My name is Carrie and I am a Decatur Hamilton Firefighter and have been for almost 8 years and in that time I have seen a lot of things that have really made me think how life is precious and enjoy it to the fullest. This is a very emotional thing for me because in this case I new the person and the family and that is a chance that we take on every call living in a small town.

About 4 years ago, a week before thanksgiving on a frosty fall morning, I was taking care of getting the kids off to school and talking on the phone with my mom like I do everyday. Then in an instant my pager goes off and my mom said she loves me and be careful and the pager said it was a truck vs garbage truck. I was on my way direct to the scene because it was close to where I lived and arriving on the scene I see this ford truck  has crashed into the back of the garbage truck and the whole front of the ford was under the garbage truck. I approached the vehicle at the same time the police officer did and we both at the same time realized who it was.

He felt for a pulse and then he had really no idea what to look for so he had me feel for one and as I went to check  and I saw he had a pretty good cut on his knee and there was no blood coming out. I felt for a pulse and there was nothing at all and at that moment I realized he was gone. It was a helpless feeling and knowing this person since he was a little boy it was very hard for me. I knew that it was not going to be good since he lived at home and you could see it from the scene. 

I can remember when cutting him out, it was very quiet and calm, everyone was doing their job to the fullest and was being tested. After bringing him out on the backboard his arm was dragging  and was hitting all of the sharp metal and glass and I thought he is going to get cut. I grabbed it and put it across his chest. This was a reaction that I would soon realize was normal.

As people started arriving and the EMS crew came up and the paramedic that was working that day realized he was the DJ at her wedding and the whole scene was very emotional. The family arrived on he scene and I had to speak with the mother and never in my life did I feel a sense of emotion and pain as I did then. An as I was speaking with the mother she informs me that she called her son that morning because he was late for work and they were angry at each other and then the next thing she know he is gone.

The Medical Examiner did her job and then we had to package him up in the body bag. The Catholic father came, he was the uncle of the victim, and did what he had to do. We were cleaning up, and his brother wanted to salvage what CD's the victim had, and I came across the CD with pictures of the paramedic and her husband on her wedding day.

 A few days later I was contacted by a family member and was asked to call the mother of the victim. I did and it was the day of the funeral all I can say is it was a healing process that I needed and she did too.  We talked for 2 hours. I explained things and she explained things, we cried together and laughed, and in my mind I thought wow this mother just lost her son and she wanted to talk with me. One of the things I told her about was when her son’s arm came off the backboard and his hand was hitting the sharp metal and glass I said that I grabbed his arm and put across his chest.  I said to her I wondered why I did that, and she said because you are a mom and that’s what we do. There is not a day that goes by I don’t think about that family.

Kurt Kamm writes a blog featuring “Firefighter’s Words” which are submitted by firefighters/EMT and rescue personnel. He also writes novels about fires and firefighters. A resident of Malibu, he has lived through several wildland fires. He is a regular visitor at the fire camps, stations and training academies of L.A. County Fire Department and CalFire. To learn more about his novels, One Foot in the Black, and Red Flag Warning, visit http://www.kurtkamm.com.




...