Roanoke City says Goodbye to Another One of Its Own

1952-2009

It is with great sadness that the Roanoke Fire-EMS Dept. announces the passing of Retired BC Billy Obenchain on Wednesday December 23, 2009. BC Obenchain has been battling a long fight against cancer for the past nine years. After 33 years of service in the department, his final assignement was as the Northside Battalion Chief on C-shift, housed in the #2 firehouse in Northeast Roanoke, where he retired in 2006. Funeral arrangements are as follows: Viewing will be held at Vinton Oakeys on December 27 from 1-4 & 6-9. Funeral service will be December 28 at Vinton Baptist Church at 1100 with the graveside service being held at Mountainview Cemetary. If there are any personnel that will not be attending the funeral & can work for anyone that would like to attend the services please contact Capt. Doug Rorrer via e-mail with a number you can be reached at. (below photo courtesy of Mike Overacker & RoanokeFirefighters.com)

House Saved in SE

The middle day for the crew of Engine 6 proved to be an eventful day. The Medic unit stayed busy throughout the day with the Engine catching a few runs as well. All, yes i said ALL of the downtime was spent preparing for upcoming promotional tests. I want to wish the best of luck to all the candidates but especially to three of our very own on A-Shift; Lt. Todd McFall who will be testing for 1st Lieutenant on Wednesday December 9, & FF David Wray & FF/Medic Adam Troutt, both of which will be testing for Lieutenant today. Good luck guys, you all have worked & studied very hard for this. Just as the studying was winding down around 2230 crews from E6,E1,E11,L1,M6,BC1,& RS1 were dispatched to the area of 5th St. & Bullitt AV SE for a fire in a house. Just after pulling out of the house, heavy smoke could be seen & BC1 immediately requested the dispatch of L7 b/c L1's crew was in HTR6 (no aerial ladder & only a 6ft ground ladder on this piece of apparatus) b/c L1 was out-of-service. BC1 arrived & reported heavy smoke pushing from the eaves of the house & marked it a working fire. Interior lines were stretched & only a small access was found to the attic. It was said that the access to the attic was so small that even "Slim" wouldn't be able to get in haha. Great job to all the crews that responded & provided a quick knock down that isolated the fire to the large attc.