Big Changes...

[MommyofSeven]

Well, I'm not particularly awake yet, so forgive the typos, please ladies...

 

Sometime back (I think before Aria was born), I had offered to dispatch for our local volunteer Fire Department. DH was leutenant at the time and said he'd talk it over with the chief. Long story short, because the chief was in town during the day, we didn't need a dispatcher, he could do it.

 

Three months ago, our chief was medically retired. DH is now Assistant Chief. The chief came to him and asked if my previous offer was still good.

 

Well, at this point, I have a two and a half year old, and a one year old, and I'm babysitting a four year old child who is very high needs. I tell DH I will think about it. One night, they get some kind of call right before dinner time, leaving me to deal with kids, walking the dog, and doing the things that are normally his responsibility in the evening, plus cook dinner and bathe the kids etc (you ladies know the drill). My DH is a wonderful helper at home and I'm quite frankly spoiled by that! So that night I "pretend" that I'm also having to handle dispatch, and realize that it's not such a hot idea.

 

Fast forward to day before yesterday. Right now we have fifteen firefighters on our roster. Usually, however, it's the same three or four guys who go out on almost every single call. Most of our guys work traditional day time schedules, so there aren't many people here from about 7ish am to about 6ish pm, cause the jobs are all 30 or more miles away. I get a phone call from the Sheriff (the actual guy, not a deputy or one of his underlings) and he's ticked off. Seems there's a fire in our district, and he's been toning us out for the last hour and no one has responded. He tells me I'm the first live person he's gotten and can I please find him some firefighters (insert several colorful expletives cause he's REALLY mad) and get him an updated call sheet. "Yes, Sir" says I, a little intimidated (to which my husband would be shocked). So I pull the call sheet off the fridge and start calling firefighters and get four on the scene. I tell DH "I guess you better get me a radio."

 

So he brings me a radio and dashes out the door with a half frozen turkey sandwich. I start listening in but no one calls. No big deal, because I have no idea what in the world I'm doing!!!

 

So I call our administrative assistant. She does the office work for 2 days a week, and is assistant chief and back up dispatch for the neighboring district. Tell her the Sheriff needs a call sheet and I need dispatch lessons. We agree to talk after she fixes dinner and I get babies down. She gives me a crash course in dispatch.

 

Now, the entire reason I turned down dispatch is because of my "worst case scenario." Dinner is being cooked, babies are fussy cause they're hungry or whatever, I don't have any bigs here to help, and something major happens.

 

So yesterday dawns, and I actually get to get on the radio, to ask the guys who are watching for flare ups from yesterday's fire if they are going to need to refill the water trucks, so the town can make the extra water available. I take care of that, and do my normal mommy stuff. Do it more efficiently and at a faster pace because I have no idea what may happen down the road.

 

DH comes home a little early, so he can get on the scene of the fire and do an assessment, so I put dinner on early-something easy because I don't know what is going to happen with the fire. I made spaghetti sauce earlier in the CP and bread in the machine, all I had to do was deal with the meat and pasta.

 

Now, Aria, now 15 months old, is teething, so she's been fussy all day. Roan is moderately fussy, mostly due to his being 2 and wanting his way all the time. I'm walking into the kitchen to drain the pasta, and the radio goes off. So I'm in the midst of cooking dinner (and risking icky overcooked pasta with not enough to replace it if I ruin it), dealing with fussy babies, the dog needs to go out, it's raining, and I need to dispatch a smoke report. It's my first darn day on the job and already my worst case scenario has happened!

 

Well, I did it. Not only did I do it (thankfully it was only a smoke chase, it's hazy cause we have three fires nearby) but I did a pretty good job, according to my DH and the lady who trained me, who called to tell me I was doing an awesome job. The oldest kid I have at home right now, who is 7, stepped up and did a great job at helping, too!

 

So I guess I'm a working mommy. Still home, but working. I'm trying to get things done earlier, because I never know when the radio will take me away from that stuff. But if I have all the dinner prep done early, it will save me time in the evenings. Also planning on double cooking a lot of things and taking a day a month to put some extra food in the freezer so I can just pull stuff out if something happens near dinner time.

 

There are some benefits-#1 is that with a local dispatcher, my husband will be safer. The other guys as well, but of course, my primary concern lies at home. I'll have life insurance, and we get a small incentive bonus for every call we work on, so every call I dispatch I will get a small amount of money for, paid in one check in December. Plus DH gets a "recruitment bonus" for me "joining" the FD. That will help our family out a lot. Life insurance for me has been a concern in our family-if something happens to me, DH would have to pay childcare so he could work. Now that huge need will be taken care of.

 

So now to figure out how to juggle all of this LOL.

 

Mo7

[Stephanie]

Good job!!

 

I'm sure you're a great asset to the FD, and sounds like the benefits are good too! Good for you!

[MomM]

Way to go!!! If you want something done (and done right) ask a busy mom/woman!

[Pioneer Woman]

That's greatCongratulations! Having a job from home and extra pay and benefits!

 

Your story was very interesting, too. How about writing more? The details as you learn different ways of doing things and what happens when you get calls--all the time management stuff? I'd enjoy reading it.

[Snowmom]

 

 

You are doing great.

 

That is really a great write up too. Thanks for sharing this with us. You will have to keep us informed about things that you do.

 

[Becca_Anne]

WTG! You did good! I am sure it will be an adjustment but it sounds like you have a good plan to cope with it

[dogmom4]

Good for you girl!!!!

[Shandy]

This sounds *very* exciting!

 

Congratulations!!

[JCK88]

Oh..that is too cool!! I was thinking if you could juggle all the kids, dog, cooking, house stuff, etc. etc....hey, what's a few dispatches!! You're a pro!!

 

Hugs

[MommyofSeven]

LOL at the comments, thanks, ladies, for the bolstering of my self confidence.

 

It's 10:41 p.m. Notice I'm not in my comfy bed, which is currently covered in socks cause I was mating them in here at 6:30 a.m.

 

I'm up playing dispatcher. We had a fire Monday, a smoke chase Tuesday, a status check on Monday's fire, a smoke chase, a med call and a fire today. Some months, we go the whole month without this many calls.

 

So, anyway, I get up at 5, after finally finishing up the dishes around midnight last night. Spent a while posting here and searching the yahoo group frozen-assets for freeze ahead meal ideas so I can just throw something mostly already cooked in the oven or crockpot for days like this. Love that group, it's very busy, but you can search the posts without being a member, although from waht I've been reading they have good stuff in the files, too, which you do have to join to read. Going to try to join "no mail".

 

Had laundry going by 6:30, did four loads, cheated on breakfast, did cinnamon toast and applesauce, cleaned that up, dressed kidlets, mated socks and then went to the fire station at 10 to follow up on Monday's crash course with our administrative assistant. They have a TV there so the kids got to watch something besides PBS or movies. A rare treat for them as we have neither satellite nor cable.

 

Stayed longer than I intended, ended up walking home at noon, so we were very hot by the time we got home. Cheated again for lunch and did PBJ. Got the littles down for naps at the same time, so took a nap myself, slept about 40 minutes. Took me forever to actually wake up enough to function, though. I"ve decided that whatever I cook for dinner (today's meal plan was shot by lack of ingredients, even though I swore I had them in the freezer) I will cook double so I can have at least one dinner in the freezer. "Self," I say to myself. "There is NO WAY that there is going to be ANOTHER fire tonight." Hey, at least I didn't answer back.

 

DH and I have a ritual when he comes home from work. No matter what I'm doing, I sit down with him for 10 or 15 minutes and we tell each other about our days. I plan my afternoon around that, it really helps him put away the days' troubles and center him on his home life, and some days it's the first grown up conversation I've had since he left at 6:30. Well today is uniform day and the uniform company is late, so he was late. So we sit and have our 10 minutes, and I jump up and get dinner going. Nice chicken and biscuit experiment, kind of dumpling-y. Turned out yummy, but needs more sauce next time. Have second pan in the freezer now. Anyway, I get everything in the oven (thankfully) and the radio goes off. Smoke chase which turns into an actual fire, which ends up being multi district. They tried to call a plane in but we can't get one until tomorrow am. The fire started on top of a mesa (called Mesa Top Fire, even, isn't that umm, nevermind, I'm tired-self, stop being snarky), so it's inaccessable by vehicle, and spread potential is large. Problem is, since we can't get a plane in, they have to wait for it to spread before they can get to it to put it out. Add in our high desert arroyos and ditches, and it's not the best place to be in the dark.

 

So just as all my available guys go out of town for the fire, my tower goes down. We have a radio booster tower located somewhere that just stopped working, then started again about an hour later. But I had to dispatch to our central dispatch area by phone. Then we get the medical call. Umm, again, no personnel in town. Now, when we get a medical call, we send out our local guys (although right now "our local guys" consists of my husband, because he's the only one certified) to get the process started, doing all those things that paramedics do that seem to you a waste of time when you're in pain or desperate for help like taking your vitals, asking about your medical history, any meds, etc. While they are doing that, the main paramedics are rolling, they are the ones that actually transport you to the hospital (they are the paid guys). Usually takes them 20-30 minutes to get to town, then longer if the call is up the mountain. So the medical call has to wait for the paid guys to get there. Fortunately, it's non-emergent. That means he needs to go to hospital, but he's not going to die waiting for care to arrive. Of course, there was no assesment of that until the ambulance got there (this is why I stress getting to know your local VFD/QRT team if you live rurally. If they have your information, they can get you better care-I will see if I can find that old post).

 

Anyway, my guys were out of radio contact most of the night. When they are on scene, to avoid clogging everyone's channels with their traffic, they go to a line of site channel (like being on a walkie talkie, limited range, etc), and one person (command) communicates with any dispatchers that need communicating with. So I really only have a vague notion about what's going on. For example, I heard around 8:10ish that the fire was 50% contained, and just now heard (it's 11:05 now) that it's 100% contained.

 

As I was writing this, my units called and indicated that they were clear of scene. It took them two hours to get to the scene, so they may not be home for another three hours, but hopefully not that long. So, other than paperwork, I'm done until the next call comes in, other than logging my guys back in service when they get the rigs refilled, refueled, and back in the station.

 

Of course, now I have to clean the kitchen, do the dishes, finish mating those darn socks, and get DH's stuff ready so he can head straight to the shower when he comes in, and fold those four loads of laundry (well, what of it's dry, it was hung inside so it might not all be dry).

 

Surely there is NO way that there is going to be ANOTHER fire on Thursday night.

 

Mo7

[MomM]

What a job!!! But, you are doing a great job! When you get a free moment, keep writing about it. It really gives us insight about the job. Thank you.

[JCK88]

Oh my! Talk about excitement. I hope things are quiet tonight. Dare I say.....you've had a true baptism by fire for this job!! (couldn't resist)

 

 

[Pioneer Woman]

Amazing so much thrown at you so fast! It sounds like you did a great job.

 

And thanks for the report!

[Becca_Anne]

Well if you could handle all that then you'll have no problem with this job WTG!

[PoGo]

Very interesting, MommyofSeven. It would be wonderful if you would post your Diary of a Dispatcher in the Fireside forum.

[MommyofSeven]

I will move them when I'm more awake. Or, well, c and p them.

 

I have a long history of coming here in the mornings to wake up. Reading posts focuses my brain, forces it to wake up, which is better than caffeine (although I do that, too) and you can tell from my responses as I get more awake LOL. I start with short ones and then they get longer.

 

Anyway, I did not make it here yesterday morning. I slept late. Either I got up with the alarm, turned it off and crawled back into bed, or I turned it off when I got up with the baby at 4ish. Woke up at about 5:45 so DH had to rush to get ready for work, etc.

 

Yesterday was busy, but easy. I had one crew go out on the second fire to help finish that up. Had to see if they needed lunch, that took a LONG time. Then I had that crew head out to Monday's fire for a report of trees flaring up. They knocked that out, then went back to the Monday fire again again to finish mop up. So lots of busy work, but no stress. Well, none of it was really stressful. My crew left the scene when it reached 100% containment and 95% "out". Requested that I round up a few guys to help them do clean up-restock trucks with food and water, roll up hose, wash trucks, etc. They estimated they'd be back up to the station at about 6:30. So I served hubby his first warm meal since Sunday, packed up two meals for the guys, and rounded up someone else to meet them at the station.

 

We did spend some time going round and round with the auxiliary. Most local volunteer fire departments have an auxiliary. Traditionally, they were the firefighters' wives. They do fundraising activities, and are responsible for having snacks available in the station, and getting food to an incident if they are going to be there for awhile. I am not on the auxiliary. Our auxiliary are, well, snobby, at least in my opinion. They have asked me repeatedly to join, but their meetings are at a time when I don't have care for the kidlets, and I already have one meeting a month that I have to set up care for, and have a hard time doing, so I did not commit to joining unless meetings were moved, which, of course, wasn't done (and shouldn't have been-they should not switch everything around to accomodate one person).

 

Anyway, the guys had a house fire in January. Old adobe house, built with a frame of wire and lathe. It was a loss when they got there, but they still have to stay there until the burn is complete, to insure no spread. So, in January, our guys were out there all night long (a neighboring VFD watched it during the day for us, we have no one who can normally get that kind of time off work) for two nights with no food, no water, etc. Myself, another wife, and the sister of one of the firefighters made and transported coffee all night to try to give these guys a little bit of warmth. They spent shifts sitting and trying to sleep in the trucks while someone else was outside watching for flare ups. My DH's gloves were literally frozen solid. At Monday's fire, no food was provided, and the snacks on the trucks were long since depleted, and they had no drinking water on the trucks.

 

But who am I to complain? Just a wife of a firefighter. The aux won't listen to me. That's OK-if they listened to every little complaint I bet they would have nothing else to do. But there was no solid plan in place to take care of those things.

 

But now...now I'm the dispatcher. It's my JOB to insure that the guys on that crew, be they our guys or what is called mutual aid from another agency, have what they need. If more or different trucks are needed, I have to find them. If a plane is needed to survey or dump water, I need to coordinate that. If they need to be fed, I need to find someone to feed them.

 

So I had a chat with our admin assistant, and she (she's the assistant chief of another agency) has been appalled at our aux. So we start lighting some fires under people's butts. Called one of the ladies, told them we need twelve cases of water in the station at all times. Admin assistant picked up three. Aux lady brought in nine more the next morning, and found two of the original three already gone cause the guys had taken it when they went back out in the morning. Last night when they did clean up they loaded another four cases into other trucks, and DH and I will take two more up to our other station to load onto the two trucks up there. Better tell her to always have 24 cases in the station LOL.

 

And the food at the station. We looked in the freezers. Stuff is so freezer burned it's inedible. Stuff in the pantry expired by two years (stuff with oils in it, so we can't keep it anyway). This stuff could have been donated to a shelter when it approached it's expiry so it would have been used quickly. Now it will all go in the trash.

 

I'm going to put my MRs. S. skills to work here. I'm going to have the aux ladies meet with me at some point and find out who has experience canning. We can use my canner and any others that are available, and we're going to get real food in there. Some will be frozen, some home canned. They can open a quart or pint of veggie soup or chili and throw it in the mic when they get back from an incident. They can take out home made burritos and do the same. We can take out the home made burritos, throw them in the oven with some sauce and cheese, and take huge pans of this stuff out to the fire line and get our guys fed. Then we can get together one Friday with everyone bringing their crockpots. We put various meats on to cook overnight, then show up early Saturday morning to put meals together. If they don't want to do all that, they can at least take their collective butt to the store and get canned soups, spaghetti sauces and pasta, etc and have meat on hand to go with it. They can have sandwiches already made in the freezer, so the guys can nuke and run if htey have to go out before dinner (which is common here, someone is at work all day, comes home and sees smoke, and calls it in, the guys get dispatched as they are coming home so they don't have time to eat dinner). We can rotate those foods out when they have weekend training deals, so that we can get fresh stuff in there without losing anything, or send stuff home with firefighters as needed.

 

I decided that I need to arrange care for my kidlets one Saturday every two weeks so I can do some bulk cooking. I will still be home, but someone else will be doing the primary playing with, argument settling, juice pouring duties. I can't use DH for this, if a call comes in he will have to leave. But it's a priority that this job not interfere with the needs of my family, which includes nutritious meals, so I'm unwilling to resort to TV Dinner-ish type food for them. But I can have frozen and home canned stuff ready so if something does happen close to dinner time I can make sure they are well fed.

 

And hte kids have done really well thus far. They were all very clingy yesterday, needing some mommy time, so we had a lazy day. Did all the dishes, and cooked dinner (from mostly already prepared, frozen stuff) and that was it. We played on the floor, read lots of books, snuggled up and watched movies, and I occasionally talked on the radio. Of course, today I have no clean clothes, but I can live with that LOL.

 

God put me here for a reason. I firmly believe that God starts communicating things to you in subtle ways, starting with a whisper or a tap on the shoulder, and if you odn't listen, He gets more aggressive. Monday He hit me with a brick to give me the message. Fire fighting was always my husband's thing. That is his passion, and he loves it. Let him have that, and go forth. But apparently I needed in on the gig, too, for some reason. So here I am.

 

Today I have to file about 11 reports, and do some major house cleaning, and perhaps sneak in a bit of a nap. Oh, did I mention I have no clean clothes? LOL. I'm also missing two pairs of capris I bought a few months ago, have to get them located. DH helping fold laundry is a mixed blessing-one day my 7 year old, Nikki, walked out wearing one of Aria's dresses as a shirt. I do indeed love that man!

 

Yes, trial by fire, literally. I meant to include that in the post I made the other night, but my addled brain forgot.

 

Oh, and don't say "quiet"! That's like telling someone in the theatre biz "good luck" instead of "break a leg".

 

Have one more post to make, then off to do laundry.

 

Mo7

[MomM]

Isn't it exciting to see how you are part of God's plan?!!!

Have a great day!

[Centexan]

MommyofSeven: It is really amazing - all that you do in a day! I'll bet you never felt as "alive" as you do now that you are doing this job. Anyone can tell by reading your posts that you are loving it. (Even if you probably literally fall into bed each night.)Really exciting stuff!!!

[mommafitz]

You go Girl!!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

mommafitz

[zzelle]

wonderful job

[Crazy4Canning]

Momof7,

 

God has a way of putting us in where we need to be. My grandmother-in-law and her husband (recently deceased) started a fire station in our town as a volunteer station after WW II. They staffed it, then were the first people hired on. He was even Chief for a while. When a truck over-turned ONTO him, grandpa retired early from injuries.

 

Listening to her and the kids describe living in a firehouse, makes most lives pale in comparison. One thing though - everyone pitched in as need be - no matter what. You are teaching your kiddos valuable time management skills and others, too!

 

Hugs and lots of smiles - you're doing great!

[Cricket]

That's awesome, Mo7!!!

 

You are doing a great job, and both you and your DH are modeling so many valuable lessons for your kids. A few that come to mind are service, cooperation, organization, teamwork..... :jumping2:

[cookiejar]

What Criket said! Your amazing!