rule of Thumb
Mar. 6th, 2006 10:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
celticdragonflyI had to drive Karl down to south Fort Worth this morning, since we'd left his car down near the Dennys' Saturday night, and forgot to pick it up on Sunday. We were following a tanker truck when Karl said "I know too much chemistry for my own good." What? I asked. "Well, reading the signs on that truck, now I'm really wanting to know exactly what kind of acid it's carrying."
I just put my foot on the brakes for a few minutes...
Then we were discussing the signs on the truck, and wondering about the numbers, we figured it was some sort of code for the HazMat guys. It reminded me of when I was doing my EMT training (Yes, I was an EMT once upon a time, briefly) and my teacher gave me the Rule of Thumb for being called to HazMat incidents. You hold your arm out at full length, thumb up - and if the entire site is not covered up in your vision by your thumb, you're too close, move back. I was telling Karl that yeah, there was a lot in our training about NOT being the type to go run into a burning building. That was the job for firemen, policemen, hazmat guys. Our job was to pick up the pieces afterwards, and the first thing was to make sure we didn't end up being some of the pieces. Karl chuckled, and said if anybody wanted to do that, well, the fire department was hiring. I said hey, if any of us in my class had done well enough in the running-up-and-down-stairs test to qualify, I'm sure they'd have let us know! I said firemen end up getting killed by collapsing burning buildings, cops risk getting shot or high speed car crashes. EMTs - more likely to be heart attacks from all the candy or all the cigarettes. (Seemed to be the two way most common stress relief methods. It was obvious which would be mine...) Then I came up with the analogy that the EMTs are the hyenas, the firemen and the cops are the lions. I called my mom later (she's been an EMT, a paramedic, and a nurse), and she was much amused. She said yeah, we'd get called to the fire, and stand around and watch the firemen and make bets, that fits. I said and get the scraps afterwards. Karl said it explained the sense of humor.
I just put my foot on the brakes for a few minutes...
Then we were discussing the signs on the truck, and wondering about the numbers, we figured it was some sort of code for the HazMat guys. It reminded me of when I was doing my EMT training (Yes, I was an EMT once upon a time, briefly) and my teacher gave me the Rule of Thumb for being called to HazMat incidents. You hold your arm out at full length, thumb up - and if the entire site is not covered up in your vision by your thumb, you're too close, move back. I was telling Karl that yeah, there was a lot in our training about NOT being the type to go run into a burning building. That was the job for firemen, policemen, hazmat guys. Our job was to pick up the pieces afterwards, and the first thing was to make sure we didn't end up being some of the pieces. Karl chuckled, and said if anybody wanted to do that, well, the fire department was hiring. I said hey, if any of us in my class had done well enough in the running-up-and-down-stairs test to qualify, I'm sure they'd have let us know! I said firemen end up getting killed by collapsing burning buildings, cops risk getting shot or high speed car crashes. EMTs - more likely to be heart attacks from all the candy or all the cigarettes. (Seemed to be the two way most common stress relief methods. It was obvious which would be mine...) Then I came up with the analogy that the EMTs are the hyenas, the firemen and the cops are the lions. I called my mom later (she's been an EMT, a paramedic, and a nurse), and she was much amused. She said yeah, we'd get called to the fire, and stand around and watch the firemen and make bets, that fits. I said and get the scraps afterwards. Karl said it explained the sense of humor.
