C-shift's middle day

Another beautiful day spent on duty. Here we are on the lower side of North West city while poor little Opie is laid up on a beach somewhere cleaning the sand from between his toes. We were laughing about him earlier today because when I mentioned in Saturday's post about him HATING sand, I wasn't kidding. It reminded us of a photo I used in a much earlier post but still smile at the little thug every time I see it... Look behind him. Not only did he destroy the others kids sand castle... he's eating it! LMAO!!! You gotta love this kid, we need to look him up and send him an application. He'd fit real good with the Melrose Misfits. Anyhow, thanks for the bikini babes post card we haven't received yet Opie...hope you're having a good vacation. Here at home, Wheezy was gone again continuing to "get his learn on". With as many hours in class and clinicals as he's putting in, you'd think he's studying to a gynecologist or something instead of an EMT-I. Heck, I've said it 1,000 time on here..IT'S NOT THAT HARD! If they will just remember "sticky side down" when applying their band-aids, they wont have any problems LOL. All kidding aside, Wheezy and several other brothers from the Department have been working extremely hard to achieve this certification. Keep up the good work boys! Well, since Wheezy was over chasing nurses, we had to borrow a man from Lucky #13 again. The banned blogger himself bit the bullet and rode with us for half the day. I didn't take his pic but found an older one taken with yours truly a year or so ago after mopping up on a job. He left just a little too early though. Not long after Wheezy's return, 9C was out there "doing it". Oh yea, another "grab" for the c-shift misfits and the 2nd within 6 months for our "Leu". You may recall our Feb. 2009 post on our very own "cat whisperer" Well, he's done it again. We had a drive in today. A man came in stating he had a cat "stuck" in his truck. Yes... stuck in his truck. Now, many of you may not know..or care for that matter, but I HATE cats as much as Opie hates sand (worse even). So, I'm silently hoping this cat is indeed stuck and that it's in the fan belts somewhere. No such luck. This guys has been driving around for 2 days listening to a cat's meow, and not knowing where the feline was. Lucky for us, he drove by our house and figured,hey firemen live there and they fix EVERYTHING. What he didn't know is that if we can't fix it, we break and take it apart enough so that nobody else can. We could hear the little peek-a-boo puss but could never pinpoint his location. So, the disassembly began. Off with the tool box, out with the bed liner, wheezy started on the fuel lines and ignition while I loosened the motor mounts. Top to bottom, front to back, we where on this like stink on .....well we were "DOING IT". Then the magic happened. Ol eagle eye Wheezy spotted the little puss (he's always had an eye for that) and radioed his location. Utilizing all my resources, I deployed our cat whisperer. Within seconds, Bugg had the little fur ball producer and like Thiesman to Riggins, made the hand off to awaiting Animal Control Officers. It was a thing of beauty! I know, I know...it's dangerous out here..a jungle but hey, we're well compensated. OK, there's a few more things I want to hit tonight so I'll move along. I'm not sure what site I read it on but a month or so ago I seen where someone posted on the upcoming release of the Wii firefighter game (Real Hero's). Well, its out and pretty cool. The boys brought it in Saturday and we spent a little training time on it. It turned out to be pretty funny too. The firefighter can do all sorts of tasks. He can utilize the Hurst tool, climb ladders and uses a set of irons. While searching, he can even call out to the victims. Well, before Tyrone seen any of us play it, we were explaining the "how to". We told him that the Wii is SOOOOO interactive that he actually had to call out to the victims. Yep, he fell for it. I have it on video but don't know how to edit the language..LOL you shoulda heard him "HELLO" "HELLO, ANYBODY IN HERE" "FIRE DEPARTMENT" LMAO!!!! Anyway here's a short preview of the game. We recommend it.

We received an invite to Captain Riley "Big Joe" Peters last day on the job before retirement. Big Joe is currently at station #11 and the event is Sept. 27th noon-16:00. Rhett has some info on his site here and I'll post more on Big Joe before his departure. I fretted our brothers in blue a little Saturday and I know several of them follow our postings. So, I wanted to return the the favor and give you this link to one of their blogs. It's a good read. I'll add it to our links bar at the top left as well. Ok, and to close, think FOOTBALL!! Jump on board here guys, this is gonna be GREAT. Check out these links here and here and/or call Capt. Stone, Inspector Price or FF Lipes.
That's enough for tonight... everyone stay safe and in quarters. Capt. Wines

E9 makes a "grab" during a gut busting funny tour!

Talk about a weird tour, they just dispatched Engine 4 to "deer blood" in the street! Things have been about the same around station 9 today as well. Most of our non-fire related calls usually involve RCPD for one reason or another. That said, we have made some pretty good relationships with our local officers. They have always been there when we need them and we have never hesitated to jump in when they need a little assistance. Cops and firemen working together...imagine that! Anyways, one of the officers I really enjoy working with is Officer Combs. He takes such good care of us, that instead of calling us out, he brings the patients to us. Today, after an attempt to run (elude the Po Po) the accused was placed in the "Northwest Sickle" (better known as the head lock) where then, a couple hundred gallons of pepper spray was applied. Needless to say, the accused got a much needed wash down at the rear of our station. While treating this pt. I happened to notice the sticker placed on the plexiglass barrier between the front and rear seats of the Police car. NO WHINING!!! BEAUTIFUL !!! I just wish this guy could have stopped crying enough to read it. Anyway, the 3rd pic from the top is Officer Combs and his cruiser. The last pic is a close up of the sticker. He even gave us one for the Medic unit. Now we'll just have to decide whether to put it in the front or back of the unit (ha ha). And not to have the day take a turn towards the normal, E9 made a "grab" this evening. Ok Ok... it was a cat. Yes, a cat. The owner was very upset due to the fact that her cat has been up a tree for 3 + days and all her attempts (including food etc) would not bring poor Rambo down. She went on to tell how the animal control officers (the other cops) had been out and could not get the job done for what ever reason. Well, we all know Capt. Wines HATES cats but could never pass up the opportunity to get one up on the cops (or animal control in this case). Long story short, the ladder was set and our very own "cat whisperer" Lt. Bug Reid climbed to the tip. A few moments later, down he came with the feline in hand. I had told him that after he caught it, to just drop it to the ground instead of the possible fighting and scratching that often times come with such a rescue ( not to mention him being 28' off the ground on the tip of a ladder shaking violently from the two men footing it laughing so hard). As fate would have it, the traffic was too heavy and the image of their beloved pet being thrown from a tree and then hit by a car would not have sat well with the owner or her son. So, Bug not only caught the crafty puss but was able to bring it down the ladder and return it safely to its home. Another job " WELL DONE" by the boys of # 9-C.

Comments on this and all C-shift post can be e-mailed to capt. Wines at willie.winesjr@roanokeva.gov