Hi Martin,

I feel your pain and frustration.

A number of years ago, I was at lunch when an alert came across the pager for a chimney fire with extension. Since I was nearby, I decided to check things out. Since it was lunchtime, staffing was tight and the Chief asked me to help out on the roof. While there was one ladder already up, he wanted a second ladder (for safety) put up. Well, I got a ladder off of the truck, but there was no one to help or heel the ladder, it was only 15 feet, so I figured what the heck, put the ladder up and climbed. Just I got to the top, the ladder slid and I knew I was going down. As I hit the ground, I instinctually put out my hands to break the fall. While I was a little dazed, I got back up, put the ladder back up and helped out for a good half –hour. Once things calmed down, he called me over and asked if I was okay. I told my arms stung a little, but no big deal, he told me to head on over to the hospital anyway and get checked out. As soon as I got back to my car and took my turnout coat off, the pain hit me like a freight train. Fortunately, my wife was with me and could drive me over to the hospital, where the x-ray showed fractures in both wrists, with the left only being minor. It was an interesting and challenging 6 weeks.

Cheer up and get better soon-
Pete