BB's anyone?

We had a fairly interesting shift today. As a whole, I think each company had at least 3 or more runs. Some of them more interesting than others obviously. I think there were a few EMS runs, four FAA (fire alarm activations), two MVA's, one being a head-on, and another on the inter-state involving a tractor trailer and a house, and last but not least, a drive by shooting.

I wasn't there for the accident on the inter-state, but I was told that the house looked like mine. Apparently a semi was taking an exit ramp a little too fast and tipped over, dumping his load in the process. The load on the semi was a modular HOME. Or at least part of one. It wasn't mine though. My house is already on a foundation, and the wheels and axels have been removed. I am hoping to get a skirt for it someday, but they are just too doggone expensive right now.
The other accident was a head-on collision with one passenger sustaining a broken arm. One of the vehicles ADMITTEDLY ran a stop sign. Imagine, someone who actually owed up to their mistake. You have to admire her for that.
The drive-by shooting in the north end involved some members of two local gangs. While members of one gang were walking along the road, members from a rival gang drove by and shot one individual in the upper lip. The weapon of choice was a BB-GUN. HA! Like I said. Some runs were more interesting than the others. I'm just not quite sure where this one fits in.

Motor vehicle fire

After taking a few weeks off because of the birth of our second child, I came back just in time to see FIRE. All the rumors I've heard about fire are true. It is still hot, smokey, and allergic to water.

A father was driving with his infant son in the back seat when he noticed the car overheating. By the time he made it to parking area the vehicle was on fire.

Pump testing complete

Congratulations to probationary F/F-Paramedic Richardson on finishing his pump qualifications on E-4. I spoke with Keith this afternoon and he informed me,(with a smile on his face), that pump qualifying was the easiest thing he has ever had to do . He also mentioned that Brother DiGeronimo's advice was the single most helpful of any he had received. That advice was, and I quote, "Just get them them the @#!*&%# water". Great advice coming from the senior firefighter/paramedic of the dept. Keith is now the MPO on E-4 until after the holidays, at which point he wil be assigned to a different station. Until than, Keith says he hopes to catch a building fire to put his new skills to work. I think we"re all hoping for that too.

More updates

There are a few more people who deserve a recognotion for reaching another anniversary date. On November 12, Capt. Whitney celebrated his 20th year with the dept., Brother Piroso made it to 19 years back on October 28th, Lt. Manning has 14 years as of October 1st, Brother Richardson hit his 8th year mark on October 21st, and Lt. Robidas had his 7th year anniv date back on August 8th. Congratulations to everyone. If I have missed anyone, please call and let me know.

On a personal note, I would like to announce the birth of daughter. Maggie Mae was born on Friday, Nov. 14th at 7:40 p.m., weighing 7 lbs, 3 ozs. Both Momma and baby are now home and doing great. Thanks to all who called to congratulate. I will be taking a few weeks off from work to spend as much time as possible with the Fam. If I miss something while I am out, I would like for someone to get in touch with me, and I will post it on the site

Anniversary dates

I am such a slacker. I failed to mention Brother Schottler in the "Batt 3 update" post. Jeff celebrated his 10th year on the job back in June. Pat Richardson just had an anniversary date on the 21st of October, giving him 8 years now. Congrats to both.

On a side note, I promised Batt 2's Lt Andrews that I would put him on this blog for a recent accomplishment of his, so here it is. While working an over-time shift on our batt, Lt. Andrews took part in one of our daily PE routines. (Actually, it's our only routine.) We take turns shooting free throws to see how many in a row we can make. Normally we can make it to 4 or 5. 8 to 9 on a good day. Yours truly (me) got lucky once and made 12 in a row (the first shot wasn't lucky, but the last 11 were). That ended up being the mark to beat for a couple of weeks. That is until MR. BASKETBALL himself showed up. He predicted that he would beat that mark by lunch-time. not only did he beat it, but he crushed it twice, and tied it once. He dropped in runs of 21 and 28 without any problems. To make this more impressive, he did this after working a building fire 5 hours earlier, and getting 4 hours of sleep prior to that. Nice job Lt. Andrews.

So long Lt. France

Due to some new promotions within the dept., Lt. france has been transferred to battalion 4. Good officers are tough to come by. We wish him the best, and hope to see him return to our battalion at some point in the future. Below are some pictures I have collected over the past few years of Lt. France at his best. If anyone has his "kitty-cat" picture, please forward it to me.











As a follow up, I would also like to say welcome to Lt. Alan Robidas to our battalion . Alan has just been promoted to Lieutenent, and will be the officer on Engine 5 . Alan has some big shoes to fill, and I mean literally. I think Lt. France wears a size 18 ski.

See ya Collins (AGAIN)

As of the 29th of this month Brother Collins will no longer be a member of battalion 3. With Lt. Holm being placed on light duty for a short period of time, FF/P DeWitt will be moved from batt1 and placed into an acting position on E-1, which gets Brother Collins a one-way ticket to batt 1. Maybe someday he'll be able to find his way back.