First Day of New Cycle for A Shift

A shift is on today, and so far it's been a rather slow saturday. Started the day with the usual routine, checking off the trucks, cleaning up the bio-dome here and heading to the local Kroger for edibles. It's pretty much rained all day today. Our bio-retention pond is at max capacity. If the water gets any higher, we may have to call the boys at 6 for the S.W.R. Team. Here is a picture of this modern marvel.

I know...you're so very impressed. That's how we roll at the Green House...lol. We are thinking of stocking it with fresh trout soon so get you rod and reels ready.

Late this morning Mulford got a call from his Fiancee. He had to leave early because she had to undergo emergency gall blader surgery. Last up date we got from him, she is doing fine and recouping at R.M.H. Our prayers and well wishes are with her for a speedy recovery.

With Mulford gone that left us short, so who did we end up getting to fill in but none other than Scott "Scooter" Hetherington from #7. Working with Scooter is always a good time and you always learn so much. Scooter, being the techno savy man he is, showed us his laster tech purchase. It's a cell phone add on. No....it's not the Blue Tooth alot of people out there have. Actually, I'm not sure what it's called. Maybe a Blue Whale Tooth. Check out the pic....

Yes, what you are looking at is an old school phone receiver plugged into a cell phone and yes...IT WORKS! It even has a button just above the mouth part(it's not very noticable in the pic) that actually hangs up the phone when you're done talking and will scroll through your menus. If only it came with a rotory dial.....now that would ROCK! Linda Jones was so impressed, she immediatly got online an ordered her one. Yes...you to can have one for the low price of just $24.99. Seems to me this is a step in the wrong direction...but what do I know?

Call wise, it's been pretty slow here. We've only ran one car into a light ploe out near the mall. No injuries and very minor damage. The guy driving believed his accident was caused by his NEW tires being slick in the rain. WHAT?!? We all know he was hauling a** down the exit ramp and lost it...lol.

The medic truck has been pretty slow today as well. I hope I'm not jinxing them by saying this. Only two calls but of course, one right before breakfast and the 2nd right before dinner.

As for Scott Bailey, he is still out with his ankle. 6 to 8 weeks last I heard. We was hoping he was going to give us another Loritab induced phonecall. He is a trip when he's tripping...lol. Get better quick Scott and welcome to the gimp club. Just so you know...we have a personal parking spot for you.....
That's it for us here at #3 or as our fav N.W. peeps call us...the Hippie House. If we have any more interesting calls we'll update the blog. Good night to all the Brothers and Sisters out there. Be safe and keep it on the road.

Broadway "Brother before all other, Duty unto one another"

Training Day

The day started out a little sluggish here at the green hotel. As usual the medic truck ran a few before lunch, nothing too critical i don't think. After an early lunch we headed out to the training center for the Suspended Ceiling class put on by retired Roanoke County Chief Poff. Chief Poff put on a great class that was enjoyed by all of us. We learned some great tactics and self rescue techniques that may save our life someday. Here's a couple pics from the practical portion of today's training....Note Mr. Austin is actually doing stuff, now I know you can't see his face so you may be hesitant to believe it's actually him but I assure you it is. A big thanks goes out to Chief Poff for our training today.As we were concocting dinner we got a call for a tractor trailer truck fire....we were going down Preston when we noticed some smoke, we thought wow, we might actually see some fire today! Nope! we arrived to find broke down tractor trailer truck in the middle of Plantation that had blown it's turbo....the most excitement we got was a little oil on the groud. We stayed on scene with the truck til Woods showed up to give the guy a lift. Besides that there was an EMS call at the ol' BDubs, it's a good thing we remembered to put the bandaid sticky side down. Of course if we had forgotten how these pesky bandaids work, M9 was there to lend a helping hand.....til the next one...

RW

It ain't easy bein' green

The day started out very hectic.......trucks OOS all over the city due to a Captains meeting and physicals. Medic 3 stayed pretty busy running everyone's calls but our own! We were back together by this evening when the Captain returned from his Hazmatology training. It didn't take long once he came back when we were dispatched to a chimney fire on Lewiston. 13 Ladder arrived on scene to find heavy smoke coming from the chimney as well as a light smoke condition inside the residence. 13 Engine arrived shortly after taking command. 9 Engine arrived next standing by on a hydrant, surely they were ready for some action.....just their presence in the neighborhood made you feel like you were in the presensce of greatness! We rolled on by 9 Engine to get an assignment. It was sad to go on by 9 Engine but we had work to do. We were assigned to check for extension.....all was clear inside the residence. Also, Lt. Weev was able to show off his flashy new gear as seen above. Todd Harris is seen up on the roof after droppin some chimney bombs. 13 Ladder worked on extinguishing the blaze while we stood at the ready. Sadly 9 Engine was sent home before they could come play......there was a tear in our eyes while watching them pull away. There they are off in the distance.....Once everything was under control we were cleared up. It's a good thing cause Tim Brown's famous chopped beef and gravy was waiting on us....
There was a styrofoam incident following the St. Patrick's Day parade at the union hall. It was not a proud moment for our eco-friendly station. Evidence was collected and posted on 9 Engine's blog http://enginecompany9.blogspot.com/2009/03/caught-in-act.html. In an attempt to redeem themselves with the help of their Lt. they made use of the eco-friendly composter here at the Green House after dinner. This was the first time this person had used this device, it's very simple.....open lid, vomit in mouth, place food in container, vomit in mouth again, close lid, and continue to enjoy it's joyous odor long after it's placed back in the cabinet. It gave a new meaning to being "green", though we felt very proud to be giving back to ol' mother earth.

RW

Saturday Night fever!!!

Well....let's at lest hope not. It's saturday here at The Green House, Station 3, and it's been a E.M.S. filled day for A shift. With Drew Abel off partying it up in Baltimore (at least i hope he is having a good time) the Engine has been plumb up against it with emergency medical calls since Medic 3 is O.O.S. due to Mulford continueing his medic education and afermentioned Abel being off.

We started the day off with Medic 2 and a D.O.A. Nobody likes starting it off that way. Got back to a hearty breakfast from the 20lb bag of pancake mix, sausage, eggs and fried apples. The rest of the day was pretty slow running a couple more e.m.s. calls.

The inner city guys caught themselves a fire after dinner. Our own Medic 3 got to go play. Sounded like a pretty nasty one too. 3's F.F. Scott Bailey was injury when he went outside to change air bottles. He suffered a high ankle sprain and was told he'll be off 6 to 8 weeks. Get better soon Scott, I know what you're going through. Engine 5's Captain Chuck Swecker was also hauled off to the E.R. for burns to the hand. We wish both these guys a speedy recovery.

Now, when all this excitement was going on, me and the Cap was enjoying some delicious apple cobbler...mmmmmm.

Well thats about it everyone. We hope everyone has a good night. Be safe and keep it in the house.....you guys at 9 keep it the slum house. P.S....dont eat the paint no matter how sweet it tastes.

Can't Wait Till Christmas!

The long heard rumors are true. I had heard awhile back that #9's "Fire Kicking Ass" was thinking about becoming a recording artist. I thought to myself "that's completely rediculous...who'd wanna heard a singing donkey?!?". Well, evidently, alot of people do.

As seen in the above picture, the old #9 Ass has recorded a Christmas album with the famous Tenors (no...not Scott Alford and J.J. Price). Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and the Fire Kicking Ass together at last! We can only hope Ava Maria is on the album.......EEEEEE AAAAAWWW!

Another day in paradise...

Our resident 'poster' is in the Sunshine State for a little R & R so the rest of us are left to hunt and peck our way into the new age of 'blogging'. So this is what all the kids have been doing the last few years, whats next ... texting ?

Today was relatively uneventful. First thing this morning we got our ARFFtastic on and slid over to station ten for some long awaited procedural stuff. All smiles when we got home. A long distance shout-out to our resident ARFFalicious FF Winters for her efforts:)

FF/Medic/Preceptor extroadinaire Shrader passed on some knowledge to two students today on Medic 3. Pretty steady throughout the day although no real excitement. Come back soon guys.

As of 8pm E3 has had two calls: a smell of gas and a possible car vs bicycle that we were unable to locate.

We rec'd a passing hello from one of our own, FF on hiatus White, while he spends his days on D-Shift nursing his flesh wound from his latest foray into outdoor sports. Get well soon young jedi.

Sorry we don't have any pictures to post. We are still learning this whole blogging thing. Who knewthis was so hard?

Be safe and keep it in the house.

Ski's? We don't need no stinkin skis!

Our most recent inductee into the Intermediate club is out of commission......Billy had a little accident while skiing and busted his wrist. We wish him a quick recovery and hope he comes back soon! In the mean time we dedicate this inspirational poster to our little pal....
Time to update everyone on the happenings of this past cycle. First day went like any other, ran a few alarms...we also had Tim Brown filling in with us on Medic 3. Here's shot of an alarm panel from one of our regulars, 320 Hershberger Rd. After some burnt food on the stove we were on our way back home.

Middle day Medic 3 was fairly steady and ran almost all night! Engine ran a working fire on Bowman, I understand it ended up being some items outside the Charlie side of the residence was on fire. According to Dr. Schrader it looked bad upon arrival. Last day presented us with an interesting call around 20:00. We were dispatched out to a tractor trailer that was leaning. We arrived to find a tractor trailer that was left behind the BAM(Books-A-Million), one of its jacks was sunk in the ground which caused the trailer to lean just a little. We hung out and baby sat it until Big Johns Towing came to save the day.......

Hump Day Halfway Over.

Well, It's the middle day of the cycle for us on A shift and it's been pretty uneventful. Other than the normal daily duties and house chores not much to talk about. First thing this morning Captain Firebaugh got his brand new shiney set of morning pride gear...it goes quite nicely with his new shiny red helmet. Some of us here have been hoping this would tempt the fire gods and send a job our way but as of yet, nothing. We do have 12 hours to go though so will see.

While Mulford was getting some clinical time in the first part of the day, Joey Pugh from Station 1 came to work with us. For awhile there we were assuming full investigation duties as shown by INV 1 parked out in the lot.

Joey kept us quite entertained all day long. Thanks Joey for hanging with us for awhile.

But, as far as calls go, only two for the engine so far. A M.V.A. and an E.M.S. call. The m.v.a. was a run of the mill rear ender, nothing too serious and the medical call was a posible seizure. Salem had to shut down their force field bubble to let one of their medic trucks run with us on the medic call because of the City being dumped....again. They seemed to not mind coming in since they got to scope out the Valley View Mall surrounding at the Chik-fila.

As for Medic 3, they've ran a handful of runs. Nothing too out of the ordinary, at least that I know of.

Well, I guess thats about it. Sorry for the short blog. Nothing really to blog about. I hope to see alot of you out on St. Patrick's Day. Many of the guys are planning on meeting at 4 o'clock or so at Corn Beef and Co. on tuesday so come on out, wear your t-shirt and don't forget your challege coin. I have three Station 1 coins left if anyone is interested. Two Chief's addition(with the gold stations on the back) and a very limited A Shift addition(in shiney silver). We are doing a Station 3 coins as well if anyone is interested he is the draft.

The are a few minor changes going to be done at it will more than likely be in a shiney silver and not gold. That's it for us here at the Green House. We'll update if anything funny or exciting happens. Don't forget to participate in the poll to the right here and have a good night. Be safe.
Broadway

The Friendship Manor Express!!

It's day one of the cycle for A shift and we are plumb up against it. Started out the usual stuff, checking off the trucks...cleaning up the house then going to the store for the meals. We decide to make the engine "parade ready". Spending a couple hours cleaning up the diamond plate, brushed aluminum, tires, washing it even painting the exhaust pipe I then remembered...we are in north west...we won't even be anywhere near the St. Patrick's Day Parade....lol. Oh well, the engine looked alot better anyways. After some delicious Drew Abel chili for lunch(then shipping him off to 9) we decide to do a bit of hydrolic and friction loss training. Which then lead to engine ops....look at the Fire Stix in action!!! Nothing beats the Combination Utility pumper Non arial Truck. After a slow morning and afternoon we finally got our first call on the engine....a fire alarm at Friendship Manor. Here's the newly installed Dash Cam 3 taking us on the call.
Note....blogger.com isn't uploading my vid. Maybe next time.





Sorry the first Dash Cam 3 vid is so boring, but that's the roll of the dice.



The second and so far final call of the day was back to Friendship Manor(hence the name of this post) to assist Medic 3 with a difficulty breathing patient. After loading them on the box, we headed back to relax and let the fried chicken we had for dinner settle in our guts.


Well it's official, Battalion chief Ricky Troutt is retiring and I have the proof...here is a pic of the finished tattoo. Note the hire/ retire year on it. 1975-2009. He better retire now of that tattoo will be kinda dumb...lol. Not sure when this year he'll be going but he will be missed. Company 3 at the Green House here will always be there for him...mainly because he lives on Crittendon and his bike shop is on Trinkle and both streets are our first due...lol.

I had to actually take a picture from the picture on my cell phone hence the poor quality, but I promise it says 2009.

As for St. Patrick's Day, people from 3,9,1 and 6 have expressed interest about getting together, enjoying some Paddy's traditions and brotherly fellowship. if anyone has some ideas...let us know. Maybe just meet up downtown in the afternoon or something.

Well, that's about it for tonight. I'll update if we do anything worth updating about. Be safe out there my Brothers and Sisters. Good Night.

Life's a Beach....

Many have noticed the fantastically warm weather this weekend, especially our friends at #9. You would think that with a "never take a day off from training just cause its the weekend" kind of Captain that he would have not been tempted by the warm weather.....maybe they caught a bit of spring fever. We shamefully found them posing in the warm sand in some poor kids sand box in a fine NW neighborhood. Those poor kids will be scarred for life. Don't believe me? Here's some hard evidence.......can't deny it boys, you've been caught!RW

Last Day of the Cycle....SLOWWWW.

It's the last day of the cycle here on A shift and at the Green House, it has been pretty uneventful. Only one call to show for and it was an E.M.S. call for man not breathing. We haul out of the station arriving to find him D.O.A. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.

The day started out pretty normal. Shift break...getting the low down and finding out Engine 3 is down again. This time a leak in the fuel tank. I've been here for two months now and that's the second time it has been shopped. We were informed that a new tank will be ordered an installed sometime...lol. So here to protect the Greater Williamson Road Area is.... Reserve Engine 902. It' one of the older Grummans (actually old E-2) and in all honesty...i'd perfer keeping it. So, it's leaks a bit of oil, but them old Grummans drive great and can turn on a dime.

So.....we got the the trucks checked off, cleaned the station and headed to to store for grub. Special thank to Roger Guilliams for his Jack's Chicken recipie which we had for dinner. Doesn't seem quite as good without that special ingredient....Dr. Guilliams Wild Root Oil, but the men seened to like it.

After scarfing down a bacon cheese burger for lunch, we headed out to the Roanoke regional training Center for the Suspended Ceiling class. Company 3, Ladder 1, Engine 11, Battalion 1 and some brothers from Salem Fire Dept. were all there for this informative class.

Earlier that morning I was making light of this subject but it ended up being a very infomative class that really got you thinking about truss roofing and light weight construction. Any education on keeping firefighters safer is good education. Special thanks to instructor Steve Poff for the class. I'm looking forward to his Lightweight Construction Tactics class coming this spring.

Back from class and it's time to start making dinner. While Bailey ejoyed his second lunch or predinner...whatever you call it,we found out what really makes a Captain Firebaugh p.o.ed....PLUMBING. What was suppose to be an easy task of cleaning out the grease trap here at Green House 3, turned out to be a major plumbing operation.
After a few expletives and beating it with a set of channel locks, James got it working good as new. Drew was actually able to snap the pic of the very elusive Capt. J. Firebaugh. It has been thought, by many, for years that the Captain was part vampire since he was never seen in any picture taken. Here's proof that he is real and not a vampire.

Well, thats about it for us at #3. It's pushing nine o'clock, time for some fat pants and ice cream sammies. If we get any good calls tonight we'll update the blog. To all my Brothers and Sisters out there, be safe and to everone else....goodnight.

Bway


Overnight Update: Medic 3 takes a whippin'!

That's right folks another fun filled night on the wild north side. The crew of Medic 3 received a good whippin' to make up for lost time in the afternoon. The most notable of which was a significant crash as the result of a police chase through north west Roanoke. Seems a SUV load of folks had done some not so nice things to some residents of this fair city. Once Roanoke's finest heard of this the hunt was on. The SUV with the bad guys was located the chase was on! A quick note to future thugs of Roanoke City: If you are going to run from da "po-po", know your territory, dead end streets make for a poor escape route. Well the old saying goes, if you can't dodge it, ram it, and that they did. That stubborn old tree would not get out of their way and sure did some impressive damage to the thug-mobile. Medic 3 arrived first and began triaging the 6 or so persons involved strewn thought the accident scene, all of which were in handcuffs, thanks policeman! Engine 3 arrived second and assisted with triage and packaging, all said and done only 2 were transported to a local trauma center, the rest were loaded up in black and whites and headed for a not so nice place. Sorry folks, no pictures, we were too busy doing our job, maybe next time! As always, thanks for viewing, we'll see you on Tuesday!

dja

Hippie Hotel?!?!?!?!

Hulk smash #9 fire kicking ASS!!!!

Don't mess with the Hulk...lol.

So far...a slow day.

Well....it's 1615 hours (4:15 p.m.) and it's been a pretty slow day. Only running a M.V.A call first thing this morning.

I figured we'd be slammed today since C shift didn't have squat yesterday. You know how it goes, you always have to take up the slack if the previous shift didn't run any calls. We've been tempting the FIRE GODS all day long however. We've cleaned the truck inside and out, even the compartments. Repainted and taped up hand tools....what else do we have to do? I've heard of a rain dance....does anyone know of a "Fire Dance"? Maybe I should ask Dixon about that. The Medic Truck on the other hand has been pretty steady. I believe they are on call nuber four or five as I type. Same old stuff for them...band aids and a ride to the hospital. Anyways, we'll post more if anything exciting happens today. Drew is making "The World's Best Lasagna" for dinner ( don't get offended Good O) so we here at ye ol Green House are looking forward to that.

*** Evening update (2030 hours)***
Well, the afternoon and evening have been much of the same...nada for the engine crew, but Medic 3 has been braving the cold and gettin' it done. As for Chef Abel's lasagna, well lets just say it wasn't the world's best, not even the United States best....probably not even the best of North West Roanoke City. Have you ever noticed how similar swiss and mozzarella cheese look when in the packaging? Yeah, me either...Oh well, maybe the home made (yeah right, break and bake) cookies I made will compensate for the lasagna's short comings. So, our bellies are full, the mercury is steadily dropping and yet the Oki MicroLine Turbo 9 pin printer remains dormant, maybe the overnight will bring some excitement?

On a serious note. We at Station 3 would like to give a sincere "get well soon" to our hurt brothers at 9-A shift. It seems there is a contagious lower back "bug" going around there lately. Due to the lack of man power at the 9 house it was overheard that to make up staffing they specifically requested firefighters from Station #3. It seems the hose draggers from number 3A are yet again bailing out the boys from Melrose, however we are happy to do so, just try and keep up with Bailey. Oh, and to 9 engines chauffeur, yes, he can carry 5 inch like a cross lay, just stack it on his shoulders :-)

dja

Recrcuit School 15 Anniversary

I just want to wish everyone from Recruit School 15 a Happy Ten Year Anniversary. I feel lucky to have gotten hired with these guys (and girls...Beth and Betty) and even luckier to have worked with a couple. I consider you all my friends. Only 20 years to go!!...lol. Peace out my Brothers, Broadway

This is a pic of our final burn. Thanks to Rhett Flietz for the pic. Right to left front row: Captain Phil Dillon*, FF Todd Reighley, Beth Norwood, FF Betty McBride (Salem), B.T. Butler, Lt. Rhett Fleitz, Lt. Kelcey Branch, FF Barry Kincer, Battalion Chief Roger Manuel*, Captain R.T. Flora*, ?*, Captain Chris Trussler*, Lt. Jeremy Bennington, 1st Lt. Doug Hurd, Sport Hayden, Lt. Travis Simmons, Lt. Mac Craft, Dennis Duncan, Charles Williams, Lt. Kevin Bradbury, 1st. Lt. Brian Riddle*. An asterisks (*) indicates an instructor and I cannot figure out who is next to Captain Flora.