September 14, 2024 • 45 mins
Join us on "Pflugerville on Fire" for an eye-opening conversation with Cody Smith, a dedicated firefighter paramedic who has been bravely serving the Pflugerville community since 2022. Cody opens up about the emotional and intense experiences that first responders face daily, and how these moments solidified his calling in EMS. You'll gain a deeper understanding of the challenges and rewards from his time in the cadet program, detailing the camaraderie, rigorous training, and both the physical and mental demands required to thrive in this field.
Through Cody's vivid storytelling, we'll examine the stark contrasts between two emergency calls that highlight the critical importance of preparation and communication. Hear about a well-coordinated response to a traumatic arrest on Route 130 and compare it to a chaotic and disorganized ambulance call involving a patient with head trauma. Cody's firsthand accounts vividly illustrate the unpredictable nature of EMS work and the essential need for thorough training.
As our discussion unfolds, we tackle the pressing issue of safety funding and how it directly impacts community well-being. Cody shares real-life examples of lifesaving interventions and explains the potential dangers posed by policy changes, such as abolishing a crucial sales tax that funds the fire department. We'll also explore the complex relationship between public safety and political decisions, emphasizing the tangible effects these choices have on the community. Don't miss this insightful episode with Cody Smith, who brings his passion for service and dedication to the forefront of our conversation.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Cody Smith (00:11):
watching somebody go from walking around, being able
to speak words, even thoughthey're not coherent, breathing
to you know yeah, not aliveanymore is pretty intense so it
obviously had some emotionaleffects on you.
Chris Wolff (00:26):
How did that shape your life?
Cody Smith (00:28):
I'd really been interested in EMS.
I liked the health part ofeverything.
After that I was pretty set onbecoming a paramedic because you
know, I didn't want anythinglike that to happen in front of
me again, without me being ableto say, "hey, we're not doing
this, why are we doing this,let's take a step now, if I can
(00:49):
right, if I can go back, I'd belike, hey, let's stop and think
about this for a second.
Why are we doing this?
It's easy to just think well, wegot a fire and , be like, we're
good, there's a fire, firecomes there's.
You know, I have a healthproblem, fire department's gonna
come, or?
Chris Wolff (01:03):
An ambulance is going to show up.
Cody Smith (01:04):
Ambulance is going to show up.
Well, that ambulance might takea whole lot longer to show up.
Chris Wolff (01:10):
And you never know who's going to open those doors
and come out of it.
Cody Smith (01:13):
You never know.
Chris Wolff (01:15):
Welcome to Pflugerville on Fire.
I'm your Chris Wolff.
This week we've got a moreserious episode and in it we'll
talk about a difficult callwhere one of our community
members died as a result ofimproper EMS care.
It can be difficult for firstresponders to talk about what
they see, and for loved ones andlisteners it can be equally
(01:36):
hard to hear these stories.
One thing that helps is toagree on the level of detail
before telling the story.
When talking to my young kids,I would often talk to them in
what I would call the WaltDisney version.
Talking to my wife, I wouldtell her a story on the 5
o'clock news version and,talking to other first
responders, I would get into thenitty gritty details and talk
(01:56):
about the HBO Max version.
On this episode, we're going tobe talking about the calls like
they would on the 5 o'clocknews.
As a warning, even this levelof detail may be disturbing to
some listeners.
In this episode, we're talkingto Cody Smith, a firefighter
paramedic who joined thedepartment in 2022 as a cadet.
The cadet classes are specialbecause outside of the biggest
(02:19):
cities, applicants must becertified firefighters and EMTs
before they can even apply.
This presents a barrier toapplicants that don't have
either the money or the time toput themselves through an
academy.
The cadet program is extremelycompetitive and comprised of
many women and people of color.
Once they complete the gruelingtraining process, their talents
(02:44):
are a great benefit to thecommunity of Pflugerville.
I hope you'll enjoy thisepisode with your very own
firefighter and paramedickeeping it real and safe on the
streets every day.
Cody Smith.
Cody Smith, welcome to the show.
Cody Smith (02:55):
Hello, hello.
Chris Wolff (02:56):
Hello, good to have you on here, sir, it's good to
be here.
So we're going to let ourlisteners know.
You and I kind of have aspecial relationship because you
were my probie over at Station5.
Cody Smith (03:06):
Yes, I was.
Chris Wolff (03:07):
So tell us, when did you join the fire department
?
Cody Smith (03:09):
That should be January 17th of 2022.
Chris Wolff (03:13):
Nice, yep, all right, and so then tell us a
little bit about that fireacademy.
What was that experience like?
Cody Smith (03:20):
It was a ton of fun actually.
I made a ton of friends.
It was a ton of fun actually, Imade a ton of friends.
It was kind of my first timeworking as a squad kind of a
unit, and that just really kindof put a certain kind of fire
under you whenever you get toexperience hardship with other
people, which is kind of how itis to be a firefighter honestly.
(03:41):
And that's fantastic.
Chris Wolff (03:43):
Now, you were part of a pretty special class,
weren't you?
Cody Smith (03:46):
The first civilian class, I believe First cadet
class that we had,
Chris Wolff (03:53):
and so tell us a little bit about that.
What made that class differentfrom previous ones?
Cody Smith (03:58):
Well, I think it was new for the department for sure
, so it was a lot of trial anderror.
But also, I think we might havehad a little bit more leeway
than there is now.
That's good and bad right, butI didn't really have anything to
go off of, so for me it wassmooth sailing, a little bit
worried about you know, can I dothis?
(04:19):
But there's that drive in theback of me that's like heck,
yeah, I can do this,
Chris Wolff (04:23):
and so tell me about the fire medical training
that you had before going intothat academy.
Cody Smith (04:29):
Before going into that academy I had zero fire,
zero EMS training.
I moved pool tables before foreight years, so I had nothing.
You know, the closest thingthat I ever got to that was
seeing stuff on TV, right?
Chris Wolff (04:42):
Yeah, yeah.
So tell us about like what wasthat schedule, like what was a
typical day in a fire academy.
Cody Smith (04:48):
Fire academy.
So we started with EMS, so itwas nine to five, Monday through
Friday, I believe.
A lot of schooling in the firstthree months it's pretty much
all EMS doing scenarios,learning about the body,
pre-hospital care, what happensto people, how do we fix it.
And then the next three monthsis fire.
(05:09):
There's a lot of classroom timethere as well, but then we of
course go out to the trainingfield and learn skills,
camaraderie with your crew,which we kind of started in EMS
as well.
I'm actually grateful that wedid EMS first, because we kind
of got to, we got put intosquads and we kind of got to
build some camaraderie with oursquad and we got to the fire
(05:30):
ground.
It's like, hey, we've workedtogether, let's do this.
I personally think that was agreat thing for me.
Chris Wolff (05:37):
Did you guys do any workouts as part of that?
Cody Smith (05:39):
Oh yeah, oh, yeah, I believe every single day, yeah,
every day in the morning iswhen we would work out for about
an hour.
And Vanessa, god bless her, shegot me right.
That's for sure.
Chris Wolff (05:52):
So pretty neat.
Yeah, people just come in withnothing and leave ready to go.
Cody Smith (05:56):
All walks of life.
Chris Wolff (05:57):
How many people graduated from that very first
class?
Cody Smith (05:59):
I think 36, but I might be wrong.
Chris Wolff (06:02):
And how many people started
Cody Smith (06:03):
50.
50.
Yeah, so 36 out of 50 made it.
Chris Wolff (06:10):
And if you, had to guess how many people are still
in the department right now 28.
Yeah, All right.
Cody Smith (06:15):
I'd say that's probably close.
Chris Wolff (06:16):
The majority of the people who finished are still
here.
Yeah, yeah, all right.
Well, what made you want to bea firefighter in the first place
?
Cody Smith (06:23):
I'd always thought firefighters were cool, right,
but that's not.
You know, I didn't really thinkabout that.
I kind of got sucked into mypool table job and I played a
lot of video games.
There was a particular personthat I played video games with
for about four to five years.
Shout out Dan Stairs Nameonline Downstairs.
He is a Canadian firefighterand he would tell me all about
(06:45):
it, tell me about calls, tell meabout fires, and I'm like that
sounds pretty cool.
I think that might be somethingI want to do, so I start
looking into it.
Apply at Austin.
I move and I live behind afellow firefighter that you know
as well, Mr.
Dilworth, and he tells me aboutPflugerville's academy that
they're going to have.
Chris Wolff (07:04):
And is it pretty typical for towns of this size
to have their own fire academy?
You said you were applying forAustin.
Cody Smith (07:14):
Yeah, so theirs is huge and I don't think there's a
lot of places that do it.
I could be wrong.
I'm not sure.
I didn't do that much researchto be honest.
Chris Wolff (07:25):
Yeah, you just got in,
I rolled with it.
Yeah, good for you, yeah.
just went for it and it workedout.
Has firefighting been what youexpected it to be
Cody Smith (07:34):
Everything and more.
Chris Wolff (07:36):
How so?
Cody Smith (07:36):
Yeah, just some of the things you get to see and do
, and looks on people's faceswhenever you actually do help
them and make a genuine changein their day, their life.
It's really cool, yeah.
And then the fun of fighting afire is hard to beat.
Chris Wolff (07:52):
So let's go back.
So about A little less than ayear after starting the Fire
Academy and about five monthsafter coming out to a truck, you
were part of a pretty bad call.
It happened on January 6, 2023,where a for-profit EMS
paramedic was responsible forthe death of a Pflugerville
(08:15):
resident.
Yes, had you been on a lot ofcritical calls before that?
Cody Smith (08:18):
Yes, had you been on a lot of critical calls before
that.
I think that was my secondactual real critical patient.
I had one CPR before that.
It was a traumatic arrest.
You were actually on it.
It was in the middle and youknow what.
You were on it.
It was in the middle of ahighway and you came on scene.
Chris Wolff (08:41):
Is this the one off of 130?
Cody Smith (08:42):
This is the one off of 130.
Chris Wolff (08:43):
Oh, that was a great call
Cody Smith (08:44):
and you came on scene and your presence was calm
and it just kind of cool waterover me and I was like man,
because I was, you know, alittle bit jitters.
I'm like I've never done thisbefore, but I've trained on it
and I know what I'm doing, atleast I think I do, or, and I
know what I'm doing, at least Ithink I do, or at least I think
I did.
But yeah, your voice calm, ithelped me a lot.
(09:05):
So I do.
thank you for that for sure,
Chris Wolff (09:07):
no problem.
So for the listener, I've beenon the department or been a
firefighter for about nine years.
At that point, I've beenthrough paramedic school and run
a lot of calls like that.
How did that contrast to yourexperience?
Oh I mean, yeah, so that was.
I think that was maybe two tothree months into my probation.
So you know, I had very littleat the time and now I think
(09:31):
we're a little over two and ahalf years.
So much has changed, but backthen having that experience
helps so much.
It's a vast world that I reallyjust dipped my toes into at the
time.
Those are exciting days.
Oh yeah, do you mind?
(09:51):
You know we're not trying toname any names and we're not
trying to throw people under thebus, but we do want to kind of
highlight some of thedifferences.
Can you contrast that?
It's so funny you brought upthat call.
Will you contrast thattraumatic arrest on 130 compared
to what you saw in the back ofthat ambulance that night?
Yeah.
So that wreck on 130 is, Iwould say, organized and
(10:17):
textbook compared to the stormthat was the back of that
ambulance, it was just thecommunication was terrible.
The preparedness of the crew,that of the ambulance crew that
was there, was just lackluster.
I mean they weren't ready forthe job that needed to be done,
(10:39):
versus how we train and on thatmiddle of the street CPR that we
were doing, you wouldn't havethought we were in the middle of
the street because it wascontrolled, everybody had roles,
everybody knew their roles.
Versus the other call wherethings are hitting the fan.
We're trying to keep my crewwhile they were there.
We're trying to keep things youknow best as we can and then
(11:04):
and then what happens after?
That was much different.
Cody Smith (11:07):
Cody, I know all these calls are tough, but do
you mind just running over kindof the the rough points of what
happened that night?
Chris Wolff (11:15):
Yeah, uh.
So we got called out to I thinkit was an altered mentation and
we get there and the patientwas acting like head trauma had
happened.
If you've seen a head traumapatient, they can say strange
things, act strange.
He was acting very strange,kind of moving around, kind of
(11:37):
being combative but notviolently towards everybody
around.
I was kind of being combativebut not violently towards
everybody, um, and he startedkind of saying help and kind of
barreling through his home andcoming from the living room to
the kitchen and opening therefrigerator and and kind of
looking inside, but with noobjective right.
So we're trying to corral himand this is just PD's on scene
(12:01):
and we're on scene, ambulancecrew's not there yet he finally
kind of slumps up against thewall and sits down.
I'm trying to do best I canwith remembering the event, but
sits down and that's when we tryto maybe take some vitals.
People are getting informationon the patient from family.
He's got some facial trauma.
(12:22):
It looks like he definitely hithis face.
There's already bruising andthere's some blood in his mouth
as well and the ambulance crewshows up.
I personally did not see themedic.
I only saw the EMT come intothe room and then I hear him say
that he needed a sedative Ithink he used the word sedative
and then comes back in the room.
And then I hear him say that heneeded some sort of sedative I
(12:42):
think he used the word sedativeand then comes back in the room.
The EMT was the one whodelivered said sedative to the
patient after asking aboutallergies, and pretty much
punctuated the sentence with theneedle, which was interesting
and I didn't really know much atthe time.
So I was like, okay, I guessthis is just you know what
happens, but it just felt weird.
Cody Smith (13:04):
Was there an ESD, a flugelwald fire department
paramedic, on scene at that time?
Chris Wolff (13:09):
There was.
There was not.
No, no, it was a full BLS crew.
Three of us were probes,including myself, um, and two
one was pretty tenured in theother one, and two one was
pretty tenured in the other one.
I mean, both were, both aregreat.
I love working with them both,um.
Cody Smith (13:26):
But you know three probes and and we're you know
running running the call, like,like we think just just probably
, just like everyone, they'retrying to do the best you can
and and he's this.
Chris Wolff (13:34):
this guy was breathing normally, I mean maybe
a little bit rapid, but he'snot having issues moving air,
just being a little bitcombative, maybe out of his,
maybe a little bit rapid, buthe's not having issues moving
air, just being a little bitcombative, maybe out of his
mental state a little bit.
We're trying to kind of figureout why what's going on.
Cody Smith (13:46):
So what would you expect the next thing to be then
?
In that time, from whatexperience you had, what was
going to happen next?
Chris Wolff (13:53):
So after the sedative or before they got
there, I don't know Whicheverone.
So, uh, I don't whichever, sowe'll just say me.
I'm thinking, maybe we can justfigure out a way to calm him
down.
It wasn't really working, sopossibly some sort of sedative
would help in the situation.
So I'm like, okay, I get that,you know.
Right after that, hopefully hecalms down a little bit, we can
(14:14):
get him on the stretcher, let'sget him in the ambulance, let's
get our vitals.
If we can, let's go to thehospital.
Right, we get him on theambulance, or, sorry, we get him
on the ambulance, let's get ourvitals.
If we can, let's go to thehospital.
Right, we get them on theambulance, or, sorry, we get
them on the stretcher, that'sright outside the door, and I'm
like, okay, transfer of carelike normal, they've probably
got it.
We start to put our bags up andour driver at the time was like
, hey, let's see if they needanything in the back of the
ambulance, which is very, verycommon on every ems call your
(14:37):
engine.
Crew is going to help.
So change gloves or no.
We put the bags up and then wego to the ambulance and they ask
for a rider and of course, me,new gung-ho.
I'm like, yeah, let's do it,I'll go.
So cool, I get into the back ofthe ambulance.
(15:03):
So they had given I'm almostpositive inside they gave a drug
called midazolam, which is abenzodiazepine, and it can.
It's, it's, it's a mildsedative.
They use it to stop seizures.
I guess we, because now I cando that, but it's very versatile
.
So they give that.
And then, as I'm going to getinto the ambulance, we're, we're
coming around and I think I seethem give.
They gave a drug intranasally.
(15:25):
I'm not sure if that was thenext drug that they chose or if
it was the midazolam.
But they gave another drug thatI know was another sedative.
And I'm like, okay, I ask ifthey have some soft restraints.
And the medic says, yeah,they're in that bag, right there
, driver and I, our crew,looking through the bag, no soft
(15:46):
restraints at all.
And they're like, oh yeah, weused them on a call earlier.
So I'm like, okay, cool, so youdidn't prepare and restock your
stuff.
Maybe they didn't have them,but that's stuff you got to do
Every single time after you getback from a call.
You restock your ambulance.
They asked for a BVM so that wecan help breathe for the guy.
I grabbed the BVM that we findin there.
The medic inserts what's calleda King Airway.
(16:09):
It's a tube device, it's asupraglottic device that you put
to help breathe for somebody.
Did he accept that he?
did so it was compliant no gagreflex.
Cody Smith (16:22):
No gag reflex, all right, the sedatives that they
chose to use was enough toworked.
Chris Wolff (16:26):
Enough, right so I connect the bag to to the king
airway chest rise and gettinggood compliance.
There was an iv established andthey gave another drug.
I believe they gaveomidate atsome point.
Don't quote me on that, eventhough this is recorded.
Cody Smith (16:46):
I'm sure that's written somewhere.
It's going to be writtensomewhere.
I've not ever seen the report.
Chris Wolff (16:50):
This is all off the top of my head, and you've
never seen the report too, right?
No, I have not.
Cody Smith (16:53):
Did anyone officially come and ask you
questions?
Chris Wolff (16:57):
No, I have not been questioned by any official.
Cody Smith (17:00):
Okay, you questions?
No, I have not been questioned.
Chris Wolff (17:01):
No one ever did any official okay, no, um, no, so
it's kind of all been hearsay.
Cody Smith (17:04):
This is all just what I saw, yeah so we know
about as much as a listenerexactly exactly, but I know
sedatives are on board.
Chris Wolff (17:12):
He accepts the airway.
Cody Smith (17:13):
I'm like cool let's let's go to the hospital, yeah
right.
Chris Wolff (17:17):
so they asked for the rider.
I'm'm back there, well, allthree of us.
So there's the medic, there'sthe EMT, and then there's me.
So I'm like, all right, emt'sgoing to get up front, we're
going to go to the hospital.
Well, that doesn't quite happen.
We're still in there messingaround.
I think the EMT's maybe tryingto get vitals or something.
At this time I don't have theview that I do now of scenes
(17:38):
where I can look at the wholescene together and kind of
really take in what's going on.
Cody Smith (17:43):
So I'm really focusing on oh yeah, I was
tunnel vision big time.
Yeah, absolutely.
Chris Wolff (17:47):
So I'm focusing on just making sure that I'm giving
the right breaths at the righttime.
Cody Smith (17:51):
Which is the right thing to do.
You're on airway.
Chris Wolff (17:53):
That's your job, yeah, so that broader mindset
comes later.
Anyway, sedatives start to wearoff.
My crew leaves they clear themand I'm like all right, we're
about to leave.
Cody Smith (18:05):
What do you think their expectation was, as
they're driving away?
Chris Wolff (18:09):
They'll be at the hospital.
We'll go have safety.
We'll come bring ourfirefighter that we dropped off.
They're going to hopefully hearabout what happened when we
dropped him off at the hospitaland he's doing all right.
So that was my thought as well.
I'm like, okay, cool, this iskind of a little bit of a high
speed call.
Let's go to the hospital.
The patient starts to come toand when he's coming to, he
(18:33):
starts to kind of aspirate alittle bit, a little bit of it's
probably not liking that.
Cody Smith (18:38):
Oh, he wasn't liking that, airway, that's, you know.
Chris Wolff (18:40):
Shoved down sitting right on his epiglottis there
and he starts to kind of try andpull it out.
Well, the EMT kudos to him.
He was really quick.
So that king airway has aballoon on it that you fill up
with a large syringe that keepsit in place and keeps, uh, the
air going into the trachea, notthe esophagus quickly deflates
that balloon and pulls out theadjunct and the patient is still
(19:05):
kind of aspirating.
He's not quite choking on it.
But I asked for suction in theambulance.
I don't know this ambulance, Idon't work in it every day.
So I asked for suction.
Medic's like, okay, cool,here's the suction tubing with
the Yankower and he toggles thesuction switch and nothing is
happening.
So their suction unit isn'tworking.
And then shortly after that thepatient codes.
(19:27):
So he goes into cardiac arrestand I hop on.
I get off of airway and hop onchest.
The medic takes the, the medictakes the airway, the EMT uses
my radio that I have on me toradio in the cardiac arrest in
progress and as I'm doing chestcompressions I hear my crew that
I was, that I'm on, get radioedback out to the scene how long
(19:51):
would you say you guys were inthe back of that ambulance for?
uh, at this point, I'd say fromgetting.
From getting in, I was probablyin there 10, 15 minutes.
I think the total scene timemight've been about 45 minutes.
So we were there for a longtime.
Yeah, so from from door toambulance to finally leaving to
(20:15):
the hospital, I'm going to guessabout 45 minutes it was a long
time.
Cody Smith (20:18):
So did y' all work him in, I'd like to actually
know the exact time on that?
Chris Wolff (20:22):
That would be interesting.
So we start working him in theambulance.
We get ROSC, so we get returnof spontaneous circulation
Without shock.
He comes back.
We get pulses.
I'm like cool.
Cody Smith (20:36):
What's happening with the airway at this point?
Chris Wolff (20:38):
So at this time the medic is on airway.
He did not.
He did not try to get anotheradjunct in.
There wasn't an opa, therewasn't an npa.
He didn't try the king that wascompliant before is he on a bag
?
Cody Smith (20:53):
he is bagging, okay so he's bagging.
Chris Wolff (20:55):
He's got a bvm, but with no adjunct.
At the time I I'm doingcompressions, I'm not looking at
the monitor to see what are hisoxygen saturation, you know, I
don't.
I'm not keen to look at allthat stuff yet.
So I hop back on airway and Istart bagging and then, without
(21:23):
notice at all, I'm payingattention to holding my mask
seal and then I just see, youknow, scalpel come in.
Not even a sharps out, not ahey, we're going to crike.
Not no talk of it, not evenlike maybe we should intubate,
or let's try the king again.
Or how about an eye gel?
I don't know if they have eyegels, but or an OPA or an MPA.
And yeah, I just see thescalpel come in front of my face
(21:46):
and cut down the man's throat.
But I'm like, oh my gosh what'sgoing on?
This must be necessary, but itdoes not feel right.
And right about that time thedriver that was on my crew opens
the door and I'm like, hey, weneed to switch, I need to go
grab suction from our unit, fromthe truck, because they don't
(22:10):
have it.
Cody Smith (22:11):
So I run and do that .
How many paramedics are in theback of that ambulance right now
?
Chris Wolff (22:14):
Just one, just two, just the one Still on scene.
Yeah, so I run to the engine.
I actually run to the engine,throw on my green suit real
quick, grab the suction and comeback.
There's no way it took melonger than 45 seconds.
I tried to be extremely quick,maybe not even 30.
And I'll give myself props itwas fast.
(22:37):
But anyway, so I get back in.
He's got.
He does get the tube in, um, soI didn't see the inserting of
the tube.
I saw the cut and then I sawthe puncture through the trachea
, uh, and then I left, cameright back.
Tube is in.
I heard later that there wasissues getting the tube in.
(22:59):
Yeah, issues getting the tubein.
Yeah, issues getting that tubein and to be clear in case
someone wants to Google it.
Cody Smith (23:06):
He went for a crike.
Chris Wolff (23:07):
He went for a crike , a cricothyroidomy.
So when you're going to crikesomebody, there are indications
that must happen.
So can't ventilate, can'toxygenate.
Cody Smith (23:18):
Right.
Chris Wolff (23:19):
You knowive facial trauma, jaws shut, you don't
have any paralytics.
There's no possible way thatyou can get an adjunct in their
mouth.
You can't breathe for them.
It's a decision that, yes, youneed to make it quickly, but it
is very, very circumstantial.
Cody Smith (23:38):
We're not trying to Monday morning quarterback, but
this is pretty outside of theballpark.
Of what?
Chris Wolff (23:42):
Very much outside of the ballpark.
I think we could have gone tothe hospital.
Looking back yeah,quarterbacking right, I'm pretty
sure we could have gone to thehospital with non-rebreather and
nasal cannula without all theother extra stuff that happened
on this call.
That might be.
You know, maybe that's a longshot, man, that's tough dude.
Cody Smith (24:04):
So did you ride it in?
Yeah, so.
Chris Wolff (24:07):
I got back in and the other two probies that were
on my crew were now in theambulance, one bagging, the
other one is holding him.
Well, okay, so we take off tothe hospital, us three in the
back plus the medics, so there'sfour of us One's bagging, the
other one's holding, Holding theperson that's bagging on airway
(24:30):
and holding onto a bar, becauseyou know we're moving down the
road and there's really no wayto be in a seatbelt in this
situation, in a seatbelt in thissituation.
Cody Smith (24:38):
And that's another part where, as a lieutenant, I
would take one of my best, mostsenior dudes and have him drive
that, or dudettes and have themdrive that ambulance in there.
Chris Wolff (24:48):
Yeah, that's a very dangerous place to be, it is
very dangerous, and yeah, so mymind's going a thousand miles an
hour, but only trying to stayat one task at hand, right, I do
know that after the tube was inthe throat, in the throat, in
the trachea, for the, it was notsecured until we got to the
hospital.
So this thing is, you know, my,my fellow firefighter, I'm not
(25:13):
okay I'm not bagging, I'm.
What am I doing at this time?
Well, he codes again, so I Iend up starting to do
compressions hanging from theceiling.
And if you can imagine if thelisteners have ever seen CPR
done before, it's not a you know, it's kind of a violent process
.
Cody Smith (25:32):
It's for sure a violent process.
Chris Wolff (25:35):
It can be controlled best you can, but
it's not easy on the body andwhen you're doing that, if you
can imagine having a tubesticking out of your neck, it's
not going to stay.
Still so that thing, and you'removing down the road and you
got one person trying to hold it.
Um, so is the paramedic then onthe tube like he's, yeah, he's
around the tube and he keeps sobefore he goes, he keeps asking
(25:56):
me for four by four, sterilefour by fours and all the
sterile dressing that they haveand he's asking you that, he's
asking me that because thepatient is hemorrhaging out of
his neck, so he somewhere, uh,either an artery or or a large
vessel was nicked and a lot ofblood.
And remember, our suctioncanister is 300 milliliters.
(26:18):
That thing's been full.
Cody Smith (26:19):
We don't have suction, right, they don't have
suction so we had our not thatyou had your section, but it's
the portable one that we carryin the bag that we carry in our
bags.
It's not one that's designed tobe used exactly, exactly so
he's asking me for four by fours.
Chris Wolff (26:34):
I'm getting them everything as quickly as I can
right and he's just kind ofblotting it up.
There's not really an attemptto really control the bleeding.
I mean, you can't.
The neck is a really reallydifficult place to control
bleeding, especially when yougot, you know, a three inch cut.
Patient ends up coding and weend up doing hang from the
ceiling, cpr all the way to thehospital what so?
Cody Smith (26:57):
what happens?
You guys get to the er, thosedoors open and can you describe?
Chris Wolff (27:01):
doors open.
Um, they knew, oh man.
So I've given a shoddy radioreport before, so I can't say
much, but goodness gracious.
Cody Smith (27:12):
What did it sound like?
Chris Wolff (27:14):
So at one point I don't remember all of it, but it
was very frantic, which I getit's a high stress scene,
especially what is going on.
But I do remember the nursesasking a question.
I don't remember what thequestion was, but the medic
comes back over in the radio andhe's like I don't know, we got
(27:35):
a lot of stuff going on rightnow.
We'll be there in like 10minutes and I'm like okay, all
right.
Cody Smith (27:41):
but so hospital probably, probably, doesn't know
what they're.
Yes, I mean, they know it's notgoing to be.
Chris Wolff (27:46):
You know I don't know, I don't think he, I don't
think he said that.
He criked over the radio, soit's probably a shock.
Whenever the nurse opened, thenurse actually opened the back
doors of the ambulance.
They were ready.
Yeah, they knew.
I mean, they knew we had cpr inprogress on the way.
So crash team's ready.
You know, chest compressionsout of the, out of the ambulance
(28:07):
switch with the nurse.
She was a poor girl, she wasnot very tall, so I quickly
switched back.
Cody Smith (28:13):
That's hard.
Yeah, that's hard.
Chris Wolff (28:14):
If you've ever done CPR on a stretcher, it's very
difficult to do high-quality CPR.
So, yeah, we switched all theway into the trauma bay there.
Do you remember what the ER docsaid?
Cody Smith (28:25):
All the way into the trauma.
Do you remember what the ER docsaid?
Chris Wolff (28:29):
I don't quite remember what the ER doc said,
but the pass on that was givenfrom the medic.
It just seemed like he was justrunning a textbook call and
everything was normal.
It was just odd and everythingwas normal.
It was just odd, which maybethat's good to have that sort of
way of speaking, but I didn'tknow much at the time.
(28:54):
But it was a shoddy pass on.
It was.
There wasn't a lot told andhonestly they probably didn't
care.
They saw the patient and thecondition that he was in and
they knew what they needed to do.
Cody Smith (29:04):
Yeah, they did.
Yeah, and the back of thatambulance looked you, you know,
with no stretcher in it.
There was a ton of blood on thefloor of that stretcher.
It's time, yeah, let me.
Let me ask you then.
Uh, so what was so?
Safety came and there werethree of y'all they had to pick
(29:26):
up.
How was that ride home in thesafety truck?
Chris Wolff (29:34):
Not, as you know, after calls sometimes there's,
you know, joshing around orwhatever, but this one was more
of a okay, what happens now?
Because everything thathappened we know wasn't correct
and we know that when we'regetting back it was more of a
okay, what happens now?
Because everything thathappened we know wasn't correct
and we know that when we'regetting back it was more of a
okay, when we get back, we'regoing to have to really sit down
(29:55):
and talk about what justhappened.
I'd say it was quieter thanmost as far as the talk that was
happening.
It was more of a everyonecollect your thoughts and just
kind of you got to talk about it, but it was you do of.
Cody Smith (30:09):
You got to talk about it, but it was, it was you
do you got to talk about ityeah, it was interesting.
Chris Wolff (30:13):
So I haven't had one like that since I've had
some crazy ones.
Cody Smith (30:16):
But any short-term or long-term emotional effects
from there.
Chris Wolff (30:21):
Yeah, talking about it sometimes is pretty crazy.
I think I.
I think I do well with you knowhandling stuff like that.
Luckily, I wasn't sure if Iwould.
When I got this job, I was likeI don't know if I'm able to see
crazy.
I think I'd, I think I'd dowell with you know handling
stuff like that.
Luckily, I wasn't sure if Iwould.
When I got this job, I was likeI don't know if I'm able to see
stuff like that, but yeah, it's, it's pretty crazy.
And now I don't.
Cody Smith (30:36):
I don't think people realize just how much stuff we
see or what happens in their owncommunity.
So last shift, what tell meabout that?
Call you ran last shift.
Chris Wolff (30:46):
So I mean, yeah, just last shift we ran a it was
rescue conditions.
Luckily we were right down theroad.
And we show up and well, thecall text finally come through
and it was patient was workingon his vehicle and the vehicle
had fallen on the patient.
Right before we arrive itstated that bystanders had
lifted the vehicle somehow andI'm guessing, okay, okay, maybe
(31:08):
a jack or something.
And we show up and there is apatient absolutely underneath
the vehicle, kind of laying downperpendicular to the car under
the rotor pretty, pretty crushed, oh, under the rotor yeah, and
the rotor had, you know, donesome.
It had done some damage to his,his chest cavity.
It was caved in quite a bit.
Rigor had already set in.
(31:28):
It was bad.
It looked pretty bad.
So like kind of that Comparedto the cry call that cry call is
50 times crazier, more intensethan that call yeah, man.
And just like watching somebodygo from walking around, being
able to speak words, even thoughthey're not coherent, breathing
(31:51):
to you know yeah, not aliveanymore is pretty intense so it
obviously had some emotionaleffects on you.
Cody Smith (32:00):
How did that shape your life?
What decisions have you madesince then and yeah.
Chris Wolff (32:05):
So, like I said before, I'd kind of I'd really
been interested in ems.
I liked the health part ofeverything.
Um, after that I was pretty sadon becoming a paramedic because
you know, I didn't wantanything like that to happen in
front of me again, without mebeing able to say, hey, we're
not doing this, why are we doingthis, let's take a step now.
(32:25):
If I can right, if I can goback, I'd be like, hey, let's
stop and think about not doingthis.
Why are we doing this?
Let's take a step now.
If I can write, if I can goback, I'd be like, hey, let's
stop and think about this for asecond.
Why are we doing this?
But so that was a.
I knew I kind of wanted to be aparamedic, but that was a, a
very.
It cemented the idea in my headand luckily I got that chance.
Cody Smith (32:43):
So that's amazing.
Tell us about, so tell us aboutthat.
Chris Wolff (32:54):
We, the fire department, offers a paramedic
school.
It's pretty competitive to getinto it and you were able to do
it and complete the training Iwas able to get in.
Um, it's a grueling nine months.
It's just so much information.
Uh, I would do it again.
I would definitely do it again.
I just got cleared actually, sothat's pretty cool.
It took me about about I think,four to five months or so,
which is I'm grateful for that,because the clearing process,
(33:14):
the clearing process is verytough what do?
Cody Smith (33:17):
what do you know about clearing at a at your
average for-profit ems?
Chris Wolff (33:22):
I have heard that you can clear at the.
I've heard that you can clearat the private ambulance company
that was on that call in lessthan a month.
Cody Smith (33:34):
In less than a month .
Chris Wolff (33:35):
Yeah, and it took me four to five and during that
we've got scenario testing,skill testing, you're running
every single call and you've gota paramedic, eft, a very good
paramedic that the departmenttrusts to train people who go
through what I went through andI'm grateful for that.
(33:57):
It is a, it is a pain and I wasvery ready to be done with it
and I'm happy that I am.
Cody Smith (34:02):
How do you, how do you feel skill wise?
Where's your confidence atSkills I?
Chris Wolff (34:06):
feel pretty dang good.
Cody Smith (34:08):
Yeah.
Chris Wolff (34:09):
Yeah, skill-wise.
Where's your confidence atskills?
Cody Smith (34:11):
I feel pretty dang good yeah, yeah, I I actually
really enjoy.
Obviously I don't want.
Chris Wolff (34:13):
I think if you and I ran a car right now you'd be
the better medic, for sure, nofor sure you got that fresh
knowledge the fresh knowledge isthere, but but you've got years
more of seeing what I haven'tseen.
Cody Smith (34:24):
So i't know.
But so all of that stuff, howdoes that impact the community?
Like if the listener sitting athome right now their tax
dollars put you through a ninemonth classroom session and then
five more months of riding witha trained paramedic.
How does that affect them?
How does that benefit them?
Chris Wolff (34:45):
Well, it benefits them because if they're in the
district that I'm in, or thatanybody that's trained by our
department is in, they can knowthat it's not easy to clear and
become a medic here, and it's.
The standards are very high.
So the standard of care thatyou're going to get, I believe,
is very good.
(35:06):
You you have, you have a goodchance of coming out better,
hopefully, than if you know youwere on your own or if you were
taken care of by a privateambulance company.
And that's not to say thatthere aren't great medics in
some private companies and I canname.
Cody Smith (35:21):
you know I could hold my fingers and name people
that are working in the cityright now that I would love if
they'd come over to ourdepartment and work.
But, unfortunately, but they'renot like that.
That's not, that's not the norm, that's not your average person
.
Chris Wolff (35:34):
Yeah, and I can't you know, I wouldn't.
I would never say thateverybody that works for a
private ambulance company isshoddy or whatever.
So there are definitely somegreat medics out there, I'm sure
.
Cody Smith (35:43):
And I'm so happy when I see them get out of the
ambulance.
Chris Wolff (35:45):
Yeah, you're like oh yes, Okay, good, we're going
to be all right, yeah.
Cody Smith (35:52):
So you told me about that call that happened to you
yesterday and you were atStation 3 on an engine, so
you're a paramedic on an engine.
Chris Wolff (36:00):
So I get shuffled around.
I've been on a box frequentlyrecently just because of the
clearing process.
Cody Smith (36:07):
Do you know that there's a small minority of
people in the city that say, hey, that 2014 sales tax that you
guys get was for ALS, and mostof them think that that means
transport service.
It doesn't.
It means paramedics like you.
Are they still getting thatbenefit?
Did you run any calls into thecity yesterday?
Chris Wolff (36:31):
This call was in the city, but unfortunately I
wasn't able to do anythingbecause it was an obvious death.
Had it not been would you havebeen able to make an impact or
had it been critical, a criticalcall yes.
I could have.
That ambulance company wouldhave shown up and then they
(36:52):
would have taken transfer ofcare.
But I believe before they getthere I can make a difference.
Now the only problem with thatis if I'm going in the city on
an engine, I don't have some ofthe narcotics and the drugs and
the capabilities as if I were onone of our ambulances.
Cody Smith (37:09):
Or one of our ALS?
Yeah, one of our.
Chris Wolff (37:11):
ALS ambulances right, I don't, I don't.
Cody Smith (37:14):
Or ALS ones.
Chris Wolff (37:15):
I can't stop a seizure.
I can't stop somebody seizing,you know, in the city, because I
won't.
We can't carry that stuff.
Cody Smith (37:23):
All right.
Well, what happens when thatfor-profit ambulance shows up?
Chris Wolff (37:39):
What can you do then?
Cody Smith (37:39):
Well, I can give them the best pass on that I can
, and I can do my best to helpthem, but I'm not sure if I'm
even really allowed to.
Well, if you were in a positionthat you could help someone, oh
, I'd do it, because I do it allthe time and I don't even care
if I have care if I have trouble.
Chris Wolff (37:49):
I'll get in trouble for somebody's health.
I will absolutely make theright decision.
Cody Smith (37:52):
That's one of our citizens there.
We have the training, we'redoing it.
Chris Wolff (37:59):
They show up and I know exactly what this patient
needs.
I'm calling for it and I'mtelling them why, and they're
going to know every reason whythis patient needs this
intervention right now.
Cody Smith (38:08):
And I'll tell you to be 100% honest with you, if
that for-profit ambulance showsup and it's not one of those
people that I know I'm justrunning that call.
Chris Wolff (38:18):
Yeah, well, we had.
Actually, I had another call asa probie, one of our
ex-employees that used to workhere, great guy, we had run a
cardiac arrest at his home andit was in the city and we ran it
and it went fantastic.
He's alive today.
(38:38):
He's walking around, but we gotRoss right as he was on that
call Really.
I was on airway.
Cody Smith (38:46):
Wow, yeah, yeah, I can.
I don't want to do any hippastuff on the show, but oh yeah,
he helps us out a ton with ourcommunity cpr program.
Oh yeah, and and in fact Idon't think he's missed a
program we do a free communitycpr class every month.
He was the inspiration for ityes, because his wife saved his
life because she knew cpr.
And then you guys and colemanshowed up with it was a badass
(39:09):
paramedic yeah, and she, that'sright, that's right and yeah, so
he was the inspiration for thatcommunity cpr program.
I don't know if you know that.
Yeah, I did not know that.
Chris Wolff (39:18):
So, wow, you were on that call big kudos to her
because immediate recognition ofthe need for cpr.
She did it.
We show up, we take over.
I believe we delivered twoshocks.
He was back.
Um private ambulance companyshows up and they wanted to stay
on scene for a lot longer tostabilize and us knowing who it
(39:41):
is doesn't matter if we know whoit is.
This patient is now a rosspatient.
You need to go to the hospitallike we're packaging up and
we're going.
If we weren't there that day,making the push to get to the
hospital quicker, who knows howlong it would have taken.
Cody Smith (40:03):
So if the citizens of the Fleurville community vote
yes and abolish the sales taxrevenue that provides 40 percent
of the income for the firedepartment, do we still have a
paramedic program?
Chris Wolff (40:18):
I don't know, probably not.
That puts a lot of people atrisk of losing their jobs and
that puts the civilians at riskof you know know, the good help
that they could have if they'rehaving an issue well, I can tell
you there'll be no paramedicprogram.
Cody Smith (40:33):
Uh, there's another program.
That's very important that theywon't be here either, the whole
reason you're in thisdepartment that's right.
Chris Wolff (40:39):
The cadet program cadet program.
Cody Smith (40:41):
That'll be gone.
So that cadet program is prettyspecial because dudes like you
like when I got hired on thisdepartment you had to know you
want to be a firefighter.
You had to put up 5 000 of yourown bucks, yeah, put yourself
through emt school and fireschool and then yeah, so we got
some pretty great people in yourclass in the next two or three
classes that have come afterthat, yeah so that, that's gone
(41:04):
yeah now let me ask you I I knowyou, not everyone is as well
versed on this Do you still havea job if that gets cut?
Do you know?
Possibly not.
Chris Wolff (41:13):
I don't know, I don't know, I don't think anyone
knows You're talking about ifwe lose our funding.
Cody Smith (41:21):
Yeah, no, you could know.
Chris Wolff (41:23):
What do you mean?
Cody Smith (41:24):
Well, the department's cutting 132
firefighters.
Chris Wolff (41:27):
Yeah.
Cody Smith (41:29):
So are you more senior than that or less senior
than that?
Chris Wolff (41:33):
I mean, I'm a firefighter medic, but that
doesn't necessarily no, no, no,higher date.
Oh, oh, no, I'm 100%.
Cody Smith (41:40):
You gone.
Chris Wolff (41:41):
Probably.
Cody Smith (41:43):
You can look it up, yeah.
Chris Wolff (41:45):
Yeah, I don't really know how it's going to go
, but seniority, I believe,plays a part in that and I think
we've only from my class if wetake all the cadets, it's
probably about 130 people.
Cody Smith (41:58):
You'll be right there on the edge.
I'll be right there.
No, I'll be pulling for you,buddy.
I'm just kidding.
We're not going to let thathappen, man.
We're going to educate thecommunity and make sure that
that doesn't happen.
Chris Wolff (42:09):
It's definitely scary and I have I have friends
and family that live in the cityof Pflugerville and, yeah, it's
, it's not good stuff.
No, no.
Cody Smith (42:20):
Yeah Well.
So what would you do then if?
If the fire department gotdefunded, but you're out there,
you're pretty marketable withthat paramedic cert.
Well, what do you think youwould do?
Chris Wolff (42:31):
Maybe I'll go work for Allegiance and help us out.
I'd have to apply to a bunch ofplaces.
Cody Smith (42:39):
They'd be lucky to have you over there.
I appreciate it.
I appreciate it, yeah.
Chris Wolff (42:44):
But you know I wouldn't want to do that.
Yeah, I'd have to figure it out.
I really don't want to do that.
Cody Smith (42:51):
All right.
So let's say that you knowvoters say no, that we're not
going to defund the firedepartment, we're not going to
abolish the sales tax revenuethat they get.
What are you?
What's your five-year plan?
What are you looking forward toas a new paramedic paragon out
there on the street?
Chris Wolff (43:10):
I mean just doing the best I can, you know,
hopefully saving people, makingsure that they come out on top
of any of their hardships thatthey might have.
I'll, you know, I'll do all theother stuff.
Open up some task books, getsome more certifications under
my belt, but training, make surethat I'm better than I was the
(43:33):
shift before.
Cody Smith (43:35):
Yeah Well, cody man, thank you so much for telling
that story.
I know that's not easy to do.
There's people out there thattalk about the fire department
and how much money it shouldhave, and how much money we
should spend to make a paramedicor to recruit a really great
person into the department.
Yeah, but if you've never seenthose things, let alone heard
(43:59):
about them, it's hard to reallyknow what you're talking about.
Chris Wolff (44:01):
Yeah, you don't know and there's a lot behind
those closed doors and it's easyto.
It's easy to just think well,we got a fire department, we're
good, there's a fire, fire comes, I have a health problem, fire
department's going to come.
Cody Smith (44:17):
An ambulance is going to show up.
Chris Wolff (44:18):
Ambulance is going to show up.
Well, that ambulance might takea whole lot longer to show up.
Cody Smith (44:24):
And you never know who's going to open those doors
and come out of it.
You never know, well, man, andyou never know who's who's going
to open those doors and comeout of it.
Well, man, thank you so much.
I sure appreciate, appreciate,appreciate you as a person,
appreciate you coming on theshow, appreciate you super proud
, super proud of the firefighter, paramedic that you've become
thank you thank you I lookforward to the more more that
will be coming back out on thetrucks.
Chris Wolff (44:44):
We got a program going right now.
Cody Smith (44:45):
Yeah there's a paramedic school in session
right now.
We got people we're sending afrench.
It's a good program.
Yeah, we've all we've already.
I think we've offered the nextcadet program to 50 yeah, 50
something people coming in thedoor good luck to all of them I
will be helping out with the emsportion of that good and the
fire and and the thing is asquickly as the city's grown,
(45:07):
we're going to need them.
Chris Wolff (45:08):
Yes, we will, we definitely will.
Cody Smith (45:10):
Well, thank you sir.
Chris Wolff (45:11):
Yes, sir, Appreciate you Give me one of
these Handshake Handshake, allright.
Cody Smith (45:17):
I hope you enjoyed listening to this episode.
Stories like that can bedifficult to hear and they
highlight the real impact thatpoliticians and civic leaders
have on our public safety impactthat politicians and civic
leaders have on our publicsafety.
At the time of this recording,I've not yet been able to get
another opposing voice to talkabout why they believe that the
fire department's sales taxrevenue should be abolished.
(45:38):
I'll continue to reach out andI hope you continue to listen
Next week on Pflugerville onFire.
watching somebody go from walking around, being able
to speak words, even thoughthey're not coherent, breathing
to you know yeah, not aliveanymore is pretty intense so it
obviously had some emotionaleffects on you.
Chris Wolff (00:26):
How did that shape your life?
Cody Smith (00:28):
I'd really been interested in EMS.
I liked the health part ofeverything.
After that I was pretty set onbecoming a paramedic because you
know, I didn't want anythinglike that to happen in front of
me again, without me being ableto say, "hey, we're not doing
this, why are we doing this,let's take a step now, if I can
(00:49):
right, if I can go back, I'd belike, hey, let's stop and think
about this for a second.
Why are we doing this?
It's easy to just think well, wegot a fire and , be like, we're
good, there's a fire, firecomes there's.
You know, I have a healthproblem, fire department's gonna
come, or?
Chris Wolff (01:03):
An ambulance is going to show up.
Cody Smith (01:04):
Ambulance is going to show up.
Well, that ambulance might takea whole lot longer to show up.
Chris Wolff (01:10):
And you never know who's going to open those doors
and come out of it.
Cody Smith (01:13):
You never know.
Chris Wolff (01:15):
Welcome to Pflugerville on Fire.
I'm your Chris Wolff.
This week we've got a moreserious episode and in it we'll
talk about a difficult callwhere one of our community
members died as a result ofimproper EMS care.
It can be difficult for firstresponders to talk about what
they see, and for loved ones andlisteners it can be equally
(01:36):
hard to hear these stories.
One thing that helps is toagree on the level of detail
before telling the story.
When talking to my young kids,I would often talk to them in
what I would call the WaltDisney version.
Talking to my wife, I wouldtell her a story on the 5
o'clock news version and,talking to other first
responders, I would get into thenitty gritty details and talk
(01:56):
about the HBO Max version.
On this episode, we're going tobe talking about the calls like
they would on the 5 o'clocknews.
As a warning, even this levelof detail may be disturbing to
some listeners.
In this episode, we're talkingto Cody Smith, a firefighter
paramedic who joined thedepartment in 2022 as a cadet.
The cadet classes are specialbecause outside of the biggest
(02:19):
cities, applicants must becertified firefighters and EMTs
before they can even apply.
This presents a barrier toapplicants that don't have
either the money or the time toput themselves through an
academy.
The cadet program is extremelycompetitive and comprised of
many women and people of color.
Once they complete the gruelingtraining process, their talents
(02:44):
are a great benefit to thecommunity of Pflugerville.
I hope you'll enjoy thisepisode with your very own
firefighter and paramedickeeping it real and safe on the
streets every day.
Cody Smith.
Cody Smith, welcome to the show.
Cody Smith (02:55):
Hello, hello.
Chris Wolff (02:56):
Hello, good to have you on here, sir, it's good to
be here.
So we're going to let ourlisteners know.
You and I kind of have aspecial relationship because you
were my probie over at Station5.
Cody Smith (03:06):
Yes, I was.
Chris Wolff (03:07):
So tell us, when did you join the fire department
?
Cody Smith (03:09):
That should be January 17th of 2022.
Chris Wolff (03:13):
Nice, yep, all right, and so then tell us a
little bit about that fireacademy.
What was that experience like?
Cody Smith (03:20):
It was a ton of fun actually.
I made a ton of friends.
It was a ton of fun actually, Imade a ton of friends.
It was kind of my first timeworking as a squad kind of a
unit, and that just really kindof put a certain kind of fire
under you whenever you get toexperience hardship with other
people, which is kind of how itis to be a firefighter honestly.
(03:41):
And that's fantastic.
Chris Wolff (03:43):
Now, you were part of a pretty special class,
weren't you?
Cody Smith (03:46):
The first civilian class, I believe First cadet
class that we had,
Chris Wolff (03:53):
and so tell us a little bit about that.
What made that class differentfrom previous ones?
Cody Smith (03:58):
Well, I think it was new for the department for sure
, so it was a lot of trial anderror.
But also, I think we might havehad a little bit more leeway
than there is now.
That's good and bad right, butI didn't really have anything to
go off of, so for me it wassmooth sailing, a little bit
worried about you know, can I dothis?
(04:19):
But there's that drive in theback of me that's like heck,
yeah, I can do this,
Chris Wolff (04:23):
and so tell me about the fire medical training
that you had before going intothat academy.
Cody Smith (04:29):
Before going into that academy I had zero fire,
zero EMS training.
I moved pool tables before foreight years, so I had nothing.
You know, the closest thingthat I ever got to that was
seeing stuff on TV, right?
Chris Wolff (04:42):
Yeah, yeah.
So tell us about like what wasthat schedule, like what was a
typical day in a fire academy.
Cody Smith (04:48):
Fire academy.
So we started with EMS, so itwas nine to five, Monday through
Friday, I believe.
A lot of schooling in the firstthree months it's pretty much
all EMS doing scenarios,learning about the body,
pre-hospital care, what happensto people, how do we fix it.
And then the next three monthsis fire.
(05:09):
There's a lot of classroom timethere as well, but then we of
course go out to the trainingfield and learn skills,
camaraderie with your crew,which we kind of started in EMS
as well.
I'm actually grateful that wedid EMS first, because we kind
of got to, we got put intosquads and we kind of got to
build some camaraderie with oursquad and we got to the fire
(05:30):
ground.
It's like, hey, we've workedtogether, let's do this.
I personally think that was agreat thing for me.
Chris Wolff (05:37):
Did you guys do any workouts as part of that?
Cody Smith (05:39):
Oh yeah, oh, yeah, I believe every single day, yeah,
every day in the morning iswhen we would work out for about
an hour.
And Vanessa, god bless her, shegot me right.
That's for sure.
Chris Wolff (05:52):
So pretty neat.
Yeah, people just come in withnothing and leave ready to go.
Cody Smith (05:56):
All walks of life.
Chris Wolff (05:57):
How many people graduated from that very first
class?
Cody Smith (05:59):
I think 36, but I might be wrong.
Chris Wolff (06:02):
And how many people started
Cody Smith (06:03):
50.
50.
Yeah, so 36 out of 50 made it.
Chris Wolff (06:10):
And if you, had to guess how many people are still
in the department right now 28.
Yeah, All right.
Cody Smith (06:15):
I'd say that's probably close.
Chris Wolff (06:16):
The majority of the people who finished are still
here.
Yeah, yeah, all right.
Well, what made you want to bea firefighter in the first place
?
Cody Smith (06:23):
I'd always thought firefighters were cool, right,
but that's not.
You know, I didn't really thinkabout that.
I kind of got sucked into mypool table job and I played a
lot of video games.
There was a particular personthat I played video games with
for about four to five years.
Shout out Dan Stairs Nameonline Downstairs.
He is a Canadian firefighterand he would tell me all about
(06:45):
it, tell me about calls, tell meabout fires, and I'm like that
sounds pretty cool.
I think that might be somethingI want to do, so I start
looking into it.
Apply at Austin.
I move and I live behind afellow firefighter that you know
as well, Mr.
Dilworth, and he tells me aboutPflugerville's academy that
they're going to have.
Chris Wolff (07:04):
And is it pretty typical for towns of this size
to have their own fire academy?
You said you were applying forAustin.
Cody Smith (07:14):
Yeah, so theirs is huge and I don't think there's a
lot of places that do it.
I could be wrong.
I'm not sure.
I didn't do that much researchto be honest.
Chris Wolff (07:25):
Yeah, you just got in,
I rolled with it.
Yeah, good for you, yeah.
just went for it and it workedout.
Has firefighting been what youexpected it to be
Cody Smith (07:34):
Everything and more.
Chris Wolff (07:36):
How so?
Cody Smith (07:36):
Yeah, just some of the things you get to see and do
, and looks on people's faceswhenever you actually do help
them and make a genuine changein their day, their life.
It's really cool, yeah.
And then the fun of fighting afire is hard to beat.
Chris Wolff (07:52):
So let's go back.
So about A little less than ayear after starting the Fire
Academy and about five monthsafter coming out to a truck, you
were part of a pretty bad call.
It happened on January 6, 2023,where a for-profit EMS
paramedic was responsible forthe death of a Pflugerville
(08:15):
resident.
Yes, had you been on a lot ofcritical calls before that?
Cody Smith (08:18):
Yes, had you been on a lot of critical calls before
that.
I think that was my secondactual real critical patient.
I had one CPR before that.
It was a traumatic arrest.
You were actually on it.
It was in the middle and youknow what.
You were on it.
It was in the middle of ahighway and you came on scene.
Chris Wolff (08:41):
Is this the one off of 130?
Cody Smith (08:42):
This is the one off of 130.
Chris Wolff (08:43):
Oh, that was a great call
Cody Smith (08:44):
and you came on scene and your presence was calm
and it just kind of cool waterover me and I was like man,
because I was, you know, alittle bit jitters.
I'm like I've never done thisbefore, but I've trained on it
and I know what I'm doing, atleast I think I do, or, and I
know what I'm doing, at least Ithink I do, or at least I think
I did.
But yeah, your voice calm, ithelped me a lot.
(09:05):
So I do.
thank you for that for sure,
Chris Wolff (09:07):
no problem.
So for the listener, I've beenon the department or been a
firefighter for about nine years.
At that point, I've beenthrough paramedic school and run
a lot of calls like that.
How did that contrast to yourexperience?
Oh I mean, yeah, so that was.
I think that was maybe two tothree months into my probation.
So you know, I had very littleat the time and now I think
(09:31):
we're a little over two and ahalf years.
So much has changed, but backthen having that experience
helps so much.
It's a vast world that I reallyjust dipped my toes into at the
time.
Those are exciting days.
Oh yeah, do you mind?
(09:51):
You know we're not trying toname any names and we're not
trying to throw people under thebus, but we do want to kind of
highlight some of thedifferences.
Can you contrast that?
It's so funny you brought upthat call.
Will you contrast thattraumatic arrest on 130 compared
to what you saw in the back ofthat ambulance that night?
Yeah.
So that wreck on 130 is, Iwould say, organized and
(10:17):
textbook compared to the stormthat was the back of that
ambulance, it was just thecommunication was terrible.
The preparedness of the crew,that of the ambulance crew that
was there, was just lackluster.
I mean they weren't ready forthe job that needed to be done,
(10:39):
versus how we train and on thatmiddle of the street CPR that we
were doing, you wouldn't havethought we were in the middle of
the street because it wascontrolled, everybody had roles,
everybody knew their roles.
Versus the other call wherethings are hitting the fan.
We're trying to keep my crewwhile they were there.
We're trying to keep things youknow best as we can and then
(11:04):
and then what happens after?
That was much different.
Cody Smith (11:07):
Cody, I know all these calls are tough, but do
you mind just running over kindof the the rough points of what
happened that night?
Chris Wolff (11:15):
Yeah, uh.
So we got called out to I thinkit was an altered mentation and
we get there and the patientwas acting like head trauma had
happened.
If you've seen a head traumapatient, they can say strange
things, act strange.
He was acting very strange,kind of moving around, kind of
(11:37):
being combative but notviolently towards everybody
around.
I was kind of being combativebut not violently towards
everybody, um, and he startedkind of saying help and kind of
barreling through his home andcoming from the living room to
the kitchen and opening therefrigerator and and kind of
looking inside, but with noobjective right.
So we're trying to corral himand this is just PD's on scene
(12:01):
and we're on scene, ambulancecrew's not there yet he finally
kind of slumps up against thewall and sits down.
I'm trying to do best I canwith remembering the event, but
sits down and that's when we tryto maybe take some vitals.
People are getting informationon the patient from family.
He's got some facial trauma.
(12:22):
It looks like he definitely hithis face.
There's already bruising andthere's some blood in his mouth
as well and the ambulance crewshows up.
I personally did not see themedic.
I only saw the EMT come intothe room and then I hear him say
that he needed a sedative Ithink he used the word sedative
and then comes back in the room.
And then I hear him say that heneeded some sort of sedative I
(12:42):
think he used the word sedativeand then comes back in the room.
The EMT was the one whodelivered said sedative to the
patient after asking aboutallergies, and pretty much
punctuated the sentence with theneedle, which was interesting
and I didn't really know much atthe time.
So I was like, okay, I guessthis is just you know what
happens, but it just felt weird.
Cody Smith (13:04):
Was there an ESD, a flugelwald fire department
paramedic, on scene at that time?
Chris Wolff (13:09):
There was.
There was not.
No, no, it was a full BLS crew.
Three of us were probes,including myself, um, and two
one was pretty tenured in theother one, and two one was
pretty tenured in the other one.
I mean, both were, both aregreat.
I love working with them both,um.
Cody Smith (13:26):
But you know three probes and and we're you know
running running the call, like,like we think just just probably
, just like everyone, they'retrying to do the best you can
and and he's this.
Chris Wolff (13:34):
this guy was breathing normally, I mean maybe
a little bit rapid, but he'snot having issues moving air,
just being a little bitcombative, maybe out of his,
maybe a little bit rapid, buthe's not having issues moving
air, just being a little bitcombative, maybe out of his
mental state a little bit.
We're trying to kind of figureout why what's going on.
Cody Smith (13:46):
So what would you expect the next thing to be then
?
In that time, from whatexperience you had, what was
going to happen next?
Chris Wolff (13:53):
So after the sedative or before they got
there, I don't know Whicheverone.
So, uh, I don't whichever, sowe'll just say me.
I'm thinking, maybe we can justfigure out a way to calm him
down.
It wasn't really working, sopossibly some sort of sedative
would help in the situation.
So I'm like, okay, I get that,you know.
Right after that, hopefully hecalms down a little bit, we can
(14:14):
get him on the stretcher, let'sget him in the ambulance, let's
get our vitals.
If we can, let's go to thehospital.
Right, we get him on theambulance, or, sorry, we get him
on the ambulance, let's get ourvitals.
If we can, let's go to thehospital.
Right, we get them on theambulance, or, sorry, we get
them on the stretcher, that'sright outside the door, and I'm
like, okay, transfer of carelike normal, they've probably
got it.
We start to put our bags up andour driver at the time was like
, hey, let's see if they needanything in the back of the
ambulance, which is very, verycommon on every ems call your
(14:37):
engine.
Crew is going to help.
So change gloves or no.
We put the bags up and then wego to the ambulance and they ask
for a rider and of course, me,new gung-ho.
I'm like, yeah, let's do it,I'll go.
So cool, I get into the back ofthe ambulance.
(15:03):
So they had given I'm almostpositive inside they gave a drug
called midazolam, which is abenzodiazepine, and it can.
It's, it's, it's a mildsedative.
They use it to stop seizures.
I guess we, because now I cando that, but it's very versatile
.
So they give that.
And then, as I'm going to getinto the ambulance, we're, we're
coming around and I think I seethem give.
They gave a drug intranasally.
(15:25):
I'm not sure if that was thenext drug that they chose or if
it was the midazolam.
But they gave another drug thatI know was another sedative.
And I'm like, okay, I ask ifthey have some soft restraints.
And the medic says, yeah,they're in that bag, right there
, driver and I, our crew,looking through the bag, no soft
(15:46):
restraints at all.
And they're like, oh yeah, weused them on a call earlier.
So I'm like, okay, cool, so youdidn't prepare and restock your
stuff.
Maybe they didn't have them,but that's stuff you got to do
Every single time after you getback from a call.
You restock your ambulance.
They asked for a BVM so that wecan help breathe for the guy.
I grabbed the BVM that we findin there.
The medic inserts what's calleda King Airway.
(16:09):
It's a tube device, it's asupraglottic device that you put
to help breathe for somebody.
Did he accept that he?
did so it was compliant no gagreflex.
Cody Smith (16:22):
No gag reflex, all right, the sedatives that they
chose to use was enough toworked.
Chris Wolff (16:26):
Enough, right so I connect the bag to to the king
airway chest rise and gettinggood compliance.
There was an iv established andthey gave another drug.
I believe they gaveomidate atsome point.
Don't quote me on that, eventhough this is recorded.
Cody Smith (16:46):
I'm sure that's written somewhere.
It's going to be writtensomewhere.
I've not ever seen the report.
Chris Wolff (16:50):
This is all off the top of my head, and you've
never seen the report too, right?
No, I have not.
Cody Smith (16:53):
Did anyone officially come and ask you
questions?
Chris Wolff (16:57):
No, I have not been questioned by any official.
Cody Smith (17:00):
Okay, you questions?
No, I have not been questioned.
Chris Wolff (17:01):
No one ever did any official okay, no, um, no, so
it's kind of all been hearsay.
Cody Smith (17:04):
This is all just what I saw, yeah so we know
about as much as a listenerexactly exactly, but I know
sedatives are on board.
Chris Wolff (17:12):
He accepts the airway.
Cody Smith (17:13):
I'm like cool let's let's go to the hospital, yeah
right.
Chris Wolff (17:17):
so they asked for the rider.
I'm'm back there, well, allthree of us.
So there's the medic, there'sthe EMT, and then there's me.
So I'm like, all right, emt'sgoing to get up front, we're
going to go to the hospital.
Well, that doesn't quite happen.
We're still in there messingaround.
I think the EMT's maybe tryingto get vitals or something.
At this time I don't have theview that I do now of scenes
(17:38):
where I can look at the wholescene together and kind of
really take in what's going on.
Cody Smith (17:43):
So I'm really focusing on oh yeah, I was
tunnel vision big time.
Yeah, absolutely.
Chris Wolff (17:47):
So I'm focusing on just making sure that I'm giving
the right breaths at the righttime.
Cody Smith (17:51):
Which is the right thing to do.
You're on airway.
Chris Wolff (17:53):
That's your job, yeah, so that broader mindset
comes later.
Anyway, sedatives start to wearoff.
My crew leaves they clear themand I'm like all right, we're
about to leave.
Cody Smith (18:05):
What do you think their expectation was, as
they're driving away?
Chris Wolff (18:09):
They'll be at the hospital.
We'll go have safety.
We'll come bring ourfirefighter that we dropped off.
They're going to hopefully hearabout what happened when we
dropped him off at the hospitaland he's doing all right.
So that was my thought as well.
I'm like, okay, cool, this iskind of a little bit of a high
speed call.
Let's go to the hospital.
The patient starts to come toand when he's coming to, he
(18:33):
starts to kind of aspirate alittle bit, a little bit of it's
probably not liking that.
Cody Smith (18:38):
Oh, he wasn't liking that, airway, that's, you know.
Chris Wolff (18:40):
Shoved down sitting right on his epiglottis there
and he starts to kind of try andpull it out.
Well, the EMT kudos to him.
He was really quick.
So that king airway has aballoon on it that you fill up
with a large syringe that keepsit in place and keeps, uh, the
air going into the trachea, notthe esophagus quickly deflates
that balloon and pulls out theadjunct and the patient is still
(19:05):
kind of aspirating.
He's not quite choking on it.
But I asked for suction in theambulance.
I don't know this ambulance, Idon't work in it every day.
So I asked for suction.
Medic's like, okay, cool,here's the suction tubing with
the Yankower and he toggles thesuction switch and nothing is
happening.
So their suction unit isn'tworking.
And then shortly after that thepatient codes.
(19:27):
So he goes into cardiac arrestand I hop on.
I get off of airway and hop onchest.
The medic takes the, the medictakes the airway, the EMT uses
my radio that I have on me toradio in the cardiac arrest in
progress and as I'm doing chestcompressions I hear my crew that
I was, that I'm on, get radioedback out to the scene how long
(19:51):
would you say you guys were inthe back of that ambulance for?
uh, at this point, I'd say fromgetting.
From getting in, I was probablyin there 10, 15 minutes.
I think the total scene timemight've been about 45 minutes.
So we were there for a longtime.
Yeah, so from from door toambulance to finally leaving to
(20:15):
the hospital, I'm going to guessabout 45 minutes it was a long
time.
Cody Smith (20:18):
So did y' all work him in, I'd like to actually
know the exact time on that?
Chris Wolff (20:22):
That would be interesting.
So we start working him in theambulance.
We get ROSC, so we get returnof spontaneous circulation
Without shock.
He comes back.
We get pulses.
I'm like cool.
Cody Smith (20:36):
What's happening with the airway at this point?
Chris Wolff (20:38):
So at this time the medic is on airway.
He did not.
He did not try to get anotheradjunct in.
There wasn't an opa, therewasn't an npa.
He didn't try the king that wascompliant before is he on a bag
?
Cody Smith (20:53):
he is bagging, okay so he's bagging.
Chris Wolff (20:55):
He's got a bvm, but with no adjunct.
At the time I I'm doingcompressions, I'm not looking at
the monitor to see what are hisoxygen saturation, you know, I
don't.
I'm not keen to look at allthat stuff yet.
So I hop back on airway and Istart bagging and then, without
(21:23):
notice at all, I'm payingattention to holding my mask
seal and then I just see, youknow, scalpel come in.
Not even a sharps out, not ahey, we're going to crike.
Not no talk of it, not evenlike maybe we should intubate,
or let's try the king again.
Or how about an eye gel?
I don't know if they have eyegels, but or an OPA or an MPA.
And yeah, I just see thescalpel come in front of my face
(21:46):
and cut down the man's throat.
But I'm like, oh my gosh what'sgoing on?
This must be necessary, but itdoes not feel right.
And right about that time thedriver that was on my crew opens
the door and I'm like, hey, weneed to switch, I need to go
grab suction from our unit, fromthe truck, because they don't
(22:10):
have it.
Cody Smith (22:11):
So I run and do that .
How many paramedics are in theback of that ambulance right now
?
Chris Wolff (22:14):
Just one, just two, just the one Still on scene.
Yeah, so I run to the engine.
I actually run to the engine,throw on my green suit real
quick, grab the suction and comeback.
There's no way it took melonger than 45 seconds.
I tried to be extremely quick,maybe not even 30.
And I'll give myself props itwas fast.
(22:37):
But anyway, so I get back in.
He's got.
He does get the tube in, um, soI didn't see the inserting of
the tube.
I saw the cut and then I sawthe puncture through the trachea
, uh, and then I left, cameright back.
Tube is in.
I heard later that there wasissues getting the tube in.
(22:59):
Yeah, issues getting the tubein.
Yeah, issues getting that tubein and to be clear in case
someone wants to Google it.
Cody Smith (23:06):
He went for a crike.
Chris Wolff (23:07):
He went for a crike , a cricothyroidomy.
So when you're going to crikesomebody, there are indications
that must happen.
So can't ventilate, can'toxygenate.
Cody Smith (23:18):
Right.
Chris Wolff (23:19):
You knowive facial trauma, jaws shut, you don't
have any paralytics.
There's no possible way thatyou can get an adjunct in their
mouth.
You can't breathe for them.
It's a decision that, yes, youneed to make it quickly, but it
is very, very circumstantial.
Cody Smith (23:38):
We're not trying to Monday morning quarterback, but
this is pretty outside of theballpark.
Of what?
Chris Wolff (23:42):
Very much outside of the ballpark.
I think we could have gone tothe hospital.
Looking back yeah,quarterbacking right, I'm pretty
sure we could have gone to thehospital with non-rebreather and
nasal cannula without all theother extra stuff that happened
on this call.
That might be.
You know, maybe that's a longshot, man, that's tough dude.
Cody Smith (24:04):
So did you ride it in?
Yeah, so.
Chris Wolff (24:07):
I got back in and the other two probies that were
on my crew were now in theambulance, one bagging, the
other one is holding him.
Well, okay, so we take off tothe hospital, us three in the
back plus the medics, so there'sfour of us One's bagging, the
other one's holding, Holding theperson that's bagging on airway
(24:30):
and holding onto a bar, becauseyou know we're moving down the
road and there's really no wayto be in a seatbelt in this
situation, in a seatbelt in thissituation.
Cody Smith (24:38):
And that's another part where, as a lieutenant, I
would take one of my best, mostsenior dudes and have him drive
that, or dudettes and have themdrive that ambulance in there.
Chris Wolff (24:48):
Yeah, that's a very dangerous place to be, it is
very dangerous, and yeah, so mymind's going a thousand miles an
hour, but only trying to stayat one task at hand, right, I do
know that after the tube was inthe throat, in the throat, in
the trachea, for the, it was notsecured until we got to the
hospital.
So this thing is, you know, my,my fellow firefighter, I'm not
(25:13):
okay I'm not bagging, I'm.
What am I doing at this time?
Well, he codes again, so I Iend up starting to do
compressions hanging from theceiling.
And if you can imagine if thelisteners have ever seen CPR
done before, it's not a you know, it's kind of a violent process
.
Cody Smith (25:32):
It's for sure a violent process.
Chris Wolff (25:35):
It can be controlled best you can, but
it's not easy on the body andwhen you're doing that, if you
can imagine having a tubesticking out of your neck, it's
not going to stay.
Still so that thing, and you'removing down the road and you
got one person trying to hold it.
Um, so is the paramedic then onthe tube like he's, yeah, he's
around the tube and he keeps sobefore he goes, he keeps asking
(25:56):
me for four by four, sterilefour by fours and all the
sterile dressing that they haveand he's asking you that, he's
asking me that because thepatient is hemorrhaging out of
his neck, so he somewhere, uh,either an artery or or a large
vessel was nicked and a lot ofblood.
And remember, our suctioncanister is 300 milliliters.
(26:18):
That thing's been full.
Cody Smith (26:19):
We don't have suction, right, they don't have
suction so we had our not thatyou had your section, but it's
the portable one that we carryin the bag that we carry in our
bags.
It's not one that's designed tobe used exactly, exactly so
he's asking me for four by fours.
Chris Wolff (26:34):
I'm getting them everything as quickly as I can
right and he's just kind ofblotting it up.
There's not really an attemptto really control the bleeding.
I mean, you can't.
The neck is a really reallydifficult place to control
bleeding, especially when yougot, you know, a three inch cut.
Patient ends up coding and weend up doing hang from the
ceiling, cpr all the way to thehospital what so?
Cody Smith (26:57):
what happens?
You guys get to the er, thosedoors open and can you describe?
Chris Wolff (27:01):
doors open.
Um, they knew, oh man.
So I've given a shoddy radioreport before, so I can't say
much, but goodness gracious.
Cody Smith (27:12):
What did it sound like?
Chris Wolff (27:14):
So at one point I don't remember all of it, but it
was very frantic, which I getit's a high stress scene,
especially what is going on.
But I do remember the nursesasking a question.
I don't remember what thequestion was, but the medic
comes back over in the radio andhe's like I don't know, we got
(27:35):
a lot of stuff going on rightnow.
We'll be there in like 10minutes and I'm like okay, all
right.
Cody Smith (27:41):
but so hospital probably, probably, doesn't know
what they're.
Yes, I mean, they know it's notgoing to be.
Chris Wolff (27:46):
You know I don't know, I don't think he, I don't
think he said that.
He criked over the radio, soit's probably a shock.
Whenever the nurse opened, thenurse actually opened the back
doors of the ambulance.
They were ready.
Yeah, they knew.
I mean, they knew we had cpr inprogress on the way.
So crash team's ready.
You know, chest compressionsout of the, out of the ambulance
(28:07):
switch with the nurse.
She was a poor girl, she wasnot very tall, so I quickly
switched back.
Cody Smith (28:13):
That's hard.
Yeah, that's hard.
Chris Wolff (28:14):
If you've ever done CPR on a stretcher, it's very
difficult to do high-quality CPR.
So, yeah, we switched all theway into the trauma bay there.
Do you remember what the ER docsaid?
Cody Smith (28:25):
All the way into the trauma.
Do you remember what the ER docsaid?
Chris Wolff (28:29):
I don't quite remember what the ER doc said,
but the pass on that was givenfrom the medic.
It just seemed like he was justrunning a textbook call and
everything was normal.
It was just odd and everythingwas normal.
It was just odd, which maybethat's good to have that sort of
way of speaking, but I didn'tknow much at the time.
(28:54):
But it was a shoddy pass on.
It was.
There wasn't a lot told andhonestly they probably didn't
care.
They saw the patient and thecondition that he was in and
they knew what they needed to do.
Cody Smith (29:04):
Yeah, they did.
Yeah, and the back of thatambulance looked you, you know,
with no stretcher in it.
There was a ton of blood on thefloor of that stretcher.
It's time, yeah, let me.
Let me ask you then.
Uh, so what was so?
Safety came and there werethree of y'all they had to pick
(29:26):
up.
How was that ride home in thesafety truck?
Chris Wolff (29:34):
Not, as you know, after calls sometimes there's,
you know, joshing around orwhatever, but this one was more
of a okay, what happens now?
Because everything thathappened we know wasn't correct
and we know that when we'regetting back it was more of a
okay, what happens now?
Because everything thathappened we know wasn't correct
and we know that when we'regetting back it was more of a
okay, when we get back, we'regoing to have to really sit down
(29:55):
and talk about what justhappened.
I'd say it was quieter thanmost as far as the talk that was
happening.
It was more of a everyonecollect your thoughts and just
kind of you got to talk about it, but it was you do of.
Cody Smith (30:09):
You got to talk about it, but it was, it was you
do you got to talk about ityeah, it was interesting.
Chris Wolff (30:13):
So I haven't had one like that since I've had
some crazy ones.
Cody Smith (30:16):
But any short-term or long-term emotional effects
from there.
Chris Wolff (30:21):
Yeah, talking about it sometimes is pretty crazy.
I think I.
I think I do well with you knowhandling stuff like that.
Luckily, I wasn't sure if Iwould.
When I got this job, I was likeI don't know if I'm able to see
crazy.
I think I'd, I think I'd dowell with you know handling
stuff like that.
Luckily, I wasn't sure if Iwould.
When I got this job, I was likeI don't know if I'm able to see
stuff like that, but yeah, it's, it's pretty crazy.
And now I don't.
Cody Smith (30:36):
I don't think people realize just how much stuff we
see or what happens in their owncommunity.
So last shift, what tell meabout that?
Call you ran last shift.
Chris Wolff (30:46):
So I mean, yeah, just last shift we ran a it was
rescue conditions.
Luckily we were right down theroad.
And we show up and well, thecall text finally come through
and it was patient was workingon his vehicle and the vehicle
had fallen on the patient.
Right before we arrive itstated that bystanders had
lifted the vehicle somehow andI'm guessing, okay, okay, maybe
(31:08):
a jack or something.
And we show up and there is apatient absolutely underneath
the vehicle, kind of laying downperpendicular to the car under
the rotor pretty, pretty crushed, oh, under the rotor yeah, and
the rotor had, you know, donesome.
It had done some damage to his,his chest cavity.
It was caved in quite a bit.
Rigor had already set in.
(31:28):
It was bad.
It looked pretty bad.
So like kind of that Comparedto the cry call that cry call is
50 times crazier, more intensethan that call yeah, man.
And just like watching somebodygo from walking around, being
able to speak words, even thoughthey're not coherent, breathing
(31:51):
to you know yeah, not aliveanymore is pretty intense so it
obviously had some emotionaleffects on you.
Cody Smith (32:00):
How did that shape your life?
What decisions have you madesince then and yeah.
Chris Wolff (32:05):
So, like I said before, I'd kind of I'd really
been interested in ems.
I liked the health part ofeverything.
Um, after that I was pretty sadon becoming a paramedic because
you know, I didn't wantanything like that to happen in
front of me again, without mebeing able to say, hey, we're
not doing this, why are we doingthis, let's take a step now.
(32:25):
If I can right, if I can goback, I'd be like, hey, let's
stop and think about not doingthis.
Why are we doing this?
Let's take a step now.
If I can write, if I can goback, I'd be like, hey, let's
stop and think about this for asecond.
Why are we doing this?
But so that was a.
I knew I kind of wanted to be aparamedic, but that was a, a
very.
It cemented the idea in my headand luckily I got that chance.
Cody Smith (32:43):
So that's amazing.
Tell us about, so tell us aboutthat.
Chris Wolff (32:54):
We, the fire department, offers a paramedic
school.
It's pretty competitive to getinto it and you were able to do
it and complete the training Iwas able to get in.
Um, it's a grueling nine months.
It's just so much information.
Uh, I would do it again.
I would definitely do it again.
I just got cleared actually, sothat's pretty cool.
It took me about about I think,four to five months or so,
which is I'm grateful for that,because the clearing process,
(33:14):
the clearing process is verytough what do?
Cody Smith (33:17):
what do you know about clearing at a at your
average for-profit ems?
Chris Wolff (33:22):
I have heard that you can clear at the.
I've heard that you can clearat the private ambulance company
that was on that call in lessthan a month.
Cody Smith (33:34):
In less than a month .
Chris Wolff (33:35):
Yeah, and it took me four to five and during that
we've got scenario testing,skill testing, you're running
every single call and you've gota paramedic, eft, a very good
paramedic that the departmenttrusts to train people who go
through what I went through andI'm grateful for that.
(33:57):
It is a, it is a pain and I wasvery ready to be done with it
and I'm happy that I am.
Cody Smith (34:02):
How do you, how do you feel skill wise?
Where's your confidence atSkills I?
Chris Wolff (34:06):
feel pretty dang good.
Cody Smith (34:08):
Yeah.
Chris Wolff (34:09):
Yeah, skill-wise.
Where's your confidence atskills?
Cody Smith (34:11):
I feel pretty dang good yeah, yeah, I I actually
really enjoy.
Obviously I don't want.
Chris Wolff (34:13):
I think if you and I ran a car right now you'd be
the better medic, for sure, nofor sure you got that fresh
knowledge the fresh knowledge isthere, but but you've got years
more of seeing what I haven'tseen.
Cody Smith (34:24):
So i't know.
But so all of that stuff, howdoes that impact the community?
Like if the listener sitting athome right now their tax
dollars put you through a ninemonth classroom session and then
five more months of riding witha trained paramedic.
How does that affect them?
How does that benefit them?
Chris Wolff (34:45):
Well, it benefits them because if they're in the
district that I'm in, or thatanybody that's trained by our
department is in, they can knowthat it's not easy to clear and
become a medic here, and it's.
The standards are very high.
So the standard of care thatyou're going to get, I believe,
is very good.
(35:06):
You you have, you have a goodchance of coming out better,
hopefully, than if you know youwere on your own or if you were
taken care of by a privateambulance company.
And that's not to say thatthere aren't great medics in
some private companies and I canname.
Cody Smith (35:21):
you know I could hold my fingers and name people
that are working in the cityright now that I would love if
they'd come over to ourdepartment and work.
But, unfortunately, but they'renot like that.
That's not, that's not the norm, that's not your average person
.
Chris Wolff (35:34):
Yeah, and I can't you know, I wouldn't.
I would never say thateverybody that works for a
private ambulance company isshoddy or whatever.
So there are definitely somegreat medics out there, I'm sure
.
Cody Smith (35:43):
And I'm so happy when I see them get out of the
ambulance.
Chris Wolff (35:45):
Yeah, you're like oh yes, Okay, good, we're going
to be all right, yeah.
Cody Smith (35:52):
So you told me about that call that happened to you
yesterday and you were atStation 3 on an engine, so
you're a paramedic on an engine.
Chris Wolff (36:00):
So I get shuffled around.
I've been on a box frequentlyrecently just because of the
clearing process.
Cody Smith (36:07):
Do you know that there's a small minority of
people in the city that say, hey, that 2014 sales tax that you
guys get was for ALS, and mostof them think that that means
transport service.
It doesn't.
It means paramedics like you.
Are they still getting thatbenefit?
Did you run any calls into thecity yesterday?
Chris Wolff (36:31):
This call was in the city, but unfortunately I
wasn't able to do anythingbecause it was an obvious death.
Had it not been would you havebeen able to make an impact or
had it been critical, a criticalcall yes.
I could have.
That ambulance company wouldhave shown up and then they
(36:52):
would have taken transfer ofcare.
But I believe before they getthere I can make a difference.
Now the only problem with thatis if I'm going in the city on
an engine, I don't have some ofthe narcotics and the drugs and
the capabilities as if I were onone of our ambulances.
Cody Smith (37:09):
Or one of our ALS?
Yeah, one of our.
Chris Wolff (37:11):
ALS ambulances right, I don't, I don't.
Cody Smith (37:14):
Or ALS ones.
Chris Wolff (37:15):
I can't stop a seizure.
I can't stop somebody seizing,you know, in the city, because I
won't.
We can't carry that stuff.
Cody Smith (37:23):
All right.
Well, what happens when thatfor-profit ambulance shows up?
Chris Wolff (37:39):
What can you do then?
Cody Smith (37:39):
Well, I can give them the best pass on that I can
, and I can do my best to helpthem, but I'm not sure if I'm
even really allowed to.
Well, if you were in a positionthat you could help someone, oh
, I'd do it, because I do it allthe time and I don't even care
if I have care if I have trouble.
Chris Wolff (37:49):
I'll get in trouble for somebody's health.
I will absolutely make theright decision.
Cody Smith (37:52):
That's one of our citizens there.
We have the training, we'redoing it.
Chris Wolff (37:59):
They show up and I know exactly what this patient
needs.
I'm calling for it and I'mtelling them why, and they're
going to know every reason whythis patient needs this
intervention right now.
Cody Smith (38:08):
And I'll tell you to be 100% honest with you, if
that for-profit ambulance showsup and it's not one of those
people that I know I'm justrunning that call.
Chris Wolff (38:18):
Yeah, well, we had.
Actually, I had another call asa probie, one of our
ex-employees that used to workhere, great guy, we had run a
cardiac arrest at his home andit was in the city and we ran it
and it went fantastic.
He's alive today.
(38:38):
He's walking around, but we gotRoss right as he was on that
call Really.
I was on airway.
Cody Smith (38:46):
Wow, yeah, yeah, I can.
I don't want to do any hippastuff on the show, but oh yeah,
he helps us out a ton with ourcommunity cpr program.
Oh yeah, and and in fact Idon't think he's missed a
program we do a free communitycpr class every month.
He was the inspiration for ityes, because his wife saved his
life because she knew cpr.
And then you guys and colemanshowed up with it was a badass
(39:09):
paramedic yeah, and she, that'sright, that's right and yeah, so
he was the inspiration for thatcommunity cpr program.
I don't know if you know that.
Yeah, I did not know that.
Chris Wolff (39:18):
So, wow, you were on that call big kudos to her
because immediate recognition ofthe need for cpr.
She did it.
We show up, we take over.
I believe we delivered twoshocks.
He was back.
Um private ambulance companyshows up and they wanted to stay
on scene for a lot longer tostabilize and us knowing who it
(39:41):
is doesn't matter if we know whoit is.
This patient is now a rosspatient.
You need to go to the hospitallike we're packaging up and
we're going.
If we weren't there that day,making the push to get to the
hospital quicker, who knows howlong it would have taken.
Cody Smith (40:03):
So if the citizens of the Fleurville community vote
yes and abolish the sales taxrevenue that provides 40 percent
of the income for the firedepartment, do we still have a
paramedic program?
Chris Wolff (40:18):
I don't know, probably not.
That puts a lot of people atrisk of losing their jobs and
that puts the civilians at riskof you know know, the good help
that they could have if they'rehaving an issue well, I can tell
you there'll be no paramedicprogram.
Cody Smith (40:33):
Uh, there's another program.
That's very important that theywon't be here either, the whole
reason you're in thisdepartment that's right.
Chris Wolff (40:39):
The cadet program cadet program.
Cody Smith (40:41):
That'll be gone.
So that cadet program is prettyspecial because dudes like you
like when I got hired on thisdepartment you had to know you
want to be a firefighter.
You had to put up 5 000 of yourown bucks, yeah, put yourself
through emt school and fireschool and then yeah, so we got
some pretty great people in yourclass in the next two or three
classes that have come afterthat, yeah so that, that's gone
(41:04):
yeah now let me ask you I I knowyou, not everyone is as well
versed on this Do you still havea job if that gets cut?
Do you know?
Possibly not.
Chris Wolff (41:13):
I don't know, I don't know, I don't think anyone
knows You're talking about ifwe lose our funding.
Cody Smith (41:21):
Yeah, no, you could know.
Chris Wolff (41:23):
What do you mean?
Cody Smith (41:24):
Well, the department's cutting 132
firefighters.
Chris Wolff (41:27):
Yeah.
Cody Smith (41:29):
So are you more senior than that or less senior
than that?
Chris Wolff (41:33):
I mean, I'm a firefighter medic, but that
doesn't necessarily no, no, no,higher date.
Oh, oh, no, I'm 100%.
Cody Smith (41:40):
You gone.
Chris Wolff (41:41):
Probably.
Cody Smith (41:43):
You can look it up, yeah.
Chris Wolff (41:45):
Yeah, I don't really know how it's going to go
, but seniority, I believe,plays a part in that and I think
we've only from my class if wetake all the cadets, it's
probably about 130 people.
Cody Smith (41:58):
You'll be right there on the edge.
I'll be right there.
No, I'll be pulling for you,buddy.
I'm just kidding.
We're not going to let thathappen, man.
We're going to educate thecommunity and make sure that
that doesn't happen.
Chris Wolff (42:09):
It's definitely scary and I have I have friends
and family that live in the cityof Pflugerville and, yeah, it's
, it's not good stuff.
No, no.
Cody Smith (42:20):
Yeah Well.
So what would you do then if?
If the fire department gotdefunded, but you're out there,
you're pretty marketable withthat paramedic cert.
Well, what do you think youwould do?
Chris Wolff (42:31):
Maybe I'll go work for Allegiance and help us out.
I'd have to apply to a bunch ofplaces.
Cody Smith (42:39):
They'd be lucky to have you over there.
I appreciate it.
I appreciate it, yeah.
Chris Wolff (42:44):
But you know I wouldn't want to do that.
Yeah, I'd have to figure it out.
I really don't want to do that.
Cody Smith (42:51):
All right.
So let's say that you knowvoters say no, that we're not
going to defund the firedepartment, we're not going to
abolish the sales tax revenuethat they get.
What are you?
What's your five-year plan?
What are you looking forward toas a new paramedic paragon out
there on the street?
Chris Wolff (43:10):
I mean just doing the best I can, you know,
hopefully saving people, makingsure that they come out on top
of any of their hardships thatthey might have.
I'll, you know, I'll do all theother stuff.
Open up some task books, getsome more certifications under
my belt, but training, make surethat I'm better than I was the
(43:33):
shift before.
Cody Smith (43:35):
Yeah Well, cody man, thank you so much for telling
that story.
I know that's not easy to do.
There's people out there thattalk about the fire department
and how much money it shouldhave, and how much money we
should spend to make a paramedicor to recruit a really great
person into the department.
Yeah, but if you've never seenthose things, let alone heard
(43:59):
about them, it's hard to reallyknow what you're talking about.
Chris Wolff (44:01):
Yeah, you don't know and there's a lot behind
those closed doors and it's easyto.
It's easy to just think well,we got a fire department, we're
good, there's a fire, fire comes, I have a health problem, fire
department's going to come.
Cody Smith (44:17):
An ambulance is going to show up.
Chris Wolff (44:18):
Ambulance is going to show up.
Well, that ambulance might takea whole lot longer to show up.
Cody Smith (44:24):
And you never know who's going to open those doors
and come out of it.
You never know, well, man, andyou never know who's who's going
to open those doors and comeout of it.
Well, man, thank you so much.
I sure appreciate, appreciate,appreciate you as a person,
appreciate you coming on theshow, appreciate you super proud
, super proud of the firefighter, paramedic that you've become
thank you thank you I lookforward to the more more that
will be coming back out on thetrucks.
Chris Wolff (44:44):
We got a program going right now.
Cody Smith (44:45):
Yeah there's a paramedic school in session
right now.
We got people we're sending afrench.
It's a good program.
Yeah, we've all we've already.
I think we've offered the nextcadet program to 50 yeah, 50
something people coming in thedoor good luck to all of them I
will be helping out with the emsportion of that good and the
fire and and the thing is asquickly as the city's grown,
(45:07):
we're going to need them.
Chris Wolff (45:08):
Yes, we will, we definitely will.
Cody Smith (45:10):
Well, thank you sir.
Chris Wolff (45:11):
Yes, sir, Appreciate you Give me one of
these Handshake Handshake, allright.
Cody Smith (45:17):
I hope you enjoyed listening to this episode.
Stories like that can bedifficult to hear and they
highlight the real impact thatpoliticians and civic leaders
have on our public safety impactthat politicians and civic
leaders have on our publicsafety.
At the time of this recording,I've not yet been able to get
another opposing voice to talkabout why they believe that the
fire department's sales taxrevenue should be abolished.
(45:38):
I'll continue to reach out andI hope you continue to listen
Next week on Pflugerville onFire.
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