Turning Stone

The title? It means two things. It’s what I’ve been doing (turning over new stones) and where I am.

I’ll explain the “what I’ve been doing” part soon, but for now; I wanted to let you all know that I’m in Verona, New York for Fire 2014 (link) presented by the New York State Association of Fire Chiefs.

I’m here again with my MN8-FoxFire (link) family. We are located inside the conference center at booth #2120. You can find a map of the vendor spaces HERE .

Be sure to stop by to say hello and get a personal (and FREE) demo of our amazing, illuminating products!

You may remember that I was here last year for Fire 2013. You can read that post by clicking the link below….

Read “New York, fatal crash / fire and Officer development”

If you hit that link, you seen that while I was here; my B-Shift Brothers and Sisters back home were battling a major fire / incident on I-581.

The crash resulted in two fatalities and sent more to the hospital.

It shut down a major Interstate (that splits the City of Roanoke and connects I-81 and Route 220).

Firefighters faced many challenges including “water supply”.

There are no hydrants along I-581 and the closest thing Roanoke Fire / EMS has to a tanker is Engine #13 (Lucky 13) which carries 1,000 gallons of water. They do have a Mutual-Aid agreement with Roanoke County who has several tankers but just getting to the scene of the fire became a HUGE issue very early in the incident.

The members ended up “hand jacking” several hundred feet of 5″ supply line off the Interstate and through adjoining yards to reach neighborhood hydrants. They were thinking “outside the box” and got the job done!

Well yesterday, on the drive back up here; I came across another serious Interstate incident involving tractor trailer trucks.

This one occurred in the Staunton area and caused a single fatality.

Although this incident didn’t involve fire, it looked bad.

Any incident on the Interstate (or a busy road / highway) can be bad and poses many challenges / threats to First Responders.  The Brothers and Sisters serving along the I-81 corridor have plenty of experience and see more than their fair share of these types of incidents. You can read more details from this deadly crash in the link below….

Read “One dead in I-81 tractor-trailer crash in Staunton”

So, I’m gonna get to work here in Verona. If you’re in the area, stop by booth #2120 and say hello. After the show, I’ll be hanging out with friends around the camp ground and casino….. feel free to join us!

I’ll try to keep ya updated on where we are and what we’re up to via Face Book. If you’re not following me there, you should be. Use the link below to follow the Ironfiremen.com “Fan Page” (this is not my “personal” FB account).

Ironfiremen.com on Face Book HERE

Stay SAFE and in House!

Captain Wines