One thing I learned LONG before"I got my badge"is that the MOST important thing they taught us in the Training Academy was to LISTEN to your boss,as I saw with my own eyes how Lieutenant Wallington saved the lives of a DOZEN firefighters by making a call that the chief and the captain refused to make!! We're up on the roof of a hardware on Joy,between Evergreen and Southfield Fwy,and this fire had been going for hours,and Wallington said to me:"C'mon trialman;d'you feel how"spongy"this roof is?!? That's because it's about to "GO"!! So,WHY does the captain STILL have men UP here after THREE hours?!?" He then told firefighter Tony Johnson and firefighter Westbrook to go down to the street and tell the captain that he said the roof operations should be suspended,because the roof was about to collapse!! I stood by him at the very corner of the roof,listening to his radio,and still no call was made to vacate the roof,so he said:"This roof aint got EIGHT minutes left to it. Wait right HERE on this corner,where the load-bearing WALLS are holding it in place,and don't MOVE.because I'M about to go down there mySELF and tell that fat(individual) to get these men OFF of this roof!!!" He descended a ladder which was butted there with:"Don't MOVE from that spot,I'll be back in FIVE minutes!!"as he told me to hold his radio for a minute. Minutes later,I heard from the radio I had clipped onto my turnout coat HIS voice saying:"Attention everyone;ABORT all roof operations IMMEDIATELY!! Every body descend the closest ladder NOW!!" At that firefighters started hurrying to the multiple ladders butted along the roof,and as IF on cue,a QUARTER of the roof near the southeast corner of the hardware FELL down inTO the inferno below with a deafening"BOOOM"as flames erupted up through the gaping hole left in its wake!! I was just transfixed,thinking about what MIGHT have happened if he hadn't gone ahead and made this call!! I stood thinking about this at the northwest corner of the roof,when behind me I heard a familiar voice say:"C'mon trialman,climb down this ladder after me;it's time to get out of here!!" When I returned to quarters,I mused upon the folly of NOT believing one who has"been there".which was something my Daddy would oft say to me!!
Thank you for your story I will use this and take it as a opportunity of wisdom I’m 16 bout to turn 17 in a few months next year my senior year I want to take EMT so I can get it through high school as a head start to my career
@@mizondez53 ;that's a smart move to learn it in highschool,because you can include that in your application under:"Any Prior Experience"and you'll certainly recieve a call(or letter of acceptance)from the City before most other applicants!!
@@mizondez53 ;as a matter-of-fact,a graduate of my high-school returned on a"Career Day"to inform us soon-to-be graduates the advantages a career as a firefighter presented!! Another graduate of my high-school"Roy" had started firefighting two years before me,and they both encouraged MY efforts to join also!! Believe me;there's no experience quite like it!!
Knowing how crucial your FIRST fire will be,I purposed to perform FLAWLESSLY,so after two"false alarms"and a dumpster fire in the morning,the firefighter on watch,recieves a"box alarm",and yells:"BOX!!! BOX!! We got a"box"on Artesian!!"before the bell starts ringing!! I initially got"amped"but as we rode to the scene,I calmed myself by thinking:"It's probably going to be just another false-alarm or another dumpster fire.",but,I began to smell the distinct aroma of burning wood,asphalt,and carpeting in the atmosphere,as this was BEFORE they had ENCLOSED,climate-controlledrigs,so I was riding OUTside of the fire engine on the side of it,in my"jumpseat"BEHIND the cab,and as Mike turned the corner onto Artesian,I felt a splash of"acid fear"hit my heart as I SAW a two-story dwelling"ROLLING"in flames THROUGHOUT!!! I thought:"This is IT!!"from my longtime favorite Kenny Loggins song, tossed my smoke into the street,leaped out of my jump-seat,grabbed the"bundle",quickly"broke it",steeled myself,uttered a quick prayer for the Lord to"keep"me,then started running FAST with the charged line,headed for the front DOOR of a structure with fire spewing wildly out of it,the big picture window,the windows upstairs and three breeches in the roof,when Lieutenant Wallington started grabbing and clutching at me,yelling:"STOP!!",and as I kept going,he stuck his big boot out at my feet,tripping me down on the lawn,then stood over me asking:"WHERE do you think YOU're going trial-man?!?" I said:"In THERE to put that fire OUT,like I'm supposed to do!!" He laughed with:"Listen son;you can't go IN there while its like"THAT";you wouldn't have lasted 30 SECONDS in there!! We gotta' WAIT until they"knock it down"with the"monitor",THEN we can go on in!! But I like your enthusiasm y'hear?!? Captain Warmack and Chief Fournier would've had my HEAD on a platter if you would've run in there and gotten yourself killed!!" I had NO idea,and assumed I was supposed to go RIGHT in and extinguish the blaze!! I was adamant about"doing everything right",as Captain McCall at the Training Academy constantly assured me:"If you mess up at your first fire son,you'll NEVER hear the last of it;it will"follow"you,your entire career!!",my brother also warned:"Don't(eff)up at your first fire(mutha----r)or they gon' talk about you forever!!"and so,I planned to dive right IN,endure the heat,quelch the flames,and refuse to let a veteran firefighter"take the line"from me,as my classmates Joseph Palm and Malcolm Ridgeway vehemently cautioned against!! I had heard absolutely nothing about some water-cannon/"monitor"abating the intensity of the flames FOR the firefighters!! Then the"monitor"/cannon on top of the engine dumped about a THOUSAND gallons of water into the dwelling,making it"tame"enough for us to go in!! The good lieutenant and I made quick work of the remaining fire,in utter DARKNESS,as I thought:"This aint nothing like the movies about fires,because there aint NOTHING tto BE seen in here,except a dim,faint glow,where the fire's burning!" Then the lieutenant ordered me to"fog out"through the picture window,and this "PULLED"/drew all the smoke OUT of the house,and so FINALLY I was able to SEE what the inside of the house looked like,and descry what is was we were tripping over in the dark while extinguishing the blaze!! Then Lieutenant Wallington told me to"wash down"all the walls and ceiling. And when asked was I"tired"from working the pipe for a good 30 minutes,I lied and said:"No,I'm good." When I refused to"give up"the line,Lieutenant Wallington insisted/ordered me to:"Go on back to the rig and take it easy;let one of them guys sitting around on the truck finish"washing-down." So,I handed him the line and headed back to the engine,where Chief Fournier patted my back as I walked by with:"Good job buddy!!" That really made my day,to be told by a BATTALION CHIEF that I did o.k at a "REAL fire"!! I was SO"geeked"about having handled myself intrepidly at my first fire,I wanted to do it AGAIN!! Back at the enginehouse I said:"I want ANOTHER fire!! I want ANOTHER one!! Senior firefighter Mucker barked:"Sit down and shut UP trialman!!! Don't be HOPING for fires;don't nobody but YOU want to be running all night!! You gon' have ENOUGH fires to"have fun"at before your career is all said and done!! And just the next night we caught FIVE fires at the abandoned"Herman Gardens"housing project,and Lieutenant Wallington said at one point:"We might as well just STAYover here on the rig,take runs from Central"by radio"and SLEEP in the rig,instead of keep running OVER here all night!!" Last run over there,the truck was somewhere"sitting on"arcing wires,so riding only"2 and3"Lieutenant Wallington and I had to lurk around in abject DARKNESS in SEARING heat trying to locate the flames inside these POURED-concrete units,which thusly retained heat like a PIZZA -oven!! To get a wider perspective,Lieutenant Wallington stepped outside with:"Stay right THERE,I'll be RIGHT back,once I see where its burning at." 45 seconds later,he told me the fire was UPstairs and 'round the corner to our right,and as we advanced up the stairs on our hands and knees,reaching the 2nd floor,I turned the corner,and hit a veritable WALL of pure HEAT,which singed the stubble on my cheeks,scorched my ear-lobes,and in a knee-jerk reaction,made me instinctively BACK-up,down the stairs in a hurry,only to feel his knee in my back with:"What're you DOING trialman?!?" I exclaimed:"It's HOT up there;my FACE was on fire!!" He calmly said:"Look,I KNOW it's hot up there,and we've been sweating in the dark for an hour now,and since I aint trying to be here all NIGHT,and the ONLY way we're getting out of here,is for you to turn that corner,"TAKE the heat"and HIT the fire at the base with a"STRAIGHT-stream"!!!" Calm down man,you can DO this;and listen man;it's GOING to burn you;but you just gon' have to"ignore"the burning until you put it OUT!! Look,it's going to BE alright;and hey,we're going to be sitting up in the kitchen at quarters LAUGHING about this until the morning breaks,drinking coffee!! So,I steeled my mind,held my breath,went BACK around the same hellishly-hot corner,endured the burning-pain,opened the pipe full-throttle,and ERADICATED the blaze with a straight-stream!! Before I finished"washing down",the lieutenant laughed:"And imma' tell Mike how SCARED you was looking!! HA,HA,HAAAA!! You should've SEEN the look on your face trialman!!" And we indeed sat up in the kitchen,drinking coffee,going over the days events,including my experience in"The Gardens"and the importance of donning the Nomex hood!! We were joined in conversation by the incoming unit and detailed Lieutenant James"Housemouse"Houseworth,who congratulated me on surviving my first day in the 2nd Battalion,and said he couldn't wait to give me a taste of the action at Engine 37 with Sgt. Martinez,Senior Firefighter Brett Jackson and Firefighter Worthy,when I got confirmed!! Ah,those were the days!!
Do a story on how he is doing now
One thing I learned LONG before"I got my badge"is that the MOST important thing they taught us in the Training Academy was to LISTEN to your boss,as I saw with my own eyes how Lieutenant Wallington saved the lives of a DOZEN firefighters by making a call that the chief and the captain refused to make!! We're up on the roof of a hardware on Joy,between Evergreen and Southfield Fwy,and this fire had been going for hours,and Wallington said to me:"C'mon trialman;d'you feel how"spongy"this roof is?!? That's because it's about to "GO"!! So,WHY does the captain STILL have men UP here after THREE hours?!?" He then told firefighter Tony Johnson and firefighter Westbrook to go down to the street and tell the captain that he said the roof operations should be suspended,because the roof was about to collapse!! I stood by him at the very corner of the roof,listening to his radio,and still no call was made to vacate the roof,so he said:"This roof aint got EIGHT minutes left to it. Wait right HERE on this corner,where the load-bearing WALLS are holding it in place,and don't MOVE.because I'M about to go down there mySELF and tell that fat(individual) to get these men OFF of this roof!!!" He descended a ladder which was butted there with:"Don't MOVE from that spot,I'll be back in FIVE minutes!!"as he told me to hold his radio for a minute. Minutes later,I heard from the radio I had clipped onto my turnout coat HIS voice saying:"Attention everyone;ABORT all roof operations IMMEDIATELY!! Every body descend the closest ladder NOW!!" At that firefighters started hurrying to the multiple ladders butted along the roof,and as IF on cue,a QUARTER of the roof near the southeast corner of the hardware FELL down inTO the inferno below with a deafening"BOOOM"as flames erupted up through the gaping hole left in its wake!! I was just transfixed,thinking about what MIGHT have happened if he hadn't gone ahead and made this call!! I stood thinking about this at the northwest corner of the roof,when behind me I heard a familiar voice say:"C'mon trialman,climb down this ladder after me;it's time to get out of here!!" When I returned to quarters,I mused upon the folly of NOT believing one who has"been there".which was something my Daddy would oft say to me!!
Thank you for your story I will use this and take it as a opportunity of wisdom I’m 16 bout to turn 17 in a few months next year my senior year I want to take EMT so I can get it through high school as a head start to my career
@@mizondez53 ;that's a smart move to learn it in highschool,because you can include that in your application under:"Any Prior Experience"and you'll certainly recieve a call(or letter of acceptance)from the City before most other applicants!!
@@mizondez53 ;as a matter-of-fact,a graduate of my high-school returned on a"Career Day"to inform us soon-to-be graduates the advantages a career as a firefighter presented!! Another graduate of my high-school"Roy" had started firefighting two years before me,and they both encouraged MY efforts to join also!! Believe me;there's no experience quite like it!!
@@SuperDetroit9 thank you for responding sir even after 2 years lol
@@mizondez53 ;sorry about that. My PC went down for about a year,and a pop-up just came across my screen alerting me of your post!!
Knowing how crucial your FIRST fire will be,I purposed to perform FLAWLESSLY,so after two"false alarms"and a dumpster fire in the morning,the firefighter on watch,recieves a"box alarm",and yells:"BOX!!! BOX!! We got a"box"on Artesian!!"before the bell starts ringing!! I initially got"amped"but as we rode to the scene,I calmed myself by thinking:"It's probably going to be just another false-alarm or another dumpster fire.",but,I began to smell the distinct aroma of burning wood,asphalt,and carpeting in the atmosphere,as this was BEFORE they had ENCLOSED,climate-controlledrigs,so I was riding OUTside of the fire engine on the side of it,in my"jumpseat"BEHIND the cab,and as Mike turned the corner onto Artesian,I felt a splash of"acid fear"hit my heart as I SAW a two-story dwelling"ROLLING"in flames THROUGHOUT!!! I thought:"This is IT!!"from my longtime favorite Kenny Loggins song, tossed my smoke into the street,leaped out of my jump-seat,grabbed the"bundle",quickly"broke it",steeled myself,uttered a quick prayer for the Lord to"keep"me,then started running FAST with the charged line,headed for the front DOOR of a structure with fire spewing wildly out of it,the big picture window,the windows upstairs and three breeches in the roof,when Lieutenant Wallington started grabbing and clutching at me,yelling:"STOP!!",and as I kept going,he stuck his big boot out at my feet,tripping me down on the lawn,then stood over me asking:"WHERE do you think YOU're going trial-man?!?" I said:"In THERE to put that fire OUT,like I'm supposed to do!!" He laughed with:"Listen son;you can't go IN there while its like"THAT";you wouldn't have lasted 30 SECONDS in there!! We gotta' WAIT until they"knock it down"with the"monitor",THEN we can go on in!! But I like your enthusiasm y'hear?!? Captain Warmack and Chief Fournier would've had my HEAD on a platter if you would've run in there and gotten yourself killed!!" I had NO idea,and assumed I was supposed to go RIGHT in and extinguish the blaze!! I was adamant about"doing everything right",as Captain McCall at the Training Academy constantly assured me:"If you mess up at your first fire son,you'll NEVER hear the last of it;it will"follow"you,your entire career!!",my brother also warned:"Don't(eff)up at your first fire(mutha----r)or they gon' talk about you forever!!"and so,I planned to dive right IN,endure the heat,quelch the flames,and refuse to let a veteran firefighter"take the line"from me,as my classmates Joseph Palm and Malcolm Ridgeway vehemently cautioned against!! I had heard absolutely nothing about some water-cannon/"monitor"abating the intensity of the flames FOR the firefighters!! Then the"monitor"/cannon on top of the engine dumped about a THOUSAND gallons of water into the dwelling,making it"tame"enough for us to go in!! The good lieutenant and I made quick work of the remaining fire,in utter DARKNESS,as I thought:"This aint nothing like the movies about fires,because there aint NOTHING tto BE seen in here,except a dim,faint glow,where the fire's burning!" Then the lieutenant ordered me to"fog out"through the picture window,and this "PULLED"/drew all the smoke OUT of the house,and so FINALLY I was able to SEE what the inside of the house looked like,and descry what is was we were tripping over in the dark while extinguishing the blaze!! Then Lieutenant Wallington told me to"wash down"all the walls and ceiling. And when asked was I"tired"from working the pipe for a good 30 minutes,I lied and said:"No,I'm good." When I refused to"give up"the line,Lieutenant Wallington insisted/ordered me to:"Go on back to the rig and take it easy;let one of them guys sitting around on the truck finish"washing-down." So,I handed him the line and headed back to the engine,where Chief Fournier patted my back as I walked by with:"Good job buddy!!" That really made my day,to be told by a BATTALION CHIEF that I did o.k at a "REAL fire"!! I was SO"geeked"about having handled myself intrepidly at my first fire,I wanted to do it AGAIN!! Back at the enginehouse I said:"I want ANOTHER fire!! I want ANOTHER one!! Senior firefighter Mucker barked:"Sit down and shut UP trialman!!! Don't be HOPING for fires;don't nobody but YOU want to be running all night!! You gon' have ENOUGH fires to"have fun"at before your career is all said and done!! And just the next night we caught FIVE fires at the abandoned"Herman Gardens"housing project,and Lieutenant Wallington said at one point:"We might as well just STAYover here on the rig,take runs from Central"by radio"and SLEEP in the rig,instead of keep running OVER here all night!!" Last run over there,the truck was somewhere"sitting on"arcing wires,so riding only"2 and3"Lieutenant Wallington and I had to lurk around in abject DARKNESS in SEARING heat trying to locate the flames inside these POURED-concrete units,which thusly retained heat like a PIZZA -oven!! To get a wider perspective,Lieutenant Wallington stepped outside with:"Stay right THERE,I'll be RIGHT back,once I see where its burning at." 45 seconds later,he told me the fire was UPstairs and 'round the corner to our right,and as we advanced up the stairs on our hands and knees,reaching the 2nd floor,I turned the corner,and hit a veritable WALL of pure HEAT,which singed the stubble on my cheeks,scorched my ear-lobes,and in a knee-jerk reaction,made me instinctively BACK-up,down the stairs in a hurry,only to feel his knee in my back with:"What're you DOING trialman?!?" I exclaimed:"It's HOT up there;my FACE was on fire!!" He calmly said:"Look,I KNOW it's hot up there,and we've been sweating in the dark for an hour now,and since I aint trying to be here all NIGHT,and the ONLY way we're getting out of here,is for you to turn that corner,"TAKE the heat"and HIT the fire at the base with a"STRAIGHT-stream"!!!" Calm down man,you can DO this;and listen man;it's GOING to burn you;but you just gon' have to"ignore"the burning until you put it OUT!! Look,it's going to BE alright;and hey,we're going to be sitting up in the kitchen at quarters LAUGHING about this until the morning breaks,drinking coffee!! So,I steeled my mind,held my breath,went BACK around the same hellishly-hot corner,endured the burning-pain,opened the pipe full-throttle,and ERADICATED the blaze with a straight-stream!! Before I finished"washing down",the lieutenant laughed:"And imma' tell Mike how SCARED you was looking!! HA,HA,HAAAA!! You should've SEEN the look on your face trialman!!" And we indeed sat up in the kitchen,drinking coffee,going over the days events,including my experience in"The Gardens"and the importance of donning the Nomex hood!! We were joined in conversation by the incoming unit and detailed Lieutenant James"Housemouse"Houseworth,who congratulated me on surviving my first day in the 2nd Battalion,and said he couldn't wait to give me a taste of the action at Engine 37 with Sgt. Martinez,Senior Firefighter Brett Jackson and Firefighter Worthy,when I got confirmed!! Ah,those were the days!!
Shout out to the legendary DFD"Class of '99";Tom Sharon,John Livingston,Michael Lubig,Dale"Mumbles"Fahoome,Eric Jurmo,Luis Estrada,Damarius Nettles,Sarah Farmer,Stephen Stanley,Martinez Bibb,Curt Tonti,Tom Monks,Craig Brown,John Ellis,Brad Smola,Jim Blatt,Sheryl Colling,Matt Narduzzi,Randall Pierce,Kenneth Walker,Chris O'dell,Malcolm"Doctor Dre"Ridgeway,Joseph Palm,Anthony"TKO"Tucker,David Hood,Damon"Black Rob"Robinson,Jason"Big Country"Anderson,Rance Dixon,Mark Jackson,Judith McCollough,Junius Perry,Omari"Hoppy"Mitchell,Shawn McDonald,Kieta"Trick"Turner,Louis Bullock..."TEAMWORK;together we achieve the impossible;HUUHH!!"
D.F.D. 🚒 ENGINE 50 & 🚒 TRUCK 28 WE R 10-8 IN SERVICE CHIEF 🚑 🚒
@FIRST RESPONDER;Is my classmate"Palm"doing a good job of representing the January '99 Academy class over there on the northeast side?!?
@FIRST RESPONDER;make sure Joey Palm gets a big slice of cake when you guys get back to quarters!!