Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone from all the guys at Station 9. A special thanks to all the guys who are working and not able to spend Christmas with their families and friends. Hope everyone has a safe and quiet night.

Vehicle vs Hydrant and Pole

Responded to accident for vehicle into pole and hydrant today. E-9 and M-9 arrived and found a hydrant out of allignment and telephone pole sheared completely off.

Local 1132 CHRISTMAS Banquet of 2008

We had our annual Christmas Banquet for our Firefighters union this past week. We had everyone attend from our station on our shift except Lt Dan who was home with the family because he hates us and secretly wants to return to his true love, Station 2.We had a great time and celebrated late into the night. Some later than others. We have lots of photos from the night and we will add some more later from the night and put the rest on Flickr.

History of Engine 9

Fire House No. 9 was opened on October 2, 1929. 8 men were staffed here and the cost of the building was $10,800.

Plans are underway on a new station that will replace our house as well as #5 on 12th and Loudon NW. At present, 6 men are assigned to this house on each shift. A Captain, Lieutenant, and 4 Firefighters.

Originally #9 housed an Engine, several years later a Ladder was added until 1998. The Ladder was moved to Station #13 and Medic 9 was born.

The building has great features that still remain, from the fireplace in the kitchen to "Engine Company No. 9" carved into the building over the windows.

For more information on the history of 9 House and the department as a whole, check out Rhett Fleitzs' book 'Firefighting In Roanoke'.

First Ever Station 9 Christmas Dinner

On December 12th, 2008 all three shifts were able to have dinner together. We can't thank the Moose Lodge #284, in Roanoke County, enough for their hospitality and letting us host our dinner there. Captain Wines did most of the planning and work behind the scenes getting coverage for the guys working. Dinner was great and stories were flying as expected when firefighters and alcohol are mixed. Master of Ceremony Wines took his role serious and provided entertainment the entire night. Station 9 picture seen above was bought and donated to the station by all three station captains. Thanks to all the guys who filled in for A-shift so they could attend and to all the cooks our hats go off to you. This was a great get together and if you get a chance ask C-shift about the grape jelly story.

Future Super Medic

Nothing else to say here!

Photos

New Photo Link Added on the side.

Slow night so far

Since this is the first day on the site we should list some of the people you will be seeing on the blog. Their are three shifts at this station A,B, and C. When at full staffing their are 6 people per shift, four on the engine and two on the medic. We are A shift and we all work 24 hour shifts. We have a Captain, Lt, and four Firefighters. People on the apparatus rotate except for the Captain and Lt who are usually on the Engine. Our time at the department ranges from 4 to 15 years.

First Post

This is the first post at Engine Company 9 with hopefully many more to follow. Decided to start the blog to share pictures, thoughts, and life at a fire station.