Too drunk for jail ?

Today is the middle day for C-shift here at the self proclaimed "Big Show" (so some think) and I forgot to mention that we have a few officers off this cycle JJ took off with the family to Key West while Randy and his family went to Ocracoke, Conners is planning a quick trip down to meet up with Randy for a quick vacation. Courtney and JJ swapped vacations so he is filling JJ's shoes (and says his toes are sore) This put us short on officers but not to worry. Everyone here is capable of stepping up and filling spots Becky is driving Ladder 1
and Adam is Tilling today
Ladder 1 was keeping the road pretty hot this am running some EMS calls with 8 and 6 while Medic 1 was running into SE. It seems as soon as M6 gets a call we would get one forcing 8 to back us up. The cycle continued into the afternoon.
The last day Becky helped cook their was a rumor going around that she was getting moved.
I don't know if she had heard another rumor but Becky did her part of riding the ladder and helped Chef Decker with lunch and dinner.


The ladder did some tiller training to improve comfort levels on all those who do not want to be named. He is doing better and should be ready after a couple more laps around civic center. Young Compton got a break and got off the medic unit and hopped over to the engine to drive. Medic 1 was gone until bedtime and the volunteers put a truck in service. Medic trucks be prepared the City jail is beginning to refuse intoxicated people too drunk to stay their and wants them taken to the ER but the ER has no room. Good documentation, a call to RS1, and let the ER doctor know what the jail nurse says exactly. Needless to say our last pt spent less time in the ER than she did in the medic unit and back to jail she went. Until Thursday Be safe Roanoke!

Easter Sunday

1st day back and it is Easter Sunday. Working holidays is a crap shoot sometimes your busy other times it is quiet. We luck into one of the quiet ones, but again the entire city was quiet.
Most of the morning was spent checking the trucks off and getting them prepared for the EMS inspection this week. We went over all the trucks with what we thought was a fine tooth comb.
1st call of the day was for smoke alarms going off inside the apartment building. We found moderate amount of smoke on the second floor. We had a difficult time convincing the residents that they needed to leave the building. We found out that one of the residents while cooking her Easter ham dinner accidentally turned on the wrong eye of her stove melting the plastic.

After clearing the smoke from the building and getting the elevator fixed we allowed the residents back into their apartments to continue the Easter festivities. We headed back to the station washed all the trucks since it turned out to be a rather pretty day. The majority of the day was spent waiting for the next call. We were pleased to know that the fine people of Roanoke decided to behave and celebrate Easter the right way.
Medic 1 Engine 1 had their last call at community hospital/urgent care for a wrist injury that medic 1 took to the ER.

College Of Health Sciences High Rise Drill

Last day of the cycle for C-shift but the first day for us to be without Medic 101 as many of you know it was moved somewhere else not sure if it is Station 4 or 9 maybe even 2 but it is gone. Replacing Medic 101 on the south side is Medic 8 over in the high rent district of the city. On C-shift Ocho is going to have AIC's Jeesee and Stoval and the firefighters are going to be Bailey and EMT of the day depending on who turn it is to travel. Here we see our first glimpse of "Ocho" at the ER and we ended up seeing them there quite a few times today.

Medic one remained in service today and caught a call just before the drill/training at the College of Health sciences took place. The college's staff contacted the Fire Marshall's office to advise them of a fire drill they were going to conduct and Chief Beckner made most of the situation and designed a High Rise scenario to correspond. The college was going to evacuate the building and the fire depart was going to simulate a fire on the seventh floor. Unfortunately we missed 2/3 of the drill so most of these pictures were at the end. Companies involved Engines 1, 2, 5, 6 Ladder 1, 2 BC 1 and 2, Medic 2 and 6, RS1, Command Staff and members of the Fire Marshall's office. Engine 1 had Lobby control FF/EMT-I Smith gathering accountability tags and assignments in lobby.
Capt. Brown from Engine 1 also had elevator control.
Security was keeping a sharp eye on Lt. Hodgin and his ability to maintain his composure even if this was just a drill.
Again I nor "young Compton' were not able to participate in the drill or get as many pictures as I wanted. But what we heard from the college's staff they were impressed we the time and level of professionalism that they witnessed in the drill. Time was crucial, from dispatch to time a 2.5" hose line was in place on the 7th floor was 11 minutes. In that time the building was completely evacuated, lines stretched, 8th, 9th and 10th floor were searched and secured. We were unable to do multiple evolutions because the students had to get back to classes. The units cleared from the scene and returned to station 1 for the critique.
Representatives from the county and Salem were in attendance at the drill and critique and gave high accolades to the success of the drill. Surprisingly to us we do get paid to train.

The rest of the day was spent running EMS calls with Compton attempting to get all his calls checked off so he can be released as a AIC. Eng 1 Ladder 1 work a wreck on 581. Car vs Jersey wall.

Pt transported by M151 to RMH. Until next cycle Be safe Roanoke!

High Rise training

Middle day for C-shift and after morning turnover

we started station chores and we may not get 'paid" to do it but pride in what we ride in is key and keeping them clean is a priority when we are not running calls. We had a busy morning between those calls and the Ladder gone to the store getting groceries. Lt. Hodgin takes the lead in maintaining the hose (only nozzle time he gets since being promoted to a LT) just kidding LT.
After a quick breakfast which Chef JJ says all the tough people in Franklin County eat? he called them "man pie" but I have heard overs call them quiche or even a omelet pie. But looks can be deceiving they were not bad but it is hard to beat sausage gravy on the weekend.

Once the kitchen was cleaned the "elite" core stations (1,2,5,6) met at he Big Show for some remedial training on high rise hose deployments for those transferring in from other stations or other shifts. Chief Beckner and Chief Barker discuss the importance of getting the hose on the correct side of stairwell for maximum proficiency.

Groups from Station 2 provide the visual example to the rest of us on hose deployment.

As you can see hose is on both sides of stairwell waiting to be charged and then advances onto the fire floor.

After training was complete we were informed of a drill next day at the college of Health Sciences where we will be able to take what we trained on today and use it in a scenario with students, teachers and other faculty leaving the building.

Medic 1 was steady the rest of the day as the engine and crews fixed dinner and prepared themselves mentally for whatever may happen next.

After dinner it was an attempt to watch a movie. First movie selected was Slum Dog millionaire between the small printed sub titles and a graphic scene(that made Randy sick and almost throw up) we stopped and switched over to the movie Shooter.

Randy recovered enough to fix himself some pop corn and enjoy this movie.

We are hoping for a safe night until next day, be careful Roanoke!

Busy Busy

Day 1 for C-shift after a wet 4 day break and it seems A and B Shift were way too BUSY to post. That is OK because here at the Big Show we are all about being busy despite not getting paid to clean the station or the trucks or even train. Medic 1 was out the door this morning before 715 and Becky and Young Compton were not seen again until this afternoon. But every medic truck was BUSY today in the city. It seems as soon as they cleared the hospital sent center city they were dispatched with a engine somewhere. RS1 was called numerous time to let him know the city was dumped, it is a shame he can't twitch his nose or blink to produce a medic unit but that is another story.

Today we had a large Public Education event at the Big Show consisting of 78 kindergartners and their teachers and chaperone's.

Super Lt. Joe took LEAD and divided the group into 4 separate groups. It is funny how a 5 year old wants to see a couple things when it come to a fire station, the lights on the trucks and someone sliding the pole. Everything else is just a lot of words and their teacher telling them not to touch anything. But overall they seems to have a great time and even had their lunch on the back apron.

The tour ended so late we did not get a chance to go get groceries and ended up grabbing a sandwich from Firehouse Subs(no we do not get a discount). After lunch we stopped by Krogers before heading back to the station and review the pre fire plan of 920 Jefferson. On Tuesday we are going to be doing some High Rise training at this location and wanted to be proficient. After discussing our findings we headed over to look at the structure.

Tonight we had Lt. Conner step up to fill the shoes of our absent chefs and did a fine job in the kitchen despite Randy going after Hunt or throwing his plate at Conner. (ask Randy what his favorite sound is for more details)

After dinner we emptied the station running calls. We made it back a short time ago and now hope we can "kick it out for the night" Until Sunday. . . .