1st day back for the C-shift Misfits

Another up and down day! We have a lot of news and event to pass along and you all know I'm long winded so hang in there. 1st of all, we want to officially say CONGRATULATIONS to our very own Scott "Coon" Boone on his promotion to Lieutenant. I don't know why he worried so much through the process... I've always told him that he's a winner!
There were 11 promotions total within the department (2+2=4). Congratulations to all of them, here's the list and YES... we got it up before Rhett! Captains: Brian Conner, Mac Craft, Doug Hurd, Chad Riddleberger, Clarence Turpin. 1st Lieutenants: Jamey Brads, Randy Smith. Lieutenants: Scott Boone, Andy Foley, David Lucas, Trevor Shannon. We are also in the waiting process to find out who's moving where. Obviously there are going to be some moves due to promotions but there's a bigger "shake up" on the horizon. Vacation sign ups are next week and in anticipation of our new station opening (along with all the promotions) there are a LOT of moves coming. Just as stressful as the promotional process! The Chief's will try to get the "right people" in the "right places" and that means everyone from Firefighter to Captain could be on the slate. We just went through a total Battalion Chief relocation so these additional personnel moves will give our shifts an even different look / feel. Anyhow, we continue to patiently await our fate. One things for sure, at the least; Coon or Bugg is moving out and either will be missed. Tune in next day and hopefully we'll have some news..good or bad (5x4=20). In other shift news, one of our brothers from "The Deuce" has become a father. They had to perform an emergency c-section on Richard lipe's wife. She had not reached her due date yet but we received a report of the mother and baby doing fine. Congratulations and best wishes to the Lipes family. We'll keep them in our thoughts and prayers until we get moma and baby home. More big news.... there are some people out there who seem to like us (LOL if they only knew). Not only were we nominated for 2009 Fire/EMS blog of the year over on the Fire Critic's site, we've even made the cut to the top 10! Now all we need are the votes to seal the deal. You can vote every 8 hours until the 12th. Here's a link to the voting page. How cool would that be if we actually won? A bunch of firemen...LOL..oh wait... all of the candidates are firemen. Whoda thunk it? And hey, the competition is tight! I follow most all of the blogs nominated and everyone is worthy. We've even caught a few good comments from our competition. Check out what The Happy Medic and Fire Daily had to say about us. Good luck to all of the candidates...take the time to check em all out but remember to vote for us! (10-2=8) Ok, so it's no A-shift "hat trick"...well not yet anyways but we did catch one today. One of those THICK black smoke garage fires. Our 1st of the new year and with our new Battalion Chief Slayton. Units assigned were E5, E9, E2, L7, L2, M9, M7, M101, RS1, B2, B1. Our brothers from the 12th Street Express made a great knock down with a 2 1/2" ..The ladders opened up, made the searches and did a great job with salvage and overhaul. Good work from all members on scene, here's the pics (5+4=9) The bottom pic was stolen from Mikey Overacker. He has more pics over on his site. Thanks for making it out Mikey. Check out the local news coverage here as well. We had a "fill in" riding backwards. Captain Martin from up at Lucky Ladder 13 was just leaving after filling in during class when the tones hit. Well you know Clayton, he jumped on. We had smoke showing pulling out of the bay door so after getting my pack on, I turned to him and said... "Clayton..we're going to work...STICK WITH WHEEZY AND DON'T GET HURT!" (pause) "WHAT??" (now louder) "DON'T GET HURT!" (shorter pause) "*&@^#%$@^^#&*@*...OK!". What happens when we roll in? Yep. As I step out of my door, there's poor little tink tink HANGING from the rear door by the head set cord. LMAO! Tied to the truck... running 100mph and going NOWHERE! Woulda burnt a treadmill up! The good news was that we got him untethered, put his helmet back on and he got to work. (7+2=9) He was actually in there "doing it" until he figured out that the pit bull he was going to save was actually alive and wanted OUT! Damn near hung then almost eaten alive Hahahahahahahahahaha...BEAUTIFUL! (3x3=9) Ok.... so I guess your wondering what all the math problems are about and I wish I could tell that story but Coon wont let me. Just trust in me that there are a few people who will know the meaning and several more who will laugh their butts off. That said I'll leave you with yet another video....

OK, that's enough for tonight..The Southies are on a worker of their own as we speak, the forcast is for snow and more cold so its time to make a tall glass of "fire juice" and hit the hay (or try to anyway). Don't forget to vote for us (every 8 hours) and pass it along to all your friends (use picture book, churp churp, cell phones or what have you). Thanks again for keeping up with us..C-shift is back on Saturday. Until then, don't take no wooden nickels Captain Wines

Last day of the cycle for C-shift, Meet Our Members part 4

Been a good day tater. Good but COLD! Actually got a little snow yesterday. Some areas got a little more than others but nothing major anywhere. We had about 2-3 inches in Catawba which was the Buckaroo's first. He LOVED it. Got to throw his first snowball and make his first snowman. I just gotta show ya the pics...


Routine calls thus far today (which is always good). I'm riding the Battalion again but hanging out here with the boys. Football and Wheezy's 3 day old "Gut Buster" chili atop nachos, with salsa, cheese etc. get out the baby wipes...this is gonna hurt!

We haven't just been watching the Redskins CHOKE... we've also been getting ready to play ourselves. The 1st official practice for the Roanoke Rampage is tomorrow. Check out that link to our site and come on out tomorrow at 18:00 and watch us get started. Hey, we also still need sponsors. Read about the league on our site... it's all for CHARITY. For as little as $250 you can become a sponsor. Contact us here or through the links on the rampage site.
The boys have been teasing me about it pretty hard today and I'm glad they're getting so much enjoyment out of this. I can't wait to get my "I told you so" in... remember boys, it's all on the big wheel :-) I think one thing that has em so tickled is the fact that I've worn my cleats all day today. I mean come on... I haven't had these things on since high school and that was..... well, that was a while ago (gotta get em broke back in). They act like they've never seen a pair of high top shoes. Wait till I break out the game shoes.. high top PUMAs with bright orange strings..oh yea!


I know they love me and are just worried I'll get injured. They keep saying something about me being so small etc. and I keep telling em that size doesn't matter. As long as I have on these shoes, the other team will never catch me. If they want to tackle me, they'll have to do it in the huddle! LMAO
Ok, on to part 4 of Meet Our Members. Meet Firefighter / Medic Scott Boone..aka Coon.

Coon was hired 8-27-2001 and assigned to old station #3. He had the good fortune of working with the likes of then Captain King, Chris Brown, Justin "57" Hines, Adam Fleming and more. No wonder he has such a good work ethic. Not long into his career, he was reassigned to station #9. Here, he is the Senior Fireman on C-shift. He has actually been at this house longer than any other member of C-shift including me. Don't believe it?? Check out this photo of when he came

I mentioned him being the Senior Fireman but he's also the one who gets away with everything. It's usually Coon who comes up with all the fretting ideas. He comes up and plans the shananagans then tricks another member into pulling it off. He's always standing in the back laughing his tail off and never getting implicated....but the ol Capt knows...GUILTY! That in part is how he got his nick name. He's sneaky. The other reason the name Coon fit was his life style at the time. You see, Coon was a "lady's man" and he was courting this one special gal. Late nights...LATE LATE nights until he finally caught her. He'd come dragging in the house for a tour smelling like Brute... by Fabersha, shoes on the wrong feet and dark circles under his eyes. Looked like a coon and it rhymed with Boone. Coon! That special gal is now his wife Sherry. Here's a few pics of the Lady's man and one of him proposing.... ahhhhhhhhh ain't that romantic (or gay lol).


They currently live on Lot 5 in a Botetourt County trailer park until they can finish building their dream home. They've purchased the lot and demolished an old existing house that was there. I assisted with the demo pictured below

While all the boys chiped in to help him find a temporary home until the new house can be built. Check out what we found for him in an older post here. You can also check out his Picture Book page to see the pics of him burning the pile of rubble from the demo job. WOW...I mentioned when you met Wheezy that he was 1/2 of the Misfit's Championship Corn Hole Team, well Coon is the other half.


A true champion but one who loves to pose... it's all about the BLING

he's also our little net worker. He's always on the phone and orginizing some sort of company gathering...


He's sitting high on the Lt. list thus far and is scheduled for his practicle portion of the test tomorrow. Proficient with all aspects of the job, I'm sure he'll do well. I'd hate to loose him but look forward to seeing him test out well and receive the nod for promotion to Lieutenant....GOOD LUCK Coon! Here are a few more pics...





So there he is... our little "poop magnet". Lt. Bugg is up next, we'll be back on Friday...until then stay safe, in the house and don't take no wooden nickels. Captain Wines

TAKING ONE FOR THE TEAM

Been one of those days for the C-shift Misfits. Wheezy is a little short of run and skills for his EMT-I certification so we had to transfer him up to The Deuce to ride with a preceptor. That led to us getting a fill in from Lucky 13 who ended up being First Lt. Sam Stump. Now, this affected us in a few ways. First, next day (Friday) is Sam's last day on C-shift for a while. He is being moved to Station #8 A-shift as acting Captain taking the place of recently retired Captain Jimmy Renick. Due to the facts of him being an Officer and his leaving the shift next day, I didn't want to assign him to the Medic unit. Here's a shot of Sambo.

Tyrone is still wandering the Highland County mountains in search of the perfect kill. That leaves Opie to ride and he's been on there for the last several days (not to mention they took a beating last night). So...the Ol Capt. bit the bullet. That's right all ye non-believers.... I'M RIDING THE MEDIC. OK, let me ellaborate... I'm out there "DOING IT". Yep, we've seen it all and in just 1/2 a tour. Heres the proof...





Now don't get excited. The box drives a lot easier than the "Cowboy Cadillac". The only reason I'm in the back of the copter is cause they wouldn't let me fly it. And, you have to admit that I look GREAT in my Doctor coat. I know, I know... I didn't have my mask on in the OR but hey, the stash makes for a pretty good filter. I mean come on guys... if it was easy, everybody would do it! Alright, the day hasn't been all about us saving lives, we always manage to squeeze in a little training as well. Today, we got to experience our newest training tool. Our regional gas grill....errr burn building. The latest and greatest. No more real fire, a brand spanking new Class B burn building. Here she is...ain't she a beaut?? More safety features than NASA and the Space Shuttle..Geesh

We basicly ran company evolutions with Ladder/Medic 7 and Battalion 4. Let me tell ya what... Woooooo. Talk about your barn burner! I mean just before those fans kicked on at 500 degrees ... OK OK so it's gonna take some getting used to. At least they have it labeled right..

LMAO...that's the actual label on the building. Anyways, we moved our riding positions around so the boys could get some training from other perspectives. Coon rode the seat and became the Incident Commander while Opie pumped the War Wagon. Both did an excellent job. Here are a few shots from the training...




You may have noticed the "bull horn" located on Coon's Command Board. Well, that's because our brand new radios work REALLY well inside that building. Communication was much better after he started using that thing. LOL. All kidding aside, we had some good hands on training (plus a little "pretend like" on the side) so helmets off to the lead instructor Lt. Tom "Bucket Head" AKA Guts Gherman (and his quality control Officer Plaza)...

Ok, enough of these shananagans, lets move on to some important stuff. New hires. We posted earlier AND FIRST on the 11 new hires for the City. Now Rhett would have you believe that he had the list first by changing his post time and date, BUT...BUT read the comments. He's a fraud....An imposter! We just may sue for copyright infringment and / or Plagiarism (that means you "stole" it PUNK). A cut and paster this guy is. And an insult to every readers intellegence by trying to cover it the way he did. An "arthur" my ASS! Anyway, regardless of where you read it, CONGRATULATIONS again to all of the new hires. And hey, just to PROVE we are the bomb and beat him to all of the "REAL" stories, here's the list of new hires for our Brothers and Sisters out in Roanoke County
Mallic, Meger*, Miller*, Martin, Campbell*, Hefflin and Googin (again, " * " denotes Medics) CONGRATULATIONS to these folks as well and "UP YOURS MIDGET BOY"...gotcha again :-) OK 2 more things real quick. Our Local's President Rodney Jordan and Lt. Steve Jordan from over at #4 A's father is in ICU up at UVA. Keep these brothers and their family in your thoughts and prayers. We also wanted to tell everyone HAPPY THANKSGIVING. We hope each of you enjoy the day and time with family. Keep the brothers and sisters all across this great country who have to pull a tour tomorrow in your thoughts as well. As for you folks out there not on the job...take a moment to stop by your local firehouse and let the guys know you're thinking of them. That's it for tonight... don't eat too much turkey. Everyone stay safe and in the House... see ya on BLACK FRIDAY... peace out! Captain Wines and the boys.

Monday Monday 1st day back for C-shift Misfits

I don't know why but it seems as though when you take a few days off and then return 9 days later, tasks which before seemed simple and routine now have become much more difficult. I usually arrive for duty first ohhh anytime between 06:30 and 06:40. My first chore is to put on a hot pot of coffee. Today... NOPE. We have a new combo lock on our food locker and guess who didn't get the memo. Result... no coffee. Next, I get my gear in shape and on the truck, do the computer work, check department e-mail then my favorite sites. As the boys arrive, they too get their gear on the trucks and begin to complete their morning checks while one of them prepares our morning egg sandwiches. This morning, 08:30 before the sandwiches were up. OK, one slow / late meal ain't so bad but we do try to maintain a schedule here..it is a firehouse you know. Lunch is at 11:30 so we catch the Price is Right showdown and the noon time local news. Dinner is at 17:30 so we don't miss Andy and then get to catch the evening news. Well tonight, as 17:30 rolled around, I was waiting for a pregnant lady to walk in. Why a pregnant lady you ask... cause this is what Wheezy had on the stove...

Enough water boiling to birth triplets but NOTHING to eat...GEEESH! I thought for a minute or two there that Wheezy has been taking lessons from the 'ol "Ninja Cook" Opie. Guess I was just a little impatient cause after throwing a weee weee weee tiny fit, tossing a few pots and pan etc. Wheezy produced a master piece... and well worth waiting for. Yard bird, stuffing with gravy, mac and cheese and a side of CROW for the Capt....lol

And, my little "I'm gonna starve" tantrum wasn't the only obstacle for Wheezy this evening. I guess the clock and my showing had him picking up the pace a little. Ok maybe turning up the heat instead of picking up the pace. The result of that... smoke. It got kinda bad at one point... so bad in fact that Coon had to take protective measures...

And again, seeing how fabtabulus the meal turned out, I guess we should have paid a little more attention to the sticker atop the Captains desk

(NO WHINING...and also note my Fire Geezer mug, I'm not sure how it manages to sneak its way into so many of our pics). So, Wheezy's cooking and riding backwards. Tyrone has been off to hunt camp since Friday and with no cell service, all we can do is pray that he has and is taking his medication. If he's not...well Highland County will never be the same. Opie is riding the box with our own little poop magnet Coon. Opie actually attended hunt camp with Tyrone Friday through Sunday. He slayed the big one from his mobile recliner, slept ON a wood stove (placed inside a tent by multiple firemen), showered outside in 30 degree weather and used a 5 gallon bucket for a toilet. Guess he had all the fun he could stand so he came on back home. A rainy / cool day here in the "NOKE", sitting on 8 runs total. Nothing too exciting, some local lumberjacks fell a tree across a service drop and didn't think enough of it to slow them from continuing their work. Downed line and all, they finished cutting the tree, loaded the wood and cleaned up debris before anyone called it in... and oh yea, the line was hot


Other news includes a HUGE date that we totally missed. Our house..station #9 located at 514 24th Street NW Roanoke, Va turned 80 years old last month. The station was completed October 2, 1929 so HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY old gal. Like a fine wine, she gets better with age. Warm in the summer, cold in winter and, the roof only leaks when it rains. No, she's a good house and we'll miss her. Here's a pic of how she looks now. I'll also add the new station. Scheduled to open in March 2010, her replacement is well under way and we managed to snap a shot from across the street today. This pic is from the front or the Orange Ave side..check it out, a "measure of progress".


I also wanted to remind everyone that our Public Safety Football team will have it's 1st official practice a week from today. I CAN'T WAIT.... PUT ME IN COACH! Check out the Roanoke Rampage site here. Thanks to Captain Todd Stone and Assistant Fire Marshall Chris Price for all their hard work and effort.
I'll close with a very special announcement. Most of you have figured it out by now but today, we (ok..more like Rhett than "we") officially completed our "RSS" feed. What that means is that whenever we post here (to this blog) we automatically feed to "Networked Blogs" which takes the post to our newly built and under construction Face Book Fan and profile pages and then on to our Twitter page. WoooHoo, now all you "picture bookers" and "Churp Churps" can follow the Melrose Misfits as well. I hope you all enjoy the ride. That's it for tonight, We've got the Monday, Wednesday, Friday tours so we'll see ya again Wednesday night. Until then, stay safe and in the house. Captain Wines

Picking up the pace

It's the first day back for the C-shift Misfits and it's been a long one. Heck, it's been a long week. I don't know why, but business has definitely picked up lately here in "the Noke". Our house alone has seen 5 jobs in the last 7 days. I'm not sure about the other shifts (I don't get the City text messages) but on C-shift, the Southies have had a few others that we don't run. Caught a notable one this afternoon though. Companies were sent to our local Pet Smart for a report of a fire inside, near the rear of the building. Some companies were at the far end of their district and that led to The 12th Street Express making it in first with us right behind them. Engine 5 had smoke showing on arrival and reported heavy smoke from the interior. A cool note here is that a past Misfit was on scene and helping to evacuate the building. Mark Brown (from E5) said he was met at the door by none other than former #9 member Josh Holmes (you may also remember Josh from our dish washer chronicles). Josh had removed some animals, assisted occupants and reported to Brown the location of the fire. Brown said you could tell that Josh had been working and even wanted to go back in with them. Just like old times huh Josh?
We caught a hydrant, supported the sprinkler system and forced entry from the rear. Things got pretty busy for a minute or two. Coon is off at hunt camp and tricked an A-shift Misfit into trading some time, so Big Jerry "Beans" Franks is riding backwards for us today. I was scheduled off for vacation but Opie has been crying about not having enough time off to hunt ever since his neighbor killed the "big one" out from under him, so I gave him the day. I have to admit that with Beans being from the house, it has been just like having one of my boys with me. He makes a good fit and worked his butt off today. Above, I mentioned forcing entry and I know what some of you will say ... "that's truck work". Well, I think I've mentioned it in a much earlier post, but we carry a K12 on the War Wagon. We have alot of security bars etc in our 1st due plus, we often pull the saw for car fires (to cut and raise the hood). Anyhow, the saw came in very handy again today with no ladder truck in the rear. Battalion 1 (Chief Beckner) was chomping at the bit while we cut the roll up door and then made entry with us establishing "Interior Operations". A decent smoke condition inside while the sprinkler system kept the fire in check. Still, a LOT of work. Pet Smart is located in a 26,040 sq. foot building with an estimated value near $4 million. A lot of smoke, and a LOT LOT LOT of water. Everyone there did a bang up job. Engine 5, the "Hippies" from up at the "Green House" Engine and Medic(less Winters who missed yet another one), The Big Show's Engine 1, The "Deuce" (Ladder 2), Lucky Ladder 13, Medic 101, Ladder 7, Engine 1, Battalions 1 and 2, RS1, the service truck and Fire Marshall. All total, about 32 personnel. Here's a few pics..


Here's one of me and Beans catching a breather and the War Wagon doing her thing (sure is good to have the ole Gal back)


Another interesting story about the fire involved 2 women whom I thought were medic or nursing students. These 2 Young ladies were working their tails off helping anyway they could. One even changed my bottle. Well, apparently they were not students. Bugg got the shot and the 411. He was so impressed with their hustle, he stopped and asked their story. He didn't get their names but they are actually applicants for our Department. They have participated in our recent hiring process and wanted to come out for a ride-a-long to see what it is like here and how we operate. I believe they rode in with Battalion 1. Anyway, Bugg said they did a great job and we wanted to say good luck in the hiring process and THANKS for the effort and help today. Here's their pic.

I'm gonna wrap it up here. It's late, we're sitting on 5 or 6 including the fire and a "code blue". Business is picking up at the "club" across the street so it looks like we ain't getting much rest tonight. I will add that as far as I'm aware of, all of the animals at Pet Smart survived. Pretty amazing for the amount of smoke. We will also have an update to this post in the next day or so because we have a video of another Roanoke Fire Department invention.... a very VERY high tech squeegee... you're gonna LOVE it. Stay safe and in the house.. Captain Wines

Day 1, C-shift

Where does a 4 day break go? Holy cow this one flew by! Our last day was Halloween night and luckily, we didn't have any fires but did catch a bad looking MVC. Single vehicle, with major impact, and a high MOI (mechanism of injury...my Doctor term for the post). Luckily, and just as unbelievably, the driver walked away..literally walked away as in left the scene and returned later. Anyway, here's a shot of what happens when you run a Lincoln into a steel I beam.


Scariest part was the child safety seat buckled into the passenger seat .. glad the driver was alone. Anyway, that wound up last cycle. Today is our first day of this cycle and it's been busy busy all day. Tyrone has the day off hunting so at least it's a little quieter around here at the house. We started the morning helping out a good friend of the Melrose Misfits Roy Lane. I've posted several times about Roy and his work with the Kazim Temple's Fire Brigade. Well, they recently acquired a new Ladder truck for their fleet and needed a place to temporarily house her. The truck came from Clifton Forge, Va. and is in GREAT condition. What's even better is that she's an Oren! Chief Tartaglia and our Dept. graciously agreed to let the Shriners park the truck in our Historic Station #1. I had the honor of driving her down and backing her into the station and it wasn't until we were done that we realized exactly what we did. You see, their new ladder is an Oren, station #1 also houses our Local's 1937 Oren as well as a retired piece from our City fleet, Squad 1 which is ALSO an Oren. When we finished up, Station #1 had 3 Orens in her, nose to tail. I know some old Jakes who would love to see that. Oren has a pretty rich history here in Roanoke and most any of our retirees hold fondly a few stories involving one of the "Grey Ghosts". Anyway, we didn't get a picture of all 3 together (we'll post one soon) but did manage a few shots of us getting em in. I'll add too that Rhett has been corresponding with a retired Brother from Richmond, Va. (Tommy Herman)who is just completing a book about Oren Fire trucks. He said the book contains some really good photos from Roanoke and as soon as I can steal the link, we'll get it up. So, here's a few shots of the Temple's new ladder and Old Squad 1.



Here's a pic from Tommy as well. I'm not sure if this is one that made his book or not. It's one of our Grey Ghost sitting in front of "The Deuce" aka Station #2.

I'll do more on the Orens soon and I'm sure Rhett will have a piece on one of his sites in the near future despite the fact that you heard it here first ;-)
Ok, so after taking care of Roy and our Shriner brothers, it was normal runs and house work. Later in the day we had one of our bi-annual "cluster meetings" with our Chief. No real surprises other than getting to see Chief Barker in a tie. I made the Misfits wear eye protection just in case one of those buttons cut loose LMAO

Our War Wagon is still sick...think she has that pig cold or whatever it is going around, either way, it ain't good. One of our little fretters from over at the Hippie Hotel sent me this pic of her on the operating table down at the City garage today. Them County boys done her in good...Poor girl....hope we get her back soon

That's about all for tonight. Sitting on 6 or so including a GSW and kitchen fire out on arrival. Oh yea, we check our stats pretty regular (you can too at the very bottom of the page) and we notice the hits from Iraq (click the "view my stats" then find "map" in the left hand bar). We have 2 guys over there that are close to C-shift. Gary "Fish" Fisher who resigned from the Department to go and my future son in law (David Downing)who was pulled from VMI for his 2nd tour. Here's a shot David sent me the other day of him in a Black Hawk. We wanted them to know that we see them checking in on us and that our thoughts and prayers are with all the men and women over there fighting for our freedoms. THANK YOU, keep up the good work, stay safe and hurry home guys!

I'll close with the note that we are working on adding some fancy high tech "RSS' or LMNOP feed thingy or something so that you guys can follow us on "picture book" aka Face Book and that chirp chirp thing... twitter or whatever it is. Anyway, hopefully we'll have it up soon, Coon says it's "the bomb". Stay safe and in house, we're back on Saturday.
Capt. Wines