The Devil's Hour

4 AM is the Devil’s Hour. I’m convinced.

Nothing good happens at 4 am. If you get woken up for a call at 3 am, it’s just a really late night. Often times, you’re still up. If you get a call at 5 am, it’s just a really early morning. That’s close to when I wake up for work anyway. No problem. But 4 am… of our 24 hour shift, it is the absolute worst hour. Here’s why:

When we get woken up at the station for a call, we have 60 seconds from the time of the call to get our uniform on, grab any gear, run down the stairs, through the parking lot, and get on the radio in our ambulances. This means during the night, you go from complete shut down to adrenaline fueled driving with screaming sirens in 1 MINUTE.

Often times, this isn’t that hard as we’re used to it, but at 4 am, good grief. Somehow, right at 4, I am always at the deepest part of my REM cycle sleep and thus it is the hardest to pull out of. It’s the type of awakening that leaves you confused and with a headache at first. Of course, at this point you’re also hungry and have to pee. Badly. But there’s no time for that.

Next is the type of calls we get at 4 am. They are always one of two types of calls. Absolute BS, or Horrible Trauma. For some reason, there’s seems to be no in between.

Absolute BS: When awoken at such an hour, it’s always for “Toe Pain” (Yes, these are actual reasons people call 911). I had a buddy once get a call for a woman who had a nightmare. It’s often chronic pain problems like back pain. When I ask, “Ma’am, how long have you had this back pain?”, they often answer “3 days”. SO WHY DID YOU WAIT TIL 4AM TODAY TO CALL?? Whatever the complaint is, foot pain, anxiety, being cold (we gave her a blanket), or a combative crack whore threatening to slit my throat (did not give her a blanket), it is almost never reason to call 911. It’s basically adding insult to injury for us.

Horrible Trauma: The other half of the time, it’s for some absolutely crazy call. Guns shots, brutal beatings, or multi casualty incidents. My partner and I once ran a traffic collision call on the 405 south. We came around the bend in the freeway to find two wrecked cars, one completely engulfed in flame, and a woman on the ground with a broken back. It was a chaotic scene of screams and wreckage. We got the call at exactly 4 am. The worst call my partner ever ran was a head on suicide collision on PCH, where one party had to be airlifted out and the suicidal driver burned to death. 4 am. My partner still has flashbacks at times and remembers the horrible smell of charred flesh.

Now, I am not suggesting that the devil himself has the rights to one hour of our night. It’s just an expression. But if he did, by God, it would be 4 am.