15 Oct '07 - Riding With Special Hazards... AAAARRRRGGHHHH!!!!

The AAAARRRGGHHH!!! is not meant for the crew that I rode with last night on the Special Hazards Unit of the Providence Fire Department – not by any means. They are wonderful guys and were very good to me, as always. So were the rest of the folks at Washington Street last night. I enjoy their company and they always treat me like family.

However… when I arrived at the firehouse yesterday afternoon, I was told that I missed not one, but TWO fires – one on Sunday night and one on Monday during the day. “They come in threes”, one of the guys said. This is true… and I prayed a LOT that I would be there for the third.

We got a run around 6:30 pm to go to the Olneyville section of the City for a possible natural gas leak situation. I got some great shots there and the footage shows how multiple companies work together in a situation such as this to make sure that people are safe and the scene is quickly controlled, investigated and the situation corrected. There were several companies involved in the call… Special Hazards, Engine 14, Tower Ladder 1, Ladder 6 and I believe Ladder 2 was also there, but it was tough to see all of the vehicles and stay out of the way at the same time. Once someone from National Grid arrived on scene to locate the gas leak, it was only a matter of ten or fifteen minutes before we were all dismissed and headed back to quarters.

We only got two other calls – one to a possible fire at the Hartford Projects… my heart nearly jumping out of my chest all the way there, only to find that it was nothing; then to a location over near Admiral Street for a “still box alarm” (which means a reported fire) which we got turned back from. That ended up being a police matter, for some reason that I never really ascertained.

So, when morning came and I sat and had a coffee with my friend, Okie, before heading home, we made arrangements for me to go back tonight and film a sort of “tour” of the Special Hazards Unit. When I arrived back at the station this evening, the first thing Okie said was that they had caught a fire during the day and the Hazards was “first in” – meaning the first company to arrive on the scene. He says that never happens. Of course it doesn’t! It would only happen when I’m JUST MISSING IT!

I was convinced, at that point, that my Grampa was looking down on me and chuckling! As if missing the THIRD fire wasn’t bad enough, as I stood talking with Okie while Fran took stills of the Hazards for me, the bell tipped. Of course the bell tipped – because I wasn’t RIDING WITH THEM!!! Another gas leak situation. So, rather than trying to get this all set up again, we waited for the Hazards to return. At one point, Fran and I were the only people left in the station. Every single truck in the house was out. My brain was hurting by that point and frustration was beginning to get to me.

So, the Hazards returned and I filmed my bit with Okie. As I filmed with him and saw all of the equipment that this Heavy Rescue Vehicle carries, I began to see things in a different light. I got the footage I needed and Fran took some more stills for me. We said goodnight to Okie and off we went.

When I got home tonight I visited Michael Morse’s blog and clicked on a link to the blog of another Providence Firefighter, Chris Brown. Chris is also on the Hazards. I read an entry that he wrote about a man who had been electrocuted. That was it… my “different light” had settled in and I was viewing my quiet night with the Hazards as a blessing. It dawned on me, between filming with Okie and reading Chris’s blog that I could easily have seen things last night that I would never, ever be able to handle.

All firefighters see, smell and deal with scenes that would steal an everyday person’s sanity in the blink of an eye. It is difficult to wrap your head around that until you ride on these trucks and talk to these people. I learned something tonight, too. “Special Hazards” is not really an appropriate name for that unit. Yes, the Hazards deals with things like chemical spills, gas leaks, anthrax scares and the like. In all actuality, the Special Hazards Unit is a Heavy Rescue Unit. That means they repel down the sides of Providence’s skyscrapers if a window washer’s platform gets stuck too high up for a ladder truck to reach. If someone is preparing to commit suicide by jumping from a bridge or an overpass in the City, the Hazards gets called. If someone gets fried by a downed high voltage wire, the Hazards goes in with special tools to make sure that the person’s body is safe for firefighters to handle and isn’t surging with electricity.

I’ll admit it… there are some things that I just do not want to see. So thanks, Grampa… for busting my chops and keeping me away from that stuff.

Once again, I have an entirely new understanding of and respect for the members of the Special Hazards Unit… those Heavy Rescue kids are pretty incredible.