Iron Firemen Wooden Ladders & Iron Firemen
Rhett will get a kick out of that “Dave Statterish” full paragraph headline! Sorry folks, the New Year brought me a new virus … not me, my computer so I’ve been out of commission for a few days. The good news is that I’m back up and running. I’m on duty tonight and it’s been kinda crazy so I’ll try to make this one as short as possible …
I don’t think I’ve seen where anyone has run this video yet but you’ll have to take a few minutes and watch it. I found it on the Cleveland Fire Fighter’s IAFF Local #93 home page. Anchor and reporter Sukanya Krishnan wears multiple “hats”. She is also the wife of a FDNY Lieutenant. Watch and listen as she weighs in and speaks her mind concerning recent FDNY Staffing reductions and the “heat” FDNY’s UFA’S President Steve Cassidy took for a attributing the recent injuries of Rescue 2 members (Wiedmann and Gersbeck ) to those cuts..
(Brothers Wiedmann and Gersbeck (and their families) still need our help and support. If you haven’t done so yet, PLEASE go to the RESCUE 2 MAYDAY FUND and donate on their behalf. If you already have … do it again! Every little bit helps and they even have it set up so you can do it through Pay Pal.)
We all need a room full of firefighter wives, girlfriends etc like ” Suki ” to fill council chambers etc every time they talk about, debate and consider budget cuts to Public Safety. And don’t think for a minute that your Department budget or your pension is safe. Right now, my pension is under attack. It’s been coming for some time now but it’s just here recently that the majority of our members have “seen the light”. Here’s another video that’s well worth the watch …. The Ed Show from MSNBC …
I’ll have more on the attack and battles we’re facing here in “The Noke” in future posts. It just continues to amaze me how the “powers to be” think that their poor dumb firefighters can’t add or subtract.
Moving on …. We’ve had a Close Call here in Va. that was actually very “close to home”. On Tuesday, January 3, 2012 members from the Buchanan Volunteer Fire Department responded to a reported structure fire. Fire Chief Billy Joe Carter arrived to find a mobile home heavily involved with fire and received reports of persons possibly trapped inside.
A power line fell in the yard and due to the ground being wet and Chief Carter’s proximity to the hazard, he was “hit”. He described the situation over the radio as “pretty bad”. The Chief remained conscious and directed his members away from him and to the fire. All searches ended up negative and the neighboring mobile home was spared heavy damage. Chief Carter was hospitalized in ICU at a local Level 1 Trauma Center. Rhett has more on Va Fire News and the local news video is below ….
CLICK HERE to visit FIRE FIGHTER CLOSE CALLS.COM
Ok, so we ended 2011 with a busy shift.
We were toned out to respond when a 2nd alarm was struck at a 3 story retirement / nursing facility in our 2nd due (actually, it should be our 1st due but are assignments are based on the time of day etc … “playing the odds” and it came in as an automated alarm)
Anyway, the good news was that the sprinkler had taken care of the fire.
The bad news was that it put a whole lot of water on the 2nd floor!
We were assigned to assist “Division 2” in the fire room.
We got in a little salvage and overhaul work as well as some ventilation…. a good learning experience for Randy.
Another good note to the incident (if there is such a thing) was the fact that the “2nd Alarm”transmission notified our newly appointed Department Chaplin Father Sandy Webb.
I’ve posted about Father Webb several times here on Ironfiremen.com and think he’s a GREAT addition to our “family”
He was excited to have been issued a coat and helmet (although he forgot the helmet) and even put in a little work on this incident.
His 1st call in an “official” capacity and he has already made a difference by assisting the occupants of the fire room. GREAT job Father … glad to see ya out in the streets … just remember your helmet next time..LOL
So ,we worked New Years Day where we logged a VERY busy day with no major incidents.
We took 4 days off and returned to that same busy pace today….Uggg!
The most excitement so far has been a rubbish fire with our Brothers and Sisters from Engine 4 and Ladder 5.
We got a line off and Randy put in a little nozzle time so he’s been smiling all night.
I hope we’ve done all that we are going to tonight but it’s FRIDAY and I know better.
I’ll catch ya up on all the details and fill in the gaps when we get back on Sunday…
Until then, Stay SAFE and in House!
Captain Wines