12/3/14 Engine-11

*** Engine-11 on radio, Respond to 602 Lincoln Blvd Cross street of Roswell St for a 17 y/o Male with his hand stuck in a mailbox. Engine-11 your time out will be 0803 and you will be responding on Tac-11. ***

*I hear the call and chuckle.*

'Did this kid lose his decoder pin from that Christmas story movie?'

*I hop on the rig and key the mic and call us responding. As we head out, I get some medical gloves for my bunker pants and turn to the guys.*

'All right guys, let's see how stupid this kid is before we grab anything. Maximum I think we can do is get the tool box and disassemble it, but hopefully we can get him to slide it out. Let's see when we get there. You guys have any questions?'

*When I don't hear any questions from the crew, I turn around and relax for a minute or so as we head toward Lincoln Blvd.  Once we find, Roswell, we pull over to the side of the road and get out.  I call us on scene and start to look around.  When I don't see obvious calling for us, I debate yelling for the guy but due to the hustle of everyone around rush hour, I start to walk down toward Roswell.  When I look to my left, I don't see anyone, but I see someone on the right.  I turn to the guys who are helping look across the street.*

'Over here, guys.  Let's pull the rig over here so EMS can see us if we need them.'

*I pull my gloves out of my bunker pants pocket and walk over to the man. When I see he has his hand stuck in a main slot.*

Me: 'Sir, I'm Nicholas with the Fire Department, is there something we can do for you today?'

Man: 'Yeah! Get my hand out of this damn slot!'

Me: 'All right, sir. Hang on a minute. We're gonna see what we have, and then we'll see what we can do for you.'

*I look around at the side of the heavy door and see the man's arm inside. I get the man to hold on for a minute as I head to the rig and get my helmet before switching on the light on the side to see what is inside. I notice a large package sitting on the weight at the bottom of the seesaw-like door which is stopping us from pulling back the door. I sign as Fernando nods and brings me a haligan. I take the haligan and try to get leverage on the top of the door, but fell the door budge only a bit. I tilt my helmet back further as I try to think of what else we can do. I see the man start to get agitated as Nicole tries to check the guy's arm since a lot of pressure is getting placed on this. I turn to the guys to get the spreaders off of the truck since I have no doubt that they'll be able to overpower the weight and it would be easier and less property damage than to cut the door off. As Fernando and Jacob work setting up our hurst tool and Nicole works on keeping the guy calm, I see the guy's boss come up to us in a post office truck. I make sure the guys can take care of the Hurst tool as I walk over to the boss who is demanding that we not touch the door.*

Me: 'Look, I don't want to be cynical here sir, but your guy's arm is stuck in the door there and there is no way to move the door by hand. We are not going to damage the door, but all we are going to do is open the door using the jaws of life over there.'

Boss: 'Well I'm from the Federal Government and I'm ordering you not to do that.'

Me: 'Look, I understand that you are the federal government and I'm only state, but this guy is either coming out with that door getting touched by someone or without an arm, and I doubt he wants to loose his arm and I doubt anyone wants to get that in the mail. You get your boss on the phone and tell that that Captain Brondum with the Fire Department is messing with his mail slot in order to get his employee's arm free.'

*I walk off the from irate boss and watch as Fernando and Jacob work on opening the door. As more light illuminates the space, I see the guy's arm that is discolored from the lack of blood as I key the mic.*

"Fire from Engine 11... We're going to need an EMS unit to our location to transport a PT with circulation loss in his arm. Vitals to follow."

*Once we free the guy, I let Jake and Fernando work on disconnecting the Hurst tool as the door slams shut and the package falls to the bottom of the chute. I make sure they are good as I flip off my helmet light, put my helmet in the rig, and grab my baseball cap. I turn back to the chute and see the boss taking several pictures of the door. I walk over to him and see that he can notice some scratch or something across the bottom Postal logo that we didn't put there. He shoves the phone in my face with his boss on it as I pick it up.*

Me: "Sir, my name is Captain Brondum with the Fire Department."

Manager: "Yes I know. I heard you were messing with my door on Roswell and Lincoln."

Me: "Sir, a post office employee was carrying a heavy package and it landed on the counter weight at the bottom of the door, making him unable to get his arm out. We simply inserted a jaws of life and opened the door to get your employee's arm out. There is neither cosmetic or physical damage with the door."

Manager: "Well my person there says that you scratched the door."

Me: "No sir, that is not true. The scratch was there when we arrived and it was no where near we were using opening the door. We only worked on the top portion of the door and the cosmetic damage is to the bottom."

Manager: "Ahh, I am looking at pictures that were sent to me and that scratch is already documented. Is my employee all right?"

Me: "I'm not a doctor sir, but he should be fine. His arm was jammed in the door and he lost circulation to his arm, so he will need to go to the hospital. I believe that we will be taking him to Tri City Medical Center. You can call there in a few hours or so and then check on him. Will that be all?'

Manager: "Yeah I guess. Have a nice day."

Me: "You as well, sir."

*I give the phone back to the guy on the scene as I see Nicole getting into the ambulance. I nod to her and tell her we'll pick her up as we all get back into the rig. I mark us clear on the MDT and then key the mic.*

"Engine 11 to Fire... We'll be clear, en route to Tri City Medical to pick up personnel."

*We head into traffic and then go around the block to turn around and let the ambulance roll.*