Nobody walks to... San Mateo County Parks???

Cities are for people. Unfortunately, they are rarely designed for people. It is usually apparent that those in power--and those designing cities and putting up signs--are not thinking like pedestrians. No wonder it is hard to get people out of their cars--people keep designing places for cars and not people. See my previous post about this.

On Tuesday, I walked from Emeryville to Oakland. As I approached a bridge that clearly had no sidewalks, I began looking for alternatives. The expected "no pedestrians on bridge" sign was very clear, and included an apparently helpful "use walkway" directive. As I got to the sign, there was no indication of what direction the "walkway" would be in, and no obvious place for pedestrians to go. So I walked across the parking lot of a private business, and reached another street that had sidewalks, although not exactly going in the direction I was hoping for. After going down that street a ways, I crossed it, and walked on the other side, eventually reaching a walkway that ramped up next to a wall and dead-ended at a locked maintenance entrance of a large building. No signs had indicated this sidewalk would dead-end at a private business with a locked door. I guess no one unfamiliar with the area ever walks there. I walked back to the intersection, went around the wall into the street, and walked down the bike lane for a block or so until a sidewalk resumed.

On Thursday, I was part of a group of young children, parents, and teachers that were walking from Redwood Glen Camp in Loma Mar to Memorial Park. We wanted to walk to the Mt. Ellen Trail through a campground that was closed for repaving, but since many in the group had walked through the campground the previous day, and since we weren't trying to camp there, we assumed it was okay as long as we stayed out of the way of the workers and off the fresh asphalt.

A short walk on a trail past the closed sign led us to a campground loop, with a San Mateo County Park Ranger vehicle parked on the freshly paved asphalt at a water treatment building. Our leader walked over to the ranger, telling him we were trying to get to the Mt. Ellen Trail. The ranger, clearly not happy that we were there, told us that closed means closed, and began to say "You need to get back in your cars and..."

LVVFD Calls: 3rd call in two days and 3rd early morning call of the past week

I was on the Lee Vining Volunteer Fire Department for 15 years. This was one of my first few calls after joining. Some names may be changed.

Tuesday April 9, 1996, 6:45 AM (a reasonable hour!)

The pager woke me up, and my first thought was, "not another one!"

As I dressed, the dispatcher said there was an overturned vehicle "15 miles south of Lee Vining, no more."

It seemed far--too far, actually--since the June Lake Junction is 11 miles, and well-within the territory of the June Lake Volunteer Fire Department. But I decided to go anyway, since I figured that somebody should show up.

I was the first one there, and opened the door and got my turnouts on. Nobody else was there yet. It was quiet. I fired up the suburban, got out, got my helmet, and got back in. Still no one.

I got out, went to the front, looked outside, didn't see anyone, got back in, and waited.

Finally, Matt drove up. He came in, and Tom followed soon. I got out, asked them where everybody was as they grabbed their turnouts. Tom hopped in with me, and Matt got into #3. I pulled the suburban out, and Tom told dispatch we were responding.

I headed south, and just south of town we heard a 10-22, which means cancel your response. I pulled into the old Hwy 120 intersection to turn around. The medics were told to continue responding, since there was an elderly man walking around the vehicle.

I drove us back, passed Matt, and I backed into the garage. I nearly clipped the left-side mirror, but parked it on my first try, no forward/backward stuff. It was easier because #3 (which shared a bay) wasn't in the way. Matt then backed #3 in.

We discussed the weirdness of the call, and why no one else showed up--because they heard where the call was on the pager (Tom didn't hear it).

Tom said his wife told him not to set his alarm this morning--he wouldn't need it. She was right.

LVVFD Calls: Sports car in Lee Vining Creek; Dawn over Mono Lake found instead of a mobile home on fire

I was on the Lee Vining Volunteer Fire Department for 15 years. These were some of my first few calls after joining. Some names may be changed.

Tuesday April 2, 1996, Afternoon

Geoff, Laura, and I responded from work (again), and I rode with Nick. A car was reported in the water below the Scenic Area Visitor Center, and we weren't sure where to go. We went to the Visitor Center and discovered everyone was out. We returned. Grif showed us a polaroid of a red sports car in Lee Vining Creek at the County Road crossing.

After work, I drove down there and saw the creek looked higher, and looked deeper and like it changed course since the last time I had been there.

About a year later, Mono County applied for FEMA disaster funding to replace the culvert at that location, which had washed out in 1995. They didn't get the funding when FEMA discovered the culvert had washed out a-year-and-a-half prior to the disaster declaration. Twenty years later, that crossing is still a low-water crossing suitable only for four-wheel-drive vehicles--had FEMA funded a new culvert, it is doubtful a culvert of a large enough capacity would have been installed to have lasted through several large floods.

Monday April 8, 1996, 5:30 AM

I woke to the beeper that I borrowed from Mike going off, and then I heard the fire siren. I dressed and listened to the dispatcher tell of a mobile home on fire halfway up Conway Summit. I rode my bike to the fire hall as Dick got there, and he started up the big 1967 truck while I put my turnouts on.

Matt and Tom arrived and took #3 out, while Dick and I waited a couple more minutes for anybody else to arrive. No one showed so we took off.

It was just starting to get light, and the brightening sky was reflecting off Mono Lake. We didn't find anything on Conway, and Matt and Tom didn't find anything as far as the Bodie Road. We turned around, so did the medics, and I went home before Tom and Matt got back. It was getting pretty light, and I was really tired.

The next call was my first experience with a real-life CPR situation. Names and some graphic details have been left out of this account.

Monday April 8, 1996, 9:15 AM

A busy morning! I got to work at 9 AM, and was sitting at my desk when my beeper went off. I ran to the fire station, and heard the dispatcher say something about a medical call at the SCE substation. I got to the fire hall first, opened the door, and put on my turnouts. Dick, Tom, Mike, and Cedar all piled into the suburban, and we drove to the substation.

It was at the house across the creek, and a woman was outside. We were informed over the radio that CPR was being attempted. We got inside to find an SCE employee wearing a June Lake Fire hat administering CPR to the white and grey-bearded victim who was lying on the floor in front of the bathroom. He had found him when he didn't come to work at 9 AM, and the victim's wife last saw him at 6:30 AM.

We had problems getting the oxygen going as CPR continued. The medics arrived and administered drugs, an IV, and hooked up their heart monitor. I helped Cedar hold the IV. The victim's feet were turning blue. They put him on a backboard and lifted him onto a gurney. They wheeled him into the ambulance, and we cleaned up inside.

When we got outside, the ambulance was getting a jump from an SCE truck. Dick drove the ambulance and we returned to base.

Matt complained about not hearing where it was, and nobody writing the call/location on the chalk board or answering his questions on the radio. When I mentioned I had CPR training, Tom asked why I didn't speak up. I said it looked like they had it under control, and since they had more experience, I didn't want to get in the way. Cedar (who also didn't help with CPR, but was an EMT) said it would have been good practice, since I couldn't have messed anything up--the victim had been down for two hours already. It is a good reminder that anytime CPR is needed, the victim is already dead--your interventions can only help bring them back to life, so you shouldn't be shy about jumping in.

Two years later I became an EMT, and then I was a first aid/CPR instructor for a few years.

LVVFD Calls: Driver under the influence with no seatbelt goes off the road

I was on the Lee Vining Volunteer Fire Department for 15 years. This was one of my first few calls after joining. Some names may be changed. After this call, I realized that if you do two things, you greatly reduce your chances of being in an accident and being injured: wear your seat belt and don't drive under the influence.

Sunday March 31, 1996, Afternoon

I was at work, and the fire siren went off. Geoff and I responded. He rode with Steve and Matt, and I rode with Dick. A pickup truck with Washington plates ran off the road at the SCE substation near Hwy 395 and Hwy 120. Matt was the first one on scene. The truck's engine was still running. He found a woman slumped over without her seatbelt on. He tapped on the window and she came to. She was totally out of it and was mumbling. We got her on a backboard and pulled her out--she moaned and reached for a hand. I held her hand and told her it was okay.

We put her down in the shade of the suburban, gave her oxygen, and the medics arrived. Matt found speed in the truck--she was way high. When the medics started working with her, she started yelling "no needles!" for seemingly no reason. We got her in the ambulance.

CHP arrived and began investigating. They found drugs and associated paraphernalia, and $3,000 cash. There was a cat box in the back, but no cat to be found. Shelly pulled the truck out of the brush, and an SCE employee drove it over to the 76 station. We returned to quarters.

A newspaper article contained the following information:

   A Shelton, Wash. woman was
arrested Sunday afternoon on charges
of driving under the influence and
possession of methamphetamine,
marijuana, and paraphernalia.
   E.R. MacBeth, 32, was
found unconscious in the driver's seat
of her 1989 Ford pickup by Lee Vin-
ing volunteer firefighters after the
truck ran off the roadway.
   The California Highway Patrol
said that for unknown reasons Mac-
Beth ran off the east side of U.S. 395
two-tenths of a mile north of state
Route 120 west. MacBeth received
minor injuries, was treated at Mam-
moth Hospital and later booked into
the Mono County Jail. Bail is set at
$10,000. Her arraignment was set for
Tuesday, April 2.

She ran off the road for "unknown reasons"? Um, she was too high to drive.

LVVFD Calls: Single vehicle rollover

I was on the Lee Vining Volunteer Fire Department for 15 years. This was one of my first few calls after joining. Some names may be changed. Single vehicle rollover accidents are exceedingly common on Highway 395. An inattentive driver (often sleeping) will go off the road at a high speed, and as soon as a tire goes off the pavement the driver snaps to attention and over-corrects, flipping the vehicle (often an SUV with a high center of gravity).

Thursday April 4, 1996

The siren roused us at about 2:45 AM. I put on socks, jeans, shoes, shirt, hat, glasses, grabbed my keys and wallet, and ran out to the garage. I rode my bike over to the fire hall just as a couple of other trucks were arriving. Others were already there.

As we put our turnouts on, I discovered that it was a single vehicle rollover, but that we didn't know where. We were in the trucks waiting to go when finally the dispatcher told us it was between Lee Vining and the Grant Lake turnoff. Steve and Geoff rolled out in #2 ahead of us, and Tom was ahead too. Cedar hopped in with Dick and me, and we followed in the Suburban, which was our medical response vehicle.

A bright full moon lit up the early-morning Mono Basin landscape as we headed south on Hwy 395 with lights flashing, looking for an overturned vehicle. We reached Hwy 158 and hadn't found it, so we took the June Lake Loop while the other truck headed back north. We reached Grant Lake Reservoir and were halfway down the length of it when the radio told us it was found on Hwy 395 near the Parker Lake turnoff. We turned around.

We next heard that the found vehicle was just pulled off the road with people sleeping in it. So we kept looking.

The medics had arrived at the junction when we did, and had turned around. We were now back at the junction, and Dick went over to Billy's truck, then came back and said we needed to go all the way to Silver Lake.

Just as we left, the medics radioed that they found it on Sandhouse Grade about a mile south. We turned around again, radioed to Geoff and Steve, and arrived at the scene.

There was an overturned minivan on the right side of the road with its rear sticking into the right lane. It had gone up the right embankment and rolled. The medics were already there with a woman in back. Five other Hungarians and Germans were standing around in the cold, but looked bundled enough. The medics told us they only needed us for traffic control. There were a few beers sitting at the edge of the road--unopened.

Flares were put out, and we waited for CHP to show up. The minivan was slightly dirty and dented (and on its roof!), but was amazingly intact. Its parking lights were on. It was incredible that five out of six people had virtually no injuries. One guy's shoulder hurt in addition to the woman in the ambulance. He didn't want to go to the hospital, though--as was made clear by the only woman who could translate. They requested that their friends at Motel 6 in Mammoth be notified.

CHP arrived, the ambulance left with 3 victims, and we put the others in the suburban (2) and CHP car (1) to keep warm. We stood around, lit more flares, and finally got them all in the CHP car so we could leave. Shelly was on his way with the tow truck, and Tom and Steve stayed behind in the #2 truck. Dick, Geoff, Cedar, and I returned in the suburban.