a lot of mutual aid with, it's a bigger station. They have full timers in there. And they're one of the ones who came up there and did a lot of work with them. Glad to see them. The night, the day before the afternoon before they had a really bad call. Yep. Teenage girl committed suicide. And they responded to that call and it tore those guys up. And so for them to come, come to this call and everything turned out right, Terry, the exhilaration and the relief on their faces, they needed that. Yes. They needed that one. They did. They, they definitely did. That was, I remember that call also. And that's what people don't realize about the community that we're in. It's a small community. Nine times out of 10, the call we're going to, we're going to know the person. That's right. And same situation here. We knew who it was. We knew the people. And that has a big impact on, you know, after the call, you know, you get a call where a teenage girl commits suicide and you're first on that call. That's that sticks with you. So, yes, when they come on the call the next morning and they have an outcome like that, that can make a difference from somebody staying in the department or somebody quitting. Yeah. And, and there's a platform like this. It's also good to just talk about it. Yeah. Because it feels better. And I don't know how to explain it to just talk about it. Yeah. Absolutely. These guys. And then that's one thing I'm glad you brought up. When a small community and most volunteer firefighters, they live in the community that they volunteer for. And if it's a small enough community, like, you know, where we're at, like you said, nine, 9.9 times out of 10, you're going to know that face. They're going to know you by name. That's right. And one of the things that when I was outside and, you know, everybody was just starting to get there. I didn't know this family. I didn't know the girl, but I knew the grandparents. Right. And the grandparents came down the road, saw me and said, Brian, and all I did to make her any promises. I said, we're going to do everything that we possibly can do to get that little girl out. And we did. And, and, you know, after the call, it shows you another kind of, you know, a Testament of what kind of community and County we live in with the surrounding departments. After that call was over, everything was settled. We knew everything was fine. Everybody got together in a circle. And prayed. Yeah. Pray for a little girl, pray for the family in it. A lot of apartments, departments don't have that. Like we have, I mean, it wasn't even, you don't have to ask anybody. Everybody knew. All right. Hold hands. No one gathered anybody around. No, that was, that's good to see in departments. Cause that's definitely a high intensity one. I remember that one. Clearly. All right. So let's, let's talk about something a little more light. We see strange, or even at times, funny stuff. Yeah. I mean, I've got stories. I'm not even going to share. And I've only been in it. In the last two, three years. And. I mean, the stuff I've seen, I go, you can't make this up now. You can't make it up. So what is one that you want to, to import to these listeners of yours? A lot of them have to do with Christmas. 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