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FIRE FIGHTING AFTER RETIREMENT
Jim Eyster was
at home when the tone came over his beeper: a medical call regarding an
accident on Linden. He jumped in his car and rapidly got to the scene. A young
woman had fallen from her bike and suffered abrasions. He checked to make sure
that there were no serious injuries, and then the paramedics showed up and
transported her to Boulder Community Hospital, from where she was released a
short time later. It was the first time that, as a medical First Responder, he
had actually been the first on the scene. Quite a contrast from his first call
a few months earlier, when on an early morning medical emergency, he had arrived
at the scene, a little groggy, when everyone else had already come and gone! He
had now made the transition from "last responder" to First, one of four
certified First Responders in the Pine Brook Hills section of the Boulder
Mountain Fire Authority (BMFA).
Jim, 58, and his wife Kathy moved to
Pine Brook Hills almost three years ago when they decided to retire while they
were still young enough to do interesting things. After getting a doctorate in
Industrial Engineering from Ohio State (where he had met Kathy), his career had
taken him from teaching at Virginia Tech to corporate positions in Florida,
Seattle, Minneapolis and Milwaukee, managing technology and information
systems. They considered retiring in Florida (too geriatric), Arizona (too hot)
and California (too many people) before settling on Colorado (just right). They
were familiar with the Front Range, vacationing in Estes Park and living in the
foothills seemed an attractive option.
They bought a house and settled in
Pine Brook Hills. Jim's major activity was golf. Kathy had joined the Fire
Auxiliary and urged him to consider joining the volunteer fire department. Jim
did not need much persuasion: it is a vital community service and in the
process he would tackle something new. However, at that time the Pine Brook
Hills and Boulder Heights fire districts were in the process of merging to form
BMFA and recruitment was slightly dysfunctional. Eventually he hooked up with
John Covele, himself a new member of BMFA, who had taken upon himself the task
of orienteering potential new members. Currently, John (BMFA fire fighter of
the year for 2000) is the recruitment officer for BMFA and can be reached
through the BMFA web page,
www.bouldermountainfire.org.
BMFA conducts training and refresher
sessions every month and Jim showed up for the next one. It turned out to be
live fire training at the Fire Center on Lee Hill Road. So his introduction to
fire fighting was to don the gear and breathing apparatus and help lug a hose
into a smoke filled building. No problem.
 He joined a classes for trainees from various
Boulder County fire departments. It met twelve hours a week for three months and
lead to state certification as a fire fighter. Starting with absolutely no
background, he was surprised to discover that fire fighting was much more
scientific than he had thought. Procedures had been developed that were not ad
hoc but based on sound analyses and physical principles of fire behavior. The
quality of the instructors, their high educational levels, and their teaching
ability was another surprise. They were all active professional or volunteer
fire fighters. He thoroughly enjoyed the class room sessions. The major downer
was having to lug a 300 pound dummy full of wet sand out of the training
building. He did get tired of rescuing that dumb dummy. Other aspects of
training, such as climbing a vertical ladder held up by ropes in a parking lot
or diving head first out of a third story window onto a ladder, turned out to be
much easier and safer than preconceived notions would lead one to believe. He
gained confidence and was soon doing things that he never thought he would be
doing after retirement. It was both rewarding and enjoyable, learning the
practical aspects of approaching and attacking a burning structure, how to
extricate someone from a wrecked vehicle, how to rescue people out of buildings
and so many other things. The most important lesson was how success and safety
depended on teamwork and trust of fellow fire fighters.
He was now on a roll. Not content
with just taking the fire fighting course, he signed up to take another course
as a medical first responder. Again starting with no background in medicine, he
learnt, by practicing on dummies: CPR, using automatic cardiac defibrillators,
handling trauma victims and preparing them for paramedics.
A few months ago he successfully
completed both courses, is a state certified fire fighter, and has been active
in responding to BMFA calls. BMFA is a volunteer organization (as are the
majority of fire fighters in this country) and he is awestruck by the commitment
of members, some of whom have been doing this for decades. BMFA, he says, does
not have the world's greatest equipment but there is an enthusiasm and can do
spirit to get the job done. It creates a strong sense of shared community in
both Boulder Heights and Pine Brook Hills. He has also been very impressed by
the educational levels, talents and professional skills of BFMA members.
Any pet peeves? Yes, he has one.
The number of frivolous 911 calls. He wishes that people understand that every
call has to responded to and every call is answered by volunteers who have other
jobs and responsibilities. BMFA volunteers are ready to respond to any kind of
emergency, but calling 911 and asking BMFA to open a jammed window is
inconsiderate.
Any reasons why Pine Brook Hills and
Boulder Heights residents would think that they could not volunteer for BMFA?
He is surprised by the question. There are, he points out, members considerably
older than him, so age is not an issue. There are many functions such as
traffic control, safety officer or helping in the office that are not physically
strenuous. Even the training he has gone through can be successfully completed
by just about everyone. Jim is an good example. He has completed a
professional fire fighting course without undue problems. As noted earlier, he
is 58 years old, but what has not been mentioned previously is that he also has
two artificial hips!
from ON FIRE, Winter 01
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