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

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