See ya Rob!

After returning from five day break, the members of B Shift held a going away lunch for EMS Coordinator Captain Rob Johnson.  With over ten years as a Firefighter/Paramedic, rob accepted the position as the EMS Coordinator for the City of Salem.  We all commend rob for all of the hard work that he has put in keeping everybody certified and trained.   The members of B Shift grilled some hot dogs, served up some baked beans and chips for the going away lunch.

Rob,  you will be missed.  Good luck with your new position.

A bit of Monday

Monday the Brothers on A shift had a steady first part of the shift, and then in the evening 2 House was host for the members of the Div 6 Technical Rescue Team that were going over some skill drills in preparation for Rescue Challenge 2011.                                                               

                       

The first Rescue Challenge was held in Richmond, VA area in 1994, the concept was to bring together technical rescue teams from around the state of VA.  The idea was to challenge the abilities of the teams and validate the training that the teams had received.  The participating teams also have the opportunity to network, and share information while improving on advanced rescue techniques.  The teams participate in two real life scenarios a day for the four day event.  The scenarios include vehicle rescue, high angle rope rescue, confined space rescue, trench rescue, heavy and light structural collapse, or a combination of any of the disciplines to  complete the scenario.

A Tuesday

Tuesday was a busy day all around for the 2 House crew, the usual station house keeping and then the day started.  A few EMS runs in the morning, and what started off being dispatched as a fire alarm turned out to be a small fire at one of the local schools.  The incident could be described as more smoke than fire, and a good ventilation drill.  A good job by everybody on scene.

The rest of the shift was included more EMS runs lasting into the O'dark thirty hours of the morning.
Best of luck to all those that are currently in the promotional process.
Stay safe and train hard!

Friday Field Trip

Friday, the Rescue Engine crew were out of the house for training, two of the three went to training and the other was detailed to Station 3.  A group of 5 traveled to Martinsville, VA for Haz Mat training with Roanoke City and Danville Fire Department's Haz Mat teams.  A rail car leaking chlorine was the scenario for the day.  Members from all of the teams represented received some good hands on training and some tasty grub from one of the local restaurants.

The rest of the shift brought a hearty spaghetti dinner made by Clay Fitzgerald and the 802 crew.  EMS runs peppered the rest of the shift.  It's all good.

Stay safe, train hard!

B shift Monday

Monday was a training day for the department's Tech Rescue Team.  The members traveled to McCoy Falls for a day of swiftwater training.  While one group was on shore working on rope skills, the other group was oout in and on the water fine tuning skills on boat flips, getting team members back into the boat, driving the paddle raft, and some swimming skills.  The weather was nice and sunny, but the water could be best described as slightly above freezing, and less than comfortable.

A great day of training, and fun in the water.


Stay safe, train hard!

Back from 5 day break.

5 day break ended, so back to work for B Shift.  Tuesday morning started off with a  technical rescue drill that involved members of  the Salem, Roanoke City, and Roanoke County technical rescue teams.  These three localities form the VA Division 6 Technical Rescue Team Task Force 1.  The drill combined elements of rope rescue techniques, rigging, and water rescue.

Salem TRT member CJ Schaffer making a pick off.

                                                                                      

B Shift /C Shift Weekend

Friday, the day that most people call the start of their weekend, the last day of the work week, a day that songs were written about by pop and disco groups of the 70's and 80's...You get the picture.
Friday for the Rescue Engine crew was a day of chores around the house, and a bit of extrication work in Station 1's area.  After returning from a successful ACLS(Advanced Cardiac Life Support) re-certification I got the "Hey Lt, we did this, and this and worked on this, and you better sit down for this..."  Oh boy..  Everything worked out and Joey Avila had made dinner plans for crew.
 When one of the 802 crew was asked about dinner earlier in the day, they told Joey "as long as it is good, and a lot of it.".  Joey took their advise and came back with some HUGE steaks,  potatoes for baking, and green beans.   Awesome meal, some fun kitchen/dinner antics and conversation.
The evening brought rain and a car vs motorcycle.  Fortunately the motorcyclist ended up with minor injuries.

 Saturday I did a trade of duty with one of the guys so he could take care of some family stuff, and got to spend time at 2 House, C Shift style.  Bobby Haynes had some good training that he wanted to do, so we spent the morning running lines, re- racking hose, running lines again and again until it was like clockwork.  Good stuff.

 For the afternoon we joined the crew from Station 1, the friends, family and fans of the Roanoke Rampage Football Team.  Roanoke Rampage Fire and Police Football Team is made up of professional fire, rescue, police and public safety workers throughout the Roanoke and New River Valley. The team is a charitable football team formed to raise money for local charities while playing competitive football in the National Public Safety Football League.  Unfortunately the team took a loss to Chicago, and  had a few players get injured.
I encourage everybody that is local, and reads this blog to get out and support the Roanoke Rampage, these guys are out there playing for charity, so let's do out part and support them. Here is a link to their web site page, and face book.  Roanoke Rampage Football   Roanoke Rampage Football - Facebook Page
The rest of the shift brought us a few more medical assist, and such.  We did find out that the "man cold" does exist, it's not just a commercial for cold medicine, and it can happen at 0330hrs.
Had a good time working with 2 House C Shift crew.

Sunday, has been a day of rest so far with good meals, good people, and my first attempt at making scones
(a UK thing,  best general description is, a crumbly  biscuit made with butter instead of shortening and sweeter).  I'm pretty sure they went over well after the response from Roanoke City Captain Phil Dillon who is one of the part time personnel that is assigned to M802; "a scone?  well what is it...oh damn!  pass that jelly...can you make more of these, like now? "  Ben Flinchum once again made an awesome dinner of chicken cutlets, and steamed vegetables that was inevitably interrupted by a fire alarm.  Just part of the job.
Let's see what the night holds for the East Side...

In the fire service, there are three types of individuals: Those who go out and make it happen, those who stand aside and watch it happen, and those who say, "What the hell just happened!"
— Battalion Commander Bob Green, South San Francisco Fire Department