Life & Safety with Jimmy Rios
Welcome to Life & Safety with Jimmy Rios! Get ready to dive into a world where safety meets storytelling! Drawing from his rich background as a former firefighter, EMT and safety expert, Jimmy brings you straight into the heart of safety and emergency preparedness. Episodes feature easy-to-understand tips, real-life stories, and interviews with experts, all designed to help you protect yourself, your business, and those you care about.
Whether it's advice on navigating everyday safety challenges or insights into the latest in health and safety trends, let this podcast educate and entertain you. Join Jimmy and level-up your safety knowledge with engaging discussions that could one day save a life.
Life & Safety with Jimmy Rios
Why Do Ride-Alongs Bring Out The Crazy?
Ever wonder what happens when you bring someone along for a ride-along on a ambulance or a fire engine for the day? According to first responders, it’s either a total snooze-fest, or a wild and crazy adventure—and there’s rarely anything in between. In this episode, Jimmy and Megan dig into the strange superstition known as the “ride-along curse,” sharing their own stories from both sides of the experience.
From Megan’s unforgettable EMT training shift—starting with a pedestrian hit by a bus, and ending inside a jail—to Jimmy’s long string of chaotic ride-along days involving helicopter transfers, mental health crises, and a particularly animated gunshot patient. These stories aren’t just for shock value. They show how even routine calls can spiral, how adrenaline can affect performance, and why real-life practice is essential for responders at any level.
At Life Safety Associates, we train safety teams to stay calm under pressure—and that means preparing for days like these. Whether it’s your first shift or your fiftieth, the ability to reset, refocus, and work the problem is what separates the confident from the overwhelmed. This episode dives into what that looks like in real time—so you'll be ready to expect the unexpected.
Life Safety Associates specializes in emergency response training for corporate ERT Teams. We help businesses create competent and confident first responders who are ready to handle unexpected emergencies. For more information you find us @lifesafetyassoc or email@lifesafety.com.
What's happening. It's Jimmy with your girl, megs with another life and safety podcast, hello, and today we're going to talk about the ride along curse. So you're like what is that? It's a thing you get the most worst, crazy, busiest day when you are a ride-along or you have a ride-along with you, or you absolutely have the most boring down.
Megan :Don't do anything day and there is no in-between.
Jimmy:There's no in-between, it's a thing between. There's no in between, it's a thing. And so what a ride along is is lots of times people will want to just see how it is and get on an ambulance or a police car or a fire engine and just ride along and just spend the day, a shift, with that entity and to see what's going on and kind of see how the other half live. If you will, there's also an EMT school. You have to have a ride along part of the curriculum, but you have to do it, I think. I think I live up to one shift, right, correct? Yeah, it's one shift. Now, and I'm asking Megan because she's went through EMT school closest, or?
Jimmy:most recently thank you, better words, um. So I've been on both sides of this coin multiple times. So I'll tell one of my earliest, back when I was still in high school, when I went to EMT school. I had to do my ride-along for EMT school and I went to the local ambulance house. I remember I grew up in a small town and there was two ambulances was two ambulances and one kind of midtown to one part of the town and then one farther up the street for the other side of the town.
Jimmy:And, um, they got there and we didn't do anything. Oh no, you sat there and they were like, did you you bring your EMT book? And I go, yeah, and they said, okay, start rereading the first five chapters. And I was like what and I actually rode with um, one of my EMT instructors because I thought I would be able to get like some more hands-on and like just get more training were like, yeah, just be the first five, we'll see what happens. And she came to our small town from like la city and so she was like super, like just seasoned the new, lots of stuff. And I was like, okay, and then what? And then she's like we're gonna wait for a call and I'm like, okay, and then what?
Jimmy:and she's like we're gonna wait for a call. So I'm like, oh this is pretty boring so she like, do you want to train on anything? And I was like, after like the first three hours and I was like yeah, let's train on.
Jimmy:You know this apparatus and I was like, okay, and it was the hardest apparatus, arguably because there's just lots of steps and lots of straps and I don't remember what it's called. I don't think they use them anymore, but it was a green, fairly flexible backboard, basically that went around your head and around your torso and actually you're sitting down oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, the uh, oh, what's it called?
Megan :what's it called? I want to call it the kid.
Jimmy:Yes, that is, we still train on that nice so we had to do the kid and I don't know why, but I was like freaking out, I couldn't do it. I think it was because I was in front of my instructor and like her paramedic partner and I was just like I don't know, I just wasn't doing a good job, like I'm choking and and she's like you got to figure this out, hurry up. And I was like, ah, and it kind of bothered me. And then we started putting it away and we got a call out and it was my buddy's grandma. Wow, that's rough, unconscious, unresponsive, not breathing grandma, that's rough.
Jimmy:Unconscious unresponsive not breathing and my instructor took the family out. And that's when, if you've been in our classes before, I've told the story about the first time I ever did CPR. That was that? And went back to the station and I was like what the F just happened? That was crazy. And they're like, yeah, one minute you're not doing anything and then you get on it and you're just like crazy and I was like, wow, you can't always be like this.
Jimmy:And they were like nah, not really. We either run two or three calls a day or we don't do anything. And I was like, okay, and they're like we'll probably get another one. So it was a 12-hour shift and that was the only call I got, so guess what? I left. They ran all night. So it was like super crazy. So like, that's just like one example.
Megan :And I know you've had a couple ride-ons right yeah, I um, because I was a squad leader for my, for the squad at my class um, they allowed squad leaders the opportunity to do a ride-along on a 911 rig. Normally the ride-alongs they did with Royal Ambulance was who we mostly worked with, and they do IFT or inter-facility transport, my words, which is just bringing patients who have graduated out of hospital and taking them to a skilled nursing facility or bringing them back home or transferring from one hospital to another Usually nothing particularly life-saving, typically the patients are pretty stable and you're just sort of transporting them. But so I got to work a 911 shift, which is the you know the prized shift where you get to do some, hopefully some actual life-saving things. And I had the crazy shift, the nonstop we worked. I got there at like I think, probably 8 pm and like 10 minutes into our call we got the or 10 minutes into the shift we got the call that there was a patient who was a pedestrian who was hit by a bus and was in pretty bad shape, and so it was like, right off the bat, we're starting strong, got a lot to do and the patient, unfortunately, was with his dog at the time when the dog did not make it. The patient, unfortunately, was with his dog at the time when the dog did not make it and this dog was obviously really well cared for, much more cared for than the human.
Megan :And I think the hardest part about that call fair warning it gets rough, but the hardest part about that call for me was that the patient, like every you know, 30 seconds to a minute would ask me, hey, where's my dog? What happened to my dog? And I'd have to remind him. Oh well, do you remember what I told you? Your dog died. Your dog didn't make it and he kept asking.
Megan :I had to keep reminding him because we had to check his mental acuity and figure out, you know, make sure that he could remember things that just happened. We were pretty sure that he had a massive head injury because one of his pupils was a different size than the other and also with the, you know, resetting memory every 30 seconds to a minute was not a good sign, but he was up and talking and was in pain but was pretty high functioning, for you know, somebody who was just hit by a bus. And then I was really freaked out because this was my first time working on a real human and it was like this crazy. You know you don't expect your first patient to be. You know a pedestrian who was hit by a bus and I freaked out.
Jimmy:I was like ah.
Megan :I don't know what's happening. I don't even remember where to start. Yeah, it was not my finest moment.
Jimmy:Um, how much did they let you like talk to the patient really?
Megan :They actually let me do a lot. It was I was really lucky Um, my, the paramedic who was on the rig that I worked on was friends with my EMT school teacher and so uh, which is how I got to do the ride along, um, and so he was warned that I was coming and like knew of me and that I was one of Jerry's kids, and so he let me do a lot. I got to do a lot of the secondary exams, so like checking the head for BCAP, bcap what Wow? Oh my God. Dcap, yeah, dcap. Pdls oh wow. Acronyms Ac my God, dcap, yeah, dcap. Ptls oh wow.
Jimmy:Acronyms. Acronyms.
Megan :But I got to, like you know, do it. But I just forgot everything. And I was like, ah, eyes, okay, pupils, not equal round and responsive to like, oh my God, leg, leg injury, does he have a pedal pulse? And I was like like jumping all over the body, which is not what you're supposed to do. And then eventually we dropped the patient off and then the paramedic was like so how do you, how do you think that went? I was like not great. And he said, yeah, that was not good. Let's, let's talk it through. What are you supposed to do? And I was like, now that I wasn't in the adrenaline fueled, like what is going on? I was like, oh well, you know, you start with the head and then you move down and then you go in order and this is, and I like recited the procedure. And he was like, yeah, why didn't you do that? I was like I don't know.
Megan :And then Blood and shit bro yeah, right, but so my brain just completely left me on that first patient, um. But, like I said, he was up and talking. And then, uh, we actually had a patient later that night and brought it to the same hospital and they're like, hey, were you guys the one who brought in the pedestrian? We're like, yeah, and he was like he crashed almost immediately after Um, like he was in the, he was in the CT machine and like his heart stopped and they started doing CPR on him and running codes. And it was crazy, like how he was. He seemed perfectly fine. Like I was like, wow, this guy got away unscathed from a bus accident and then he did not. I don't know if he lived or died. I like to think that they, you know, you know, brought him back, but I don't know.
Jimmy:Yeah.
Megan :But it was so crazy to be like, yeah, one moment he was up and talking and you know functioning, and then the next he was having someone do CPR on him. It's crazy.
Jimmy:Yeah.
Megan :And then the next call out. We had like maybe 10, 15 minutes to do our paperwork. And then we got another call to the jail for a suspected overdose in the jail. So I got to go inside the jail and, like you know, see the patient and help get him out. And that one I was more prepared. I was like, okay, I'm ready, I'm going to remember how to do the procedure. I don't want to, you know, let my teachers down, right, but that one was a crazy one, because they're like what the cellmate was like uh, I don't know really what happened. Like he he might have taken something, but I don't know. But then he was shaking and now he's on the floor and now he's not breathing right and he sounds weird and I can't wake him up and I don't really know what happened.
Megan :We're like okay, um, and because this, you know, this one I took more of a backseat from and I just sort of watched and didn't do too too much on, because you know we had the sheriff's officers there, you know, escorting the patient and you know it was just, it was a, it was a charged situation, but I did get to give Narcan to the patient and it did not help. So we know that it wasn't an opioid overdose, or at least not only an opioid overdose, and we, you know, I got to put the NRM, the non-rebreather mask, on him so he was still breathing on his own but he wasn't getting enough oxygen. So we put oxygen on him um, and then, other than that, I just kind of watched while they transported him um and they gave me the option to not sit in the back because they're like, well, it's a full house back here. We got um, we had the, my paramedic um from the unit I was on, and then we had one of the firefighters come along, and then we had one of the sheriffs um to come to come along to be in custody of him.
Megan :I was like you can sit back here if you want, but you got to sit in the jump seat and you got to, you know. And so I was like, are you kidding? Of course I'm going back there. Of course I don't want to miss out on this opportunity. Yeah, um, but it was. Those are the fullest house in the back of a rig that I experienced. Yeah, as far as I'm aware, I don't know what happened. I mean, he was still not awake by the time we dropped him off.
Jimmy:Wow, we had another friend, no, in the know, in the know, in the know-know, and we were doing a way to ride along and we ended up with three students on the ambulance. So there's five people in the ambulance. Oh my gosh. And it was really messed up because the two of the ambulances they're supposed to take, the two other kids I'll say it that way Saw them and left were like no, not today. And we ended up with some pretty crazy calls. We ended up with a transfer from a helicopter to the children's hospital for arguably, probably one of the worst top three worst calls I ever saw. We're not going to talk about that.
Jimmy:And we got directly after that call call. We had a person and on the ground it was a really hot like fall day. Yeah, I had to go in the fall because I wasn't working on the fire engine, I was already out of the season, so late fall, and it was like barely hot that day for some reason, and the ground was hot and the guy was wrestled by the police and held down. So he had burns on the back of his arms, ow, and he was violent, and so they were like, yeah, we got it, and the paramedic I was with was like, yeah, we had a police officer ride with us, so I was driving the ambulance, the paramedic was in the back and three students and a police officer and the guy.
Jimmy:We pulled over to a stoplight and he guy decided to get froggy and he jumped on the police officer. So the police officer, the paramedic and the boy so it was a boy and two girl, um, and the boy, the paramedic and the cat and the police officer jumped on the guy to restrain him. And then one of the girls apparently knew like some kung fu grip thing and like put the guy's arm in like some twisted thing and like tied him up, like literally, like kind of like you saw restraints on the guy, and so we got him back to the hospital and he was, um, he had a mental issue and he was just off his meds and apparently he liked to fight when he was off his meds that's rough, it was rough, and so that was pretty wild.
Jimmy:So in that same era we had another I don't know so long ago I can't remember if it was the same ride-along or not, but there was a car hit by a train. Different ride-along, because I just remember the hair color of the guy I was with. He was blonde and then the one was brunette and then the two ladies had black hair. So the blonde boy on this other ride-along in the same time frame I think they were in the same class even this person passed out driving across the train tracks and then got hit by the train. Person passed out driving across the train tracks and then got hit by the train and um pretty dramatic situation.
Jimmy:Yeah, we got there and the parent, the firefighters were doing, uh, cpr on the person. And we got there, paramedic dropped a intubation tube and we're doing our thing, and the kid hid, he went and got back in the ambulance and it was just like dude, you're the jinx, we're getting crazy calls, just be ready. And the first, out of the gate an hour in train accident. And then I think the paramedic I worked with she always would say you can break the curse if you buy us lunch or you buy us ice cream in the afternoon. And lots of times the students didn't have the money or they just weren't prepared for it. And. And then that kid, though, ended up having money and for some reason he bought us ice cream, and then it worked Nice, nothing happened the rest of the day, and I was like well, this is actually kind of boring, let's get something happening, so that I mean blessing or curse, right, and then one more ride along story.
Jimmy:That well, it wasn't really a ride along story, it was. I was an extra hand, um, I'd gotten on duty and all of my both the fire engines in my firehouse were on strike teams, so they actually left the county to go to big fires and they're rounding up all of the stragglers, if you will, it's a then just kind of dispersing them on other places.
Jimmy:So I got picked up and I got taken out to Marysville and I got to work on what they called their squad, which was basically a pickup truck with some medical stuff in it, yeah, and not sketchy at all. So we were there and they had the fire engine and they actually had a ladder truck. And I got there and they were like, oh, you're not from here. And I'm like, yeah, I'm, you're not from here. And I'm like, yeah, I'm not a rattle hugger like that. They're like, oh no, anytime anybody ever does overtime shifts here or anytime we have a curse, I'm like well it's not overtime, it's regular time.
Jimmy:It's my first day on shift and they were like yep, we're done for. And I'm like well, let's make spaghetti for lunch and I'll buy ice cream. Like let's not have jinx. I was like I've already been in this game for a long time Like let's not jinx us Like nope, that's how we roll here, and they're like.
Jimmy:I was like oh man, we're talking about it, yeah, so I got there right around lunchtime, so I was able to make spaghetti, and it's always a jinx for spaghetti on fires either for lunch, you either get like a really big, crazy fire and you end up throwing up your spaghetti or good.
Megan :So then why would you ever make?
Jimmy:it because you're or you're good, and so I was trying to counteract, like the bad juju being there for overtime with bad juju or good juju with spaghetti, right, you got to play the superstitions on each other and it went against us. Ah, let's see this gnarly DUI rollover accident where the guy was ejected out of the car. We had to do a low-angle rope rescue to get him off of the ground kind of a thing out of the area. And then they were like yeah, you can go home, now I have to spend the night. I'm going to the big fire. I was going to just switch out with a firefighter the next day and they're like, oh man, that was gnarly.
Jimmy:So that night we went to stabbing and two gunshots Stunning, yeah, and one of the gunshots it was a large man beating up on a smaller man, and the smaller man took out his gun and it happened to be a small caliber 22. And shot the larger man in the butt. Huh, and it went through his butt and it exited right next to his manhood. I'll say it that way Ow Lots of vessels. It that way Ow Lots of vessels, lots of blood there.
Megan :Lots of blood there. Super sketch. And the guy was like and, mind you, this is like our third gun.
Jimmy:You know, whatever many gunshots, it was Second gunshots. Whatever it was, it was nuts. At like 3.30 in the morning we literally woke up and like I don't remember driving there, I don't remember driving back, I just remember like the fog of being in the car and the guy was like you shot off my penis.
Megan :He didn't say penis but use your explicities right.
Jimmy:Make sure you put the E on this one. Yes and um, we were like all right man. Well, sometimes like clothes and stuff like that are evidence, so we can't just cut off the clothes. So I had to like cut off the like, very carefully cut off his shorts on the sides and and he's like man. He shot off my baby and he's using all these different slang words for his penis and everything in the world for me.
Jimmy:You don't have to laugh. Yeah, the guy I was with it just goes, this is ridiculous and just starts laughing his tail off, oh no. And then the paramedics got there and it was these two female paramedics. Um, they never were together and it was like if the stars aligned you saw both of them at the same time, kind of a thing, that night the stars aligned and they pulled up and they were like it's okay, dear.
Jimmy:We're going to take care of you. And the guy goes you shot off my Alabama trouser snake. I was like what the hell? What are you talking about, dude? And they're like all right, well, we have to look. And he's like you can't show Petey the one-eyed wheelie pirate in front of everybody. We got to go in the back of the ambulance. So, team, this man was easily 350 pounds Taller than me, you me over 6'3". So he was like legit 6'6", almost 400 pounds, Just a large human. So he gave it back in the ambulance After he cut off his jean shorts and we had to cut off his underwear To this day, the smallest tighty-whities I've ever seen in my life underwear to this day, the smallest tidy whities I've ever seen in my life. And, um, the ladies are like shut the door. And I was like do you want anybody to ride with you? They're like no, we're good, she's like you're gonna behave right and the guy's like I'll behave, I promise you know.
Jimmy:And uh, yeah, so like they had to like look and do all the stuff, it was crazy. And then the guy I was with goes dude, you need to go home, this is nuts. And I was like maybe I've only got like four more hours. What's the worst that could happen?
Megan :no, you didn't say that.
Jimmy:Two alarm apartment fire Ended up burning three apartments Just chaos.
Megan :Oh, my God, you needed to go home.
Jimmy:I did so. The next day I go and I get on the strike team and I'm like I'm so glad I'm over that. Juju, I got back to my home room Hell room, it's all good. Oh no, wake up, go to the fire, crazy fire. We do the longest progressive hose light I've ever done in my life. We wake up the next morning and it's 9-11.
Megan :So what I'm hearing is that 9-11 was your fault. It's the curse man, it's the curse. Oh my god, that's crazy.
Jimmy:Yeah. It was pretty wild huh.
Megan :Man, I thought I was bad juju for my ride-along.
Jimmy:There's so much juju out there, the ride alongs and stuff like that, so it's either feast or famine. You're either going to just go crazy and there's I can't tell you how many times we had a firefighter or somebody show up at the firehouse to do like an EMT or something like that, to ride along, and we didn't do anything except for wash the fire engine and cook chili and sit in our recliner because that's what people think we do anyways might as well prove them right right.
Jimmy:Thanks for joining us today in our life and safety podcast. Stay safe and peace.
