I know I know......

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

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

RW

Home Sweet Home

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

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

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

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

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

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

RW

Escapee? Closet hippee? Prisoner of War?

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

First Day of cycle for A Shift

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Broadway

National EMS Memorial

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

RW

Miles away from ordinary

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

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