Saturday, August 29, 2009

We're back - A Shift

Engine 9 and Medic 9 got the daily duties done quickly and headed to the training center for a 0900 class on Strategy and Tactics hosted by Lt. T Gherman. Thanks for putting on a good class for us. Now we know what the heck a "4 block squared box thing" is! Who knew? I posted a pic of the new Ladder 7 who was in class with us. It's a sweet ride.



We got to visit our friends again at Melrose Towers (Medic 9's hangout)and Medic 3 came out to enjoy as well. Thanks guys. I posted a picture of my personal hero: FF/EMT-I Duanne "I am not fat, I am just HUSKY" Noell. Note how he is positioned in the lobby of Melrose Towers with his trusty EMS 'fix em'up bag'. The man is a natural! He would have probably set up a free clinic if we had more time.....the guy cares just that much.



Afterwards we ran a smell of gas on Hanover NW with E5 and L2. Got a pic up of that run. The rain is coming down now, hopefully it will keep everyone calm and indoors. We will see you guys next day, unless we win the lottery. Everyone be safe out there.




1 more additional picture....while waiting in line for our lottery tickets, Franks got suited up thinking it was gonna get violent in the Mega Millions line.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Greetings from Station 902 A-Shift!





Yes, we are in Medic reserve 902 and Engine reserve 902 today. Seems only fitting to call it "Station 902". Although, I see we have a new sign in the captains office. It seems that area has been renamed the 'Voodoo Lounge'. I like it.

Today was a nice Sunday. Had a few runs, the guys from Station 5 came by for some burgers and home made peach ice cream. Good smack. A special thank you to Mr. Ronnie Gross at GROSS'S ORCHARD in Bedford,VA.
He supplied us with some fantastic peaches!

FF Wheels and Franks were off today. FF Boone from C-Shift traded a little time with Wheels and spent the shift with us. Got a picture of Boone with L to R: FF Fulton, FF Dixon, FF "I am just Husky" Noell, Captain Weeks, FF Boone, Lt. West and Captain "Is that really Engine 9 already? Swecker.

That's it for today, as Medic 9 heads back to Melrose Towers. Have a good break A-shift and everyone be safe out there.

Post delay - A Shift






Sorry for the delay. I meant to post these pictures the other night but Mother Nature was a tad bitchy and through down some rain and lightning on us. We ran 8 on the engine with 3 after midnight. Medic probably tripled that, it was hard to keep up.
We had some fun in the EMS CE class early that day. Then started all the running and station duties. Here are some pics. My favorite is Dixon trying to fax something. Like a monkey working with a physics calculator. It was quite entertaining. Dinner time came and FF Noell enjoyed the Chicken Parm with a lightly crumbled Oreo topping. I put a pic on here of that master piece. Also, E9 on an alarm and our CSI incident when Police chased a bad guy into a house.
By the way hats off to Noell and Captain Weeks for using their master carpentry skills. They replaced the residents porch posts and made it so strong the next Chevy will bounce off of it! I only mention this due to the comments we have been hearing lately while doing our job. One too bad to post on here. Maybe it is just the summer heat. We get yelled at and cursed at. Treated like we are a pain in the rear for even showing up. Told we took our time on a 3 minute response from dispatch to arrival! I just wanted to point out that these guys do a great job and go above and beyond without so much as a thank you. Then run to the truck for the next one.
We'll see whats up today.....stay tuned folks. Be safe out there.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

A WILD one for C-shifts last day

It's been another one of "those" days but the good thing is that in just a few short hours, Im outta here for 13 days! The morning started off with promise. The brothers of A-shift all met here to go on a little float trip. With a group like the one gathered I was kinda glad we were working. Here they are planning to leave

All those men and just 1 canoe?? And how bout the fella with the crazed look aflexing his muscles?


Wonder how it all worked out?? Sounds like a movie I once seen...

LMAO!!! Squeal like a pig boy!

OK OK I'm just funning (but we do owe em one for the post they made on us). The guys made it back just fine and said they had a really good float despite the fishing being a little off. And, all kidding aside, that's what makes this house such a good one. All the shifts do things together on their days off. It makes a great bond between the brothers and only makes us stronger when on duty. Ok on with the day... We started off with EMS con-ed..WoooHooo! BORING!!! Although the boys did enjoy seeing me in the back of a Medic unit

Just a glorified taxi to get me back to the ol War Wagon :-)
After class, it was lunch, a wash down for both pieces and brass polishing in the house. Then it was wreck after wreck. We had a decent storm roll through this evening here's a view looking from the County towards the City and one from my seat.


The good thing about the storm??? We found our long lost Cop pal Combs. He must have taken a shot to the head in that last scuffle he was in because he now thinks he's Evil Kenivel. Guess that cushy promotion has made him soft.. when he was beating the streets ( and perp's heads)he would have never "ducked for cover". Put him on a Harley and he turns soft on us... what do ya do?

Guess he was still getting wet so he decided to relocate. How does this look running out of the house? As much as I begged, he wouldn't let me or Tyrone take her around the block.


The other good thing about the storm? Just like at the Hippie Hotel, we now have a pool too. I posted in the past about their "pool". Learn about it in this post or here.



At least Tyrone had on some of his SWR gear (that's a life jacket he's wearing). I mentioned wrecks, and we've had a couple good ones. The 1st took us all the way to the County. A 4 vehicle chain accident with minor injuries handled with the Brothers from Medic Unit #4.


The 2nd looked worse but also netted minor injuries. This one was handled with the Brothers from The 12th Street Express Engine #5, Engine #13, Medic 4 and Medic Unit 101.


I know, I know this is a long one but just a few more quick notes and I'll stop. We had a visitor the other day and it took me a while to get the pic where I could post it. Retired Chief Southall stopped by at lunch. He retired as Chief of Operations. During his career, he worked through the ranks and made it as high as "acting" Chief of Department. He was also stationed right here at #9 for a good while. He said he has a lot of good memories from this house. Stop back ANYTIME Chief.

We also want to say CONGRATULATIONS to Lt. Dean Russell (from up at Lucky 13)and his wife on the birth of their new daughter. Moma, baby and even Deano are all doing fine. OK, I'll stop here, just a few more hours until Capt. Bedwell from B-shift relieves me early so I can get a head start on my 13 days off. Heading to Nashville. THANKS Capt. Yall check in on the boys next cycle and make sure they're behaving. If they're not, GET OUT OF THEIR WAY! They're dangerous LOL. Everyone stay safe, and keep em in the house tonight.


UPDATE: Apparently today was the last one on duty for Captain Charlie "CHUCK" Fotchman. Chuck left #11 station tonight at around 6pm to go into retirment. I believe his last day on the books will be Sept. 1st. I worked as Chuck's Lt. at station #6 and really enjoyed the time. Most of his career was spent at #2 on C-shift. I searched Rhetts blog and could only fine 1 set of pics. Here is the link, Im sure there will be more from other bloggers soon or if you have some send em to us and we'll get em up. Either way, GOOD LUCK and ENJOY the good life Chuck!
Capt. Wines

1 down and 2 to go! A-shift.




It has been another busy day here at #9. Lt. Good O to court this morning to testify against a reckless driver who busted through a fire scene. Wheels, Dixon and Noell got some 3rd person medic time done. Had a tour of a newly constructed High School in our 2nd due area. Lets see what else?...Oh yeah a little fire, out on arrival. Got some pics after everything was over. The Ladder 13 folks hung around with us to blow some smoke out of the projects. FF Harrington is hanging with us tonight from #5and Chitwood from #13 covered while Good O went to court. Thanks guys, we appreciate it. That's it for now. Be safe out there. See you next day!

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Time to beef up the ol armor

Well, this is North West but the ol slogan of running out of "the knife and gun club" wont exactly fit anymore. We run our share of shootings and stabbings, everything from 22 cal to AK's and AR's. Hell, they advertise em in stock just up the street (click the pic for a larger view and read the sign).

But today we had a first. A live grenade. WDBJ7 made a brief mention of it on the 6 o'clock news or check out their report of the incident here. Nothing too exciting really, no detonation and best of all, no injuries. The Engine was called to assist PD which ended up being of Cities finest along with the State Police Bomb Squad. Nearby businesses were evacuated and safety zones established. Then, the waiting game. Here's a pic of the scene

It's not often we get the State guys in our neck of the woods (it's usually the feds..ATF or DEA). They did have a cool rig and only needed a 40 acre field to turn it around.

We also called in our little hippie friends from the Green House or Hippie Hotel as we like to call it. Medic #3 came and sat with us for a while just in case.

Then we got to thinking... just in case?? What if this thing really goes off?? What Medic do we have again??? Oh yea, it's #3. Then we got realistic..better call in some professionals.

LOL...just kidding #3, you guys (AND GAL) do a great job. Well after a hour or so of deciding what to do (other than NOT letting the Firemen remove and dispose of it)the bomb guys loaded up the pesky little explosive devise and hauled it off to where ever they haul stuff like that off to. We took up and headed back for lunch and Air conditioning. Oh, I guess I should also mention that we had a mixed bag of members today. Wheezy was off once again getting his EMT-I learn on. Opie is somewhere in Dollywood starring at Dolly's....errrr...ummmmm well he's in Dollywood and Bugg banged out sick. So, that meant we got the "banned blogger" Rhett Fleitz backwards on the Engine until class was over and "quiet as a mouse" McDonald for 24 on the Medic. Here's our 2 fill-ins


We also had a "ride a-long" for a few hours tonight. Add him and Medic Unit 101 and that meant 8 people around the table for dinner. We were thinking about running up the street to steal a church pew (kinda felt like the Waltons) but then we figured out if we stole a pew it would have to come from a church (I don't think #3 has a pew). Now we are "Misfits" and we will pilfer just about anything we need (or want bad enough) but stealing from a church?? Don't worry, we didn't! That ain't how we roll. We made due with some rolly chairs from the office and sat down to a really nice meal.

After dinner and cleaning the kitchen, it was up to our theater room for Popsicles and a movie. "Last House on the Left" is worth the watch...it works out in the end! I'll leave ya with Larry's shirt from shift break. I don't know where he gets em but I love em.

That's it for now, keep em in house and be safe. Capt. Wines

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Easy like Sunday morning

It's been a peaceful return for C-shift thus far. Opie is off on vacation and nobody else had class etc. this morning so no fill-ins or anything away from the norm. I didn't post our last day due to pure laziness. About the biggest excitement around here lately happened last day (8-11-09) when our Medics ran a GSW with the men from the 12th Street Express. The guys did an excellent job and had the pt in the trauma room 14 minutes following dispatch! He had good vitals and was even talking, despite being shot in the chest. We also had a past member of station #9 fill-in for 16hrs last day. Craig Champney, now of The Big Show fame, returned to his ol stomping grounds for a short ride. From what I understand, "Chappy" is the creator of the Big Show's blog but was very shy and uncooperative about letting us get a pic of him for ours (we always try to post pics of our visitors, guest and / or fill-ins). Well, we did manage to snap one of him helping me with some technicals issues concerning our blog.

Everyone here reported an enjoyable 4-day break (the weather was perfect for a change). Wheezy has been crying a little about his legs being sore. Apparently the Ol Kick-ball league had a full schedule this weekend. I mentioned in an earlier post that he was in a league and off to training camp. It seems he was picked up early in the draft and made it through all the cuts. He is now a proud player for the "Free Ballers"!! LMAO I am working on a picture of him in his little outfit, uniform or whatever you call what you wear while playing kickball. I did however find one of his team mates... hope wheezy looks better in his.

Don't worry... there will be alot more posting and pics on this kickball stuff so stay tuned. I got a cool gift from a friend this morning. I have posted several times in the past about my morning web site / blog visit routine. Firegeezer has always been on that list and his "digital day room" is one of the few sites I hit regularly. Well, today I received one of his famous coffee mugs. Now, I happen to know he enjoys seeing where his mugs end up so here's a few pics just for him. The geezer (or at least his mug) has now made it to the Captains desk of The Melrose Misfits and sat upon our War Wagon. Hope he enjoys the pics.



Speaking of sites I visit, because of the lack of a posting last day I didn't get to mention a post from the Fire Critic. If you folks aren't hitting this site regular, you need to. It's post like this one that make it even that much more enjoyable.
I'll wrap it up tonight with a pic of Larry's shirt from shift break

We'll update if anything exciting happens tonight, until then.. don't take no wooden nickles! Capt. Wines

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

A-Shift is off to a busy start.







We knocked out the usual this morning and headed to the store for our groceries to cook meals today. We didn't make it out of the store and our first MVC came in, with 1 overturned. Cleared that one to run an 18 wheeler vs. 2 guys scared to death in a sedan...truck won. Not 2 minutes from clearing and we were handling some burned food on a stove in an apartment building with Batt 1, Chief 2 and Ladder 2. Lunch was served and I think the guys on Medic 101 may have been able to smell it. It's just another one of those NW days. This might be all for today, if more I'll update the blog. Be safe out there, the roads are slick.