A-Shift 2/3

Middle day in Northwest. It's been a busy one today. Bevo and Franks at class all morning, Wheels shipped to #3 Hippie Hotel, Gossip Queen Zimmerman off on vacation. That left Good O and Captain to take care of things. After the usual chores were done, we headed down to the City Garage and borrowed their pressure washer. If you need it, just give them a days notice and they'll hook you up. We got the beast all cleaned up inside and out, top to bottom.

We hear that this used to happen to our trucks bi-annually. It really made a difference. We are going to be getting quite a few things done to her soon in preperation for the new station. We went by today and saw that the new pool has been poured and it's looking good. The countdown timer has been adjusted to the new ESTIMATED day of occupancy: May 24, 2010. We'll see. Here are a few shots of the new house.


The boys at 5 took up the slack running around 9 by lunch, 3 calls of ours since we were OOS for the education of our super medics. Last count they were up to 15+ calls today. This will most likely be the normal routine when we shut down....hang on folks, it's gonna be a fun ride.
Engine 5 also got to run a car vs. ped turned into a structural collapse call where I assume they got to play Jenga with HTR6, BC2 and also E3. I am not sure who the medic truck was. Anyway that opened up the North side and guess what? Yep, we got us a fire! Franks was back from class and on E9 with us. He got a little nozzle time out there in the parking lot of VV Mall.

He was on it and showed no fear. Me on the other hand....plenty of fear. I was scared to death that the Captain was gonna tell him to use the water can. I begged him to use the line so I could put her in pump gear. Let's say the hose wasn't the only water flowing, hidden by the pump panel I was flowing tears of joy that I got to pull a discharge handle.
Afterwards we got to stop in at IRON SPORTS. Retired Chief Ricky Troutt owns the place and Captain Flora from 9-C was there working as well. We had a quick visit and got back on the road. Here is a shot of Chief Troutt with his new wing all healed up.

That's all folks. We are up to call number 4 now. FF Miller is joining our slumber party from station 7 and will be on E9 tonight. The wonder twins: Bevo and Franks are out there saving lives on Medic 9. If you see them, give em' a hug. It's time to grab some sleep before the bars let out....be safe out there, goodnight.

A-Shift 1/3

We ran 2 so far today. Mostly we were busy working on the engine. Straightening up some compartments and organizing a few things kept us busy for the day. Somehow we got the lawn cut and then took the time to visit our sub-station on Melrose. Here is a picture of the engine in front of our second home.

I am not going to act like anything else we did today was exciting. So tune in next day to see what happens. Goodnight, be safe out there.

A-Shift 4 day break ends today.

Last cycle was pretty busy. We had the Captain off for 2/3 of it, Ladder 5 training and some walk throughs of buildings in our soon to be territory. When we get to the new 5, we will be running the Roanoke Civic Center. We went along with E5, E2, L2, M2 and BC2 for a tour of the building. Here are a few pics, including the view from over the floor on the catwalk.





The Civic Center is a huge structure and it was beneficial to all of us to become familiar with it. One particular place of interest was, where all of the balloons go to die. When the little ones let go of a balloon, we found the place that they end up.


That's all for last cycle. We are back tomorrow. Be safe.

2nd day for A-Shift

We had everyone in some type of class on the first day...so the blog got put on the back burner. The closet thing our shift has had to a fire was a trash bag check on the sidewalk! A resident needed us to check her trash to be sure the cigarette ashes she dumped were out. You can't make this stuff up.
Today we spent all day training on our new ladder. When we get to the new station we will also have a ladder truck. It will run a big chunk of NW as a Ladder and all of NW City as an extrication truck. That's the truck that basically cuts people out of cars, you know the "Jaws of Life" stuff.
Anyway....it's one nice truck. We got to play around with it and see what she could do. The Pierce rep was on scene to show us what we could do...very impressive.







What was most impressive was the weight you could have at the tip.....I wasn't sure if the rep hit his head or what, when he asked both Franks and Bevo to get on the tip. Then he added the Captain on and we now know...this truck can do anything!

That's all for tonight. Thanks to Captain Rorer for the training today and to Lt. Roger Guilliomenesto down at #1 for making lunch for us. We'll be back Friday....be safe out there.

Last day of the cycle A-Shift

Today was a busy day. We walked into the house this morning to the smell of "structure fire". B-Shift had caught a pretty good one early in the morning and the smell was in the air, the engine, and on the gear. We heard all about it from self-proclaimed hero of the day FF Brad "put me in Coach" Harris. The stories he told had us on the edge of our seats. This guy was there and he was doing it! For a small fee he allowed us to get a picture with him and even signed an autograph or two.

Chores, run to the store for the daily meals and then off to the new 5 for gear locker installation with the boys on E5 and Batt 2.


While we were down at New 5, I snapped a few pics of the new kitchen. The cabinets are in, but we still have no idea of when we'll be in.


After we knocked that out, we came back to finish another step on the #@$! table. It's starting to become known as the largest fly paper in the world. There is always one.....

It's almost there. The stickers are on and were sealed up today. Another few coats and it will be done. Here are a few pics....



That's it for tonight. Everyone be safe. We'll be back Monday.

1C-Shift needs your help

There are still some folks who need your help. If you can work for them on Friday so they can attend the Relay for Life, please contact them. If you can't work the shift try to attend the Relay for Life event at William Byrd High School in Vinton and show your support. Thanks.

Middle day for A-shift/HAPPY DISPATCHER WEEK

Today was a bit hectic. Good O was at the academy with the recruits doing the final burn. They are set to come out this week with graduation on Friday.


Wheels had an appointment, the three musketeers had EMS classes, and Captain got to hang with a transplant: FF/Paramedic Drew Able from #3 until we all came home. Now that the gang is all here, Good O and Franks are rocking the box as Wheels and Bevo are riding with the Cap on E9. Z-man has been working hard as being the "white cloud" around here, so he got some time off to rest. Bevo insisted. Maybe now we will catch a fire. We haven't even had an out of control cigarette burning in the street since he has been here. We'll see what happens tonight.
Since we were on the box, Franks and I stopped by the secret dispatch chamber built into the side of Mill Mountain under 500 feet of steel, dirt and concrete. For obvious security reasons, we cannot disclose the location. This week is........

We had a close race for our favorite dispatcher of the week. Our winner was dispatcher Amy! Congrats to you.

This was Amy working Police dispatch. The dispatchers split the shift to make things fair and switch to Fire dispatch half way through. Between answering 911 calls, looking up satellite pics, dispatching units, making sure we know important notes from past calls, and keeping up with our units status.....they are VERY busy. Our hats are off to you. We couldn't do it without you. Thank you.
Here is a shot of the folks hard at it.....

I said it was a close race for favorite dispatcher. Due to Amy's poor choice in hockey jersey(NY Rangers Rock!), she almost lost the contest to runner up: Jerry "I am only sitting here because I promised not to touch anything" Franks!

He demonstrated his communication skills by making a cell phone call on his Blackberry. Yes folks, he can do just about anything.
That's all we have for tonight. Again, way to go Amy! As for here, I am not gonna waste any ones time talking about our stupid table....The decals went on today and hopefully we can finish it next day...finally. Good luck to the recruits and everyone else...be safe out there. Good night.

First Day for A-Shift

I apologize for the 24 hour post delay. Bevo and myself were on the box last night and by the time we had time to blog the sun was coming up. So that wasn't gonna happen. We shipped out Franks to "The Duece" for a good part of the shift, so it was a pretty good day. He did stick around long enough to get Wheels some valuable precepted time on the box. The whole family got together for some steaks at dinner. Engine 5 came by and broke bread with us and later gorged on some ice cream.
We also got another step done on the new station table. We dropped in the station coins and applied the first layer of sealant.


Master carpenter Captain Weeks gave us a quick class on how not to screw up a table and then we all grabbed torches and jumped in to help.



Some of us really knew how to help out. Bevo is somewhat of an expert underneath desks and tables and used his skills accordingly. Here is the shot of the master in his element.

Others like myself.......say "piss on the table" and sat off to the side spreading hate and discontent.

The new station is coming along...but, we just can't get a firm completion date. Alot has been done and they are getting close, but its hard to guess when we will be in there. Here is a shot from last week.

We'll keep you up to speed as we find out more. Tomorrow we have the three musketeers in Intermediate and Paramedic class, Good O is at the Final Burn for the rookies, leaving Capt and Wheels to do it all. If anything exciting happens when we get everyone back together, we'll be sure to post.
Good night and stay safe.

A-Shift Middle Day

What can I say? It is late and I am sleepy. It's been in the 80's today, traffic is heavy outside and the bass from the cars at the club is shaking the station. Coach is spending the night at 2. Me and Captain are on the Engine with Granny Gossiper riding backwards. Saving the best for last we have Christmas and Franks saving lives on the box.
Although the neighborhood is jumping...we don't have much to blog about so I will leave you with a picture, evidence if you will, of a problem that plagues the fire service.

Obesity and the hazards of being "too husky". Thanks Franks for the topic of the night.
We are outta here. Have a safe night folks....Happy Easter!

P.S. 26 days left at Station 9.

The t-shirts that were made for Relay for Life are in. Anyone interested in purchasing one, with proceeds going to American Cancer Society, please contact me by e-mail or give me a call at station 2 on c- shift day, or call me on my cell phone-815-3870. Everyone that responded by e-mail before, I have your shirts set to the side, just contact about picking them up. Thank you for your support, every little bit we can do will help someone else in their fight against cancer.

Thank you
Zak