“It Can’t Be”

by

Wanda Chittum

   As usual, John Gage had a hot date for the weekend, but he was less than thrilled with her.  She was the kind of girl who wanted to settle down and get married, which was the last thing that Johnny wanted to do.  He did like to brag about his dates to the other guys though, and this girl was really a knock out.

   “So, Chester B, did you even have a date this weekend?”

   “Who do you think you’re talkin’ to, Gage?”

   By this time, all the guys from Station 51’s A-Shift were looking on to see what would be said next.  Although none of them would admit it, they all looked forward to these little talks between Johnny and Chet practically every shift.  It was an unending contest, which neither cared to win. They just liked to play out.

   “Of course I had a beautiful girl on my arm this weekend.  What about you Johnny?  Did you find someone dumb enough to go out with the likeness of you?”

   “Now, Chester B, you know that I had a woman on my arm that ALL the men wanted.”

   Trouble was Johnny was telling the truth; all  men except for him.  She was beautiful, intelligent,and sweet, but just too pushy.

   “Oh yea, I’ll bet I could take her away from you any time, Gage!”

   “Now Chet, that sounds like a challenge to me!”  Johnny loved nothing more than a challenge, and if by some miracle, Chet could actually get this girl, he could have her.  “Let’s just set the date and time.”

   The sound of the klaxons jolted everyone out of their concentration on the date debate.

   “Station 51, Truck 8, Station 110, Truck 44,Batallion 14,multi vehicle pile up on the Pasadena Freeway, multiple injuries.  Pile up on the Pasadena Freeway between exits 110 and 120, Pasadena Freeway between exits 110 and 120. Time out, 09:12.”

   “Station 51, 10-4, KMG365.”

  Mike, Chet and Marco was inside the engine and ready to go by the time Captain Stanley climbed in.  Johnny and Roy were in the squad, and pulled out quickly.  Everyone knew that this was going to be a long run.  The morning was foggy, and the dispatcher had no idea just how many cars were involved.  The senior paramedic looked at John when he heard choppers being dispatched to the accident scene.  Johnny appeared to be just as concerned.

   “Roy, this one’s gonna be hairy.”

   “I’m afraid so, Junior.”

   As the guys in the engine heard more help being called in, they just looked at one another, each knowing what the other was thinking.  Being a fireman was being part of a family, like no other.  You often automatically knew what the other guy was thinking without words.  It came quickly too.  A man did not have to work as a fireman for years to achieve this sixth sense.  For most, it came within a few months, and for some, it came even more quickly.  Each man in the engine knew how much the others dreaded a call like this one.

   When they came upon the scene of the crash, it was more like a movie scene than a real life rescue.  The fog was horrible; the cars were in piles, and unrecognizable.  All of the firemen on the scene looked at the chaos with disbelief.  They had all witnessed the aftermath of crashes on the freeway before, but nothing compared to this one.  There was no way to even count the vehicles involved due to the large number.

 “Okay guys, let’s get started.”

   Generally, the crew had no problems with the orders that Captain Stanley gave, but today things were different.  As he glanced around at the inactivity, Cap knew that he needed to get specific with his men, and point them in the right direction.

   “Chet, Marco, take an inch and a half to the north side of the pile up, and see if you can tell how many cars are in that section.  Take the HT with you, and radio back when you need John and Roy.”

   “Mike, you and I will survey the east side of the crash, and see what needs to be done.”

   “John, Roy, you take the south side, and be sure to have your HT ready because we will be calling you when necessary.”

   With those words, the crew began their gruesome assignments.  They really didn’t know what to make of it. 

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   Chet and Marco made their way up the north side of the crash.  There were endless piles of cars.  Some of them had people in them that they could access, but unfortunately, neither needed a paramedic for any of these people.

   “Cap, we have a real mess up here,” Chet said. “We’re gonna need some heavy equipment to move most of these cars before we can get to the passengers.”

   “Sounds like you’re seeing the same thing that we’re seeing, Pal.  The equipment is on its way.”

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   Johnny and Roy were seeing the same sites.  For them it was even more painful since they had the skill, as well as the equipment, to help any survivors.  The problem was, if there were survivors, how to get to them.

   They finally happened upon a pile of cars, and heard some screams from one of the vehicles.  This relieved Johnny and Roy; even though there seemed to be some trauma, someone was alive.

   "Engine 51, HT 51.  Cap, this is John.  We need some help here.  There are some screams coming from a pile of cars that we can’t get to at this time.  We need some heavy equipment to move some of this stuff."

   “10-4, John.”

   “Roy, do you think we can get any closer at all to where the screams are coming from?"

   “Well, these cars are pretty unstable. Maybe we should wait on the equipment to secure these cars.”  Before he realized what was going on, Roy saw Johnny run like a flash to the pile of cars.  The fog was still eerily hanging among them, like a blanket of death.

   “Johnny, get out of there, now!  I’m the senior paramedic here and that’s an order.”

   “Roy, I can see her.”

   “Johnny, these cars aren’t stable.  Get out of there before they all pile on top of ya.”

   Johnny slowly made his way from the stack of cars.  Unfortunately the screaming was coming from one of the cars near the bottom of the pile.  He felt so helpless, and he would have rather stayed where he was, and try to communicate, but he knew that Roy was right.

   Finally, the paramedics saw Captain Stanley, along with  someone with the equipment needed to get the cars stabilized enough to rescue whomever was trapped.   The screams seemed somewhat muted now;  Roy and Johnny were wondering if the person could hold on until the cars were stable.

   “Cap, how about I go up on the first three cars,since they're the most stable and see if I can communicate with the victim!  We haven’t heard anything from her for a while now?”

   “Be careful, Gage, and let her know that there will be lots of noise, but that help will be on the way for her.”

   “Okay, thanks, Cap!”

   Johnny did just as ordered, and was very careful, climbing on the most stable cars of the pile.  Most of them were so flat that they were not recognizable as to model, or even color.  The paramedic had never seen such a mess, and hoped that he never would again.  This was enough to make anyone second-guess this profession, and he had an idea that they were just hitting the edges at this point.

   “Hello! Hello, this is John Gage from the Los Angeles County fire Department.  I just wanted ya to know that there’s gonna be lots of noise out here soon, but don’t be afraid. That just means that help is on the way.”  Johnny listened for a response, but could get none.  He wasn’t ready to give up yet, but the sooner those cars were stabilized, the better for everyone.

   “John, they are gonna begin to work on those cars now, get outta there!”  Captain Stanley’s warning was louder than it normally would have been because the equipment was revved up and ready to go.  Unfortunately, the Captain was not heard by Johnny, so, he had no clue what was about to happen.

  “Johnny!  Johnny!”  Roy waved his arms, attempting to get his partner’s attention, but to no avail.  He couldn’t look at Johnny, as the cranes, and equipment began their descent on him, and the pile of cars.  So he ran waving his arms toward the crane.

   That sounds awfully close.  Johnny thought, but dismissed it and kept attempting to get any response from the victim, trapped near the bottom of the pile.  As far as he could tell, there were about six cars, and he thought the victim’s voice came from the car next to the bottom.  As he bent down to check on the victim, the crane began to brace the cars, unaware of the paramedic. Gage had no idea what had hit him, but everything went dark.

   “Noooooo,” Roy and Cap yelled as they now approached the crane together at a hurried pace.  Finally, the machinery operator saw the men waving their arms, and stopped the crane.  But it was too late.  Now it was time to get to work.  They had to stabilize the rest of the cars, while looking for Jonnny,and attempting a very difficult rescue of the victim.  Everyone knew what needed to be done, it was just a matter of finding the safest way to do it.

   “One of my men was on that pile of cars, attempting to communicate with the victim.” 

   The man looked in shock at the shambles that now remained of the pile.  There was no sign of the paramedic anywhere.  He held off panic as th tried to think of a solution.

   “If we move these first three cars off the pile, it’ll make things a lot easier, in the long haul.”  The crane operator spoke with experience, even though he didn’t like the thought of moving those cars with two victims underneath them somewhere, it made the most sense.

   “I suppose you’re right, Jim, but take her easy, okay?”  Captain Stanley liked the idea even less than the crane operator did, but he knew that it would be the safest and fastest way of getting to Johnny and the other victim.

   While the crane was moving into position, Chet and Marco secured the cars with ropes as well as they could, without upsetting the stack too much.  The more cars the crane could remove, the faster the guys could find Johnny, and the other victim.  Three sounded like an awfully low number to both Chet and Marco, but at this point, they would take what they could get.

   All of Station 51 was there when the crane operator began his tedious task.  Everyone knew about Johnny, and despite all his past injuries, being knocked into a pile of wrecked cars on the freeway by a crane, was something that had everyone worried.  Of course,they were just as concerned about the other victim as well.  No one knew at this point how important that other victim would be.

   “This can’t be happening,” Stoker said aloud as he joined the Captain.

   “I know the feeling, Pal.”

   The first car came off the pile surprisingly easy.  Both Chet and Marco had ropes clinging to the bottom cars, in hopes that there would not be a shift when the top cars were removed.

   Slowly, the crane began to remove the second car, and had it almost free of the stack, when the impossible happened.  Somehow, the car fell onto the pile of cars, and all of them shifted.

   Everyone gasped at once, knowing this could mean nothing but catastrophe.

   As quickly as possible, the operator grabbed the car again with the crane, and began to remove it, very slowly.  When it was removed, both Chet, and Marco secured their lines, and went over for a closer look to see how much further damaged the stack had become.

   “It doesn’t look too bad, Cap,” Marco was reassuring himself as much as anyone else.

   Finally Chet, and Marco resumed their posts, and the third car was removed.  That meant that half the stack was gone.  Even though this took precious time, it saved time in the long run, but Roy worried, glancing at his watch, and thinking that the “golden hour” had almost expired since Johnny’s accident.

   “Can anyone hear me?  John?”  Captain Stanley paused for a moment, when he thought he heard a faint moan underneath the rubble.  “Guys, keep everything quiet for one minute.  John, can you hear me?”  Again, he heard a faint moan, but this time it distinctly came from the car next to the bottom of the stack, and it was that of a female.

   “Chet, Marco, let’s get this top car secured with lines, and we can search for John, as we look for the victim.”

   The crane operator was still around, and asked if Hank thought it would help if he removed the top car with his crane.  That would get them down to the vehicle with the victim. 

   “Can you do it with no problems like we had before?”

   “Well, there are never any promises, but it looks easy enough.”

   “Okay, Chet, Marco, leave the lines, he’s gonna remove the top car for us.”

   Everyone felt good about this move, especially since Roy and Mike had combed the area of the top car, and Johnny was nowhere to be found.  This would get them to the female victim, and to Johnny more quickly.

  In the distance, the guys could hear moans and groans.  Knowing that this rescue was all his men could handle, Captain Stanley radioed for help near the scene they were working.  Much to his amazement, there was no help.  Each unit was working on patients, and extra units that had been called to the crash scene were stuck in the bottleneck of traffic,which had become extreme, due to the amount of traffic on the freeway. The police were working to clear the way to the point that the rescue vehicles could proceed.  This just can’t be happening, Hank thought, and now he was pondering whether or not to try and have some of his crew go ahead and check out the area where other moans and groans were coming from.  Time is really of the essence, and the “golden hour” has already passed, so these people need help now.  The captain eyed the situation that his men now faced. A woman trapped in a car, that wasn’t even recognizable; and one of their own lost somewhere in the pile. Stanley couldn’t see that he could spare one man.  Captains are faced with tough decisions all the time, but rarely had one pulled him in such directions.  He finally decided to radio ahead to the chief and tell him the situation.  He'd request help in their general location ASAP.  He also requested that a couple of ambulances be sent to their location.  With a clear conscience, knowing that he had done all he could do, Hank Stanley watched as the crane operator moved the last car.

   The crane moved slowly over to the last car blocking the trapped lady.  It seemed that the operator was taking even more time with this one than he had previously taken with the others.  He didn’t want another slip, and each of the firemen thought along the same lines.  They were grateful for his caution.  Finally the crane was over the last car, and Chet and Marco went over to make sure it was hooked securely before it was moved. 

   “Looks good,” Chet gave the operator a thumbs up, and he and Marco slowly moved away from the pile. 

   The crane slowly removed the last car.  As soon as all was clear, Roy rushed to the flattened car.  He could see a lady in the front seat, bleeding, and barely conscious.

   “Hang in there, ma’am, we will get you outta there soon.”  Roy managed to get her arm and get a BP and a pulse.  He knew that he could start an IV, so his plan was to contact Rampart and get permission.

   “Rampart, this is Squad 51, how do you read?”

   “Go ahead 51,” Dr. Brackett was waiting for calls to begin coming in with a pile up like this one.

   “Rampart, we have a female, who is currently trapped in a vehicle.  We are working to get her out.  I was able to get to her arm and do somewhat of an evaluation.  BP is 100/50;pulse is 110 and thready. She has lost some blood.  I have access to her arm, and request permission to start an IV.”

   “10-4, 51, get an IV with ringers started, and report back as soon as you get her out.  Keep an eye on that BP, 51.  Rampart, out.”

   Roy began to get the IV ready, and noticed that the guys were both attempting to open up the car with the jaws- of- life, and look for Johnny at the same time.  Basically, Mike was working the jaws, and Chet, and Marco were standing by.  Until they were needed, Marco, Chet , and Hank were all looking for Johnny.  Roy could tell that they were having no luck so far.  His worry was increasing, but knew that he had to focus his attention on his female patient.  He went over, talking very calmly to her, and began the IV.  Roy noticed that she was now unconscious.  The woman had been drifting in and out of consciousness the entire time, and her vitals were still the same, so he wasn’t too worried.  He noticed a purse in the passenger’s seat, and took it out hoping to get an ID and any medical alert information that he could.

   “It can’t be,” Roy was thinking out loud and Cap heard him.

   “What’s wrong, Pal?” Cap approached Roy, who now looked like he needed medical attention.  “Roy, are you okay?”

   “Cap, I’m sorry,” DeSoto couldn’t get another word out.

    “Roy, come over here and have a seat until they get the roof off that car.  Tell me what’s goin’ on.”  By this time Captain Stanley was genuinely concerned that he was about to lose another paramedic, and they couldn’t afford that.  Roy was pale, shaking, and looking like he was becoming shocky.

   “Cap,” Roy handed him the purse and the ID.

   “Oh My God!”  Captain Stanley ran to the car, as if he could lift the roof off of his own will.

   “Mike, hurry up, and get that top off now!”

   Everyone knew that Mike was going as quickly as possible, and suddenly they all stopped looking for Johnny, and rushed to his side; by now Roy was there also. 

   “What’s up, Cap?”  Chet had a way with words, and as usual, his way wasn’t the best way.

   Hank Stanley didn’t say a word.  He just had a terrified look in his eyes, as he stared at the remnants of the crushed car.  Marco noticed that he held a purse in his hands, and when he reached for the purse, Cap nearly knocked him to the ground.  

   “She’s holding her own, Cap,” Roy then explained to the confused firemen that the lady trapped in the car was Hank Stanley’s wife.

  “No wonder he’s in such a mood.  I don’t know how I would feel.”  Marco was in shock too.

   “Well, now we have to all work together to get her out, and help Johnny.  Any luck on finding him yet?”  Roy was concerned about his partner and his captain.

   “Nothing so far,” Chet replied. “The bad thing is that there’s a little crevice between the cars, and as skinny as Gage is, he could be down there somewhere; it could take forever to find him, if he is.”

   Mike was almost ready to remove the top from the car.  The guys all crowded around to help.  Captain Stanley didn’t need to give any orders, which was a good thing because he wasn’t able to think of anything but his wife now.  That was fine though, because he had a great crew of guys, and they knew exactly what to do without being told.  Slowly they removed the top, and there was Mrs. Stanley; they all knew her, but she was hardly recognizable.  There was blood everywhere and her hair, which was always perfect, was a mess.  

   Roy had the backboard already there, and the guys very carefully placed her limp body on it.  They moved her gently down to the biophone, where her vitals, and other information, could easily be relayed to Rampart.  Chet was standing by to relay the information that Roy gave him as he got the vitals, and assessed her injuries.  Cap Stanley was standing close to his wife, but wasn’t in the way.  He knew that Roy needed room to work.  Her vitals were actually good, all considered.  When she was conscious it was only briefly, so Hank didn’t have a chance to communicate with his wife.

   “Rampart, this is Squad 51, how do you read?”

   “Go ahead 51.”

   “Rampart, we have the female patient extracted.  She's age 40.  Vitals are:  BP 100/50, Pulse 110 and thready, Respiration 30 and shallow.  The patient has a cut on her forehead, and pupils are equal and reactive.  She has a fracture of the femur on her left leg, with significant blood loss.  Patient is cold, and clammy to the touch.”

   “51, How are the breath sounds?”

   “They are equal, but there appears to be some crushed ribs.  We have administered O2, and patient seems to be breathing more easily, but is still unconscious.”

   “How long has the patient been unconscious, 51?”

   “She’s been in and out of consciousness as long as we have been with her.  Rampart be advised, patient is the wife of Captain Stanley.”

   Kel shot a look over to Dixie, whose eyes widened at the news.  They both couldn’t imagine what Hank must be feeling, having a member of his crew and his wife both injured in the same accident.

   “10-4, 51, start another IV with ringers, make sure the patient stays warm, monitor vitals, and report every five minutes.  Continue O2, put shock pants on the patient, and get her in her as soon as possible.  Rampart out.”  Kel Brackett assumed there must be some internal bleeding with the vitals that he was given.

   “10-4, Rampart.  Ambulance just arrived on the scene.”  Chet was doing remarkably well with the biophone, and Roy told him so. 

   “Cap, you gonna ride in with us?”  Roy knew that he was torn, knowing that Johnny was still trapped somewhere in the rubble, and knowing that his wife was in critical condition.

   “I,  I,  can’t leave my men.  We need to find John.”  It was apparent that Cap was in shock himself.

   “Cap, I think you need to come along with us, and we can check you out, too.  You seem a little shocky to me.  The guys will get Johnny, and they have the HT.  They can contact Rampart when they find him.  I’m leaving all the supplies that I can behind, in case they don’t have help by the time they find him.”

   Reluctantly the captain entered the ambulance, but not without looking back at his skeleton crew, and telling them to find John and get him to Rampart safely.  It was the hardest decision that he had ever made, but he knew that Roy was right, to a degree.  He didn’t exactly feel like himself just now, and didn’t know how much help he would be at the site.  He knew that A-Shift was the best, and that they could do the difficult job ahead of them.

   He wasn’t the only one who hated leaving the scene.  Roy knew that his partner was somewhere, and wanted to be there to treat him when he was found.  At the very least, they figured he had a head injury.  There could be more injuries, likely were, but Roy knew that Mrs. Stanley needed his attention now.

   The other members of the crew began to assess the situation, and decided their next move.  They knew that they needed to find Johnny, and the sooner the better.  They also knew that he wasn’t in Mrs. Stanley’s crushed Edsel, or even around it.  So they agreed to have the crane operator remove the car, and search from there.

   Once again, the crane operator very slowly, and steadily, removed another car.  This one went very smoothly, and everyone was happy.  None of them thought they could take another “accident” in the midst of this one. 

   They moved in, almost afraid to look.  Just then they all heard a moan, but it wasn’t coming from the pile.  It was over in the other direction.  Now they had a dilemma; should they split up and try to help the other victims, or concentrate on finding Johnny, and then help the others?   Marco stayed to look for Johnny, while Mike and Chet made their way toward another pile of vehicles.

   “I see him!”  Marco said with a lot of relief and excitement.  Chet, and Mike rushed over to Marco.  Apparently, Johnny had fallen just past the Edsel, and into a crevice that had been created by the trashed cars.  If one more car was moved, they could easily get to him, but there was always the risk of another accident, like the one that happened earlier, and that could mean that Johnny could be even harder to reach.  So Mike had the crane operator inspect the car, and see if it could easily be moved.  He said it would be no problem. 

   Johnny wasn’t moving, but as a precaution, Chet yelled down to him that the crane would be moving a car and not to move.  They all looked on as the crane slowly moved to the car, lifted it, and without a problem, removed it and set it down.  As soon as all was clear, the guys swarmed to Johnny, who could be very easily reached at this point.

   Mrs. Stanley had remained the same on the way to Rampart, but Cap was really looking like he was about to faint.  Roy kept a close eye on him as well as his wife. She was getting the vital fluids needed and was stable, but Hank was getting nothing but sicker.  Roy would definitely have one of the docs take a look at him when they got to the hospital.

   Just as the ambulance pulled up, Dr. Brackett was at the doorway ready for Mrs. Stanley.  Roy was assisting the driver to get the stretcher out when he heard a noise behind him.  He looked back, and Hank Stanley was passed out on the pavement, with a slight cut on his head.

   “Get another gurney out here!”  Dr. Brackett continued with Mrs. Stanley, while Roy and Dr. Early stayed with Hank.

   “I was afraid this was gonna happen.”  Roy looked at Dr. Early.  “He kept getting more pale on the trip here, and I can’t even begin to imagine the stress that he’s going through right now.  When we left, they still hadn’t even spotted Johnny.”

   “Well, we’ll take care of them both, Roy, why don’t you head on back to scene; maybe by now they've found John and need your assistance.”

   “I’m not sure that I should leave them.”

   “Roy, your partner needs you, now go.”

   With those words, Roy was on his way out to the scene of the accident in another ambulance that was dispatched there.  He hoped that they had found Johnny by the time he got there.  He didn’t even want to think of what kind of shape Johnny was in, but he just hoped that the guys had found him, and had help to keep him alive.

   Chet, surprisingly took over the scene once they got to Johnny.  He checked for a pulse, and there was one.  It was faint, but it was there.  He knew that they had to be really careful in moving him.  He had a serious head injury, and with a fall like he took, there could be some broken bones.

continued in part II