CONFLAGRATION

 

I was sitting at the wood stove the other day and contemplating starting a fire… my husband usually takes care of that, but he was out for a bit. I opened the door and noticed that there seemed to be a few lit embers left over from the night before, they grew brighter as the oxygen reached them. So, I added a few small pieces of tinder, and the flames caught within seconds.

After a few minutes, letting the flames warm the chimney above, I added a few small logs. It wasn’t long before I had a satisfying and warming fire heating the house. (Supplemental heat, it is not our only source.) I was surprised at how quickly the wood caught and was burning so very hotly, it was both frightening and amazing. Thinking of the firefighters who put out uncontrolled fires, I was in awe at the task they must have to make sure that smoldering rubble does not re-ignite.

I also remembered nights singing around the campfire at the local Girl Scout camp, and the times we entertained in the backyard around an open fire pit. Always make room to be careful, not to get too close to the flames, and of course to make sure that everything is safely out, or properly enclosed, when it’s time to walk away.

Then I made the parallel and realized that the smoldering embers are a lot like our memories and emotions. You think your tears are tamped down but add a bit of oxygen and they flare up; all you need is a bit of fuel, more memories, and the fire rages again. In a way, it is comforting that our memories, both happy and sad, are always there. We should never forget the people we love, whether they are still here or not.

While flames may reduce things to ashes, they can also warm our bodies when controlled. There are both good and bad memories you can dwell on, but if you choose to soak in the warmth of your good memories, it does feel comforting.

Meanwhile, a hot fire in the wood stove on a winter’s night certainly sounds nice.

Unsung Heroes in Public Safety - #MondayBlogs

I rode as an Emergency Medical Technician for nearly 30 years and responded to various calls for medical help — while enroute to the location we tried to prepare for what waited for us on scene. Of course since most, IF ANY (lol), of us are not soothsayers, we had to rely on the dispatch information we received from the 911 operator.

Sometimes the results were hilarious like the time we were sent to a "bleeding aneurysm" [an abnormal widening or ballooning of a portion of an artery due to weakness in the wall of the blood vessel.]; depending on the site and severity, this can be a life-threatening situation. Without going into gross details, the medic summed the nature of the call up while he wrote up his report, "First time I ever rode in on a diaper rash!"

Once in a while the dispatch info was, well, rather understated. There was the night we were sent to a woman complaining of a stomach ache, by the time we arrived at the hospital I had delivered an eight-and-a-half pound baby boy.

Most times the dispatch info was pretty close if not exact and included more than just the nature of the call such as road closures, hazardous conditions, directions, and the occasional need for a police presence. 911 operators have the heavy task of answering the phone and literally deciphering information from frantic, stressed, sometimes crying callers whose own message may be horribly skewed and far from reality.

I remember as a child in the Bronx, well before the inception of 911, when emergency phone calls were answered by your local police precinct, there was no caller ID, and the day a rebellious squirrel crawled through our third floor kitchen window. My mom, terrified of the "giant rodent" (her description) was shrieking as she made the phone call for help. While I don't remember the exact words anymore, I remember her message included something about an evil squirrel, a kitchen sink, and protecting her children... and then she hung up, gathered my sister and me and ran to a neighbor's apartment to wait for the police to rescue us. She never gave her name or our address! A second phone call from the neighbor's apartment did finally bring the much needed rescue.

In the mid to late 60s, based on recommendations from President Johnson's Task Force on Law Enforcement and Justice, development was started on installing a simple emergency number throughout the U.S. Eventually 911 became Enhanced-911 and today's calls are answered by highly trained, patient and quick thinking Emergency Dispatchers. Incoming calls are displayed on computer screens and most landline (wired phone systems) calls display return phone numbers and locations. Even if a caller is unable to speak, assistance can be dispatched. Knowing the nature of the call helps the operator to determine which, or how many, emergency services need to be sent (fire, police or EMS). Plans are being worked on to make cell phone calls as identifiable.

911 Emergency Dispatchers need great communication skills, knowledge and understanding of emergency situations, as well as the ability to calm frantic callers and get pertinent information from them. Their minimum education is a High School diploma AND intensive emergency training and/or certification depending on the local state requirements. EMDs (Emergency Medical Dispatch) are also trained to coach people through emergency life-saving procedures Basic First Aid until responding crews are on scene. There is a lot of stress being the beginning link in our emergency response system.

Many of us have heard the stories of heroic 911-dispatchers who have gone above and beyond their required scope of duties. On September 11, 2001, Illinois call center supervisor Lisa Jefferson spoke with Todd Beamer on the ill-fated Flight 93. She offered him comfort, encouragement, took messages for his family, and even said the Lord's Prayer with him. Her actions helped record the events of the day and brought comfort to a grieving family. Police dispatchers have also been known to save police officers; one Milwaukee operator realized that a police officer hadn't checked back in after clearing a call scene and she alerted other units, they found him having a medical emergency of his own. 

The following Public Service Announcement aired during the 2015 SuperBowl, its message was to combat domestic violence and sexual abuse. The call was based on an actual 911 call. The 911 operator was able to correctly decipher the caller's cryptic call for help and send the help that was needed; this is a terrific example of the listening skills, and quick thinking that makes the 911 emergency operator such an invaluable component of our emergency response system.

Let's send out a big Thank You to our 911 Emergency Dispatchers and let them know we appreciate all that they do.

I’m writing a new NON-fiction & would appreciate your help

Have you lived through a disaster?

Hi, I appreciate your assistance. I will be using your personal experiences for a book I am writing about surviving disasters (natural, man-made, technological, etc.) The only identification I am requesting is your FIRST name; any other ID offered will be kept in my personal file in case I need to contact you for more info and will be destroyed upon completion of the manuscript.

If you have lived through a disaster of any kind your responses will be extremely helpful to this project.

You can copy the questions with your responses into an email and send that to me at ChelleCordero@gmail.com ~or~ you can download the .doc (http://bylines333.com/?attachment_id=661), fill in the responses and attach it to an email mailed to ChelleCordero@gmail.com , whichever is easier for you.

Please put DISASTER in the subject line.
Please respond as soon as possible.

Email is my preferred method to receive responses, however if you would like you can snail-mail the form to me at: By-Lines; POB 333; Tomkins Cove NY 10986.

1)      What region of the country/world do you live in and what type of disaster has occurred?

2)      Can you give a brief description of what your living conditions were before the disaster (ie: single family home, trailer, apartment complex)?

3)      What was the extent of damage and losses to your family and home?

4)      Did you have any warnings of the impending disaster? If so, what preparations did you make?

5)      What resources were available to you to assist you and your family after the disaster?

6)      Were you able to recover after the disaster and resume a “normal” life? How long did this recovery take?

7)      What were permanent losses that could not be recovered?

8)      What changes have you made to avoid or decrease your losses if future disasters occur?

9)      Based on your experience, what advice would you give to others to mitigate losses and safeguard their families?

10)   Any other comments?

...and the results are in

On Tuesday I posted my contest for the Creative Blogger Award that my friend Lindsay Townsend nominated me for.

Participants had to choose which statement/trait of one of my heroines that I did NOT share - only two people chose correctly and (drum roll please) the winner by random draw was Tina Poznansky. Tina won a copy of Forgotten.

The correct answer, by the way, was #4 - I grew up in da' Bronx NYC, the only borough to start with a "D". ;>

...and for those who guessed other choices:

• #1: I worked in the publicity department of McCall's Magazine through a temporary agency while I was in college.
• #2: I went to the High School of Art & Design in Manhattan.
• #3: I love collecting glass miniatures and even have a shadowbox shaped like a house filled with small glass cats (a cat house?)
• #5: Duh, I live and breath about my volunteering as an Emergency Medical Technician with my hometown ambulance corps.
• #6: I didn't say I married him folks! But yes, one of my ex's was in the F.B.I. (this was apparently a favorite choice...)
• #7: The year was 1977, Mark and I were just leaving my parents' when we came across the scene of a raging and size-able rubbish fire outside an apartment building - there was a car next to the burning rubbish and kids hanging out on a fire escape a few floors above...

Thanks so much for playing along.
I had a lot of fun and hope that you did, too.