Ok, now that we've joined the "big leagues" by feeding to Picture Book and Tweet Tweet, it has come to my attention that we should introduce our members to our followers. If you haven't caught on yet, we are firemen. This blog was designed to show a little piece of firehouse life here at station #9, the serious and the comical. Our Department has 3 shifts, A, B and C. Our Station is combination Engine and Medic. Each shift has a Captain, Lieutenant and 4 firefighter / EMT's / Medics. Here on C-shift, I'm the Captain. I give all my members nicknames and sometimes this can be confusing to those who don't know them by that name. Our Lieutenant is Rob Reid "Bugg". The senior Firefighter is FF/Medic Scott Boone "Coon". Next in seniority is Firefighter/EMT Travis Meador "Wheezy". He is followed by Firefighter/Medic Ben Obaugh "Tyrone". And our most junior member is Brad Glidden "Opie". In the next few posts, I'll give you a little closer look at the members of C-shift one by one. Tonight, I'll start with Opie...
Opie was hired by Roanoke Fire/EMS on July, 31, 2006. Following Rookie School, he was assigned to station #2. After approx. 3-4 months he was moved to Station #10 and in September 2007 became a Melrose Misfit. He is 30 years old, married to his wife Kristy and has 1 son (and future firefighter) Kyler. He lives and works his days off on a farm in Bedford County. Here at 9C Opie has all the duties of a Junior member.
He is a FF/EMT which means he rotates through the Engine and Medic unit. He is currently enrolled in the EMT-I program and is scheduled to begin class in Jan. 2010. Not long into his career, he caught his 2nd working fire on Pilot Ave. He responded in riding Medic #10 and was later assigned to work with our crew. From that point on, he was destined to become a Misfit. Here's a shot taken that day (left to right:John Dixon filling in from #9A, FF/EMT Chris Franklin aka Chicken Hawk then 9C now Lt at 9B, me and Opie)
Opie has been a good fit here at 9C. I call him Opie because of his resemblance to Opie Taylor of the Andy Griffith Show.... plus he claims to have every episode on DVD ( I think he lied because we watch it every night and he never knows whats going to happen at the end of the show). At one point I thought about renaming him "Ninja". We gave him the title "ninja cook" because on his days to cook, everyone else did it for him. Meal time came, the food was prepared but you never seen Opie in the kitchen....like a little ninja cook. Anyways, he's became much better. Not only does he stay in the kitchen and prepare mouth watering meals, now, he even bakes
He remains eager and willing to learn but we've found that we have to be a little "gentle" with him while training...he can't stand the sight of his own blood...
The pic above comes from a past post here. He lived through it and made history. Opie was the last person ever transported out of Southern Manor..LMAO. He's caught some big fires and several smaller ones...regardless of the size, he was out there "DOING IT".
The boys wouldn't let me put some of the "good" pics we have of him up. A couple real good ones from his last birthday party. Anyway, that was Opie. He'll be available for autographs next cycle. We're going on 4 day tomorrow, see ya next Wednesday and allow you to meet tyrone up and close (that's scary). Until then, be safe and stay in the house. Capt.
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