Almost forgot

Kathleen had her first house fire a few weeks ago during a snow storm. I just got the pictures the other day. This was not in our first due, it was in the next town over. Not to many pictures but here is a few. Kathleen hasnt had a chance to post these on her journal yet.

Running Calls

Slow night on duty last night. Only had 2 calls. We had enough people there last night to have an engine crew and a truck crew. Thats pretty unusual. I was assigned to the engine which is good because the engine is the first due on most calls. First call ( right in the middle of dinner of course) was a report of an unknown substance that had been dumped in one of the creeks. We went to the scene and you could visibly see a dark substance flowing down the creek from the sub division. The Battalion Chief and Captain 1 showed up.. you know with us being at Code Orange and all gotta do things the right way. Anyway, we drove around looking for the source and found it.. They had been sweeping all the salt off the roads with a water truck and it had just ended up flowing into the creek.

My buddy AJ who is a FireFighter with me said early on in the night " You know, we havent had an apartment fire in a long time". He is usually 95% correct about the type of calls we will get. We decided to do some drills on the ladder. No sooner did we have it up and the bells rang. " Engine Companys, 1,5, 6 and 10 Truck 1. Respond Channel 6Baker Box 1-12, Apartment Fire". Hes like Miss Cleo or something. I have been to this particular complex twice before. First time was food on the stove and second was steam from the dryer. Well, this turned out to be steam from the dryer again.. sigh. Im so glad I didnt layout 100ft of supply line just to have to repack it again. Kathleen ( My fiance) was assigned to the truck that night as well. I love running calls with her. We are always there to back each other up and help the other if needed. Nothing else I would rather be doing with my time then being a firefighter right alongside Kathleen. ;)

Traffic Court

First, thank you for the emails and comments about passing the class. I really appreciate it!

Had to go to traffic court today for a ticket I received for having an expired safety insepection sticker ( which I think is a conspiracy by the auto shops. hehe). I was on the 1:00pm docket. Welp, I didnt get to talk to the judge until almost 4:30. Anyway, the day was amusing to say the least. Monday is arraignment day in Loudoun County traffic court apparently. So people that got arrested over the weekend for traffic offenses had their arraignments before any of us. The first guy was a Virgin Atlantic pilot that was arrested @ Dulles Airport on Friday for allegedly being intoxicated. There were TV cameras and reporters everywhere.

The rest of the cases were pretty basic.. Car theft, shoplifting etc. However, one traffic case I found to be pretty funny. The defendant was cited for having a " loud exhaust" on his truck. He proceeds to tell the judge ( with a smart ass look on his face) that his truck isnt any louder than other cars on the road.. The judge says " Oh ok, pull your truck around the back of the courthouse so we can all hear how quiet it is". The defendants jaw dropped. I was dying laughing inside because it was obvious this guy was a " good ol' boy" ( sorry for the stereotype) and he just looked like he had a huge jacked up truck with a loud engine.. Sure enough when he backed into the parking lot, the walls shook on the courthouse. Classic, the wheels of justice were turning today.

My case got dismissed since I had taken care of the inspection sticker. Woo hoo! I have duty tommorow night, Im excited. I havent been in awhile because of my back.

And the winner is..

Woo hoo! Finally got the results of my written test. 84%! Much better than I thought I did. So I passed. Got released to return to duty yesterday from my back injury. So Im glad to be back in service.

Been doing lots of driving around, TV watching in the last few days. Heres some things that are really annoying me.

1. People walking as slow as possible right down the aisle in the parking lot you are trying to go down. They are completely oblivious to you trying do drive through the parking lot. If you get too close.. You get a dirty look from them like " Im walkin here"! **Tip** The horn not only gets them to move, but is extremely entertaining to watch.

2. Do the people who drive while talking on their cell phones not realize that they are swerving into oncoming traffic? Or that they are driving 20 miles an hour in a 65? Someone needs to invent a cell phone intercept device so while I am stuck behind one of these people I can come over the phone and say " Hang Up".

3. " Im invincible in my 4X4". Really? Thats interesting because every accident I have seen during our last 2 snow/ice storms has involved 1 single SUV sliding off the road. I have a friend who lives next door who is a state trooper who was telling me that the other night when he went to one accident where a lady slammed into a guardrail she said to him " I dont understand it, I had my 4 wheel drive on". Well, 4 wheel drive doesnt help you stop on black ice. Thats what matters.


This entry has 4 comments: (Add your own)
congradulations on passing the test! have a great holiday and all that good "stuff"!
Comment from layde2bug2003 - 12/22/03 12:46 PM
I could tell ya alot of annoying shopper stories! I work in a retail store!!!!!! YUCK
I have had people nudge the back of me to either get me out of their way or get my attention. I guess they must all be mutes. I will have a ton of frieght in a isle I have to get onto the shelves. They will want to cut down that isle. I guess that must be the shorest way to go.
And I could go on but I won't. Hey you really got me started LOL
Comment from carolhehe - 12/21/03 12:11 PM

P.S. I have a Ford Explorer. Im not ripping on SUV's. Just some of the people who drive them.
Comment from brimasta1 - 12/18/03 7:41 PM

House Fire

OK, here are some pics ( That I stole from http://www.leesburgfire.org/ ) from my first real house fire. I took some of these when we were on scene. The rest were taken by Capt. Paul Earley and Lt. Ian Buchanan. As you can see this house was fully involved. The fire started in the garage and spread to the rest of the house very quickly. Obviously none of the firefighters went into the house, this was an exterior operation due to the percentage of the structure that was fully involved.

OK, what did I get to do? Well after most of the fire was out Captain Earley asked me to get on the nozzle of the 2 1/2 inch line and douse the hotspots in the garage. and just generally cool off what was left of the house. I also assisted with overhaul ( ripping down walls etc, to check for fire extension). I ripped a good portion of the siding off the house along with the rest of crew. At one point I had to take the utility truck back to the station to let the fill in crew into the station.. Of course when I got there someone else had let them in already. But I did receive an "urgent" message from someone on the scene that they needed something from 7-11. So I stopped on the way back to the scene and picked it up. Anyways, I learned a great deal on Wed night and I am glad I went. After packing all the frozen hose, picking up tools and staying for awhile just to make sure nothing flared up. We didnt end up clearing the scene until about 0530. Everyone got out of the house safely.


This entry has 6 comments: (Add your own)
Holy Jebus!
Those are some incredible pictures. Glad to hear everyone got out safely. Oh man, I'm gonna have to give you a ring soon. I bet you can give me some tips on how to keep my house safe from fire.
Comment from noirtec - 12/15/03 1:30 PM

Yeah, It was horrific for sure. I did forget to mention that everyone did get out safe! The most important thing!
Comment from brimasta1 - 12/13/03 10:55 AM\

Ack! Horrific images. The house behind ours caught fire a few weekends ago and I still remember standing in the street at 3 a.m. praying that the firefighters would be able to put it out quick, and they did. Certainly makes me thankful, brings my gratitude into focus. Great journal! :)

http://journals.aol.com/slowmotionlife/slowmotionlife
Comment from slowmotionlife - 12/8/03 9:35 PM

The photos take your breath away.
Comment from bettyduddy - 12/5/03 5:31 PM

Wow! That's awesome. Keep up the good work brotha-man! ~ Ty
Comment from universalsoldier - 12/5/03 3:45 PM

First Fire

Still waiting to hear the results of the written test. Went to a huge house fire last night. When we pulled up to this Single Family Home, there was fire through the roof and coming out all the windows. This was my first " Real" fire. I should have some pics later and I will go a little more in depth about the fire. You can check out http://www.leesburgfire.org for info on the fire and pictures as well!