Epic Story Winner - Fire/Rescue
The call came in, a homeless guy stuck down in a sewer, for 3 days. Yes, three days. He was going to die if left down there. It was a mutual aid call. Not many people want to climb into shit for a homeless guy. Let’s face it, you’re going to get cover in shit. Your patient is mentally ill. You are going to get exposed to some not so good stuff. Will it be a story, absolutely!
I gear up. Harnesses, and anything I might need down in the hole. Our air monitoring is 100% within normal limits. If the air was bad, the dude would not have lived for 3 days. There is a team, and I am one guy. This team made this rescue successful. The credit is due there, and lots of it. They did all the not so glorious stuff.
When I saw slowly lowered down, I slid down walls covered in shit, piss, toilet paper, and pretty much anything you could flush down a toilet. I climbed over the vic. He had a really bad leg injury to say the least. I unhooked my rope to get the half back down, that was going to be used to pull the vic. As I was hooking the vic to the half back, this turd comes through one of the pipes. I laugh. The vic makes eye contact with me, and goes in a muffled voice, “yah”. A moment of comedy.
The hoist happens. My vic is going to the hospital. He lives another day, and hopefully goes no where near a sewer. He is taken to the hospital, and gets one more day. We are here for a reason. That reason, man, I dont know. I am still trying to figure it out. I dont know if this will reach anyone, but you’re important. I still struggle with my demons from the past calls. On this rescue my team & myself saved someone. I save this screen shot a long time ago, and I look at it everyday. This needs to be made into a shirt, and I will buy the first one. It is meaningful to me, because it got applied to this call I talked about.
Dont release the photos. It just gives proof to the incident. Thanks guys for being fucking cool. Andrew
"I have rolled with 30SecOut since the beginning. My father turned me on to the brand. I was never a “vet” brand kinda of guy, and he knew that. I was a firefighter in the USAF for 11 years, and now a civilian firefighter. I went back to college, and earned my Master’s in English & Creative writing. I was not a door kicker. The Boy Scouts were more elite commando than us. Now, when it came time to help people that was another story. When a rescue came in, I am your dude. That was my bread & butter, as the years go on, I have kinda realized I am more of a shit magnet than anything.
Slowly I realized, I had more in common with the brand. It was not your typical “vet” brand, which I liked. Thought the years, I would send a message to Evan or Tamara, explain to them what happened, and what they do seems important. 30SecOut is more of “idea”. It’s nice to wear that satire idea, it’s unique. I guess it’s important to me. I watched the short film “The Dark Edge”. It was compelling to the point, that I understood it. More of a reflection. That edge, I have been there. I understood it."