Just when I thought I could let out a sigh...

... Saturday turns into "one of those days."

Started off getting awakened by the pager going off, dispatching the FD to a brush fire. Out of bed I come, get dressed quickly, and head to the station to pick up a truck. Now that I've moved, I'm at least two-to-three minutes further away, so I expect people to start showing up either before I get there or shortly thereafter. Guess what? No one else shows, it's just me. Great!

As I go enroute, dispatch advises that the reportee has called back and the fire is now one-half acre in size and moving fast. I request a second tone and that Cleveland VFD be dispatched for mutual aid. The fire is app. ten minutes away from the station, so as I drive I listen for additional units. Nothing!! Finally I hear Cleveland go enroute, but with only one on their booster!!! SHIT!!!

Luckily, I finally make location and the half-acre fire is actually no larger than MAYBE 30'x50'. I can handle this myself, so I disregard all other units.

I get home, piddle around the house, take a nap... normal lazy Saturday stuff, until 15:40. We're dispatched to a MVA involving a single motorcycle. I go direct to the location, finding a female lying on her side in the middle off the road with her fellow riders trying to keep her still. I reach behind the seat of my truck for my gear bag to get rubber gloves and... dammit... my gear bag is still at the station from this morning's call. I do a quick sizeup and advise dispatch to put a helicopter on standby pending arrival of the medic unit.

Next arriving unit is a DPS trooper and he thankfully has gloves. He advises to put the chopper in the air NOW and that we'll land it at the scene. Next up is my First Responder truck, followed quickly by the ambulance. I now concentrate on landing the bird. Next in is my Engine, blocking the roadway to setup the LZ. Bird lands and the flight nurse and medic go to the ambulance, where they work on patient for an extended time period, long enough that the chopper kills its engines.

While waiting, we're dispatched to a brush fire on the opposite end of our territory. I send the FR truck back to the station to pick up a booster, but luckily they're disregarded prior to going enroute.

We finish up the MVA/LZ scene and head back to the station. First thing I notice is that my S10 is running hot, the AC isn't working, and my volts are a little low. Well, it had been idling at the scene for over an hour-and-a-half, so I don't sweat it much. In fact, as soon as it starts moving, the temps drop to normal.

But, when I get to the station, smoke pours out of the hood. Not steam, smoke. Pop the hood and the AC compressor clutch is smoking badly. Kill the AC and let it run to cool down the clutch, noticing that the tensioner pulley is about to fall off. DAMN!! Gotta let the truck cool before I can do any work on it, so I go inside to fill out the run report. Just as soon as I sit down, we're dispatched to a report of a two-month-old not breathing. Back in the FR truck I go as we head to this new emergency.

Ambulance is already on location when we get there and I notice the father looks very familiar. His family had had a kitchen fire on Thursday evening and were staying with relatives. Talk about bad luck!! He's not handling it well so I do my best to calm him down. The paramedic then tells me to get a bird in the air and setup the LZ as close as possible. So once more the FD sets up the LZ.

Finally I get back to the station and manage to work on my truck. Replace the tensioner pulley, but the AC compressor clutch is making a horrid noise. But going home it blows cold air, so that's one minor victory. Ran it some yesterday and the more it ran, the quieter it became, so maybe it'll hold out.

Finally got to bed sometime around 23:00, what a day....