Linda

“BEEP BEEP BEEP all box nine stations. Stand by. We have a report of an aircraft down on the south end of O’Hare Field; all stations and units respond. Wil from rescue 27 will assume acting chief and will be in SQ1. Keep all channels open.” Ten cars lights and sirens blaring headed for their stations. Linda was in truck 35 with six ladies. Waiting for us to get there all of the stations and trucks started for the scene. I was leading and the city’s PDs had units at all the lighted intersections so we could get right through. We got there I was in contact with O’Hara units so we could get where they needed us. “All box nine units come in on the south side use gate 14, brush truck 27 will mark the location. We have been assigned the front portion of the plane. It is an Overland 707 with 296 people on board. We have a large fuel spill, O’Hara has foamed most of the spill, engine 27 & 36 setup for foam operation and watch for breaks in the fuel cover. Truck 35 is setup just north of gate 14.” When we got to the plane we had approximately fifty passenger that were injured and several deceased. “SQ. 1 to box nine dispatch we need all available ambos and rescue units in the area, correction, in the counties to assist and transport. Put the hospitals on standby, they are going to be flooded. This is the worst we have had.” “They have been and are ready” Chicago says they do not have any units available and they cannot provide escort for hospital personnel coming out from city hospitals to assist. That is typical of Chicago. The O’Hara fire crew had fire suits that would provide them protection if there was a flash fire in the fuel. So they rescued the victims that were in the fuel and took them to one of decontamination stations if it was a female then lady firefighters deconed them when it was possible. They were totally soaked in fuel there cloth had to be removed to the skin so they could be decontaminated. Then they were helped get dress white body suits. If a lady did not get dried off real well they became very revealing. But it was still better then naked. Some of them had no idea what we were going through and wanted us to find their bags so they could get dressed. Once you are cleared by the medics you well get transported to the airport. They have set up some of the stores to donate cloths of all sizes for you till they find your bags or determine if they are lost. We had to try to stop the blood lose in many victim. We ran out absorbent pads for the amputations, thank goodness that some ladies had packed Kotex napkins, they worked for controlling blood loose. We hauled out 61 injured, some were missing arms and legs. We heard back from the hospital that the sanitary napkins that we used for absorbent pads for stopping blood loss on the amputations was an excellent idea. There were a total of 32 survivors that were not injured or only slight injuries, 14 that were critical, and 22 deceased. There were body parts all over the area. We recovered body parts and tried to match them with the right bodies. That was a very time taking procedure. We also recovered the orange (black) boxes. The three in the cockpit had survived but were seriously injured. When we got done we were exhausted and were a pile of frazzled minds and bodies. You don’t go through that and not get physically and mentally destroyed. We cleared at 2339 hours. We drove slowly back to the stations. We pulled in and I told the members just get the equipment ready for response. Don’t worry about cleanup we can take care of that tomorrow. We have been to hell and back tonight. You all did a stand up job out there. Thank you. I parked SQ 1 in its’ spot and made sure that all the used equipment was replaced in it. Linda came over to me and hugged me and said from what the guys said that came to the booth it was really bad. “We had several guys from other departments came to us we took care of them they wanted to pay and we would not take it. I hope that is ok?” “Sure, under that kind of a situation that is fine, if we went to theirs they would charge us but that is ok. It was so bad out there that anything that helped is ok. Let’s go home. You drive I am wiped out.” Linda said, “Ok, you can just rest I will drive slowly.” I slid down in the seat and went to sleep. When we got home Linda pulled the car in the garage and laid over on me and went to sleep. I kind of woke up and put my arm around her and went back to sleep. Some guy was tapping on the window telling us we should wake up and go in the house. “My lady you should wake up. Are you ok! Are you ok!” Linda woke up and then she woke me up and I said, “Where are we?” “We are in the car in the garage at our house. You were so asleep that I did not have the heart to wake you up. So I laid over on you and went to sleep.” “On top of me, the way I smell, how could you?” “I remember when we both smelled that bad and did not care. I love you. You did so good last night.” “You mean sleeping,” I said. “No at taking care of the crash.” Linda said we should pray for the survivors of crash, the families of the deceased and anyone else that the Lord knows needs His special comfort. We prayed for about one, half an hour taking turns. “was terrible when you have to take care of all those people hurt so bad it really tears you up and wears you out” I said. We spent two days getting everything cleaned up.