Iron Firemen Wooden Ladders & Iron Firemen
Yea … I’m alive and I know that I have a lot of catching up to do. All the “expressions” fit …. Busy as “a one legged man in an ass kicking contest” .. as “a cat covering up sh**” …. a ” two ….ummm … errrr well anyway … I’ve been busy LMAO!
Working multiple jobs, doctoring a sick “Buckaroo” , football and trying to post … GEESH … there’s just not enough hours in the day nor days in the week.
The best news is that I have fans and readers like YOU! Thanks for hanging in here and waiting for me to get back on schedule. As the title says, I know I have a lot of “catching up” to do so settle in and relax … this may take a minute.
I received the winning banner for Fire Blog of the Year today, now all I have to do is figure out how to get it up on the site (LOL). I’m thinking I’m gonna put it on the main “banner” to the right side of the picture of me (right under the “search” box). That “space” seems to need a little “sumpin sumpin” but I’m not sure … any suggestions??
I got the banner but haven’t received the boots yet. I did talk to the Black Diamond rep today and they should be on the way. I’m also working on another “surprise” for you guys but don’t have it nailed down yet so I can’t make any announcements. Things are looking good though so hang in there and I’ll fill ya in real soon. Thanks again to Black Diamond, the Fire Critic for sponsoring and hosting the contest as well as to all of you folks for voting! It’s gonna be a good year!
Ok, so I’m busy at home and here at the station has been no different. I’m on my “middle day” of the cycle which means we’re working Monday, Wednesday, Friday. I HATE THIS CYCLE! Having just been off for 13 days, you’d figure they’d want to break me back in slowly …… NOPE.
This morning, we started off with a job over in #3’s first due. My pre-work farm chores had me a little dirty and running behind this morning so the run caught me in the shower.
We get asked alot but most people who are not on the job just don’t seem to understandnd. What do you do if you’re in the shower, bathroom or bed when a call comes in? WE RUN IT!Yep … butt naked and all lathered up when the tones hit. You step out of the shower and straight into your boots. The good thing about being naked, wet and soapy under your gear is that you are a little extra cautious..LOL. I wouldn’t want anything to happen where someone would be taking or cutting my gear off in the shape I was in underneath.
The fire made for decent work. Engine #3 got in first and made the stretch. It looked pretty nasty for a minute or two with smoke pushing out of the attic. Captain Martin gave a good size up so it was apparent going in that the fire had extended.
Our Brothers from the County (County Station #1) are also assigned to this section of the City on Auto-Aid. They got in quick, laid the supply line and took command. The photo’s here are courtesy of Captain Witt from County Wagon #1 (I still think “wagons” are used on the farm …. fire trucks are “ENGINES” LMAO)
You folks may remember Brandon Sheppard from Roanoke County Fire/Rescue. He is the “most posted about” County fireman on my sites. (Read about his “City debut” HERE … be sure to read the comments as well )
Brandon sent a little note or message with the pictures. He wanted everyone to know that the reason there are no “County” firefighters in the picture is because they were inside “doing it”. LMAO … I just figured they were up on the roof getting ready to cut a hole … I was in the attic (with all the smoke, heat and fire) and can’t recall seeing ANY of their yellow and green gear LMAO.No… all kidding aside, our County brethren did a great job. County Station #1 is a well trained and aggressively SMART company under Captain Witt’s command. Well done and THANKS guys!
I hate to even mention it because I HATE CATS … but apparently, a rescue was made on the job.
I’d call it a “grab” but it just doesn’t seem right. It takes away from true “grabs”. It was a CAT. Most of the time, cats and dogs get out of burning homes before the humans do. If they don’t, you don’t have to “grab” em … you either catch em or get out of their way. Well, apparently one of our rookies from Station #2 (The Deuce) caught his first cat today. Jason Anuszkiewicz (he’s Polish) .. yea .. pronounce that!
LMAO … ahhhh the headlines I could have used. Statterwould have had a ball with this one….
“Pollock finds pussy—(cat) ” ….LMAO …..
L-R Lt. George Perdue, Billy White, Captain R.T. Flora, Captain Willie Wines Jr, and Donnie Foutz with back turned
When it was all said and done, Roanoke’s Bravest had another quick knock down saving property damage and dollar loss. Well done guys!
You can also see some brief local coverage HERE
The knock down was quick and the “North side” of the City was “dumped” so we got Lucky #13 back in service pretty quick. Good thing because as soon as we got back to the station and I got back in the shower …. another fire!
This time it was just a vehicle fire which was pretty much out on arrival but that was just the beginning of things to come. We ran our butts off this morning! Of course if nobody gets hurt, I don’t mind staying busy … it makes the day pass.
Another thing that makes the day pass …. FRETTING. Now, you all know that there are a lot of things that I can tolerate around the fire house but, FRETTING is NOT one of them (LMAO).
Apparently, that rule doesn’t apply to everyone.
Captain Perdue (from Station #14) apparently has a higher tolerance than I do. It seems as though he called Captain Martin today after the fire. You see, this was Clayton’s first fire since he and I switched stations (#13 to #3). Clayton is an “Old School” aggressive type Captain. If there’s a fire in the City, he wants to be on it! It kills him to sit over at the “Hippie Hotel” and listen to me catching jobs in his old house.
Well, Captain Perdue called to tell Clayton how happy he was that he finally caught some work from Station #3. He added that the sad part was that “Captain Wines had to run all the way across town to put it out” … LMAO!! They said Clayton blew a gasket! Hahahahahahaha … BEAUTIFUL!
OK… so it’s been a busy day and we fretted Clayton … moving on…. FOOTBALL!
The Roanoke Rampage have been practicing and our season opener is just around the corner. For those of you who don’t know, the Roanoke Rampage is a full contact, semi-pro football team comprised of local Fire, Rescue and Police members. We play in the National Public Safety Football League for CHARITY. Our Charity of choice honors one of our fallen Battalion Chiefs, Billy Obenchain. The Charity is Steps4Billy. View a past post on Chief Obenchain HERE (it’s a “must read” about the Chief).
It’s a GREAT cause and League and we NEED YOUR SUPPORT!
Our first game is March 19th here at home against The Chicago Fire Department! How cool is that? There is a lot that needs to happen for us to pull this off. The home team “hosts” the away team. We have to put them up and have a dinner like “get together” for the team (when we travel, we get the same hospitality … except when we go to Orlando). Anyway, as you can imagine; this takes a lot of money and we want / need to have funds left over for our charity.
In order to raise funds, we are holding a GUN RAFFLE. Tickets are only $10 each! You must be 21 yrs old to enter and the winner will be drawn during half time at our 2nd home game vs. The South Carolina Commanders on April 2, 2011. We NEED to sell these tickets!
We will be raffling off 3 guns…. 1st Prize is a BUSHMASTER MOE M4 223, 2nd Prize will be a GLOCK 19 9mm. and the 3rd Prize will be a WALTHER P22 LR!
Use the “CONTACT” link at the top of this site to get my e-mail. Drop me a note if you’d like to buy a ticket and we’ll work out the arrangements.
Speaking of needing help, Hydrant Gal can still use our support. I posted on her making the Canadian Blog of the Year ” The Bloggies” finals HERE. The voting is still open and she could use the VOTES.
I follow Hydrant Gal’s site regular and in my mind, she’s already a winner! There she is posing with a checkered flag so she must have won something…
Doesn’t she look like a “winner”?
Just look at how she has that little leg kicked up ….. the smile …dark glasses and the flag …. (sniff sniff ) smells like a champion to me..
I know that she has won things in the past.
I think she must be like “Mrs Muffler” at her local race track or something.
Look at her in this shot holding the trophy above her head ….
I think she’s even doing a “victory lap”… and in turnout gear no doubt!
So the point is …. take a minute, read her site and then go vote for her in the BLOGGIES
Ok, moving back to more of a “local” topic, I want to hit our local Firefighter’s Auxiliary. They are hosting a “COUPLES SWEETHEART DINNER” this Saturday night (2-12-2011) at Corned Beef and Co. in downtown Roanoke. They have reserved a room for the event at 6:30 and have also secured a discount price of $10 per ticket for access to the comedy Club later that night at 9:30 (the Star City Comedy Club is also located inside Corned Beef). You will need to RSVP so they will know who and how many to expect. Check out the Roanoke Firefighter’s Auxiliary site HERE. The link to their Face Book page is HERE or simply search Roanoke firefighters Auxiliary.
Ok, that’s enough for now …. I have a few reports to finish up and then I’m gonna try to get a little rest. I hope things quiet down a bit tonight. The forecast is for light snow but who knows?
We’re back on Friday, football practice tomorrow night so if I get a post up it’ll be late. Anyway, until I get back to ya… stay safe and in house! Thanks for reading!
Captain Wines