C-SHIFT cycle update to come.

BUSY DAY WITH A WORKING FIRE

It is 02:20 and we just got back from the fire on 5th & Elm. I will write more tomorrow but you can access a video at http://www.wsls.com/sls/news/local/article/breaking_news_old_southwest_home_catches_fire/33795/

And pictures on Mike Overackers site at http://www.roanokefirefighters.com/ when he post them.

Hope to have a home made video of this fire sometime Friday.

Time for some sleep (hopefully)

Be safe

BG

BACK TO THE GRIND

Last Thursday the 17th was the last day for C-shift and nothing really exciting happened and I got to go home early to prepare for a trip to Concord NC to watch Kayla's dance competition. Motor home was loaded up and I arrived at 18:30 hours. Kayla finished first in her duet. Trip was not good, A $17.00 part made the van not run and cost me $500.00 in towing and diagnostic charges. Amazing the way life goes!!!!!!

Today has been busy with the usual first day back and morning chores. A student has been riding with us and we had a few runs. Medic has been very busy. Four air packs repaired and counting. Diesel exhaust for L-13 was finally repaired. More air pack stuff to go on after I finish this post. If anything else happens worth posting I will put it up. Until then.

Be safe out there boys and girls.

BG

The last Sunday

Well here it is another pretty Sunday with rain fore casted the next three days and we are starting a new cycle. The day was the usual for the first day back getting the apparatus checked and the house cleaned up. Around 13:00 E-1, 6, 8 L-1 & 2, M-1, RS-1 & BC-1 were dispatched to smell of smoke in the structure at 32 Elm SW. E-1 arrived and started investigating, L-1 took the front of the structure, E-6 stopped at Elm & Jefferson and established command water supply. Investigation found light smoke in the structure and the smell of plastics burning. We decided to change our position to Elm & first street to establish a dry supply line to E-1. We nosed into the hydrant and hooked the manifold up while some others drug a line to our engine. L-7's crew found a plastic lid had been left on a stove eye and turned on. Structure was then ventilated and residents allowed to go back inside.

And here a pic of our old girl after I moved her out of the way for traffic reasons.

That is all for now. Hope we have a quiet night.

BG

BC Audie Ferris Retires

Effective Wednesday April 8, 2009, 29 year veteran Battalion Chief Audie Ferris retires. On April 6, 2009 a dinner was held & Firehouse #1 for Chief Ferris then companies from around the city were allowed to come say goodbye. This event also brought out some former members of the department as seen below w/ a picture of FF Brad Creasy & Ret. Lt. J.R. Patterson. ChiefFerris has been a member of the Fire Department for 29 years & brought alot of knowledge & experience to the table not only as the Battalion Chief for the Southside on A-Shift but also as the Special Operations Chief for the cities HTR team. Battalion Chief Jeff Beckner will now be taking over this postion. Chief Ferris' last official day was today April 8, 2009 and at 1900 he walked out of his office for the last time as an active member of the department. Chief Ferris will continue to be around the valley as he took a position as an assistant to the medical examiner here in Roanoke. Best of luck chief in retirment, you will be greatly missed.

Ret. Lt. J.R. Patterson w/ FF Brad Creasy

Capt. Todd Stone see here talking w/ Chief Ferris

Just another day in the life!!!!

Well we are back for day two of our cycle and the last day for the new guy Josh "Stovetop" Stovall as he is headed to M-8 on Tuesday. After the morning ussual (Housework stuff & truck check off) we headed to the store for meals and as is customery we plan to have steak tonight, we bought some small ones,

but for breakfast Stovetop wanted a Jared specialty, "Blintz's" it is a jewish breakfast pastry, we also had french toast, bacon & eggs over easy. Heres a picture of Stovetops plate

After breakfast it was over to #1 for some preperation training for the training scheduled Tuesday at the College of Health Sciences (college of knowledge as some of us call it). See pictures here. (if they post them)

Back to the station for the rest of the shift. We stayed busy doin stuff around the station until time for dinner, and what a good dinner. The steaks were great for Stovetops last meal here.

The medic truck has run a few more calls and now it is time to consider shutting down and gettin in the bunk. We can only hope for a restful night. Definently gettin too old for this up all night stuff. Stay in the house and remember "Reading is Fundamental"

Busy day for the Prides Crew

Well, as the other blogs have posted, it has been one busy day over here also. The Medic truck left this morning runnin calls, barely made it back for lunch and back out the door again and we did not see them until 7pm. The engine crew has been steady also with house work, changing trucks (we got our old girl back), Food Tiger for meals. Just as we were finishing lunch we had a walk in from across the street and it was for a 1 month old with difficulty breathing, I have never been so glad to hear a baby cry as today. Everything turned out fine for the child and Mother.

After lunch we did some more HTR training with FF David Lucas' invention "The Roanoke Boom". After the last drill with this device, FF Lucas tweaked this device into a workable unit and it worked very well. Here are some pics of it in use.

As we were picking up from the drill, we got a service to call to the house on 6th st that was on fire the other evening for the til roof blowing in the wind and upon arrival we found what was left and may I say, B-shift you did a great job on this one. I snapped a few pics as we looked at the tin roof. Here's a couple

Not long after we left there we got a run for an MVA at Tazewell & 8 1/2 st. No apparent serious injuries but the female that was in the car was packaged and transported.

After this call it was back to the house to start dinner. Everyone (well not the medic boys, they were tearing the road up) chipped in and helped get the grub going and on the table. Chicken casserole, steamed broccoli, a bean medley and some hot rolls. MMM MMMM GOOD STUFF.

After dinner we washed the trucks up and finally at 21:00 hrs. we kicked it of gear and put our feet up. Hope since we ran all day, we can stay in tonight. Every be safe and remember "Don't do drugs"

Southeast Says Goodbye To One Of It's Own

The last two days were pretty uneventful. The medic unit ran several EMS runs along w/ the engine over the past couple of days, & both the Engine & Medic had to be called back over to the scene of the fire on 3/31 to extinguish some hot spots in a rafter. Good job B-Shift, from the looks of the house, they kept it confined to the C-side of the structure. Also great job on protecting the exposure which suffered some heat damage to the vinyl siding. If you want to see the pics from this fire, head on over to http://www.roanokefirefighters.com/. Unfortunately though, Engine 6 wasn't on the initial alarm due to providing man power for an EMS call, but soon realized what was happening in Southeast & was able to clear up from RMH in enough time to be dispatched to the fire. Medic 6 however never made it to the fire. Yesterday, the Engine also had to be marked OOS briefly from 1800-2200 for Paramedic class. This brings me to my next part of the post. Due to the opening of Medic 8 on 4/6, Southeast had to say goodbye to one of it's own, FF/EMT-I George (no middle name) Harris. George has been a member of Engine Company 6 now for a couple of years & will be deeply missed by the citizens of Southeast I'm sure, best of luck George. George came to Station 6 as a FF/EMT in the EMT-I class & did exceptionally well in class as well as testing. He remained consistent in his desire to get all of his precepting done as he rode the medic unit everyday for 6-8months. He has displayed his constant ability to go above & beyond on many occasions, especially w/ taking the I-P bridge w/o being required to or asked. George became a part of the well oiled machine @ #6 & will be missed by all. For his last supper, George was allowed to eat free-of-charge a delicious meal prepared by FF Troutt. The meal consisted of T-bone steaks on the grill, cheddar/bacon red potatoes, green beans, & garlic bread. Apple pie was also prepared for dessert. Also to mention, FF/EMT-I Barry Kincer who's roots also run deep here at Engine 6 will now be assigned to the South Roanoke Fire Station. Best of luck to the both of you. Pictured below are George (left) & Lt. Mcfall (right) on scene after a fire at the Hickory Woods Apartment complex in Northeast last summer.


In other news, it's that time of year again; that's right, it's time to get out & start mowing. And C-shift wasted no time in making sure everyone around the 6-House knew when to mow the grass. The grass was immediately cut on Saturday in fear of C-Shifts long arm of the law.




Until next time, so long from A-shift.