Heroic Acts
 

Have you ever done anything that could be considered heroic? Have you saved the day by running into a burning building and rescuing little children? Maybe you got the neighbor's cat out of a tree or given life saving CPR to a stranger.

Give us your 15 minutes of fame.

Sent police to the home of a woman who was preparing to kill herself and her three children by driving off the boat ramp in Norristown.

She was very pissed off.

Why is it that suicidal people who call the hotline and tell you all kinds of very serious things get surprised when you send the cops?

This would not have been an overly spectacular call, except that when she called, she was just asking for the phone numbers of some homeless shelters ... but she was crying way too much, and so I just kept talking to her ... eventually she alluded to "my decision" and wouldn't tell me what that was for a bit ... until the plan to load the kids in the carseats and drive into the Schuylkill was finally on the table.

A friend of mine was getting swarmed so I jumped in and saved his ass. It's a long story but I almost got my own ass kicked, too. The shitty thing was that 5 of our supposed buds watched from a STAIRWELL 15 FEET AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so mad I almost took a shovel to them.

All those cowards who think 8 on 1 is a fair fight- oooh you're so tough. As soon as there were two, you backed up a bit, didn't you????????

Have given rescue breathing to kid found at bottom of pool. Yes pulse, no breathing. Kid was ok, coughed up pink foam when he started breathing again. Don't feel heroic, I was the lifeguard, just doin my job, yada yada.

The second coolest thing was (after the fact that the kid was ok) was that the training just kicked in. See kid, get kid, check vitals, open airway, pinch nose, breathe, check, etc., like a machine, like a drill, a boring test.

After, I was shaking.

I put out a kitchen fire in my house when I was in my early teens. My mom left a pan of oil heating for a few minutes and was momentarily upstairs when it ignited. I heard the burst of flames and crackling of a fire from the living room. I emptied a fire extinguisher on it and then switched to the sink faucet spray wand to finish off the grease-laden curtains that were still burning. I had the fire out in less than a minute.

After the fire department left, we went to McDonalds for dinner.

We had to re-paint the kitchen and all the ceilings in the house because of the smoke stains, and sand down some charring on a few cabinets and refinish them.

The fire would have been much worse if I hadn't heard the initial ignition. The smoke detector didn't go off until about 2-3 minutes after I had already put the fire out, and there was a lot of thick black oily smoke being generated by this fire.

In college I broke up a group of guys standing around while one (or more) of their friends beat up this guy. It turns out this guy got a little drunk and rowdy and messed with their buddy working security in the campus bar (NY 1970's- 18 was legal age). Most of these guys were off-duty campus student security and decided to teach this guy a lesson.

All I really had to do was yell to let them know they were seen and that I wasn't going to walk away and pretend it wasn't happening.

While working in the prison I almost got in trouble for saving someone's life once. Inmates attempting suicide is not uncommon but it's mostly just a cry for attention as they usually plan the attempt when they know someone will be coming by shortly to see and save them. Occasionally their plans backfire and the attempt turns successful.

This one time an inmate tore up his bed sheets to fashion a noose and hung himself from the light fixture in his cell. He hung there long enough for his face to turn blue until my partner and I happened to walk by and see him. We quickly opened his cell door and while my partner held him up to relieve the tension on the noose, I cut the inmate down using a small pocket knife. We laid the guy on the floor and I had to cut the knotted sheet from around his neck before he finally took a gasp of air. Help arrived, the inmate was rushed to the prison hospital and I filled out the required incident report paperwork.

A while later that night one of the lieutenants reviewing the paperwork called me into his office and told me I didn't say in my incident report what I had used to cut the inmate down with. Mind you, carrying a knife, no matter how small, in the prison is a major no-no. Regardless, I told him I'd used a little pocket knife. The lieutenant says "No, what did you use to cut the guy down?" Catching his tone I said "uh, a pair of nail clippers?" He says "OK, good work, carry on."

Saved someone's life and had to lie about it, go figure! :eyebrow:

I arrested a criminal in London once. Saw him standing with an officer at the corner when we passed by. Was talking about it with my friend when the man rushed by. Looked back and saw the police-man running. Well because of my training at military academy I thought I could be faster. Started sprinting and took the criminal down with one of the self-defense blows I learned and handed him over to the officer who arrived 1 minute later and jumped with his knee first on the fugitive's back. Think he was pissed of...

During my first aid course, I had some parctical courses on a shooting range, when one of the soldiers shot himself, in the chest. There were only my instructor and me to help this stupid guy, save his live until the ambulance with a doctor arrived...

That might have been a mistake, he might shoot you next time. :eyebrow:

At the summer camp I worked at in high school, some dumbshit camper was poking a stick in the campfire and knocked over a log that sent a grapeshot of embers in the direction of the director's 5-year-old son, who was being stupid and sitting just a few feet from the fire ring. A few small burning coals managed to fall into the hood of his sweatshirt, and a bit of smoldering quickly turned into a mess of melting acrylic just inches from the back of his head.

The director's wife panicked when she located the source of the smell. I pulled her son away from the fire and tried to smother the burning hood in my hand while calmly asking him if he was hot and wanted to remove his sweater. I didn't give him a chance to answer; I yanked the shirt over his head and stomped it into the ground.

The damage? Mostly light first degree burns on my hand, and one small blistering spot between my thumb and forefinger. The director's wife called it a heroic act, but I was more disappointed that even with all my years of scouting and watching pyromanic peers nearly kill themselves on numerous occasions, I would allow the dumbshit camper to play with the fire and let their son get so close to the hearth. :flamer: