***

FIREFIGHTER'S WORDS -58- SMALL TOWN 911

I remember one day when everyone made a collaborative effort to capture a fugitive.

One particular night I got 3 hang-ups on 9-1-1. While my officers were in rout, I contacted that residence in hopes of finding that children were on the phone playing. It wasn't playing, there was arguing in the background. I advised my officers of the situation & told them to proceed with caution. As I was talking to the husband of the victim on the phone,  he stated that his wife was assaulted by her brother who had fled the scene. One officer was talking to the victim and her family at the scene, the other officer was searching for the accused. (He had been doing crack-cocaine.) My officers advised the family to head to the police station to meet with me and get the proper forms to fill out to press charges. My officers came back to the station from a search with negative results. They began to ask questions, filling out paperwork, and taking photos of the injuries. I thought my night was just going to consist of filing paperwork and processing warrants but then 9-1-1 went crazy. The accused set fire to their house killing 3 beloved pets. He also vandalized  vehicles and assaulted  people because they had seen him in the act of arson & vandalism.

I toned out my Volunteer Fire Department, got all my officers on duty to head to the scene and called in for back-up because I knew that we weren't dealing with the "classic case." More yelling over the radio, more 9-1-1 calls flooding in. My Fire Chief stated over the radio "it's an arson, I have the witness right here" I relayed info, taking in as much as I can get in my brain and spilling it out over the radio. My busy night didn't end there, for while there was a massive man-hunt going on & a huge fire that got out of control,  I had the regular calls flooding in about dogs barking, lights not working, and angry citizens wondering what was going on. In the midst of all the confusion, I sat back, shed a tear, asked God for the strength to get me through and to help me bring comfort to the citizens, as well as the knowledge and memory to get things down and out over the radio. Then I got back to work. I had 3 officers that night and no other back-up, so we were all alone. The Fire Fighters were talking to each other trying to deal with the out-of-control blaze and everything seemed to get louder and louder. Suddenly, my officer yells over the radio, "I'm out on foot over here and I have him in sight.  STOP!  Everything ceases but then we hear a disappointed, out of breath officer state "I'm back in the patrol unit, he got away."

We got the fire under control and put out, and my officers came in for some extra equipment and water. They all came up to me and stated, "Without you, or with a different person dispatching tonight, we wouldn't have ever gotten the information. Thank you." I took that to my heart and went straight back to work getting all needed paperwork done and started for the officers so it would make it easier along with listening and writing down all Fire, EMS, and phone traffic. People were coming in the lobby now with statements and the phones were ringing all night about where the suspect was seen, but each time was a disappointment. Our suspect fled to Dallas , only to be caught by the Dallas about a week later. With 4 outstanding warrants on him, Dallas contacted us with much excitement. I was not working the night the PD got the phone call, but I happened to be in the office for a ride-out and it brought tears to my eyes to know that even though that day was hectic and everything was confusing, I stood my ground and got what I needed to get done to eventually put a dangerous criminal behind bars for the rest of his life. 

I hope that's a good story... very, very true... I had only been working approximately four months when that happened. Because we're a smaller town with a little budget we don't get as much training as county or for that matter any other PD. 

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.






....