Not a good day . . . .

Tuesday was not a good day for fire and EMS in our corner of the county. Started with a total loss structure fire in Austerlitz and ended with a fatal accident in Valatie’s ambulance district, but Chatham Fire and our rescue squad got called. One of those days you want to strike from the records.
The fire had enough of a start that by the time the alarm system went off and anyone got there with a truck there wasn’t much they could do. It was an old house, the original part built in the 1780‘s I heard, and added on over the years; also heard that the current owner had just done extensive remodeling – it was her childhood home. Sad.
I don’t quite understand how it got so much of a start with an alarm system in the house – mine goes off when I burn popcorn (yes, it has happened, quite embarrassing). The house was just off the main highway, but still a few miles from the firehouse, with a long hill for them to pull to get to it. Combination of circumstances.
The total loss fires like that bother me more than they used to; guess with age I think more about what if it happened here? People say ‘it’s just things’, as long as all the people and hopefully all the pets got out all right, but it’s not ‘just things’, it’s your life that’s being destroyed. I’d be a mess.
The accident was nasty, a car ran a Yield sign at the end of a road that comes straight onto a curve on the more main highway, and had the misfortune to do it as a box delivery truck was coming around the curve. Truck driver did his best, but there wasn’t much choice for him; both vehicles ended up in the field on the other side of the road. Many questions including why did the driver not see the sign, what were they doing there anyway (four people not from this area, on a not main road, etc.) and so on. Questions we will never know the answers to, and one life lost and four others (counting three passengers and the truck driver) changed forever. The passengers all had substantial injuries, two went to the trauma center by helicopter.
A friend says to me ‘I don’t know how you do it’ and some times I don’t know either. What made me think this would be a good hobby to take up? I have an answer to that that will make another item. As far as how I/we do it, everyone has their own defense for the sights and sounds. As long as you can put them into the right perspective, know that you are doing what you can to make the situation better, know that you didn’t cause it, and so on, you can work through it. If it’s really bad, there’s the stress team to help. And that’s another item.
Tuesday was not a good day. Thankfully there are fewer of them than more. That’s another way we do it, knowing that the majority of the time we’re helping. That’s what we’re here for.
Speaking of helping, I have to go scare a squirrel off the deck railing, so Streetcar can stop being on alert. Guess the squirrel found a nut, and thought that would be a good place to enjoy it.