A-shift back at the helm. I realize that we haven't posted in quite a while, so some updates are needed. First and foremost, "The Green House" welcomes a new family member, Jensen Ela. She was born a week and half ago to Drew (Paramedic/ FF) and his wife Kim. We wish them all the best and can't wait to see their new addition! In the meantime, with Drew off on baby leave, A-shift has been holding down the fort. Today, is a rainy day, with no a whole lot going on thus far. Capt and Lt are cooking up some firehouse breakfast, while monthly's get accomplished by the rest of the crew. We haven't run too much "good stuff" in the last few cycles....definitely not wishing for it, but if we do have something, we will post some pics later. I guess that is it for now, we will definitely try to keep up with updating this thing throughout the rest of this cycle. Brothers and sisters, be safe...keep in the house! EKM

Brotherhood

As many of Battalion Chief Chris Brown's crew will tell you, Battalion Chief Brown taught as many as he could how important Brotherhood and Sisterhood really is. I know he would have been very proud to see the outpouring of Brotherhood and Sisterhood yesterday at his funeral service. We should be all very proud to be a part of this family we call the Fire Service. A huge thanks goes out to the Roanoke County and Salem firefighters that came out to staff our stations so Roanoke Fire-EMS personnel could attend the service. Honestly we can't thank you enough. I could go on and on to tell you what kind of man Battalion Chief Brown was but I suggest you talk to the men and women, family, and friends that knew him the best. To listen to them remember the life he lived is amazing. Please visit Mike Overacker's site here and Lt. Rhett Fleitz's site here for photo and video coverage of the service. Rest in peace brother and Battalion Chief Chris Brown.

I know I know......

We know we know, we don't blog on a regular basis but hey would you really like to hear about how many times we run into the county every day? Or maybe how we ran 3 EMS calls to Funky Manor? Or how about what we ate for dinner? We didn't think so but here is some of the latest happenings of somewhat interest. Recently we had a "PubEd" at the Chick-fil-A at Valley View with "Cow", what they lovingly refered to him as. Here's some photo op's with "cow", we think he might be Mac's secret twin. We also got a surprise visit from Bocock Sr bringing some special birthday wishes to Capt. Wallace. It was amusing to say the least! But seriously, Chick-fil-A is a great organization that does some really cool things for the community and we thank them for having us over and feeding us :). On another note, A-shift has adopted a vicious feline friend. Visitors beware because "Fire Cat" is on guard. Our new little friend has drawn blood on mulitple occasions. So you ask why do we even bother with the little guy that continues to bite us? Well we hope that maybe he'll develope a taste for someone else someday. Thanks to Drew for keeping Fire Cats belly full. Heres a pic of our blood sucking buddy posing for the camera out front. Middle day of the cycle we took a field trip over to the new William Fleming H.S. before school starts. Wow! It turned out to be a very large and very nice facility. E9, E13, L13, and M3 joined us for the tour. We learned a lot about the new building so that when we respond we will have a much better idea of where everythings at.....even the credit union in the cafeteria. I know what your thinking...a credit union in a school? We thought the same thing but yes there is a small Member One branch located in the cafeteria. Oh and btw the longest hallway is 220 yards long!

I'm sure by now that most of you have heard that our brother from the 9 House "Wheels" lost his father a few days ago. Please keep Wheel's and his family in your thoughts and prayers as we are here at the Green House. Wheel's if you need anything at all please don't hesitate to call your hippee friends. Funeral arrangements are as follows: Viewing at Salem Oakey tonight from 4pm-7pm and Funeral Monday at Salem Baptist Church 11am graveside. Thank you brothers at 9 house for keeping us all informed.

RW

Home Sweet Home

Seems our little friend has traveled far and near, but fear not he's back home in the ghetto. I think I may have seen a little tear in the corner of it's eye, maybe even a little whimper when I dropped him off to it's rightful owners. Suprisingly I made it out of 9 intact, i didn't get 2 steps in the door before I was cornered and threated with fake finger guns and one sneaky captain. Calm down fella's, the little guy is back home.....and I don't mean Capt. Wines(he's a little guy too). The little guy did get a chance to see a little bit of the world beyond the confinds of those crusty old walls. Did yall know he stared in Backdraft(he ate Kurt Russell for breakfast I think). I think even Denis Leary lost his job! Do you know who saved all those lives on the US Airways flight that crashed into the Hudson? It was our little friend, he's a natural born hero! He even went to pay his respects to St. Patrick......Like us on last day, he got to fight a little fire(notice where he's standing, hint hint).

As I mentioned above we did catch a little job yesterday. Not a whole lot to it but a little basement fire, but it was a working fire none the less. L2 was the first to arrive on scene and pulled their line to make the initial knockdown. E3 and M3 were getting our learn on out with Chief Manuel at the airport when the alarm went out and we were the next Engine in after having to jump our own call! We were all deeply saddened to have our ARFF training cut short by this silly fire. E3 brought the water in from a stubborn red-top and then layed an attack line in from side "C" into the basement. The fire was pretty well knocked down so we did a thourough overhaul and hung out til Joe and Becky cleared up. Other units on scene were M3, E2, E5, E9(oh yeah, can't forget the "heros" hehe), BC2, Jimmy on the service truck, Chris Price, and the investigators(sorry if I left anyone out). Also, thanks to Salem firefighter/paramedic student Hunter(ridin M3) for helpin out on scene. Here's a few shots of the aftermath I took with my phone.

Joe Hodgin investigating the fire, I think the cause may have been "mice with matches"....

If you look above the washing machine you'll notice a burnt up pipe hanging from the ceiling. We think this little buggar may have helped reduce the damage done by the fire.

Look in the center of this one, what do you see? Thats right kids, a propane tank!

In the top of this pic you can see the "guts" of a flexible air duct, I think our fire investigators may have got a better pic of this to be used in future training of the hazards of this stuff.

RW

Escapee? Closet hippee? Prisoner of War?

Looks like a mascot from the "Pebble" has run away.....maybe life really is "greener" on the other side of the fence!

First Day of cycle for A Shift

Hello all you blog readers out there....greetings from the GREEN HOUSE. It's been a good day here at #3 today. Nothing too out of the norm. Our fearless leader Capt. Firebaugh is riding Battalion 2 today so the chance of something crazy happening is a good possibility. He always says everytime he rides the car theres a big fire or something strange happens...we can only hope...lol. We did, however, celebrate his birthday today. We had a big meal and his wife came by with some cake and icecream. The cake had his alltime favorite fire truck on it....E-3...the old Combination Utility pumper Non-arial Truck. Man, what a pretty cake.
After a bit of "editing" by our very own F.F. Medic Drew Abel, the Cap liked it ever more.....

Note the absence of the 55 foot "FIRE STICK".....it looks like an actual engine now...lol.

We also had some special guests stop by for cake and ice cream but wish to remain anonymous for reasons only they and we know...lol

The Station 3 Challenge coins are finally in. They turned out pretty good I think. We did the coin in the "shiney nickel" finish and it features our mascot The Hulk on the back. The Raonoke Fire EMS logo is on the front. We decided to put 2nd Battalion on the back as well since the original 3 was on the south side of the city. I'm selling them for $10 so if interested give me a call.

Call wise, we've ran a run of the mill fire alarm, M.V.A. and an E.M.S. call in the county. nothing to interesting to write about.

If you see Drew around anytime soon....ask him about his bio-retention pond adventure.

Well...thats about it for us here. I'll udate the post if anything exciting happens tonight. Stay safe out there and have a quiet night.

Broadway

National EMS Memorial

For those of you who are unaware there is a National EMS Memorial Service held here in Roanoke every year to honor all the EMS LODD's of the past year. Along with the service there is an impressive Memorial Bike Ride that starts in Terrytown, NY(just north of NYC) as well as Painstville, KY both ending here in Roanoke. We received a call from Batt. 2 requesting our presence in the last leg of the ride from County Station #5 Hollins to Hotel Roanoke. There were a bunch of emergency vehicles in the procession. It was nice to see all the participants in the ride, they came from all over the country to our little part of the world to honor a brother/sister who passed. Here's some shots taken of the event. For more info on the service and the ride go here - http://muddyangels.org/ or here - http://nemsms.org/. This will be the last year the service will be held in Roanoke, it's being moved to Colorado Springs, CO due to the closing of the Rescue Museum. This years memorial service will be held at First Baptist Church downtown at 6:00 tonight(Saturday).
Besides that, not much more to report on from the Green House. Your friends on "C" shift are done with "hell" week and are goin on a Memorial Day 4-day!

RW