Firehouse 3

2010-02-03T15:49:00.000-08:00

Getting Ready for February

Well we've been busy. We've started decorating for Valentines Day here at the Green House. With all the vistors we have from time to time we thought it would be nice make things a little more festive. Also we recently lost this item and with the new paint (and maybe the addition of a rope with a knot tied on one end) it won't get lost again. So here she is....

We've also began our ARFF training and man it's exciting. I did not know there was so much to learn. Did you know there are six wind socks, that Virginia wind sure is tricky. Also there's hydrants underground that you need special tools to access them at the terminal.

Thanks for checking in on us. Stay safe. C-shift... PEACE

2010-01-12T13:16:00.000-08:00

good bye mighty "stache"

WANTED: Captain 3A

2009-12-05T08:45:00.000-08:00

As most of you know, we here at the "HIPPIE HOTEL" (as some like to call us) lost our beloved Captain James Firebaugh to a promotion. Yes, he is our new Battalion Chief here on the north side. Even though he's just down the road at Station 2, he left a big hole here at the Greenhouse. We are in search of a new Leader, Mentor and Captain. Please send resumes to 4803 Williamson Road N.W. Roanoke, VA 24012. We do have some criteria you must meet or need to aquire within your first six months. Here are the following:
1. Must have 12 years minimum experience in fire fighting (even though you won't use that experience often)
2.Must have knowledge of the County ie. territory, buildings, systems, hydrants etc.
3.Must have excellent communication skills (You must mark in and out with county on all calls, also switching to county tac channels on city portables is crucial)
4.Must be as diverse as the Engine you will be O.I.C of. (55ft. Fire Stix)
5.Must have knowledge of Fire Alarm Systems. (location of RESET button)
6.Must love all things A.R.F.F.
7.Must be able to demonstrate proper use of Stay Dry.
8.Must be willing to recycle.
9. Must have patience of a saint. (you will be Mulford's officer)
10.Must have good working relationship with Capt. Pope. (you will be Mulford's officer)
11.Must have a love and fondness for cats. Allergies unacceptable. (Fire Cat)
12.Must not be easily offended. (Drew Abel can be a handful at times)
13.Must have compassion for the elderly. (Friendship Manor Express Baby!!!)
14.Must be willing to beat Engine 9 in on all calls, be it a working fire, alarm or whatever.
15.Must watch repeatedly and memorize our Station DVD on being "GREEN".
16.Extra points are given if you drive a hybrid.
17.Must not mind having your own bedroom. (you do, however, have to share a bathroom with the LT.)
18.Must have a pure hatred for Nazi Zombies. Skills with the KAR 98 are welcome.
19.Must not be sensitive to mosquito bites. Bio-retention pond in the summer gets nasty.
20.Must be focused. Hooter's next door with their annual Bikini car Wash and all.
21.Must be able to tolerate frigidly cold showers. The hot water isn't all that hot.
If you feel you meet these criteria, send in your resume' and application immediately, care of Lt. Broadway

Problem Solved

2009-12-02T13:23:00.000-08:00

We'll solve this.....here's your pics Willie and Rhett...who's talking now? Take note of the first pic, though it may not look like it it's actually a pic of Rhett and Willie at the new county station.....a couple of tools!

Moving on up!

2009-12-01T03:07:00.000-08:00

In January of this year the Fire Department underwent several changes in preparation of placing its newest fire station, the Green House, in service. Included in these changes were personnel assignments due to vacancies left in the department. So, in addition to a new station, new crews were formed.

Talk to any firefighter, visit any fire house, read any blog and it is readily apparent how absolutely necessary it is to have a good relationship with the folks that you work with. Of course there are many references to the Fire Department “family”, which at times may seem cliché, but it is the absolute truth. Like any family, there needs to be someone to give direction, teach their children and guide them to make good decisions and become productive adults. Well in our Fire Department family at #3 A shift, our “Dad” is Captain James Firebaugh. When we received our new assignment in January he had his work cut out for him. As Captain he is responsible for everything that happens at our station, and much like a parent he watches over us to make sure we are productive employees.

With over 26 years of experience in this department under his belt, I would say he was more than qualified for the task. Not unlike any other family it was not without its growing pains. Getting used to new co-workers, equipment, and territory is not something that happens overnight. But with the Captain’s guidance and patience things came together quickly.

I had mentioned earlier that the Captain plays a key role in ensuring we are productive employees. Part of that is preparing us to advance within the ranks of the department, while at the same time taking advantage of any promotional opportunities open to him.

Well, one such opportunity presented itself and starting next A shift work cycle, Captain James Firebaugh will become Battalion Chief James Firebaugh!

We could not be more proud of his accomplishment and feel very fortunate to have been able to work for him. Luckily, we will continue to work for him, only now as our Battalion Chief on the North Side.

So, at 0750 hours the Captain will remove his gear from the big red truck for the last time. From now on it will sit neatly in the back seat of his Chief’s car patiently waiting to be donned at “The Big One.”

Captain, it has been a short 11 months, but a fun 11 months. We have learned a tremendous amount and truly appreciate the time we had together.

Doesn’t be a stranger; feel free to come by any Saturday or Sunday for some Pittsburgh potatoes, or any other night for one of Chef Mulford’s culinary delights.

Additionally, we would also like to congratulate Captain Terry King on his promotion to Battlaion Chief!

2009-11-01T05:42:00.000-08:00

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

2009-10-27T12:11:00.000-07:00

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......

2009-08-30T07:35:00.000-07:00

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.

Home Sweet Home

2009-07-16T08:02:00.000-07:00

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.

Escapee? Closet hippee? Prisoner of War?

2009-07-15T13:17:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-30T18:05:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-23T08:27:00.000-07:00

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

Miles away from ordinary

2009-05-16T19:23:00.000-07:00

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

2009-05-14T12:57:00.000-07:00

Greeting from the Green House. It's been awhile since my last post and I apologize to all two of our readers ( sorry Mom). We've been pretty busy here lately with several house projects and ARRF training. For all those who don't know, Scott Bailey is finally back from his light doody...I mean duty tour. I know he's glad to be back and I speak from experience, spending a whopping six months on it a couple years back after breaking my ankle. Welcome back Scott!! Now our leftovers have a purpose once more.

Last day we worked, we have a structure fire in the county. The call came out at around 8:45 p.m. which didn't make Capt. Firebaugh all to happy since his favorite show "Deadliest Catch" was about to come on. Upon arrival to the Brookside North townhouse Complex, we had a fully involved structure.....

What you are looking at is a street light with a bird nest fully ablaze...lol. The clever little critter decided to build his home inside the fixture, which indeed protected him from the elements, but putting dried twigs next to a hot light bulb has disastrous effects. After quickly knocking down the flames, we called the Red Cross for a family of displaced birds. A.E.P. came soon after and performed some overhaul for us....thank God or bucket trucks.

Here at #3, being on a major cruise strip in the city, we've found it being nice sitting outside on weekend nights. Some have compared it to being at the beach....the heavy traffic, bright lights and the smell of fresh fried fish(thanks to Long John silvers being right beside us) so sitting outside is nice...just ask the guys from Medic 2. We had one problem...no where to sit. Luckily, the Fast Cash Loan shop beside us (formerly a Ralley's buger joint) donated an old fiberglass picnic table. After a bit of sanding, painting and reinforcing, the table looks good as new and looks awesome on our patio.Love that green color!!!

Another project we are working on is an assignment board. We are trying are best to "Firehouse" up this place and we thought it would be a pretty cool and traditional thing to have. I know Station 1 has one and #7 is working on one as well. We'll post some pics of that as well when we are finished.

That's about it for now. It's been a pretty easy day here so far. Did a little ARRF training this morning and ran a couple alarms. M-3 has done the normal too. And a final note....for all those of you who are collecting Station Challenge Coins, 3's is being minted as I type this. I think it's gonna be pretty cool. It has the same Department logo on the front and our Station logo in a maltese cross on the back. We will be selling them for $10. Plus we have Station decals for $3. Hit me up if you are interested. I hope you all have a good night, stay safe and keep it in the house.

Broadway

Don't drink and drive....

2009-05-01T05:38:00.000-07:00

First, we apologize for the lack of posts last cycle, luckily for the citizens we were somewhat slow. Though while being a little slow we made up for it in training. We were able to train with the boys from the "pebble" doing a little pump training. We even let them pump our "aerial", if that's what you want to call it....Now back to today, there was a lesson to be learned - Don't drink and drive(or ride your bicycle). While the engine was sitting idle, the medic truck was out picking up Roanoke's finest. This afternoon we ran with E13 to Cove for a MVC, we arrived to find a small convertable carefully placed up the a$$ of a 4-door sedan.....whooops! No skid marks at all, guess when you blow a .23 things like that sorta happen. One down, cuffed and stuffed. Next one brought us down to BWW for someone who got a little mace in the face.....poor guy was just trying to do some illegal activites when mall security gave him matching black eyes.....yeah you heard that right....MALL SECURITY! Two down, cuffed and soon to be stuffed. Around 10:00pm the medic truck went out again for a possible bike vs. vehicle. Come to find out the poor guy was so innocently riding down the road when he fell off his bike......alcohol may have had something to do with it, but everyones "sober" until proven otherwise. After we hauled him off to RMH we went out again around 1:30am. We meet up with E13 yet again, but this time on the Hershberger Rd off ramp for a rollover. You'll never guess what we found when we got there.....you guessed it, another drunk guy stumbling through the field sobriety test(i think the cuffed and stuffed part indicated that he may have got an "F"). We finally made it to bed to rest up for another day, if this is how a Thursday went I can only imagine what Saturday will bring! Til next day......keep it in the house! Oh I almost forgot, last cycle we had a guest from #5 so we decided to show him how to rock.....with Guitar Hero(Weaver set a fine example). Don't believe it? Check out the pics! A big thanks goes to Gish and Brady for fillin' in at the Hippie Hotel.

RW

Last Day of A Shift's Tour

2009-04-28T19:26:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone...it's your old Hippie pal Broadway. Sorry i haven't posted anything in awhile, I guess I've just got a case of the lazys and have enjoyed sitting out front of the Green House at night enjoying some good comeradery here with the other hippies. We had Dewayne "Christmas" Noell here filling in on the first day. He really enjoyed working here and i believe he is gonna put a letter to come here any day now...lol. He compared sitting out front with being at the beach. The neon lights, heavy Williamson Road traffic and the smell of fish from the Long John's Silver next door cooking is as close as it gets. Man...love them buttered lobster bites.

We got a few projects going on here at the Hippie Hyatt. For one, we are making an assignment board. Trying to firehouse up this new station. We are using an old chaulk board we aquired form Historic Station1 and yes....it's green. We think it's gonna turn out nice and we'll post pictures of it in its completion.

We are also refurbing an old fiberglass round picnic table that the nice people from the Quick Auto Loans next door so graciously donated. Remember, it use to be a Ralley's burger joint years ago. A bit of paint, some reinforcing of the benches and it sure be a nice fixture here. We are all about recycling you know. Pictures of it to come too.

The Green House Station 3 challenge coin is close to being minted. We are having 50 made up at first to see how they sell. Let me know if you are interested in buying one for the low low price of $10. It will make a nice addition if you are collected them.

We just got our Station 3 decals in. They feature out Company mascot...The Hulk in front of the station holding a halligan and a 2 1/2" hose. We are selling them for $3. They look very cool on your beer cooler. I'll save one for you Good O.

We've had a few calls today. One being an alarm at the mall. The good old Best Western. 9 Engine did happen to beat us in. Due to HAZMAT training, we were responding from Station 2. I'm sure we'll get some ribbing from the boys at the Slum House, Station 9, for beating us in. Guys, don't eat the paint on the walls no matter how sweet it tastes.

We got us a structure fire earlier today. A split foyer with the back fully envoled. E3 was first in since being at 2 for the HAZMAT drill. We initially went defensive because of the amout of fire there. The guys from Engine 6 said you could see the flames from S.E. It was a good one. I'm not the kind of guy who sits around and hopes for fires, but it's nice to keep your skills up. I'll post pics next day we work.
About an hour ago, we ran a possible suicidal person running down Hershberger Road. Some dude drunk and high threatening to kill himself with a razor knife. Now I know how them 9 guys feel....lol. Of course after spotting the guy who was on foot, he apparently hopped the airport fence and vanished into the night. After waiting around for awhile for PD and Airport Security to try and locate. The search came up a bust and we came back home.

Thats about it for us here. Sorry no pics to go along with the blog. A shifters...have a great break. Keep it in the house and have a good night. B-way

Lobster in a Can

2009-04-16T15:58:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again.....the ARFF simulator. The past two days have been full of ARFF goodness. Tuesday we played with pit fires, for those who aren't familiar the pit fires simulate a fuel fire with "mats" that are fed with propane. They require you to approach it with the truck and extinguish the "blaze" with either the bumper nozzle or the "snozzle". Next lesson was what I like to call the "lobster in a can" drill. They simulate a fire in the passenger compartment of an aircraft, but the simulator is more like a big can(you can assume which part we played in the drill). Today we got our "learn on" with brake fires and engine fires....yay. One added bonus to the day is that we got to check out the big UPS cargo plane.....being sneaky as I am I was able to snap some pics of the top secret stuff we saw. We would also like to thank Brady and Gish(our fill-ins) for being such good sports about our training. For a final thought.......always remember your PPE!

Pit Fires
Captain Wallace and Schrader making "entry" into the can.

Lt. Weaver and Gish fighting the big one.
Future ARFF Captain Gathering outside the UPS plane.Engine Fire UPS Cargo Plane

RW

Happy Easter from your friends at the "Hippie Hotel"

2009-04-12T12:08:00.000-07:00

As many of the citizens are celebrating Easter, it seems as though someone from a neighboring station has taken the day to do some Easter egg hunting. It nice to see he's brought some festiveness into today's training.....now I know what your thinking, "training on a Sunday?"....let's not forget who we're talking about. Enjoy the "training" video of today's events.....until next time....http://www.faceinhole.com/show.asp?id=b3d487d94ce25537a

The one that walked away....

2009-04-06T06:55:00.000-07:00

Sunday, a warm sunny Sunday. Would have been a great day to be anywhere but work, but as dedicated as we are, we stuck it out(flip-flops and all). The day started with a great breakfast cooked by our guest from #13, Todd Harris. The engine was ready and waiting, soaking up some of the days awesome sunshine. Up until 01:45a.m. it was a "typical" Sunday, a few EMS calls here and there but nothing major. Most of you have seen the "World's Most Amazing Videos", you know...the one with the corny announcer guy....."Death was averted after this horrific crash, you will never believe they walked away!" Here's ours(minus the video footage, use your imagination). E3, M3, E5, and RS1 were sent to Trinkle Ave NE for a motorcycle vs. house(E3 and M3 handled). We arrived to find a heavily damaged motorcycle and a person lying in the front yard of someones house. That never creates that warm and fuzzy feeling when you first approach a scene like that. As we got closer to the bike, we noticed that what was once one bike was now two. Our rider who was laying in the front lawn was easily arroused and was ambulatory within moments, and was actually going to refuse transport until we sold him on the ER. One might think that if the front of your bike is lying a few feet away from the rear half that maybe it would be a good idea to take a ride to the ER......here's a few shots of the wreckage, enjoy!
The ruts in the right hand side of the pic are where our friend traveled across the lawn.
Scattered parts in the lawn......and of course our flashy medic truck
Wonder if duct tape will fix this one.....any MacGyvers out there?After some "all in good fun" smack talking to some of the boys from #9 about our night of un-iterrupted sleep last day....it came back to bite us, sorry Weev! Medic truck ran 3 after midnight including our motocycle wreck.......karma always come back to ya......til next day!

RW

Lights....camera......action!

2009-04-03T17:49:00.000-07:00

Today started out just like any other....check the trucks, clean the house, and go to the store. Poor Joe, Lenny, and Joe's students left the house at 0800 and hardly ever came back! I think it might have been the return of a certain RS1 that has caused all this EMS mayhem.
At around noon we had a person from the Roanoke Times come for the latter part of the "360" story we had mentioned in a previous blog. Ourselves and our friends over in the ghetto were accompanied by a photographer for a better part of the day. Chris came in and started filming right away! Everywhere we went there he was......and with all the hard work we do here at the "green house" it may have been hard to keep up, but he did well. So far today he had been able to run a couple calls and see historic #1 while swapping out trucks. There he is hard at work, I thought it was only fair to take a pic of him after all the footage he got of us!Before our new friend Chris came over, we were serenaded by one of our neighbors. The capt. went outside and heard the sweet sounds of a guitar from across the street, I attempted to get a pic of the mystery musician but he was very elusive as you can see.....Til the next one.....

RW

First Day of New Cycle for A Shift

2009-03-28T18:11:00.001-07:00

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

2009-03-27T17:44:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-25T17:38:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2009-03-21T18:02:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-03-21T13:29:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-03-18T16:34:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-03-12T17:11:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-03-12T17:01:00.000-07:00

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!!

2009-03-10T18:47:00.001-07:00

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....

2009-03-07T09:36:00.000-08:00

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.

2009-03-05T17:07:00.000-08:00

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?!?!?!?!

2009-03-03T17:42:00.000-08:00

Hulk smash #9 fire kicking ASS!!!!

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

So far...a slow day.

2009-03-03T13:15:00.000-08:00

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

2009-03-01T13:22:00.000-08:00

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.

Let it snow!

2009-02-28T18:24:00.000-08:00

The snows a fallin' here at the Green House, looks like its starting to stick too! So far we haven't had any weather related runs today. 3 Engine fought a raging fire in a 55 gal. drum earlier in the day. Lt. Weaver and I brought the blaze under control with our water cans. Later in the day we received an alarm for a smell of electrical stuff burning, the homeowners opened all the windows and when we walked in we didn't smell a thing....another "can handle" for the Engine. Tonight the capt. treated us to his signature fried chicken, it was a hit with all. Post dinner we all waddled around like penguins holding our stomach's after eating way too much! Our friend Scooter from 7-A stopped by to visit our new house and also brought us a pizza, breadsticks, and wings! Thanks Scooter! There was also an alleged assault with a snowball within the station but that neither be confirmed or denied......Not much else to report on yet....will keep posted on any weather related happenings later tonight.

RW

Slacker

2009-02-27T07:39:00.000-08:00

Admittedly I was a slacker and did not have my camera on hand yesterday, looks like the boys from #9 made up for it on their blog! Our day started out with an automatic alarm at O'Charleys right at shift change, nothing 3 Engine couldn't handle. As some of you loyal #9 fans may have read, the Roanoke Times is doing a 360 degree photo story showing the difference between a brand new "hotel" like station and a crusty old station like #9. We can only bash #9 so much, there's a lot of great history and memories that come with that station. Around lunch time 3 Engine ran a dumpster fire behind the NTB Tire store at Valley View(sorry, no fancy pics) where Joe finally got his turnout gear a little dirty(really, its was just a smudge).
The medic truck ran into an ambulance chaser while trying run a call at a local elementry school. Come to find out it was just Smiley riding with Capt. Bo trying to satisfy his EMT-I "extraordinaire" calls. Later in the day, Engine 2 and our medic truck were sent to a MVC at Hollins and Liberty. We arrived to find two vehicles involved in a low speed t-bone collision(still no fancy pics!). Two patients were taken to Roanoke Memorial with minimal injuries. Thanks to Engine 2, especially for Capt. Thompsons patient care "skills".
On anther note the medic truck ran a call a few weeks ago for a possible DOA with Engine 13. When we arrived 13's crew told us to watch out for a few beer cases as you walk into the apartment.......there had to be hundreds pilled to the ceiling as you enter in the kitchen. I call it Mt. Bud! The entire residence also had a lot of "clutter". It was a fine example of the unexpected hazards you may run into on any call anywhere. Here's a pic I was able to get on my phone, it was passed onto the fire marshal's office as well. Til next day....
RW

Making up for last day

2009-02-25T02:59:00.000-08:00

The last blog entry for A shift had Engine 3 dead in the water for a majority of the tour, today however we made up for lost time.

A fire alarm began what would become a busy shift just after 0700 hours and the hits kept on coming. Medic 3 was out of service during the afternoon hours so that FF's Mulford and Bailey can hone their "advanced first aider" skills. Engine 3 was manned by the remaining 3 men, whom this day were a tad grumpier than usual as we were "fasting" in order to have blood work drawn as part of our yearly physical for the city. We were hoping to get to Station 2 quickly in order to have the nurse draw our blood so we could end our fast since midnight, which in firefighter time feels like 7 years, but it was not in the cards.

The residential box was struck for a chimney fire bringing 2 engines, a ladder, medic truck, BC and the EMS supervisor. Engine 3 arrived first with their own water supply, laddered the building and investigated the basement. The basement, first and attic divisions were clear, however the chimney definitely had some "issues." The boys from 2 ladder made the roof and deployed 2 "chimney bombs" and suppressed the blaze. After ending a thorough investigation of the residence all units cleared.

FF Barry Kincer and Lt. Jason Crouch "clean up the neighborhood."

As mentioned before, food is an essential part of firefighter life, because you never know when you will get a chance to eat, with our stomachs still on empty we returned to the fire house to get paperwork so we could finally get our blood drawn, but alas, what is that on the horizon, SMOKE SHOWING! The 3 men aboard engine 3 all noticed it at the same time, call it "firefighter instinct", or maybe because several people were jumping up and down in the middle of the street, but we just KNEW something was wrong. There it was.......a well involved "herbie!" Yes folks, a Herbie, the beloved large blue residential trash cans provided by the city for waste disposal, and this one was on fire! The Captain had faith in his crew and called control to hold engine 3 on the still alarm and not to "fill the box." Firefighter Abel emptied a 2.5 gal. water can into the can, however the stubborn inferno was still smoldering. After some quick "truck work" with a pike pole and some overhaul was done, a second water can was emptied to ensure the inferno was fully suppressed and a rekindle would not happen. Lesson to be learned here? Do not dispose of your fireplace ashes into a plastic trash can.

Alas FINALLY we had our blood drawn and could EAT! After a brief snack we headed to Kroger to get the necessary supplies for lunch and dinner. As lunch was being set at the table the "whoops" dropped yet again for a call to assist the County FD. Hypoglycemia would not deter or slow this crew down as Engine 3 was "first arriving" as the second due engine. It seems as though some folks also had food on their minds and burned some popcorn.

Things settled down for a bit in the afternoon but picked up again in the evening with Engine 3 running another chimney fire in 2's first due. Engine 3 finished the day with 9 runs, not bad for the new kid on the block.

That brings another chapter to a close. We turn the keys over to B Shift in the morning and won't be back until Sunday....to put another dent in that massive bag of pancake mix.

**As I finish this entry the bells toll yet again....make that 10 runs for the engine...good morning!

dja

A Shift back at the wheel

2009-02-22T16:09:00.000-08:00

Take it Easy is more than just a hit song recorded by the Eagles, it has been the theme for the engine crew today. The engine only broke free from the concrete floor for a bit so the boys could go get the necessary supplies for breakfast and dinner. The medic crew however has been out there "gettin' it done!"

Speaking of breakfast, we are finally starting to put a dent in the mammoth bag of pancake batter provided by Lt. Bradbury, whom is off today celebrating his wife's birthday, Happy Birthday Tiff! Below is a picture of the 10 pound "bag of goodness" that quite possibly could feed all of Greenland, population 56,344 as of 2007.

While we are on the topic of food, with no exciting emergencies to speak of, why not show some firehouse life? In true MTV "Cribs" form, here is a pic of the A shift refrigerator. Nothing too exciting yet as we have not been stationed here long, however it is only a matter of time before some cool science experiments and penicillin supplies are being grown. Just your basic condiments, some left over pork chops from last day, moo and orange juice, Mulford made some banana pudding today that after eating has been likened to having a "crack addiction." Also noteworthy is the ridiculously large can of fried apples, also provided by Broadway and his bargain shopping skills!

Lastly, there is some controversy at Station 3. Earlier we described why the station has been dubbed the "Green House" due to it's environmentally friendly construction. However today it was noted in the parking lot there are some vehicles driven by the firefighters whom work at the green house that leave a larger than necessary "carbon footprint." How is it possible that the same folks whom strive to save mother earth for 24 hours while at work slap her in the face on their days off by driving these gas guzzlers? Yes, hard to believe I know, so in order to prove my point, photographs were taken of the "offending" vehicles. Note the "oversized" SUV tire, and the badging proudly displaying the totally unecessary number of cylinders required to move that vehicle down the road. This will be investigated further and we will report our findings.

Well that's all for now, A Shift will be back in the driver seat on Tuesday!

dja

Last day for C-shift

2009-02-22T14:55:00.000-08:00

Last day started out nice and calm....a nice breakfast with our shiny new griddle. Did the usual washing out of the bay and discovered how easily the door sensors tripped and how much it aggravated Weev.....you can only guess how many times we tripped the door! Medic truck ran pretty steady all day, luckily Billy was able to scoop up some calls to satisfy his EMT-I stuff. As the captain was preparing to make some chili for us for dinner i snapped this shot, he was excited
to be wearing Schraders coveted apron.

Rummy has sort of become a part of our everyday activities and we discovered someone was holding back.....some might say that was me because I kicked all their a@$es....badly! Something tells me I will be wearing a bulls eye next game.

Not much to report on as far as interesting calls, engine ran a few uneventful alarms and a couple EMS runs one being a DOA. Tune it Thursday for the next episode from your friends at c-shift!

RW

St. Pattys Shirts

2009-02-22T11:55:00.000-08:00

Per Dr. Mulford, whom was too preoccupied with his advanced street physician education to post this, the St. Pattys day shirts for Station 3 will be ordered Sat. Feb. 28th. The design is to the right at the top of the page, additionally there will be a Celtic design on the front of the shirt.

Short Sleeve Prices:
S-XL: $16.00
XXL: $18.00
Triple extra big boy: $20.00

Long Sleeve Prices:
S-XL: $18.50
XXL:$20.50
XXL: $22.50

Due to the current economic depression and in order to evade personal income tax increases with the new stimulus package recently signed into law Eric requires a CASH payment before ordering the shirt, NO EXCEPTIONS, unless you are a preceptor and exaggerate his patient care evaluations.

Any questions call Eric at 3-A.

dja

BARFF training galore!!

2009-02-20T17:01:00.000-08:00

Don't you hate those days when you come in to work and before even having time to take a poo, you gots trainin' to do. That's what happened to the boys and girls here at the Green House this morning. At 0800 hrs we had ....ARFF training....yea! We learned all about runways, taxiways, lights, lines and of course nav points!! Good thing we had Phil Chitwood here from #13 to make iteven more fun. Don't we all look so enthused? Actually, there was really some good information in there and we learned how to get around on the other side of the fence...lol.

After hours of airport training, we were fortunate to hear the soothing sounds of acoustic guitar when Phil broke out his "axe" and played some classic rock. I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to hearing his and Tim Jordan's band play when they get up and running.

Later that day we had another Brother from 13 to come fill end for the rest of the shift. Thanks Jason Gardener for coming and hanging out with us (sorry about sticking you on the gut box with Mulford but somebody's gotta do it)

As you know here at 3, alot of us are really playing up the whole "GREEN" aspect of the station.Check out Broadway's new shield for his helmet...

now before you go saying "that's gay" (especially you Stone) the lettering is actually green too, the flash from the camera gave it that blue look. Hey, there's nothing wrong with having a little fun at work right? Plus, someone's gotta start some traditions at a new station.

Well...that's about it for today. It's 2029 and we've ran 4 calls so far today. Saw a bit of smoke from some burning mulch and a chimney fire in 2's first due. Only one EMS call so far today too.

This pic is from the chimney fire...still don't know why they sent 3 engines a ladder a medic truck and Batt2 to a chimney fire but a call is a call. I know what you're thinking Good O....we should get use to seeing the back of fire engines...lol...we'll see. Should be an interesting night tonight. Lt. Broadway is on the seat of 3 Engine, Lt. Good O is on the seat of 9 Engine and 13 Engine is O.O.S. God help us!!! Goodnight all Bothers and Sisters....be safe and come back when you get a chance.

ARFF-tastic

2009-02-20T06:24:00.000-08:00

As most of you may already know, we are being required to obtain airport badges to be able to fill in with the "elite"....ARFF. The engine and medic truck were OOS the better part of the morning doing ARFF like things. We rode around in the big green truck and Capt. Flora enlightened us with his airport know-how. With a few of us still needing to get our "driver" I'm sure we'll be coming back for more fun....We've also been doing some in-house training but by the looks of this drawing our next training we will be going back to kindergarten for a little "coloring 101"! On another note, another cut throat game of rummy ensued last night with a rematch scheduled for next day. We all looked forward to Schraders mad shuffling skills that closely resembled something out of the special olympics.....we love ya buddy! We also kept ourselves entertained with some light reading on "Ask Dixon", he's so knowledgeable! The medic truck kept pretty busy most of the afternoon but was able to sleep all night!(our sleep filled night is dedicated to our friends at #9, HA!) As far as the engine......they went to the store......end of story! One more day left for us......til next day.

RW

....Almost a no hitter

2009-02-18T11:46:00.000-08:00

As we're all relaxin after dinner some of us were thinking......wow, it sure has been quiet today. 19:30ish and still no runs, oh gosh whats that? Fire tones! Multiple calls, flames showing! Woohoo, we got a worker, or at least those were my sentiments. As we're headin down the road Chief Barker makes it a working fire based on all the calls to control(my thoughts? sweet!). The fire was on Norton Ave NE, #2's first due. E2 arrives on scene, gives their size-up and starts making an intial attack. E3's task was water supply. We grab a hydrant and bring it up to E2, at the same time E14 had arrived on scene and assisted E2 in fire attack. Once we got to the house we performed a secondary search and vented as needed. Once that was complete we helped out with overhaul on the 2nd floor. Other units on scene were BC2, BC1, RS1, L2, E6, Bottle Truck and Investigation(sorry if I missed anyone). As far as I know, no citizens were hurt. We did have one firefighter(me) that got injured. I had an argument with a piece of glass and it won. I got a small lac to my wrist and when I showed it to Dr. Weaver he said I needed stitches and then patched me up. A visit to the ER and three stitches later I'm back on the engine ready for the next one! Thanks to Capt. Bo for "transporting" me and thanks to everyone for the well wishes.

On another note, our "hotel" recieved some fancy new entryway rugs. They sure are a shnazy addition to our little home. I hope while enjoying their royal treatment that the boys from #9 took the time to bask in the glory of our new mats. Here's a pic so everyone can enjoy them. Til next time......
RW

Sunday at the 3 house

2009-02-15T17:16:00.000-08:00

Sunday started off with the usual apparatus checks and cleaning duties. Breakfast was on the stove when Station 3 had a familiar face stop by. Captain Riley Peters came by to check out the "Green House." Another place was set at the table and we all had a good breakfast with many great stories and memories shared between the two captains.

It was a steady day, unusual for a Sunday with several runs. An AFA was cleared in the County, food on the stove. An additional 2 alarms were run at a local hotel with a system malfunction being the culprit. Dinner was interrupted with a "washing machine on fire" at a local laundromat, which turned out to be a broken belt. Medic 3 stayed busy as well running from the county to south east city.

In the evening Lt. Bradbury kept his troops safe by killing several enemies. This of course was Call of Duty 5 and no people were harmed in the taking of this picture.

Lastly a congratulations is in order to Captain Firebaugh. The Captain let it slip that today was his 26th year on the job. A special cake was made for the Captain commemorating this great milestone. However, it only lasted a few minutes before the boys got to it. I nearly lost a hand taking this picture, it was the best I could do before the entire cake was devoured.

Well, this closes this episode of "3 A-Shift" as we are headed for 4 day break. Please tune in this Friday at 0700 for the next episode!

dja

Busy day for #3 A shift and fleet additions!

2009-02-13T18:29:00.000-08:00

Friday the thirteenth.....ominous sounding right? Not only makes for a good movie, but for a busy day for the Station 3 A shifters. While Mulford was deep in thought at doctor school the crew of 3 engine attended a very informative IMS refresher class. ICS terminology was clarified and several scenarios using the training divisions fire simulator made for a great refresher. Thanks to Chief Beckner and Lieutenant German for their time.

After returning to our district 3 engine was kept busy on several calls ranging from a severely bleeding patient to a person with a bruise on their elbow. Many thanks to the medic units responding in while Eric dedicated himself in the ways of the jedi-
medic.

There have been a couple new additions to the fleet at 4803 Williamson Road. First, our KME and front line engine suffered a cardiac event and required transport to the city garage. Currently her "heart" (Detroit 60 series) is grotesquely strewn about the floor of on of the mechanics bays, they didn't even bother to cover it with a sheet! After briefly talking to one of the surgeons (mechanics) our KME will indeed make a full recovery, however her stay in the ICU will be lenghty, please keep her in your prayers for a speedy recovery. In the meantime Reserve Engine 905, formerly known as Engine 7 in a prior life is proudly serving in place of the KME. One of the several Grumman engines that were purchased some time ago. It is indeed refreshing to ride in the Grumman, the roar of the diesel, no fancy climate controlled cabs or TAC 4 suspensions, just a fire engine and the open road, good times.

We also had the return of an old friend and the newest addition to the Station 3 family, Lawn Tractor 10, soon to be re-stickered as Lawn and Garden 3, or LG-3 for short. After our departure from Station 10 the old girl was sent out for an overhaul in order to convert it from ARFF to a city suppression unit to prepare it for the dog days of summer that are hopefully on the horizon. LG-3 will not be manned, staffing will need to be made up from engine 3 or medic 3 when it is requested. We welcome her back to the family and even saw that it got its own Nederman exhaust hook up!

Speaking of old friends, anybody that has worked or filled in at Station 10 are no stranger to our good friend Glen. Glen is a super guy who loves listening to his scanner and being "in the know" about what is going on in the city. Station 3 is much closer to Glen's house so he hopes to be a more frequent visitor. Glen came in and shared a cup of joe with the guys before heading out to Radio Shack and purchasing a new cable to program his scanner.

Well, its almost bed time, better get one last pot of coffee on, this could be a rough night.

dja

A Windy Day in the Neighborhood

2009-02-12T17:51:00.000-08:00

Greetings from #3 C-shift! Most everyone in the city noticed all that wind blowing around today. So far it's caused a few false alarms for us. Not sure if this was a result of the wind or the skilled drivers that frequent our beautiful city but we also ran a two-car MVA at the intersection of Thirlane and Aviation. There was moderate damage to both vehicles, took one person with minimal injuries to Roanoke Memorial. The Engine Company had some car pieces to sweep up, boy did they do a great job! We hope to start carrying a digital camera around with us to be able to catch all the action. In addition to all these calls, the weave intiated a game of Rummy after dinner........looks like a pretty shady game with shady people! We hope to keep this thing updated on a regular basis if not only to keep #9 on their toes!

RW

Our Home

2009-02-11T17:48:00.001-08:00

Welcome all to our home on the internet! Pictured above is our "real home." Earlier this month Roanoke Fire-EMS Station #3 officially opened its doors at 4803 Williamson Road NE, proudly serving the "north side" of Roanoke City.

So some of you may ask "what's the deal with the green house?" In the City of Roanoke's Clean and Green initiative this fire station was designed to be environmentally friendly and to be "LEED Certified." This certification is the bench mark for building construction that has little impact on the environment. Some of the "green" features of this station include a gray water collection system and a food composter!

In the future we hope to have a "virtual tour" of the fire station online in addition to pictures of the apparatus housed here and the folks that ride in them. In the meantime if you would like a tour of the station, please call Tiffany Bradbury at (540) 853-5785 and she will be happy schedule one. We hope to be updating this blog regularly so please stop by and see what's going on!

dja

2009-02-11T16:13:00.000-08:00

Well, some of us here have picked The Incredible Hulk as our official unofficial mascot. It was between Captain Planet(you remember him from the 80's), Kermit the Frog or the Hulk. Of course, we are going with our "GREEN" theme here being we work at the Green station and all. Obviously we decided to go with the Hulk. He's mean, green and super strong and of course "Hulk smash fire!!"...lol. Now to get a decal for the truck.....

The Station 3 Blog

2009-02-11T09:51:00.000-08:00

Welcome all to 3's blog. We were asked by some of the guys @ 9 to start a blog too. I think it's a great idea. I see that 6 has started one as well. I think this will be a great moral boost for the department. Nothing wrong with having a little light hearted fun right? Our plan is to keep this blog goofy and fun with a bit of info on some of the calls and training going on here (plus we have friendly competition thing going on with 9....at least on A shift....lol.) So, hopefully in the next few days will have it going pretty good and start posting some stuff wether or not it will be interesting is yet to be determined. Keep coming by and visiting us.

2009-02-06T16:58:00.001-08:00

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