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

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.

I thought Sunday's were a day of rest??

Who can make a cat forget old facts? You can't follow a horse to a pond but if he finds one, he'll swim in it. The grass is brown in Cleveland. HINTS. The grass is never mowed on my side of the gate. KETONES. If you live in a stone house, don't wash the windows. A butterfly in a bush is different than ten in your hand..... wait wait wait that aint right. It's you can't teach an old dog NEW tricks. You can lead a horse to water but, you can't make him drink. MEND. The sky is blue in Cincinnati. The grass is always greener on the other side. If you live in a glass house, don't throw stones. A bird in hand is better than 2 in the bush. You know..that Cincinnati Stroke scale thing-a-ma-jig... know what I'm talking about? Well that's what we've been doing all day. EMS continuing education.. WoooHoooo! Endocrine and stroke testing on our beloved "Moodle Room". Ugggggh! I think I may have just HAD a stroke. Check out these 2 examples of questions..after reviewing a gazillion power point slides, and reading for days on top of days..
1.) ____ stimulates calcium release from bone, calcium uptake from the GI tract, and calcium reabsorption in the kidney, all of which increase the blood calcium level.
A.) Oxytocin
B.) Thymosin
C.) Parathyroid hormone
D.) Calcitonin

2.) This syndrome is a result of a disorder of the ______. It may also be due to steroid therapy used for asthma and COPD. Long-term cortisol elevation from this syndrome causes atherosclerosis, diabetes, HTN, hypokalemia, and increased response to catecholamines and susceptibility to infection.
A.) Addison's; pituitary
B.) Cushing's; thyroid gland
C.) Cushing's; adrenal cortex
D.) Addison's; hypothalamus

Feel smarter? Remember this from EMT-B class? What's even more shocking is that we all PASSED! And you thought we were all just a bunch of misfits! ROAD SCHOLARS I tell ya. Doctors, gynecologist in the making. Einsteins! Now hand me that scalpel..STAT!
I couldn't find the video of Sid the Sloth (from Ice Age and DON'T ask how I know that) saying " I'm a geniushh" so Einstein was the next best thing. Here's a few quotes from the man himself:

"A perfection of means, and confusion of aims, seems to be our main problem."

"Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking."

"Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves."

I've always wondered why he wasn't bald cause we've been about to pull our hair out all day! If I've said it once, I've said it a million times... this stuff is NOT that complicated. With band-aids, it's ALWAYS.. STICKY SIDE DOWN. Laying sod, GREEN SIDE UP. Geesh. Ok, enough of this Einstein / training smack let's talk about what else has been going on. It seems our ride-a-long "nurse Candi" left too early last day because we ran ALL NIGHT. Up all night and all the boys had big plans for yesterday (everyone except Wheezy who pulled a tour at Ladder 7). Travel, tail gating / ball games and hunting... a full day for everyone. Some good news too. Tyrone didn't get hurt, cut, stabbed, impaled by an arrow, shot nor did he shoot anyone else. Both Va. Tech and UVA won their games! Tech KILLED Boston College and the Cavalier Man didn't fall off his horse (always a good thing) so everyone made it in to work in a happy mood this morning. Past all this training, we're sitting on 8 runs total 3 and 5 so all kidding aside, it's been a pretty pleasant day. We stopped by the new station to snap a few pics of the progress ("measure of progress" that is) and also spotted a pretty cool license plate check em out... I'll wrap it up with an old video of Tyrone. We've posted this one before in another post, but it's still funny every time you see it.


That's all for now, we'll update if need be, otherwise, we're back on Tuesday. Stay safe and in house. Capt. Wines

Last day of the Cycle for C-shift

TGIF and it's our last day. I spent most of it in training. The 2nd annual Fire Officer Seminar was held here in Roanoke today and will continue through tomorrow. This year the speakers came all the way from San Bernardino Ca. Mike Alder, a Battalion Chief, and Mat Fratus, Deputy Chief. Check out this link for their complete bios here. This years topic was a Dynamic Risk Assessment (a culture of safety). I don't have the numbers but today's attendance looked to be pretty good. Afterwards, everyone was invited to Roanoke City's Union Hall, L-1132 for food and beverage, also not sure of the attendance there because I'm on duty. The event today also had several free raffle items as well as a 50/50 drawing and a raffle for 2 UNBELIEVABLE custom fire helmets. I believe the helmets were provided by Blue Ridge Rescue and were painted by a brother from Danville, Va (hope that's the correct location) Billy Scearce. Here are some of the pics, Thanks to all of the sponsors for allowing the brothers and sisters of Southwest Va. this excellent opportunity to bring more quality training to our area.











Two were raffled today and the two remaining will go tomorrow... they looked even better in person. Other than that a pretty calm shift. See ya in 4, stay safe and in the house. Capt. Wines

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEX !

Ok folks, by now everyone knows I'm long....errrr...winded yes, long winded and today's post may be a record setter. So, If you want to know what the C-shift Misfits have been up to today, go get a drink and snack, sit back and continue to follow along. If you could care less and / or don't have the time, check out these sites for a shorter, less entertaining read ... here here or here. Ok, today was kinda all about one of our beloved part-timers, Alex Helms. Today is Alex's birthday and he decided to pull a tour and spend it with us ( ain't that special??) He even brought T-bone steaks in for dinner. He brought em and wouldn't let us pay for em (his other job is as a meat cutter). All he wanted was for someone to fix em...and that we did! T-bones, baked potatos, corn on the cob and a salad. We waited, slowed things down, then sped em up trying to get everyone here between calls and, have all the food done at the same time... it worked. Everything done to perfection, on our plates, the blessing said, forks in the air and.... you guessed it "ding ding ding". Out the door they went. Poor fella. The good news is that we're keeping it warm for him and we didn't cut the "special" cake the boys made for him. Until he made it back that is...Here's a few pics (the cake blurred out...ask him about it LOL) Just like all of our part timers, Alex does a great job and we are proud to have him run out of this house. He currently has his application for full time and should take the C-PAT in a week or so. Good luck and HAPPY BIRTHDAY Alex, I hope you enjoyed the day. Well, I say I "hope" he did but actually know he did. You see, being it was a sunny and beautiful day (despite or wonderful local weathermen's forcast) we had a little pump drill. We had Medic 101 tag along and Alex and John both got a little nozzle time. Soaking wet (accidental of course) but grinning from ear to ear. Here's the pics and a short video of the boys laying in..
That's Alex in the 2nd pic from the top.. bet that's the biggest thing he'll have in his hands tonight, birthday or not LOL. I guess I should have started out with the happenings from this morning rather than jump straight into the afternoon events. We had a couple visitors first thing. Roy Layne from the Shriners stopped in (as he often does) bearing gifts. A whole box of candy bars donated from our local shriners. We've posted on Roy and the Shriners before ( a must see post here) and have a really great relationship with their fire unit. If you are not involved with or don't know what the Shriner's do for our children's burn hospitals, take the time to look it up or contact your local Shriners unit. Here's Roy and the boys We also had another nursing student. OK today was more like a ride-a-long rather than a student. And just when we thought we were on to something here... they sent a guy! Yep' the exact oppisite of last day's students. Of Course Kaylor didn't mind, he jumped in the pic just like with the gals..here or here. OK, so we're having a litle fun today. This ride along (John) was from one our local hospitals (LGH). They send their new hire nurses out for ride alongs with Fire/ EMS so that they can see the other side of the incident or where their patients come from and what we have to do to get them to the ER. John was a good sport today and Im certin he'll be an asset for all our local medic units when he begins work in the ER. Speaking of fun.... well you know us misfits, we try to squeeze in a little anywhere we can and today was no exception. Even while training, we sometimes break the tension. Today, I was able to combine the two. I've been talking alot about the development of a local FULL CONTACT football team and at least here at #9 we take these things serious. So, our training has already started, and we're working our way towards 2-a-days. We managed to toss the ol pig skin a little and Bugg even shot some video (sneaky bastard) of yours truly. They thought it was funny that I was wearing a helmet and a pink one at that, but I explained...hey, make due with what you have and practice like you play ..LMAO.. Just look at them boys...ATHELETES!


Now I've tried to explain that I will be a running back and NOT a receiver but they still don't seem to understand. They laugh, giggle, mumble something about me in a hospital bed and things like that. The most recient jokes are because I've found some of my old High School equipment. Like they've never seen high top Puma cleats! They snicker and mumble something about a leather helmet and even made a new screen saver for our computer...
I still don't see what's so funny and look damn good with that head of hair. Wait till we hit the field next year...THEN we'll see who's laughing ;-) OK, to wind it up here..and oh yea, thanks for hanging in. We check our blog stats fairly often (click "view my stats" at the very bottom of the page, just below the stat counter) and have noticed several regular out of town, state and even country readers. Now, the out of country comes from Iraq and we figure that to be one of our previous firefighters Gary "Fish" Fisher or my soon to be son in law "Little Dave". The others, we're not sure who they are but are glad they're reading. Anyways, we wanted to say THANKS to ALL of you and ask if you have any requests or if there is something you'd like us to post about. You know, a loyal reader pic, a link for your personal or dept. blog, a practical joke video that we'd need to top, if there's something about the station, our department or members in particular you'd like to know about or see. I guess in short I'd say, give us some imput and feedback.
To close (I know...make it quick) we posted here on Charlie "Chuck" Fotchmans retirment and although he's WAYYYY behind, Rhett has added something on his "feel good" site here. We wanted to update you on Palmer in that he made it through some more surgery but is still not able to receive visitors. Keep Dave, BJ and the kids in your thoughts and prayers. And, it's with regret that we'll add the passing of William G. "Stick" Walters. Rhett also has a post on Sticks death here. Please keep his family in your thoughts and prayers as well.
I would think that's enough for tonight, thanks again for looking in on us. Stay safe and in the house. Capt. Wines