What a year! Kind of an emotional roller coaster for the Melrose Misfits and our Department as a whole. A-shift has worked their last day of 2009 so I guess C-shift will try a "best of" or "highlight" post next day (Thursday) to kind of sum up the year. Yep, not only did the C-shift Misfits get to work Christmas Eve, we also have the honor of pulling New Year's Eve as well. Oh well, someone has to do it and we'll do our best to get a worthy post up. I mentioned an emotional roller coaster and by now, you should all know that we laid to rest one of our most respected members yesterday...Retired Battalion Chief Billy Obenchain. Rhett and Mikey Overacker have some great photo coverage of the funeral here and here. I must admit that once again I was humbled by the turn out (local news coverage here). The "Sea of Blue" behind the hearse would make any brother swell with pride. As with Brother Chris Brown's funeral, members from all around the Valley attended the service while our brothers and sisters from Roanoke County and Salem helped to fill our rigs and stations. I did not get nor compile the list of those brothers and sisters this time, but without naming each of you, please accept our sincere appreciation and THANKS! Our Honor Guard....WOW! What an awesome display of respect for a fallen brother! Just look at some of those pictures linked above. What's not so obvious was the weather and well... it sucked. Freezing cold with high wind. FREEZING COLD! Those guys never swayed at either service (Church or graveside). At the Church, somehow or another our very own Lt. Bugg and Lt. Songer (Station #10-C) had the honor of being posted by our fallen Chief's casket during the service (as they did at Capt. Brown's service). Another solid 45+ minutes on "guard" without a flinch. To each of our Honor Guard members, at both of the viewings, during the Church Service and at the Graveside Ceremony, WELL DONE LADS! You made us all proud. The stories have been told at every station today. Everything from the wooden spoon beatings to kitchen table wash downs and spiced up cigars. It was even said that he's most likely somewhere in heaven conducting a hose line drill, teaching strategy and tactics or testing a new nozzle. Fitting I'd say. Gone but never forgotten, REST IN PEACE CHIEF BILLY.
Ok, like so many other times this year, and like Billy would have expected, we got back on the trucks today. Another cold and windy day and busy on top of that. It seems as though the day has been all about vehicle accidents and car fires. On the North side, we had one rolling under a car port. A quick response and knock down by "Smoke and More, Running 4" (with our crippled War Wagon on their tail) kept it from extending into the structure. Responding companies were E4, E9, E5, L13, M4, B2 and RS1. Working fire was signaled due to the volume of fire and it's location of being under the carport, but additional companies were turned around. A good job by all members on scene. Lt. George Perdue of Lucky Ladder 13 was able to overcome the obstacle of Officers strewn in the front yard to force entry and conduct a search with negative results. Companies were up and back in service quickly with only minor injuries to an ankle and some Captain pride :-) Here are some pics
Yea, our ole War Wagon blew a radiator hose while en route but still managed to make it in, and YES....this time WE laid the line (lol).
Think I'll wrap it up here for tonight. I'll close with saying thanks for all the thoughts and prayers sent to the Obenchain family and our Department. I'd ask that you continue to keep the Obenchains and Brown families on your mind and near your heart as they continue to deal with these losses. I'd also mention a brother from the opposite side of the Country (and his Department as well) who seems to be struggling through a loss of their own. Follow Captain Schmoe's blog hereANYTHING you need Capt. we're a phone call or key stroke away.
Captain Wines
I'll start by saying that our Department as a whole as well as the Brown family continues to receive much needed prayer and support. For that, we are all grateful. The "Big Show" posted a thank you note on their site found here. It was discussed at our Union meeting last night that some calls are still coming in asking where you can send cards etc. The address is as follows.. (address has been removed until approved by the family, we will add it back following authorization). It should also be noted that donations can be made to Captain Brown's daughter's ( his "girls" ) college fund. Checks should be made to Stephnie Brown c/o Caroline and Hannah's college fund.Donations should be sent to the Daleville, Va. branch of SunTrust Bank 72 Kingston Drive. Daleville, Va. 24083 Phone (540) 992-6972 to the attention of Tonya Brown. OK, in our last post I added a clip from Ladder 49 and in it, the Captain (John Travolta) told the men that getting back on the truck was the way to honor their fallen. "Brown's Hounds" down at #1C have done so and so will we with our postings. Our regular readers know I can get long winded but, I'll try to be brief tonight. I want to try to catch you up on a few of the recent happenings here at Station #9. Back on Oct. 13th our brothers from A-shift posted on a motel fire they had up Melrose. The were pretty humble with the facts though. They were 1st in to our "technically" 3rd due. Multiple companies were out of service for one reason or another. The call was received with a report of a handicap person trapped! They arrived with smoke and flame showing and WENT TO WORK! Fire knocked down, exposure doors forced and rooms searched before the 2nd due made it in. Luckily, the victim was able to self rescue just as they arrived. Reminds me of the other fire service movie Back Draft ... John Wayne time boss.. HELL OF A JOB THERE BOYS!! HELL OF A JOB! Ok, on to C-shift, we've had several more nursing students ride along with us and I promised them a pic on the blog ( told em we'd make em famous). Sadly, this will all soon end because the part-time Medic Unit will be moving over to "The Deuce" aka Station #2. Here, Medic #101 has been parked outside and with cold weather approaching, admin felt the need to move them inside. The good news is that they'll be back when we move to our new home, hopefully sometime in March 2010. So here's our latest students Megan Caldwell and Virginia Vaughn at the top and Rebecca Dunham and Margy Bacon below.
Yea yea I know..it's a hard life here at #9 but someone has to do it. Our very own "Ninja Cook" has been making remarkable improvements. With a little guidance from yours truly, he even baked a few pies. Our old friend Officer Combs (aka "Evil Knievel" or "Awful Kanaful" now that he's assigned to a motorcycle) couldn't believe Opie was baking so he stopped in to sample the results. You can't tell be the expression but he did have 2 slices lol. In our last post, I listed the names of the County and Salem brothers and sisters who covered our rigs during the funeral. I'd like to point out again the ones who covered here for our B-shift Misfits. They were Geoff Tuck, Ron Stone, Matt Bradshaw and Brandon Carroll all from Roanoke County Fire / Rescue. The City's own Captain R.T. "Skippy" Flora (from Lucky #13-B) also missed the funeral to cover as the Officer here. Again, I want to thank these guys before busting their balls...and you know I gotta. You see, there's always been a little friendly "competition" if you will between the City and County. Good, clean firehouse fun. Well, C-shift worked the tour the following day and at 07:30 when Lt. Bugg went out to check and prep our War Wagon, SHE WOULDN'T FIRE. The County boys worked a 1/2 day on her and she just laid down a QUIT! I don't know if they tried to take her in the woods or up in the mountains somewhere looking for brush fires or what.. but she wouldn't crank. We had to pull her out with the "Cowboy Cadillac" and call the hook. Oh the shame of it all..LOL You guys know I'm just kidding and again want to thank you for everything you did. They actually made a few runs and caught a kitchen fire. Speaking of catching one, we did that ourselves today. Looked BIG. HEAVY black smoke from 9 blocks out. Marked it a worker from that far away. Got there (a junk yard) and there was so much fire and smoke, thick, black smoke, that I really couldn't tell what was burning. I had the boys pull the 2 1/2 and they WENT TO WORK! Man am I proud. Wheels, Tyrone and Opie did one hell of a job knocking her down. In the end, it was 2 cars, 1 van, a motor home (next to a building) 6 industrial loader tires (400 lbs each), vehicle tires, gasoline tanks, and general rubbish burning. Looked worse than what it was but a good job by everyone involved. Also on scene was E4, E5, L13, E3, L7, M9, M4, BC2, ST2 our PIO, FM1, and Chief 1 (who opened the hydrant). Here's a shot moping up.. And yes, we kept it out of the building..just melted the door a little. If you noticed, I said "Wheels" Tyrone and Opie. Wheels (an A-shift Misfit) is covering for Coon so he can attend the Va. Tech Chokey game...oops I mean Hokie, must have been thinking about the Ga. Tech game :-) Anyway, I hope the tailgating was fun cause at this point, Tech is LOOSING. Thanks to Wheels for making the trade, and "well done" today humping that 2 1/2". Wheezy's off on vaca, no doubt at Allsports catching the game. We're back on Halloween so, see ya then. Stay safe and in house, thanks again for all the support. Captain Wines.
I'm sure all of our readers know by now that we buried a brother yesterday. The unexpected loss of Captain Chris Brown has affected every member of our Department in some way or another. Chris was assigned to Station #1 C-shift aka "The Big Show". He is survived by many including his brother Mark Brown who is also assigned to C-shift as Lieutenant on Engine #5 (The 12th Street Express). There are several things that need to be said and talked about and I'll try to hit them all while being as brief as possible. First, the service was documented by Rhett Fleitz (Lieutenant Station #13-C, published and noted author) and Mikey Overacker (Retired Lieutenant #10A). Please take the time to view the coverage here, here, and here. Winters, over at Station #3 (The Hippie Hotel) also made a nice post (yea, I stole her title but we steal from them all the time anyway) to their blog found here . The brothers from Station #6 also had a nice tribute here while Chris' men posted their own memorial on their blog. You can see one of our local news channel's coverage here. The service was awe inspiring to say the least, and a true testament to the man that Captain Brown was. The attendance alone was impressive. That said, it is almost unimaginable how much effort, sacrifice and dedication it took to make it happen. I know I'm bias, but I think that only the Fire Service could have pulled this off. In the City, we needed 35 members to cover our rigs during the service. Our Brothers of Roanoke County Fire and Rescue and Salem Fire / EMS Department were quick to offer their assistance. These brothers and sisters came in, OFF DUTY, WITHOUT PAY manned our trucks and did it in a BIG way. They didn't just man the trucks, they staffed em with 4! We haven't had 4 on the trucks city wide in forever! IMPRESSIVE! The list is long, but their names need to be shared. I want to personally say THANK YOU to each and every one of them and say to everyone how proud I am to work in this profession and share the brotherhood that only we know and have been fortunate enough to witness over these past few days. Here's the list. Roanoke County Listed by Rank, Name, and Assignment covered in the City Div. Chief Joey Stump Southside BC Div. Chief Todd Maxey County Engine 5 running out of City #2 BC Sexton Northside BC Capt Daryl Burks Station 4 Capt. D.M. Jones Station #3 Capt Troy Gray Station 6 Capt Brian Weeks Station 13 Capt Brian Witt Station 13 Capt Jeff Lawson Honor Guard Lt Don Altice Station 6 Lt Kevin Gresham Station 5 Lt Toby Martin Honor Guard Lt Riley McClure Honor Guard LT. Danny Irvin County L-5 @ #7 Lt Lynn Hudson Station 5 PM/FF Brandon King County Engine 5 running out of City #2 PM/FF Jeff Johnston County Engine 5 running out of City #2 PM/FF Gary Hostetter Station 6 PM/FF Geoff Tuck Station 9 PM/FF Ron Stone Station 9 PM/FF Matt Bradshaw Station 9 FF/EMT J. Arnold County L-5 running out of City #7 FF/EMT K. Maciel County L-5 running out of City #7 FF/EMT Tim Webster Honor Guard FF/EMT Brandon Carroll Station 9 FF/EMT Jarad Hall Station 11 FF/EMT John Gillespie Station 3 FF/EMT Kevin Harbour Station 3 FF/EMT Zach Graybill Station 13 FF/EMT Tim Craighead Station 7 FF/EMT Lannie Hoosier Station 13 FF/EMT Drew Willis Station 13 FF/EMT Todd Hanson Station 5 FF/EMT Adam Amburgey Station 6 FF/EMT John Richardson Station 13 FF/EMT Robert Mauck covered County position to keep them at min. staffing as well.
Salem Fire / EMS
FF/Medic Betty Tottin Station 2 Lt. Jimmy Poindexter Station 2 Captain Eddie Hite Station 2 FF/EMT Jeromy Hartman Station 2 FF/EMT Jason Morris Station 3 Ff/Medic Stephanie Richardson Station 3 FF/EMT Robert Paxton Salem Engine 1 out of City 4 FF/Medic Brian Buccola Station 4 FF/MEdic Jonithan Huffman Salem Engine 1 out of City 4 FF/Medic Mike Spalding ?? sorry FF/EMT Jeromy McAlexander Salem Engine 1 out of City 4 FF/EMT Tod Bedwell Salem Engine 1 out of City 4 Lt. Tracy Coe Ladder 2 FF/EMT Chris Fuqua Ladder 2 FF/Medic Chris Smith Honor Gaurd FF/Medic Mike Elliston Honor Gaurd
I would also like to say thanks to the Chiefs for allowing the covers to take place, for handling the scheduling / assignments and then attending the service. Chief Richard Burch and Chief Dustin Campbell of Roanoke County. Chief Pat Counts of Salem. Chief Melvin Saunders from Roanoke City, Capt Chris Trussler and Lt. Chris Franklin both from the City a well.
I don't have an official number, but the Uniformed personnel in attendance was impressive as well. Not just local members either. I was able to meet, thank and shake the hand of LOTS of brothers from out of town. We lined both sides of the drive into the cemetery and then followed the Capt. to his final resting place. EVERY shoe shinned, buttons polished etc. Uniformed movement, salutes and stances. The pics can be seen on Rhett and Mikey's sites linked in the beginning of this post. The Honor Guard... leaves me speechless. TOP NOTCH! Again, I am humbled and filled with pride because of the job these men did. They served 2 shifts of viewing and the burial service. I am going to try to list their names and hope I don't forget anyone. Chris Trussler, Daniel Goodwin, Richard Lipes, Phillip Dillon, Robert Reid, Travis Meador, Roger Manual, Daryl Songer, Travis Simmons, Michal Jenkins, Collin Humphries, J.D. Reynolds, Zach Obenchain, Todd Reliegh, Jacob Palmer, Josh Hull, Jeff East, Chris Smith (Smitty),Tim Webster, Mike Elliston, Toby Martin, Tom Gherman, Jeff Lawson and Riley McClure. I'll add that Honor gaurd members Rob Reid (Bugg) and Daryl Songer stood on post for 1 hour and 20 minutes straight during the church service...again, an unbelievable display of RESPECT, HONOR AND PRIDE! The flag folding team.. FLAWLESS! The dispatchers of Roanoke City announced Chris' passing and placed him on his last alarm. Later, following an explination of the tradition by Chief Hoback, members from the Honor Gaurd rang the bell to signal 5-5-5 and place Chris in quarters. Our Brothers and Sisters from Lynchburg Fire / EMS Department sent 3 bagpipers. I wish I knew all their names and don't. I did get to thank each one and shake their hand. I'll tell ya, when they hit that first note, there wasn't a dry eye around. WELL DONE men and THANKS! Captain Toby Bedwell 1st Lt. J.J. Price and Lt. Jamey Brads stepped in to handle all of the arrangements and see to the Captains family. I know that Chris' wife Stephnie and his "girls" Caroline and Hannah didn't have to drive anywhere nor were they without a fireman by their side. Framed pictures and video slide show at the service...so much to do and it all handled professionally. The members of #1C...WOW! What a great company Chris built. Stuck together like glue. They had each others back and a shoulder to cry on. Rallied around Jeff (Battalion Chief Beckner), Mark, Stephnie, the "girls" and Marqueta (Chris and Mark's mother). An example for every company to follow. They drove their rigs to the cemetery (Battalion 1, Engine 1, Ladder 1, Medic 1, and RS1). They got out at the gates and walked their Captain home, hands on the hearse. Again...RESPECT, HONOR AND PRIDE! They each removed their right glove and placed them atop the casket, Battalion Chief Beckner among them. He then paused, removed the gold badge from his uniform, laid it atop the gloves and through tears spoke "God's speed Battalion Chief Chris Brown" (Chris was up for promotion having just completed the testing process). We buried Chris yesterday; today, 1C reported for duty! A work ethic handed down through generations of firefighters and one Chris passed to his men. It reminds me of a scene from the movie Ladder 49... The crew is dealing with the loss of a brother and the Captain breaks in and explains how to honor him. I'll add it here..
( It's a long clip but the first 63 seconds is what we're referencing) I know it's hard and you men are hurting but know that the Melrose Misfits, every other member of our Department, and brothers and sisters from departments near and far are here for you to lean on. ANYTHING..ANYTHING you guys need, let us know. I'll close with this poem, author unknown..
In Honor Brother when you weep for me Remember that it was meant to be Lay me down and when you leave Remember I'll be at your sleeve In every dark and choking hall I'll be there as you slowly crawl On every roof in driving snow I'll hold your coat and you will know In cellars hot with searing heat At windows where a gate you meet In closets where young children hide You know I'll be there at your side The house from which I now respond Is overstaffed with heroes gone Men who answered one last bell Did the job and did it well As firemen we understand That death's a card dealt in our hand A card we hope we never play But one we hold there anyway That card is something we ignore As we crawl across a weakened floor For we know that we're the only prayer For anyone that might be there So remember as you wipe your tears The joy I knew throughout the years As I did the job I loved to do I pray that thought will see you through Captain Wines.
Rhett and Mikey Overacker have posted their coverage of the funeral yesterday. View Rhett's here and Mike's here and here. I'll post on the the issue later tonight. Capt. Wines
