My Storm Story, Part III

My Storm Story, Part I
My Storm Story, Part II

The entire drive home was like watching clips from CNN storm coverage. There were very few houses that were spared any kind of damage. The highway was clear but I could look down side roads and see them carpeted in green and brown. I would learn later that in some parts of the county, it would take over a week for some people just to get off of their property because of trees down in their driveways.

Turning onto my street and pulling up to the house, I was relieved to see there was no storm damage to my house or any of my neighbors. I was weary as I headed up the front steps and let myself in. Meghan's mom, who lives alone, had driven over before the worst of the storm to spend the evening with Meghan and keep her company while I was at work. They were both sound asleep in bed as I let myself into the bedroom. Lilly gave a slight woof when she saw me, then settled into sleep again. I changed quietly, putting on a fire department sweatshirt and jeans, then kissed Meghan on the forehead before driving down to the fire station. There was still plenty of work to be done.

Weather forecasts said we were only in a break and that more high winds were expected that evening. The city was doing its best to mitigate damage and help the community. The community center had set up a soup kitchen and shelter, which we checked in with throughout the day and resupplied. The Fire Marshall was handing out assignments to fireman as they trickled in that morning and when I reported, I was put on a debris crew and also put in charge of home oxygen needs. It was anticipated that power would be out for at least a week and numerous citizens on home oxygen would be in need in the coming days.

Before going to work that morning, I headed upstairs to the department's kitchen where a few of the firemen's wives had put together and soup kitchen for us. Breakfast was up and they were starting to set out sandwich fixings for lunch. During the week, these wives would cook, feed, and take care of the department's 40 volunteers.

My crew set out shortly after lunch to help a resident clear a tree that had partially fallen and was now threatening his house. The tree hadn't caused damage to the house yet, but if left, it would surely blow over that night into the gentleman's living room. It would be dangerous to fall the tree as the winds were picking up, but we were dealing with each tree on a case by case, risk assessment type system. Using the rescue truck's winch, we pulled the tree away from the house to direct its fall then set to work cutting. In a little less than an hour, the operation was done and we were recalled to the station. Upon returning, I began doing oxygen checks and visited one of our frequent patient's who had called into the station earlier about his oxygen.

The second night of the storm was nothing like to first. It was comparable to our normal winter storms and therefore tolerable. We wouldn't be getting up that night for down trees or lines--we figured the work could wait until morning.

All week was like this; fireman reporting to the station in the morning, receiving assignments and working all day. In the 3 day period of the storm, we responded to over 40 alarms, over 10 times our daily average. In the 5 day period of the storm and clean up, we responded to 65 alarms, enough to set a new monthly and yearly record.

As for myself, I went in to work after having only one day off as I picked up an extra shift. All day long we responded to calls and had to take alternate routes because of road closures, or wait for fireman to clear a driveway. Several elderly patient's called because of oxygen problems, others called because of general illness associated with having no electric heat in their homes. On a county wide level, several people died as a result of storm related injury or accident, including carbon monoxide poisonings due to using gas grills inside as heat.

I keep a mental note of the worst shifts I've ever worked and the winter storm of 2007 certainly takes top honors for me. In a strange way, it also made my partner and I local, strange celebrities. Everyone in town had heard of the ambulance crew that was stuck on 202 during the worst of the storm and wanted to hear our story. Really, there wasn't anything too exciting or heroic about it. It's just a story of a couple of EMTs doing their jobs.

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The History Channel show "Ax Men" just aired an episode that covered the Great Coastal Gale of 2007. Ax Men, Episode 11: "The Storm of the Century" has many great clips of how highway 202 looked the first morning after the storm hit. Darrel's property is out on 202 the the footage of driving back into Astoria is the devastation my partner and I faced that night on the highway. Ax Men can be downloaded on iTunes here.