Busy day for the Southies and "Meet Our Members" part 3

Another cold day here in "the Noke" and the forecast is for the temp to continue dropping with a chance of snow tomorrow. Guess it's time to double up on the long johns and break out the ol snow shoes burrrrrrr. Anyhow, our brothers and sisters over on the South side have had a busy day, 2 working fires already. I don't think Chief King actually marked the 1st incident a "working fire" but a malfunctioning furnace had smoke banked to the floors. The Southies did a great job of figuring it out, finding / stopping the source and ventilating. I snapped a pic thinking it would be documentation of newly promoted Battalion Chief King's first job as Battalion.

Again, he never really marked this one a worker but did catch one later in the day that I didn't respond to therefor, I have no pictures of that incident. Regardless, today is the day he caught his 1st as Battalion. The address was 4706 Grandin Road. A-shift posted about our 2 latest promotions here as did the Hippie Hotel here. One of the neat things about both Chiefs is their ties to Station #9. When I was hired (and assigned here) Chief King was the Lt. of E9. Terry spent many years here and maintained the reputation of being one of the best pump operators in the department. Chief Firebaugh also spent several years here as the Captain on B-shift until they opened the Hippie Hotel and moved him out there. Again, we want to extend our congratulations to both Chiefs.
Ok, the day has been fairly busy here on the North Battalion as well. A HTR (Heavy Tactical Rescue)drill at a local steel mill, the normal runs and some EVOC training thrown in to boot. Our Department's promotional testing resumes next week and part of the practical testing for Lt. includes driving through the EVOC course. I'm not 100% sure but I believe a lot of cones are gonna die. WOW! A tight course this year. Good luck to all candidates (as with Chief Kings 1st working fire, we'll have the promotion list up before little Hedi Fleitz gets his paws on it). So here's a pic of practicing the "offset alley".

I also got another good pic today. Demolition of a favorite old nursing home here in the City is underway and darn near complete. Southern Manor has been reduced to a pile of rubble. When in operation, it was a regular stop for both medical events and fire alarms. After being shut down / closed the owner graciously allowed us to use it for training. The last regional Recruit School put in many hours and received some fantastic training at this site. After graduation, I would often take the boys back over for company level training. Check out some older posts for a few examples here and here. It was also a place where the Melrose Misfits made history. Opie has the distinct honor of being the last person transported out of Southern Manor due to a training incident we first told you about here. So here she is.. GONE

Ok, on to part 3 of "Meet our Members". Meet Travis Meador....aka "Wheezy".

Wheezy was hired 01-06-2003. His first assignment was to Station 2 on C-shift with the likes of Oscar Smith, Lewy Kennette, John Debose and Chief Obenchain. Wonder where he learned to fret?? He became a Misfit in Feb. of 2007 and earned his nickname the very first day. You see, he reported for duty to tell me he had a Dr. appointment. During his annual physical, our new City Nurse (at the time) had administered his breathing test despite the fact that he had a terrible head and chest cold. After failing (Duh) sent sent him to a specialist thinking he may have had a "touch" of the asthma. So he returned from his appointment just in time to go training with us up at Melrose Towers. Humped 9 flights in full PPE and carrying our high rise packs. That day, I was at the front of the crew but never had to turn around to assure Travis was with us.... I could hear him breathing by the time we hit the 2nd floor landing. Yep..you guessed it, he was wheezing LMAO thus..WHEEZY. Wheezy lives in Salem and is married to Misty who has to have a great sense of humor. Aint she purdy?


I say she has to have a great sense of humor because Wheezy is such a practical joker and fretter..





LMAO are those saddle pics gay or what? Like all the Misfits, Wheezy too is all business when the tones go out. The "bull" of the company, I can always count on Wheezy to get the job done. Here he is "doing it".



He is currently waiting to test for his ALS certification (EMT-I) which when successfully done will result in him getting to shave my mustache ... he has a little mustache envy you know(don't worry, we'll post the shaving party here and may even sell tickets for the event..no big deal, it'll grow back in a day lol). He's also one half of our Championship Corn Hole Team here on C-shift. But, like everyone, he has good and bad days. Here's a few more pics to finish up




So there you have it....WHEEZY. Next up is Coon. I'm on the Battalion again tonight so I may be able to grab a few pics. We'll update if possible / needed. Were back on Sunday, have a great weekend. Until then stay safe and in the house, not "beat it geeks"! Capt. Wines