Roanoke and Lynchburg Areas - Regional Fire Service Pipe and Drum Band Organizing

A regional Fire Service Pipe and Drum band is forming and looking for interested individuals that would like to participate.  Band membership is open to public safety personnel,  active and retired military personnel,  and members of the public.

When?  Saturday June 09, 2012  3:00pm
Where?  Flanary's Irish Pub - Downtown Roanoke - Jefferson Street
Food and Drink Specials for all in attendance

So far there are several pipers from the Lynchburg and Roanoke area, along with several drummers from one of the Roanoke area pipe and drum bands. The name is not official, but for the time being -   "WestSide Firefighters Pipes and Drums", due to the location in the State.  The band was  honored with the privilege being able to play for the opening ceremonies for the Virginia Professional Firefighters Association 2012 Convention held in Roanoke, VA.

The band's mission is to honor those that have sacrificed their lives to serve others, to celebrate the accomplishments of the fire service, military, other public safety personnel, and to promote tradition and brotherhood through music.   The band is a non competition band and provides music for parades, ceremonies, graduations, memorials, weddings and funerals.

In the spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love...A pictorial escapade.

Along with the usual business and runs, the brothers on C Shift are celebrating spring in their own special way (and I do mean special way) welcoming Spring to the fair city of Salem.    Whatever the cause, it has only affected C Shift... Adam they could not have done it without you.

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Not really sure what to say about all of this, so on that note.
Stay safe, train hard, and look out for strange firemen growing in your flower beds and trees.

Yeah, so we skipped a month... Starting off March with an awards ceremony

So, after not really writing anything for a month, trying to get back onto the swing of things.

On March 02, 2012, the Salem Fire-EMS Department had their second annual awards ceremony at the Salem Civic Center.  The ceremony recognized achievements made by members of the department  during 2011.  Of those achievements, four members of  the department were promoted to the rank of Senior Firefighter:

Brian Buccola, Kenny Hurt, Jason Morris, and Matt Burnnett.  Those members successfully completed a written and practical examination that included testing their skills and knowledge of drving and operation of the first line apparatus of the Salem Fire-EMS Department.

Two members of the department were promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in 2011.  Mike Christley was promoted to Fire Lieutenant (C Shift), and Matt Rickman (EMS Coordinator)

Salem Fire-EMS also  had two members successfully complete the EMT - B to EMT I class, Senior Firefighter Matt Burnnett, and Firefighter Joslyn Merideth.  The department's Medical Director Dr Karen Aldridge was on hand to pin the new NREMT-I's.

Lt Matt Rickman presented the award for EMS Call of the Year to personnel from Station 3 B Shift for a job well done with a Heart Alert patient.  Those members were Lt Gary Franklin, Lt Matt Rickman, Senior FF/EMT-I Jason Loving, Senior FF/EMT-P James Burke, and Senior FF/EMT Ron "Rock" Windell.
Congratulations to all that were recognized for their accomplishments.

The department recognized the most important people that are behind the scene of all the operations of the Salem Fire-EMS Department; the families and love ones of the members of the department.  A nice evening was had by all in attendance , and a big thanks to Salem Professional Firefighter Local 3478 for providing the refreshments for the event.

Check out the new 2 House photo blog at:  The 2 House Photo Blog.  A random collection of photographs from the day to day on the East Side.

Help the Brothers out! Last day!!!

Brother Willie Wines at Iron Firemen.com has written a post about the last day of the special offer to help out the FDNY Rescue 2 Mayday Fund.  Firefox - MN8 products will donate 50% of web sales to the FDNY Rescue 2 Mayday Fund.  Check out the post here.

This week...Technical Rescue Training "Get in the hole!"

An other fun week on the East Side winds down.  Other than the usual EMS runs and fire alarms, this week the crews from the 2 House and Salem Fire Department Technical Rescue Team, participated with the Brothers from Roanoke City Fire-EMS in the quarterly Division 6 technical rescue training.
The topic for this quarter,  Confined Space Rescue.
  The Division 6 Technical Rescue Team met up at the Salem Civic Center for the training, and you could not have asked for any better weather.  The scenario had the team members entering in a 23 foot vertical ventilation shaft to rescue a worker that become unresponsive, inside the ventilation shaft there was a second  victim hanging from a  tripod that has collapsed at the entrance of the ventilation shaft.

The first day of training brought brothers from Salem A Shift and Roanoke City B shift.

The second day of the drill brought together the brothers of C Shift from both localities, and even a cameo appearance by Captain Willie Wines Jr from the blog Iron Firemen.

Captain Willie Wines Jr from Iron Firemen.com

The last day of training was held in Southeast Roanoke City in the industrial park, where the team had access to an old warehouse that had a below grade ventilation system.  This last day brought together the brothers of Salem B Shift and Roanoke City A Shift.  The next couple of pictures were shot with a cellphone camera and available lighting, so they are a bit blurry.

A good three days of training and brotherhood for the 2 House crew and the brothers from Roanoke City, and a big thanks to all that participated in the drill.
Until next time...Train hard, and stay safe!                                                    

         FTM-PTB

Pride and Ownership Seminar in Lynchburg VA

Boy have I been a slacker about putting up post about all of the things that have been happening on the East Side.  Sometimes it just takes running into the right person that says the right thing to get a person motivated again.  I found out that there are people out there that  actually read the blog post, so I am going to make a better effort this year to document the day to day of the firehouse.

 Friday the thirteenth, members of the 2 House,  joined by Deputy Chief John Prillaman,, traveled to Lynchburg to check out Chief Rick Lasky's Pride and Ownership seminar.  From start to finish, this was a good day.  You could see the people that "get it", you could see the people that just needed to recharge their passion about the job.  By the end of day you could see the ones that had an awakening.  It is hard to describe the energy that filled the room at the end of the day, but I'm positive there are going to be a lot of people that will take that energy back to their departments and make some good things happen.
The diversity, and experience in the room ranged from fire cadets from Hanover County, to the Battalion Chief that has 3 months left on the job, and everybody in between.   If you have to pick one word that sums up the whole day, that word would be "Refreshing".  If ever get the chance to see Chief Lasky speak do not miss this opportunity.

The turnout for the seminar was great, and a good day of networking, brotherhood, and seeing old friends and acquaintances.  Be safe and train hard.
FTM - PTB