Iron Firemen Wooden Ladders & Iron Firemen
The Brothers and Sisters of B-shift had another busy night.
Lucky #13, led by Captain Phil “Triple D” Dillon was first in on a well involved 2 story residential structure fire.
It took firefighters about 40 minutes to get the fire “under control”. All searches were found to be “all clear” as the house was unoccupied and under renovation. The cause remains under investigation while damages are estimated at $80,000.00
Captain Dillon and his crew made a quick knock down and stretched inside while the 2nd due companies protected the exposure and performed other vital tasks.
You can tell by the photo above right that these Brothers and Sisters faced a pretty substantial amount of fire. The photo (above right) is actually a screen shot from video footage captured on the cell phone of a WDBJ 7 news reporter. The picture to the left is what they managed to save.
It’s obvious that the Brothers and Sisters of B-Shift, North Battalion put in some solid work. Nobody, civilian or firefighter; was injured in the blaze although Captain Dillon (#13-C … left in the photo right from 2007) said at shift break this morning that he hasn’t faced that much heat in quite a while.
Captain Dillon is an “aggressive” firefighter who has seen more than his fair share of work. When he says it was a “hot” one, what he means is that it would have melted the paint off the gates of hell …LOL.
When I say he’s “aggressive”, I should add that it’s a calculated aggression. An educated aggression …a cautious aggressiveness even though the two words contradict themselves (if that makes sense). How do you define aggressive? My good friend and Brother Bill Carey has a great post on that exact topic over on Backstep Firefighter. Click the title below to view that post …
Defining Aggressive, Part I Tasks and Identity
So anyway, I know that Captain Dillon follows my site and what I can’t figure out is why he didn’t deploy the newest firefighting technique recently discovered in Wytheville, Va by Chief Ronnie King. If you haven’t heard of this revolutionary technique, don’t worry. I covered it’s discovery right here in the pages of Ironfiremen.com. Read that post by CLICKING HERE .
I don’t know what Captain Dillon was thinking when he decided to put WATER on the fire! Maybe if he had “thousands and thousands of hours of training” his strategies and tactics would have been different? Anyway, you can see the entire video from WDBJ7 (where the screen shot, top, right photo came from) in the link below. I’ll also add the video from WSLS and the story from the local paper.
MUST SEE VIDEO from WDBJ7. Well involved structure fire Roanoke, Va
Today has been just as busy around “Lucky #13”.
We even got to do a little work with our Brothers from Roanoke County.
We’re kind of “out on the border” here at #13. We are right at the line for Roanoke County on one side and the City of Salem on the other.
We have both mutual and automatic-aid agreements with both agencies and it goes both ways. We run into the County and City of Salem and they in turn respond into the City when needed.
Today, we caught a small fire contained in a very confined space above an entrance way.
The job took more overhaul than extinguishment but the members (City and County) did a good job of getting to it.
The location was actually a fairly large church.
Had this fire gone undetected, it could have resulted in a huge loss.
We were first in on this one.
Well, we were the first piece of fire “apparatus” on scene anyway.
Little Brandon Sheppard was actually first on scene and established command.
Yea … Brandon had command and ordered me to work! LOL
My long time followers may remember Brandon from back in our “Melrose Misfits” days. The “powers to be” worked it out where Brandon was allowed to spend a tour with us in the City. He was actually “assigned” to the City as a Roanoke County Firefighter. I’m not sure it had ever been done before.
It was actually an awesome idea and proved to be a great experience for Brandon. Take a moment and read my post (and the comments) from January 25, 2009
Roanoke County FF/Medic assigned to City Station for a day
I have a lot more to share with ya but I’ll stop here for now. Just for a teaser, I’ll tell that I received some AWESOME upgrades for my Phenix TL2 Leather Helmet. Tomorrow night is our Union’s Annual Banquet (IAFF Local-1132) so I should have some good pics for the next post. Saturday, we sign up for vacation and Father Sandy is scheduled for a visit. Lastly, I have some BIG news concerning our beloved “Rookie Randy” … you’re not going to want to miss it.
We’re also trying to boost my Face book presence. If you haven’t done so already, please visit and like my “Fan Page” Let’s see if I can get to 5,000 by Christmas … I promise to keep ya entertained.
“Like” Ironfiremen.com on Face Book. Click HERE
Until I get back, stay SAFE and in House!
Captain Wines