This is one of those stories that sounds funny at first but really wasn't. It turned serious real quick.
I was working at one of our outlying stations with a captain I'd never worked with and a probie firefighter I'd only met once. This station is in a district with a lot of wildland interface, hilly roads, freeway responses, and a long canyon road leading out of town. We had had a pretty slow day but then started running calls about 4 a.m. After unsuccessfully trying to get to sleep for the third time we got dispatched to a traffic accident on the canyon road. It was about 5:30 in the morning now.
I hopped into my turnout gear and was ready to jump on the rig when the dispatcher stated we were responding for a motorcycle vs. cow. Seriously? Where the hell am I? Motorcycle vs. cow???
The location of the accident was mid-way between us and the neighboring department so they sent a rig down the canyon road and we went up. We reached the reported location and found no cow, no motorcycle, no anything. Dispatch reported that the other department's rig was on scene of the accident (further up the road) and needed us to continue in for traffic control and manpower. In reality, I knew from the initial dispatch that this would probably be a bad scene. If a motorcycle hits anything it is usually bad, but if one hits a cow then it is certainly bad news for the rider (and probably the cow). The fact that the other department still wanted our help for just one patient did not bode well.
I drove on up the canyon until we found the scene of the accident. I positioned my engine to block the area from traffic and headed over to the rider. I still didn't see a cow, but I did see a motorcycle on the ground, a helmet on the ground, and a busy fire crew working on the unconscious rider. I glanced over at the helmet to assess the level of damage. Thankfully it looked in good shape, no big dents or cracks....but...it was full of blood. We joined the other crew who had just extricated the rider from under the guard rail and cut his shirt and jacket off. He, like the helmet, looked physically undamaged...but...he had a large amount of bubbling blood pouring out of his mouth as he struggled to breathe. He was definitely bleeding into his lungs, at a minimum. We finished stripping and stabilizing him and got him into the ambulance. My paramedic firefighter jumped on board also and the ambulance crew still wanted another rider. I jumped in too and my captain said he would drive the engine to the hospital to pick us up.
En route I tried to get an IV in his arm and couldn't find any good access. I wound up putting an IO in his leg (drilling a large bore IV into the bone). The ambulance medic got him tubed and, combined with the fluids going in the IO, we got a passable blood pressure and good capnography numbers. We were constantly suctioning blood from his mouth though.
It was a seriously bloody mess. My gloves were covered in blood, but my firefighter (who was doing the suctioning and bvm) had to put his turnout coat in a hazmat bag just to get it back to the station to be cleaned. I truly have no idea how the rider is going to fair. If it is just chest trauma and they got him to surgery quick enough, he could be fine. If he has multiple organ or system injuries, spinal damage, or a head injury it could be seriously bad news. Hopefully we'll get a follow up and find out how he did.
So, did you forget about the cow?
I bet you're still wondering about the cow, right? I thought so. Well, it turns out there was no cow. There was a fawn. Now, after reading what the rider went through, let's don't be all, awwwwww the poor fawn. The fawn was dead but intact (no blood) and knocked clear across the roadway onto the shoulder with what appeared to be (at a quick glance) a broken neck. My guess is that the fawn was killed instantly.
What I want to know is who the hell reported this accident and mistook a fawn for a cow???
Can you spot the difference?
