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

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

IT'S ALL IN THE NUMBERS & "MEET OUR MEMBERS" PART 5

Ok, I know my post are always long and tonight will be no different. There are a lot of things I want / need to cover so hang with me here. First, Retired C-shift Battalion Chief Billy Obenchain has been admitted to Duke. Several things surrounding this issue. First, please keep Karen (wife), Zach (son, on the job @ the Deuce #2-C) and the entire Obenchain family in your thoughts and prayers. Second, the hat is being passed around the stations here on C-shift to help the Obenchain's with travel and accommodation expense while going back and forth to Duke. You can contact me here (station #9 540-853-2765) or Richard Lipes at the Deuce 540-853-2766. Lipes is also organizing a road trip to visit Chief Obenchain following shift change Monday morning (12-14-09). If you'd like to catch a ride down, again contact Richard or myself at the numbers listed above.
A brief update on Local 1132 President Rodney and #4-A Lieutenant Steve Jordan's dad is that he's out of UVA but not quite home. He is currently at Pheasant Ridge going through some re-hab. Please keep Steve, Rodney and the entire Jordan family in your thoughts and prayers as well.
Local 1132 Banquet is just a week away. Guys voiced concerns and wanted cheaper prices and the date move back to Christmas. Well, you asked and here it is. $40 per head and moved to the Hotel Roanoke. The best hotel in the City. The Banquet is Friday December 18th. One week from tonight! Contact Sec / Treasurer Tim Perry @ station #4-A or you shift VP for tickets.
Today is C-Shift, North Battalion Chief Dale Barker's last day on shift with us. This week we are seeing the begining of a big personnel shuffle within our Department and not even the Battalions were spared. Dale will take over as the Training Battalion on Monday. He will be missed here on C-North. We wish him the best of luck in his new position. Chief Slayton will take Barker's spot in the next few days. Here's a shot of Chief Barker(left) and the South Side Battalion Jeff Beckner (right) who will move to B-Shift South Battalion.

Alright, the title..."It's all in the numbers" ... the misfits caught a job this morning and in what is an unusual situation for Roanoke City any more, we had 4 on the rig. I gotta tell ya, I'm always proud of the job my boys do but this morning, they really stood out in my mind (as did everyone on scene, and I'll get to that in a min.). It's amazing the difference 1 man makes when stretching line, advancing on and attacking a fire. FDNY Chief V. Dunn once did a study on man power and even today, the numbers still hit home. Now I know this site is not for our opinions or political views but I really wanted to share this bit of info with you...check it out

Opie and Wheezy made a perfect stretch this morning (as they do 95% of the time). Due to the building construction and volume of fire, we entered charged instead of dry. Opie pushed the fire back to the room of origin, made the jamb and attacked the room and seat. A smooth, quick, text book advance and knock down because we had an extra set of hands from the start. Ok, Im not going to stay on my soap box here, you've heard it 1000 times already but,in my mind; it's the number crunchers...I know they can hear us, I just don't think they're listening. Anyway, here are some pics from the fire..





Now, as I said, it wasn't just the Misfits who did a bang up job this morning. We had multiple other companies on scene to back us up. L7, E1, L1, E8, E2, M2, L2, B2, B1, RS1, ST1 and maybe even more. Companies checked above and below for extension, ventilated, salvage and over hauled etc. No injuries to civilian or firefighters. Lt. Jooe Hodgin established command from E1 and maintained it throughout the incident. Here are a few more shots for ya...




Special thanks to Big Show off duty member "Chappy" for taking the photos for us this morning. Ok, on to the 5th installment of "Meet Our Members". Tonight we bring you a little closer to Lieutenant Robert "Bugg" Reid.

Bugg was hired 1-14-2002. Following his recruit class, he was assigned to Station #2-A where they almost ruined him (LOL just kidding guys). He was promoted to Lieutenant and sent to the land of Misfits in November 2007. He is married to wife BJ and has one daughter Cora. Here's a shot of the little cutie with her DaDa

Comming from 2-A, he's a Jeep nut but we're slowly beating that out of him :-) You'll notice on our blog that we really don't have a lot of pictures of Bugg and there's a reason for that. You, see, here in the City, our Lieutenants carry a tremendous work load...(no kidding). They are assigned as our drivers (engineers, chauffeur, driver / operators whatever you call em). They are Company Officers who bump up and run the company in the Captain (or 1st Lieutenant's) absence. It is their responsibility to conduct Company level training as well as many other functions. Bugg pretty much catches everything that I don't want or like to fool with. He keeps me straight on paper work, filing, computer work etc. Much like a Sgt. in the military, our Lt's are often the unseen member who runs the company. As a newly promoted Lt, Bugg has done a great job. On fires, when we're 1st in; he has to stay with and pump the truck. Thats one reason you don't see him in a lot of our pics. Another reason is because more often than not, he's the one taking the shots. Now, when 2nd in or when I'm off and he's in "the seat", he sometimes gets to do a little work


Now he does good on the line and can get in there a "do it" with any of em but, where he really shines is at the pump panel





Ok.maybe he shines a little in the "grab" department as well. He now has 2 confirmed grabs since becoming a misfit. Check em out here and here Our very own little "Cat Whisperer" LMAO! He's a decent cook and an excellent fretter (most of the time he's the one hiding in Tyrone's locker and is the man behind the mask)...






Regretably, I did not give him his nick name, that honor goes to Chief Beckner. Why Bugg?? Well, the sun glasses he wore at the time didn't help his appearance much...made him look like a........ BUGG. So there he is. I've been informed that yours truely is next up and last for C-shift's "Meet Our Members". The boys are gonna put it together next day (Sunday). Ugggggg! I can only imagine. Any who, that's enough for tonight. Sitting on 5, no EMS and a worker. It's clear and COLD on a Friday night in da hood. Gonna run some kool-aid through the Bunn (oh yea, Kool-aid in a coffee maker what do you think of that Fire Geezer) cause that's how we roll here at #9... WORD!
Captain Wines

EARLY POST FOR C-SHIFT

It's days like today that you don't want to be at work. Clear, warm sunny skies ! One of the nicest days we've had in weeks. Oh well, the "Melrose Misfits" always make the best out of what we have. It's been plenty busy this morning and that has at least helped the day pass. Extensive EMS equipment check offs this morning in preparation for upcoming state inspections. We mowed the grass because it was high. We washed trucks because they were dirty. We went to the store because we need to eat. Speaking of which, we had a visitor for breakfast. One of Roanoke's finest, our good friend Officer Combs stopped in to break bread.

I didn't update after our Friday post, but our ride along photographer got to see plenty of action on Friday's tour. It seemed as though he really enjoyed the ride and said he believes he got everything he was hoping to capture. What is 2nd nature and everyday occurrences to us caught him as somewhat comical. Several little things throughout the tour such as an accident victim not willing to leave the scene for transport to the local ER without taking the fresh box of donuts she had just stopped to purchase. What was even funnier was that Coon ended up driving the Medic to the hospital ... he's attempting that "eat more healthy" close to a "diet" thing and KK Donuts are his WEAKNESS. But, being the professional he is, he did NOT eat the lady's donuts. As bad as she wanted to take them and as bad as he loves to eat em, I just knew it would be a struggle in the ambulance. He said he didn't even lick one and flip it over in the box so she wouldn't notice! What disipline! Makes a Captain proud. Seth also got to see Bug take on an attack chiwawa ... poodle or some kind of mut. Short story, our "cat whisperer" won. Later in the shift, Seth was able to read some of or local signage. This was a sign posted next to the front door of a house that we responded to for an assault. Apparently someone didn't read the sign, and when confronted, she answered with a Louisville slugger. I wonder if he'll take the sign down when he gets out of the hospital?

We are excited to see how Seth's article turns out. We'll have a link posted as soon as it's published. Well, to move along, breakfast wouldn't be the last visit for Officer Combs today. Another "Northwest Sickle" was applied following the fight and then a whole bunch of pepper spray to end it. Well, Combs has done this song and dance enough to know where to go. Again, the "bad guy" was crying too hard to read Comb's "No Whining" sticker so he brought him by for a wash down. Read the original post and see the sticker here. I have to find out just how much peper spray he goes through a week (LOL).

Yep, that's Tyrone saving another one. So, things have quieted down some what. The boys put a Boston Butt on the smoker (in honor of our friend up at the Hippie Hotel...she likes the Sox). We're looking forward to dinner, an evening drill (training) and hopefully a game of cornhole. We even splurged today and have a movie for tonight. I just hope it works out like we have it planned. Oh yea, speaking of our friends up at #3, their Medic had to pass through our territory this afternoon on their way to the ER. Always looking out for our brothers and sisters, we gave them an escort through Northwest so nobody would pick on em...LOL

We may update later tonight...depends on how it all goes. If not, we're back on Tuesday.

C-shift update

I was so caught up with Opie, I forgot to tell ya about an earlier call the Medic ran with Lucky 13. The call was a medical call, pt nausea and vomiting. The female pt was assessed and while giving her medical history and personal information, she stated that she had received both the Influenza and H1N1 (you know the Have 1 Need 1)shots this season. Well, it was about that time that Mr. "I used to be an EMT in Richmond" busted to the front(knocking Coon down)to advise the pt that these shots "only last 60-90 days". LMAO! Where did Dr. Fleitz come up with this??? He stated he researched it and found it as FACT. We figure he researched it as he did with the cut and paste job he did with or "new hire" list last day. Well, we put the Melrose Misfit's blog research department on it and have came up with the following rebuttle...FACTS...nuttin but em!
Check out sec. 2 paragraph 4 of this link.
or, simply check out this video You have to watch the entire video to get the appropriate answer. So, there you go.. proof again that Rhett is a fraud. A knock off, plagiarizer, copy cat! We just wanted to make sure our readers are up to speed on this issue and not be confused or misled on how long the shot is good for!
I also forgot to mention our 2 visitors of the day. Retired Lt. Mikey Overacker dropped by for a visit and we had a ride along on the Medic. Travis Meadow (Meadow...not Meador) is an EMT student and volunteer with Blue Ridge Vol. Fire and Rescue. Travis was hoping to see a little of what the job is and figured this was a good spot. It was good to see Mikey and as is everyone. Travis was very welcomed and we appreciate his interest in The Melrose Misfits. Here they are...


We also wanted to remind everyone of 2 A-shift retirements tomorrow. FF/Medic hank Pfister is retiring from station #4 while Lt. Leroy Edwards is retiring from Lucky 13. I have had the pleasure of working with both of these men and hold many many fond memories. Good luck and best wishes to you both! Stop by #13 between 14:00-16:00 and by #4 anytime.
Peace out...Capt. and the boys

A Shift 2/3

It is late and I am ready for bed but thought I would try to get a post up anyway before the ding dings go off again so this one will be short. Started the day off with make up fit testing down at Station 1 with the guys from old Station 5. Appears after the test we are OK to be in some bad Mojo since we passed and were sent away with our very own personal mask.

With the Lt on vacation in Alabama visiting all his close relatives we had Rusty(Slim) driving the Engine today and wouldnt you know it they catch an apartment fire. Our Hippie Hotel Buddies from Station 3 arrived and were able to get a handle on it quickly with minor damage including chasing down a crazy cat that pretty much man handled Duane. Great job guys on the fire. Slim seems to be doing just fine here at 9 and seem to be fitting right in. I think without a doubt everyone here is in agreement that he is coming out of his shell due to the need for earplugs sometimes when he gets all wired up. Sorry about the pic of Slim but the guy just can not sit still long enough for me to get a clear shot of him.


We went down and picked up the base for the new table this morning and were able to get another step closer to finishing it. Thanks to Lt Brown and all that helped with the base, according to Captain it fit perfect and looks great. I believe the table is ahead of schedule with all the long hours being put in on it and I have to say it is going to be pretty nice except for the need of a crane to lift it.

Looks like we might be doing another fairwell slide show to a member here at Station 9 so look for it coming soon after all the details are ironed out. Well its after 3am and I have not seen the bed yet so until next day stay safe and in house.