Paint

One of the things that I love about my job is that no 2 days are ever the same. Last night was an example of such. It was not actually my scheduled day to work but I went in for fire training. Although I do not fight fire first hand, as part of the department, I am still required to train a minimum of 30 hours per year with the fire fighters. So, I showed up to do my time, mostly expecting to stand back and watch. But not long after I arrived at our training center, we were paged out for a multi-vehicle accident at a busy, high-speed intersection.

For purposes of training, we draw a diagram on the board of our operating units that  night, assign appropriate crew members to each and then play everything out as if it were a real  life scenario. Of course, I had been assigned to the medical unit since I have zero fire experience. And so when the page came in, my crew & I hit the ground running. Training or real life scenario, you go where you are assigned.
By the time we reached the accident scene, a long line of traffic was already backing up and we had to maneuver our ambulance down the opposing lanes of traffic to reach the scene. Sheriff deputies had beat us to the scene for which I was thankful. Any law enforcement that arrive before me is an invaluable resource for several reasons: a) they provide crowd control (accident scenes can be among the most hostile out there) b) they help stop or direct traffic c) they can give you immediate and critical information regarding anyone who may be injured.
Last night's accident was no different. We stationed our rig just far enough off the road so that if any rogue drivers chanced by, they would hopefully avoid slamming into us. Even before my feet hit the ground, a deputy was next to me gesturing toward the shattered remains of what used to be a small pickup. "He's over there. Got some cuts & bruises."
"Is he in the truck?!?" I ask.
"No, he's right there." The deputy points to a man wandering around at the edge of the road talking on a bluetooth jammed in his ear. He is in no obvious distress and, if I had not been told otherwise, I would have assumed him to be just another onlooker.
My eyes fixate on the mangled truck. What used to be its engine compartment is compressed to a depth of about18 inches and there is a yellow substance splattered over every surface within a 50-foot radius. I glance at the writing down the side of the vehicle which indicates it belongs to a local painting company. A wide-eyed firefighter just ahead of me starts laughing at the strange site. "It's paint!" Apparently this is the most ironic thing he has seen all day and he thinks it's hilarious.  Admittedly, we all find it more than a little amusing.
I make my way toward our victim who was apparently driving the pickup. He seems a bit shell-shocked but he is in surprisingly good spirits. We perform a brief assessment of his neck and face. Thankfully he was wearing his seat belt. He has a small scrape on his nose where the airbag evidently grazed him. He miraculously has no other complaints. We shuffle him into the back of the waiting ambulance simply to get him into a safer, less hectic area. He is adamant that he does not want to go to the hospital. We complete our assessment and have him sign the various forms required for those who do not want to be transported. Within a few minutes, he is back on the side of the road conversing with law enforcement.
We briefly visit with the occupants of the vehicle which was struck by our reckless painter. They are fine and refuse to let us do any sort of assessment. They were towing an antique truck on a flatbed trailer. There is obvious damage to the trailer bed. The antique truck is intact but has large splatters of Big Bird Yellow paint over its entirety. We linger a bit longer while the tow truck arrives and retrieves the mangled paint-splattered pickup. The roadway has been completely shut down for at least a half hour by this point and drivers are becoming impatient. With damaged vehicles removed, we now wrap up our clean up of the roadway and quickly pile back into our ambulance.
We notify our commander that we are clearing the scene and then weave our way through traffic and leave the yellow-spotted accident scene behind.
Today's lessons learned: Always wear your seatbelt...and yellow paint seriously looks cool on just about everything.