Independence Day!

I had to work on this Independence Day.

I went into work knowing that today wouldn't be a "normal" day. And I was right. We were the designated "parade unit". So what does that mean? We had to wash out ambo real good, then de-bug it. How do you de-bug? Well, you take a special chemical (which I inhaled copious amounts of today) and apply it to the infested ara, then scrub with all your might to release the carcass from the paint.

After we cleaned our ambo, we had to go down to Kingsville and stage for that parade. We get to where we need to be, its 930AM and we hang out for a while, I think the parade started at 11AM. We awkwardly drive down the parade route, lights flashing (no siren though, this is a "silent" parade) and wave at people who are gathered on the streets. After we complete the circuit, we clear and get some Five Guys. It is such a BEAUTIFUL day outside, that me and by partner, Brittney, decide to eat our burgers outback of the Corporate Office on the grassy knoll. It was nice! Brit, having worked the previous day AND overnight, decides to go in and take a little nap. I go and do some SERIOUS de-bugging of the ambo and spend about an hour making that thing shine! So we have 2 hours till we need to be at our next parade, so I go inside and watch The Fantastic Four on tv.

4PM rolls around and we head to Bel Air to get ready for the next parade. We get to where Dispatch tells us to go, but thats not the correct place. Dispatch told us to go to the place the parade starts...but that isn't where we "stage" before hand. So we drive to a location, they check us off a list and we wait for about a half our. We then realize that we're not with the other fire apparatus, we're with the classic cars. So we key up Dispatch and are like, "uhh, we're where we're supposed to be, but we don't think this is right." So after some research, Dispatch tells us that we're supposed to be at the fire department. So we do a 3 point turn in a narrow street b/c we can't go forward since the road is shut down (the other ambo with us lost a mudflap in the process). We get to the fire department and they're getting ready to leave, we follow them to another location to find out that they don't have us on the list. So I'll spare you the details, but after many phone calls and conversations with officials, we decide to just join the end of the fire apparatus. Great.

So 7PM rolls around (we got here at 430PM mind you) and we line up, lights flashing) at the start of the parade. 8PM and we FINALLY get our turn to go down the parade route. It was ridiculous. The kids were really excited for the ambulance and the lights and many hollered "turn on your siren!" so of course I did! However, the siren has many different different sounds, depending on which position the switch is in. It also has a button called "Man" for manual mode for quick "yelps" of the siren and a "horn" button for the air horn. Well, my "Man" button got stuck in the down position and my quick "yelp" turned into an ear-splitting wail. I quickly fumbled with the siren and just cut off the power to it all together. Oops! But over all, it was good once we got moving. The time leading up to it was killer. 930PM rolls around and I finally get to clock out and go home. 13.5 hours worked. Unfortunately, my employer only recognizes 4 holidays...and the 4th of July isn't one of them. So 13.5 hours of straight pay is what I earned today for basically sitting in "traffic" for many hours.

It was fun though!