Paramedics in New Orleans don't need explicit reminders about the potential danger of falling bullets, the ones that come down after revelers shoot them into the air at midnight on New Year's Eve.
They'll need no urging to strap on their specialized Kevlar-infused helmets before and after the clock strikes this year.
That's because they know the story of the bullet that pierced the roof of an ambulance the same time last year, shocking the two paramedics inside -- who had just been debating the odds of a falling bullet crossing their path.
Minutes into 2007, a single round from a rifle struck the ambulance as it patrolled downtown. Paramedics Jason Spees and Jonathan McCarthy radioed in that their rig had been hit -- adding that this was not a distasteful joke.
The randomly fired bullet punctured the roof with an ear-ringing crack, as easily as a needle into a pin cushion, missing Spees' head and neck by mere inches as it was stopped by the roof's lining.
"I was working that night," recalled paramedic Jeb Tate, a spokesman for New Orleans Emergency Medical Services. "It came over the radio, screaming and hollering."
In the heavily armed city of New Orleans, though, the ambulance piercing is just another cautionary tale that ensures law enforcement officials will make their annual plea to the public not to squeeze off a few rounds in the grim, yet persistent tradition, that comes with each celebration of the holiday.
All revelers should take heed -- and take cover -- as the midnight hour rolls around, Tate said.
"Be aware of your surroundings," Tate said. "You want to be under a roof, preferably in a sturdy building."
Last New Year's marked the first time New Orleans EMS issued the combat helmets, made from the same fiber used in bullet-resistant vests, to its medics. The agency's policy is that they are to be donned fifteen minutes before and after midnight.
