By Shawn Duncan

Every day fire fighters in your neighborhood are working at the firehouse down the street, ready to respond quickly to your request for assistance. Many people wonder how we spend our days when we are not running emergencies. West Metro Fire Fighters work 48 hour shifts at the station, followed by 96 hours off to rest, spend time with our families, and prepare for our next 48 hour shift. To cover each day, we have three platoons of fire fighters working this schedule so your firehouse is always staffed. To give you an idea of how we spend our time at work, YourHub.com asked for a snapshot into "The Day in the Life of a Fire Fighter." I am that fire fighter/paramedic and my name is Shawn Duncan.

My current assignment with West Metro Fire Rescue is as a Fire Fighter /Medic on Medic 4, one of our nine ambulances. This ambulance is housed at Station 4 on Green Mountain (West Alameda) and ran 2,286 calls in 2007. It's one of our busiest ambulances. Here is a snapshot into my last shift.

6:30 a.m. - My day starts when I arrive at work and prepare for our 0700 start time.

7 a.m. - At 7 a.m., we have line up. This is when the oncoming shift relieves the shift going home and reviews any important information that needs to be passed along to the oncoming crew of fire fighters and officers.

7:15 a.m. - After line up, we begin to check out the apparatus and equipment to make sure everything is ready to go, no matter what comes our way. This can include making sure everything functions, we are stocked with supplies, and making sure we have whatever we may need for the day.

7:47a.m. - Just before 8 a.m. we receive our first 911 call for help. Engine 4 and Medic 4 are called to respond to a 67-year-old male in seizures. Upon arrival, our patient is no longer seizing, so we take his vitals and prepare him for transport to the hospital for further evaluation.

8:50 a.m. - About an hour later, we return to the station and find the engine crew has made a pot of oats and fresh coffee for breakfast. We sit down and eat our now cold oats and drink a cup of coffee while our officer informs us of the daily tasks.

9:30 a.m. - Typically, we spend our mornings trying to get all our housework (yes, we have housework, too!), vehicle maintenance, and other chores done. These chores typically include cleaning the kitchen, preventive maintenance on the rigs, like greasing the engine, cleaning the patient compartment on the ambulance, waxing the trucks, and cleaning the bay floors.

10:30 a.m. - We head to the grocery store to get our food. West Metro fire fighters pay for our own meals while on duty and eat five to six meals at the station during our 48 hours on duty. West Metro's policy allows us to go to do our grocery shopping once during a 48 hour shift, so you're likely to see three or four fire fighters shopping together and an engine or ladder truck parked outside. We do this so we can quickly respond to a 911 call from the store. West Metro fire fighters strive to be always ready to respond when needed.

11:03 a.m.- While at the store, Medic 4 is dispatched to respond with Engine 9 to a nursing home for a 96-year-old female who is having trouble breathing. The engine will have to complete the shopping without us. When we arrive, the Engine 9 crew has the patient stabilized, on oxygen, and ready for transport to the hospital. Medic 4 takes the patient to Lutheran Hospital with the oxygen therapy continued. Also en route, an EKG is done, IV started, blood is drawn, and a thorough physical assessment completed.

12:07 p.m. - While cleaning up at the hospital, we are dispatched to another call with Squrt 2 for a three-month-old child who is not breathing. When we (Medic 4) arrive, the fire fighters from Squrt 2 are just entering the house. We are met by a young mother with a limp baby in her arms. The mother says the last time she saw her baby she was just laying her down for her morning nap. About an hour later, she went in to check on her and couldn't wake her up. The child is quickly loaded into the back of Medic 4 and along with two fire fighters from Squrt 2. The child is taken to St. Anthony Hospital with lights flashing and the siren blaring. Despite the best efforts of everyone involved, the baby cannot be revived. What was the cause of this, I wonder? Possibly SIDS? A lot of times we never know, but the loss of these new young lives is especially difficult. We feel for the family we weren't able to help.

1:27 p.m. - The fire fighters from Squrt 2 rode in the ambulance with us to help with the baby. We drop them off back at their station and then return to our firehouse. The Engine has just returned from a fire alarm at one of the businesses down the road.

2:02 p.m. - We get a chance to eat lunch, although most of us aren't very hungry after talking about the call we just returned from.

3:10 p.m. - I go to the weight room to work out. For me, exercise is one of the ways I deal with the stress of the job. West Metro encourages all of its firefighters to work out and maintain our fitness levels. We have fitness requirements we must meet each year in order to maintain our positions.

4:35 p.m. - Somehow today I finished a workout without getting interrupted with the dispatch tones. Just enough time left for a little R&R before dinner.

5:49 p.m. - I'm awakened by the sound of the engine tones and the station lights turning on to signal an incoming call. The engine is dispatched to a report of a structure fire with several neighboring units. Medic 10 is also responding so we are not initially dispatched with the engine.

5:55 p.m. - Let's see what the engine got for dinner. Looks like the makings for spaghetti. I start chopping vegetables and browning the meat. My partner is checking the supplies on the ambulance to make sure we have enough to get through a busy night. It's started to snow and that typically means we're going to get busy.

6:28 p.m. - Engine 4 returns. The fire turned out to be a pot of beans someone left on the stove when they left home. The beans burned and filled the house with smoke. Luckily for the homeowner, a neighbor heard the smoke detectors and called 911 before the burning pot started a fire.

7:40 p.m. - After a delicious dinner, we all pitch in to clean up the kitchen.

8:11 p.m. - I turn my attention to the computer to wrap up some unfinished medical reports and check the department e-mail.

8:19 p.m. - Engine and Medic 4 are dispatched to a motor vehicle accident. The driver says he isn't hurt and doesn't want to go to the hospital. Engine 4 returns to quarters while Medic 4 calls our physician adviser at St. Anthony Central Hospital to approve the patient's refusal of treatment.

10:06 p.m. - After getting cleaned up from the day's activities, I settle into bed hoping for some sleep. I always have a hard time going to sleep after a tragic call like the one with the infant earlier in the day. I just keep playing the entire scene over and over in my head trying to think of something I could have done to change the outcome. The mother's face when she realized her baby would never cry or say her first words is something I'll never forget.

11:56 p.m. - The lights come on and the tones sound off. I think I've only been asleep for a few minutes. We respond to a 65-year-old female who is unconscious. I try to forget about everything else that has gone on today to concentrate on the potentially critical call. When we arrive, we are met by the family who say they last saw her 30 minutes ago. She is not breathing and has no pulse. We immediately initiate CPR and began breathing for her. After several minutes on scene, we have a breathing tube placed, IV lines in, Epinephrine injected, and we've given two "shocks" with our defibrillator. She has a pulse. We load her into the ambulance and begin the long trip to the ER. When we last see her, she is on a ventilator but still has a pulse on her own. Only time will tell if she will make it and to what extent her brain suffered damage while she was not breathing.

1:12 a.m. - Finally, after returning to the station and cleaning all the equipment used, I'm off to bed again. I am awakened twice during the night by the tones. Once for the engine going out on a fire alarm. I'm not sure what time it was but I was awake long enough to determine it's wasn't a call for the ambulance. The other time was about 0330 to do a blood draw for the police on a guy suspected of drinking and driving.

7:30 a.m. - At 0730 the "wake up" tone goes off. I roll out of bed and into the shower. We have training on emergency medical services at 0830.

8:30 a.m. - As I sit and listen to the instructor, I can't help but reflect upon the previous day's events. I wonder what today will bring. Another sick or injured child? Possibly a fire where I'll be asked to put my life on the line to save a stranger? Everyday is different, but one thing remains the same. The firefighters of West Metro Fire Rescue are here; ready to be the best part of your worst day.

Fire Fighter/Medic Shawn Duncan joined West Metro in 2005. Before joining West Metro, he worked as a fire fighter with Arvada Fire Protection District. Shawn is a snare drummer with the Colorado Emerald Society Pipe Band. He and his wife, Jenn, live in Arvada.