Deputy Chief Riley (that should make anyone quiver)

Yesterday we said good-bye to another member of Battalion 3. Brother Shawn Riley has left the department after 10 years of service, and has accepted the position of Dep Chief of EMS for the Laconia Fire Dept, which is about 20 minutes north of Concord. Shawn began his career with Concord in August of '97 as a firefighter/Paramedic, and was involved with EMS for about 10 years before that. Both Shawn's EMS skills and bed-side manners has made him one of the best medics I have had the opportunity to work with, and he will be greatly missed. I wish him the best of luck in his new position, and I have no doudt he will be a great addition to the Laconia Fire Dept.

See ya Bro.

Round peg thru a square hole

Whenever we get into some trouble, it is usually because a dare was thrown down. This time we were doing some training in a vacant building when a hole was located in a wall and the ensuing dare was put out there. "I bet you can't fit thru that!" A couple of guys went thru without any issue, such as Hoover. Than it came time for some of the big boys to take a stab at it. Lt. France made it with minimal wiggling as well as B.C. Folsom. Brother Keeler's shoulders kept him from making it, and than came time for Lt. Manning. Much to our dismay, and with the help of a couple of guys pushing on his legs, he managed to wiggle thru the hole. I guess the nurses at the ER knew what they were talking about when they said he was "losing weight and looking good".

A TRUE LEGEND AMONG US

It has been a few weeks since I have posted anything on the site. My computer died, and it has been kinda slow around here. That is until today. While working an overtime shift on Batt 4 today, some info was brought to light about one of their own that I felt worth mentioning. Through some impressive investigative work, F/F pawlowski discovered a secret about F/F Duckworth's past.
It turns out that while Duckworth was the Deputy Chief for the Campton Thorton Fire Dept in northern New Hampshire, he was given the "First Responder of the Year Award". Now, I know some of you are probably sitting there laughing, but I assure you, this is no laughing matter. It takes years of dedication to achieve such an award, and Brother James should be proud of himself. The shrine in his house where the award sits, high over the entertainment stand, with the spot lights shining down on it is a daily reminder for him that he is contributing to society by the giving of time to protect them. O.K. Now I'm laughing.

Below are just a few pictures of Duckworth on the job. I hope to get some pics of the shrine, but I can't promise you anything. He is very protective over it.

Batt 3 update

It has been a few weeks since our last post, and quite a bit has happened since than. For starters, 3 new FF/EMT's have been hired, and Mike Cullen got the "lucky dog pass" by being assigned to Batt 3. He is currently riding on E-4 as a fourth, and will be a part of staffing next week. Captain Whitney has been transferred from Batt 3 to 2 as the Acting Batt Chief, F/F Dumas has been mved to Batt 4 as the Acting Lt., and Batt 4's Lt Kelleher has been moved to our group as the Acting Capt at the height's. Both Whitney and Dumas will be sorely missed, and we look forward to their hopeful return in the future.

On a different note. Central stations E-1 and L-1 have been worklintg on a new promotional video for their web site. I was highly impressed. Here is the link below.

http://www.break.com/index/asian-commercials-are-weird.html

Taining pics cont'

Training

As an old friend of mine (tall, red-headed Gentry) always said, "The more you sweat in training, the less you'll bleed in war".
Over the past two tours, we have been able to get do some minimum company standards (MCS)training in. We smoked up an abandoned home for some hose line stretches and search drills, and than we we able to play with some master streams. Below are just a few pics from both training days.

Fair treatment

Monday, Sept 10th, Local 1045 organized a march to coincide with the city councilor's emeting. We didn't have anything scheduled on the agenda during the meeting, rather, it was just a march to let the city know that we, the firemans local, are tired of being stepped on and lied to. There was an amzing turnout of support, especially considering the rain. There was a head count of 110 marchers, ranging from L1045 members, retirees, members of the L3195 (Officers union), as well as brother from the Bedford, Manchester, & Nashua Depts. There were also some representatives from the teachers union, electrical union, and the PFFNH Pipes and Drums.
Some of us were able to go into the chambers during the meeting, and we can testify that our presence outside was by no means overlooked. If it is true that there are strength in numbers, we must look mighty strong and united now.

2 more LODD's

Two more brothers die in the line of duty, and as I think about them, I can only wonder what their day must have been like before this tragic event occured.

They both probably woke up that morning with plans for the day. Maybe working a part-time job, doing some work around the house, or spending some time with the family. Eventually they would have to kiss and hug their wives and children good-bye, and go to work for their evening shifts at the fire hall. Once there, they would gather their personal gear and place it on the apparatus, and systematically check the equipment on the rigs to ensure that everything was ready for whatever lies ahead of them during the shift. Coffee is made, supper is prepared, a few of the world problems are solved at the kitchen table, and someone is probably the butt of a good joke (sorry junior guy). Than the tones go out for a possible building fire in their first due district, and everything is placed on pause at the station until this 911 emergency is taken care of. Neither one had any idea they wouldn't be returning to the station to finish their supper, greet the oncoming shift the next morning, or once again, kiss and hug their wives and children.
This can happen to anyone of us.

Our thoughts amd prayers go out to the families of Brothers Payne and Cahill, and to the Boston fire Dept, where their presence will be forever missed.

Just another day on the job

Yesterday was the second day of our tour, and it turned out to be a fairly busy one. It started out with the Mighty 7's being sent to the Nationl Guard to meet a black hawk, which was flying in a hiker that had fallen the night before on a trail up north, and suffered some neck and facial injuries. That was followed by a plethera of MVA"s, EMS's, and box alarms. It being the first day kids went back to school should have been no surprise for the number of runs. Some were to schools for alarm activations, and the 7's had two seperate incidents with kids being hit by a car while riding their bikes (back to back runs). Only one of them suffered any serious injuries, that being a broken collar bone, but they couild have been a whole lot worst. Neither of them were wearing a helmet. Amidst all of this, the Broadway boys managed to squeeze in some training.

Pawlowski's firstborn

Mike and Melissa are the proud parents of a baby girl. She was born Aug 21, and is 8 lbs. 2 ozs. Momma and baby are both doing great, and they are expected to be going home Thursday the 23rd. Good luck getting any sleep now.

Batt3 & 4 transfer

FF/Para Cole (without make-up)



Batt 3 lost another one of its members to a transfer. FF/Para Collins was sent to Batt 4 and FF/Para Cole has been moved back to Batt 3. We bid Collins farewell. Cole left group 3 about a year ago, and has returned home. Now that he is back, we have two "queen mothers".

Driver/Operator training

Yesterday was a make-up day for those on Batt 3 who hadn't completed the Driver/Oper training from a few months back. Lt Manning took out a few cones, and thanks to brother johnson, CPR was performed, and the cone is expected to make a full recovery.

Matson's firstborn

Congratulations to the Matson family on the birth of their firdtborn son Alex the 4th. Little Alex was born Aug 18th at 11:30 p.m., weighing in at 7 lbs. 8 ozs., and 21 inches long. I had a chance to stop by and see him today, and he is a real cutie. It's a good thing he looks like his mother.

There is a story to go along with the bottom 2 pictures. According to the nursing staff at the hospital, rumor has it that sometime during the night, little Alex tried to pull himself up and out of his crib, breaking the railing in the process. The nurses sitting out at their desks heard someone mutter the phrase "Oops! I'm sorry about that. I can fix that for you." When they went in to see what had happened, little Alex was seen sitting upright in the crib with Carhart's on, and a leatherman in his hand. I couldn't find anyone to confirm nor deny this rumor, but it sounds like something a Matson would do.

Congrats mom and pop.

New Link

To the right of this post is a list of links. I have added a new link to the "Concord Fire Alarms" web site (www.kvf642.com). If anyone has any interesting sites to visit, just put the address in the "comments" below and I will put it on here. Keep in mind that this is a family program.

Brotherhood?

Yesterday evening the Manchester NH Fire Local 856 hosted a march at city hall. The local, much like many others across the nation, are working without a contract, and they recently had a vote of "no confidence" in their fire chief of 162 - 0. A request went out to other locals across the state for a show of support, and bodies for the march. There were in the ballpark of 170+ marching, along with the PFFNH Pipes and Drums performing in the midst. It was good to see members from our local 1045 show up. As often as the word "Brotherhood" gets thrown around today I would have expected quite a few of our members present, but only 10 managed to show up. That is only 8%. Thanks to Brothers Moretto, Verville, Clark, Pepin, Cole, Sirois, Boissonneault, Collins, and Sister Folsom for representing Local 1045.

Boissonneault transferred

Batt 3 bids farewell to brother Boissonneault (boss-in-no). He will be transferred to Batt 1 effective July 10th in order to slow the over-time train down a bit. The move is supposed to last no more than 6 months, but I think we all know how that will work out.


Bissonneault is on the left. It "looks" like he really doesn't wanna leave Keeler's side.

2nd residential bldg fire

Our second day of the tour and we catch another building fire. This one was in the Heights district. Engines 1, 4, & 7, Ladder 2, & Amb 4, 7 & the Batt Chief were dispatched to a basement fire with occupants out except for one who was still trying to put out the flames. When 7's arrived along with the BC there was light smoke showing. A handline was stretched into the basement, but before a drop of water was used the fire had alreaady been put out. Not by the occupants though. This was a typical City of Concord fire. After the flames climbed the wall and reached the ceiling, the water pipes above the fire came apart and effectively snuffed out the fire.



On a side note: Now that Lt France is no longer stationed at the Central station, it appears that the rest of the gang has given up on meat products and decideed to eat a little healthier. The salad looks really good, but I don't think there's gonna be enoughg to go around.

Residential building fire

On July 2nd Engines 1, 4, 5, Ladder 2, Ambulances 4 & 5, & the Batt Chief were dispatched to a single story residential for a building fire. E-5 & A-5 were the first to arrive, reported smoke showing, and laid a line in. Lt. France reported a working fire in the basement and 5's crew stretched a handline into the basement. After venitlating the building the base of the fire was located and knocked down. All the occupants were out of the home and the only loss of life was that of an 8 mo. old python. I am hoping to get some pictures soon and wil post them the moment I do.

Chichester mutual aid fire

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At about 3 p.m. the Heights Engine and Ambulance 7 were dispatched to the town of Chichester for a refridgerator fire. The address was just across the city line so we had a good shot of being the first on scene. Loudon's fire chief was the first to arrive about a minute ahead of us and first reported "nothing showing" and than updated it to "smoke showing" just prior to our arival. A 14 year old resident of the home was there when the fire broke out, and after removing a couple of pets, phoned 911. The fire was contained to the refridgerator, which made for easy extinguishment with an 1 3/4" line from E-7: however, smoke damage was pretty significant throughout the home.

June 1st I-93 MVA

I finally got some pictures of an MVA battalion 3 members went to on June 1. It was a single motor vehicle accident with three status 3 pts and one status 2 (who was pinned). Engine 1, Eng 4, Ladder 2, and ambulances 4, 5, 7 were dispatched.

FDNY L-146 LODD

Another tragedy on the heels of the Charleston LODD'S. Firefighter Daniel Pudjak of FDNY L-146 died while operating at a building fire. He was attempting to vent from a ladder when he fell several stories.

This should be a reminder to all who are on the job that fighting fires is a dangerous profession, whether you are on the line inside or just breaking windows from the outside, and we should do everything in our powers to ensure that we ALL go home after our shifts are complete.