The Week in Review

This past week proved to be a busy one for the 2 House Crew and the Tech Rescue Team members.  Monday was a B Shift day, and also the first day for Swiftwater Rescue Tech I class.  Class was stopped for a bit for a house fire, then it was back to getting our learn on.  Tuesday and Wednesday, the class to a field trip to McCoy Falls for the practical portion of the class, the water was a bit low but everybody had a good time.

Some instructions and word of wisdom  from Lt Tracy Coe.

Clownin' for the camera

Thursday, several people attended the 4th Annual Officer Seminar.  The guest speaker this year was Retired Deputy Chief  James P.  Smith of the Philadelphia Fire Department, and the topic presented was "Strategic and Tactical Considerations on the Fire Ground".  

Friday was just one of those uneventful kinda days.  "And you know this, maaaan!"

Until next time, stay safe and train hard!

Just a note

I received a couple of messages from some people that read the blog, and they asked why nothing was posted about the 10 year anniversary of Sept 11th.
 I would feel safe in saying that most people that this read blog, do not have to be told "Never Forget", "Remember 343", and all of that stuff, it is a part of us.  After all of the fanfare, pomp and circumstance we are all still chauffeurs, engineers, DPO's, firefighters, firemen, probies, rookies, officers, and bosses.  The best way that we can honor those that lost their lives on that tragic day:

                                 Do Your Job!

  Honor them and those that have gone on before us.  Honor your department, and yourself by learning your job, knowing your job, and taking pride in the work that we do.

 

Regional Technical Rescue Drill - Day 3

Day 3 of the technical rescue drill, the brothers from  C Shift joined up with their counterparts from Roanoke City and Roanoke County B shift personnel for the third and final day of the Division 6 Technical Rescue Team Quarterly Drill.  The drill for this quarter is focused on trench rescue, with a twist.  The final day scenario was different than the first two.  A worker was pinned beneath two pipes in an unsecured trench.  This scenario involved a lifting problem in addition to shoring the trench.

A good job by everybody, a break for lunch, some shuffling of personnel, then back to some more trench training. 


The rest of the drill focused on getting hands on time setting trench panels and shores, discussing different shoring situations and safety.

Overall a very good three days of training and lesson learned. 

Stay safe, train hard!

Regional Technical Rescue Drill - Day 2

On day 2 of the technical rescue drill, the brothers from B Shift joined up with their counterparts from Roanoke City and Roanoke County A shift personnel for the second day of the Division 6 Technical Rescue Team Quarterly Drill.  The drill for this quarter is focused on trench rescue, with a twist.  The second day the scenario changed a bit.  The team was given information that a worker was standing at the corner of a T shaped trench, when the corner broke loose, dropping the worker into the trench pinning them between a concrete pipe and the wall of the trench.

The scenario went well, and as usual everybody worked very well together.  After a debriefing and some lunch, the team was presented with an afternoon scenario, which was very similar to the Day 1 scenario.  The placement of the mannequin  was somewhat different along with a different placement of the pipe in the trench.

 The team took a different approach on how to free the victim from underneath the bucket of the backhoe, by setting up for a lift of the arm of the the backhoe using airbags at the top of the trench.

Just as the team was making final preparations for the lift,  the earthquake put a damper on the rest of training.  The brothers from Roanoke City had to pack up and head back into the city to assist with the increased number of calls.  Well, maybe next time.  Another good day of training

Regional Technical Rescue Drill - Day 1

The brothers from A Shift joined up with their counterparts from Roanoke City and Roanoke County for the first day of the Division 6 Technical Rescue Team Quarterly Drill.  The drill for this quarter is focused on trench rescue, with a twist.  The team members were presented with a construction worker that was operating a backhoe placing drain pipe, when he jumped off of the backhoe and into the trench to adjust the chain on a section of pipe.  A hydraulic failure occurred pinning the operator between the pipe and bucket of the backhoe.

The team was tasked with stabilizing the trench, and then the boom of the backhoe to be able to remove the victim.

As always, a day of good hard work,and brotherhood.  Stay tuned for tomorrow's report from the trenches

Congratulations to...

The crew's of the 2 House would like to congratulate  Senior Firefighter Mike Christley on his promotion to Lieutenant.

Mike will be assigned to C Shift, and we wish him the best of luck. 

* The picture was taken during a highly scientific experiment that was conducted to determine the number of ketchup packets it takes to refill a bottle of ketchup.  That number is 140.

Dallas TX LODD

Deepest condolences and prayers to the family of Lt. Todd Krodle and the  Dallas Fire-Rescue Department.  Lt Krodle fell through the roof of an apartment building during a three alarm fire today.  More information can be found at Statter911.

 Be safe out there