FIRE???? WHERE????

[Anonymous]

Yeah I know [#offtopic] But just for giggles [:0] How many of us flame jockeys are there in this forum??? Past and present [8D]

[Anonymous]

I used to be. Even had a firetruck at my house. [:D]

You sure get an education being a firefighter. [B)] Some of it good, some of it not so good. [:(]

You see things you don't want to see. [:(]

Sometimes you can do some good [:)] sometimes you can't [:(]

It can sure be a sad time at times, and happy at other times.

[locomutt]

Well here's another ex flame jockey. Why did we do what we did[?][sigh]
I don't have a firetruck (engine) at my house but I sure the [censored] have rotating beacons from said vehicles[8D][{:)]

I really enjoyed doing it and saving lives until I broke my back; then I got forced into
retirement[:P][:)][:O]

locomutt[8D][:P]

[Anonymous]

Marty [:)]

I was going to email you this story but then thought I might as well put it here and let everyone laught at me. [:D] It wasn't funny at the time but it sure is now. [:D]

First a little background info. I was a volunteer in a rural fire department. Some of the equipment was bought new but some was hand me down stuff from the Conservation Department (basically army surplus trucks with welded tanks in the bed and a glorified lawn mower engine to run the pump). The radios were surpus WWII, they might work and they might not. When they did work your range to broadcast could change because of your location. We were dispatched out of the sheriff's office. The truck I will memtion in the funny story was a 1965 GMC which was bought new and equipped fairy good. It was a 4 speed with a hi-lo axle and the pump was PTO driven, therefore, you could pump and move at the game time--great for fighting grass fires. The truck had a cage mounted on the front just for fighting grass fires (hay fields or other tall grasses). Now the story. (You know I haven't told a Jim Story in a while [;)] ).


Our fire department was dispatched from the sheriff's office but we were also a membership department and the members had a special number to call for help. This number rang 5 different phones in various homes at the same time. One phone was in the local gas station and the gas station owner was a loyal member of the fire department. When a fire call came he would run next door and get his wife to run the station while he was on the fire call. One day while I was at the station the firephone rang. He answered it, we had a fire. While he went to get his wife I went down and unlocked the firehouse, got the truck started and pulled out of the firehouse. He was just getting there when I got the truck out. There we were lol , just the two of us headed to the call. As I drove he told me the situation. A new house had been build out in the middle of a hay field. The grass around the house itself was mowed short, but the hay stood waist tall. There wasn't much of a yard. Now to make matters worse (which always seems to happen given the nature of fire) they were burning trash ON A WINDY DAY. Yelp, you guessed it, it started the hay field on fire with the house smack dab in the middle of the hay field. It was roughly a five minute drive to the fire (not bad for being a rural area). While my fellow firefighter got a hose around to the cage I pulled the correct knobs to engage the pump and allow water into his hose. As I drove around the fire he hosed it. Given the fact that the hay was waste high we could knock the flame down but not totally put it out. After several rounds of the field I knew we would need help. I tried to radio the sheriff's office but being in a low spot couldn't reach them. I yelled to the lady from the house to go in and call the sheriff's office and tell them we needed help. Soon we ran out of water. I knew exactly where the nearest plug was and drove to it. The truck would only fill from the passenger side and the plug was on the other side of the road. So I had to turn into a side road, back up onto the first road, then pull up to the plug. I got the wrench out as he got the filler hose. (The filler hose is a rigid hose and not very flexible.) We hooked up and I turn the nut for the water to flow through the plug into the hose and into the truck. NO WATER, the plug was dry. P A N I C . [:0] So we unhooked from the plug, threw the filler hose on top of the truck, but did not secure it in its normal location since we were paniced and now in a big hurry to race to the next nearest plug. As I basically said before, anytime there is a fire involved anything that can go wrong, DOES GO WRONG. The nearest plug was behind us not in front of us. So once again I had to turn the truck, by backing into the side road, then back on the other road. The next plug was about a 3 or 4 minute drive. Again, as you would have it, the plug was on the opposite side of the road and I AGAIN had to turn the truck to take on water. While I was getting the wrench my friend was to get the filler hose. GUESS WHAT (wrong, we had water this time) NO FILLER HOSE [:0] So we had to drive back down the road looking for our filler hose. We found it close to the FIRST plug. Once again, I had to turn the truck around and drive back down the road to the plug that had water. Now all this time we are both worried about the house going up in flames from the hay field. [:(] So, we finally get water and head back to the fire. When we arrived we found about 3 or 4 other firetrucks had responded from our neighboring departments and the hay field fire was just about out. We didn't pump any more water at that fire. We talked to our fellow firefighters about our ordeal and everyone had a laugh over it. They now knew the problem with the plug that was dry.

We drove back to our little town, put the truck up, and drank a coke. Days later we found out that the "bad plug" had been shut off because of constant vandalism. The water line owners had installed a special valve that also had a special tool to open and close the valve. We actually had the tool on the firetruck but didn't know we did.

We called ourselves "The Two STOOGES" that day. [:D]

The story you have read is true. I wish I could say the names have been changed to protect the innocent (ME). [:D] [:D] [:D]

Marty
Locomutt
Tree

I hope you enjoyed this story. Trust me every word is true. [:)] [;)] [:D]

[cherokee woman]

Jim,

Our department did not have a pumper where you could pump and drive, unfortunately.
We had a neighboring department come by one evening while we were on training. They
decided to hose us down, and there was NOTHING we could do. Our pumper was
stationary with several hose lines off. I was engineer at time, but we could not , since we could not pump & move, go after them.

After they left, and after our training session was over, some of the other firefighters ( I did not go with them) took one of our main pumpers with a BIG deck gun, and proceded to blow their station off it's foundation. And they damn near succeeded!!!!!!! Needless to
say, we didn't have any more DRIVE-BY hosings.

I wish I was as lucky as you were, to be on a department with an engine that could pump & drive. We had a couple of jeeps, but they only had 50 gallon water tanks.

locomutt[alien][:(]

[Anonymous]

I'm not a fireman but I did have to put my friends house out once. Freshmen year of college we were inside when the house went up. Front entrance was blazing. Had to go out the back door, after getting the right combo of locks open. We put the fire out with garden hoses and waited a hour for the firemen to show up (Volunteers - 9 Am weekday). Front of the house was gone. cause of the fire - old coal stove ashes!!

This is something I will never forget. I can still hear the roar of the fire in house. I can still feel the heat against my face.

[locomutt]

Okay we were a vol. dept. We had approx. 4 min response time.(pretty good huh!)
But we maniged to get a mobil home out with only minor damage. I am very proud
of that particular run.!!
Of course there was a Prison bus on the Interstate that was on fire.
When we got on scene,we were wondering why there several people holding
shotguns on a few other people kneeling on the ground. We did not know the reason
until we finished up, and were told that a prisoner had set the fire in the
bathroom of the bus. How he got the match in to light the T.P. We'll never know.

locomutt

SCARED[?] YOU BET YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[tree68]

Been at it for 25 years - FF, Captain, Asst Chief, Chief, Commissioner, EMT - been there. Helped establish a fire district covering a township, a village, and two fire departments in the mid-90's, and played a big part in starting a new independent ambulance service last year (replacing two VFD ambulance service in two townships). Now I'm down from running 150 ambulance calls a year as the only medic to about 25, mostly when the first-call rig is out on another call.

War Story: Got a call one night for a car/pedestrian accident on the state highway. Turned out an inebriated individual was walking down the middle of the road and got clipped by the mirror of a passing mini-van.

By the time we got there (just a few minutes - 2 am and a mile from the firebarn), no sign of the victim, so we started checking the ditches. No reports of anyone else coming by, so most likely he hadn't been picked up. I was the furthest down the road from the accident scene, and about to give up and head back up the road, when I saw someone moving through the hay away from the road. By the time my hailing had gotten someone's attention and more help, he disappeared again. Most of the searchers decided he'd gone through an opening in the hedgerow and had moved in that direction. I kept looking in the same area, and finally decided to just be quiet and see what I heard. A low moan came from within the hedgerow. Even then I had a hard time finding him with my light. We got him packaged up and shipped to the hospital. Never did hear how it turned out.

We only run about 100 times a year (actually below that this year), so I can't claim to have seen it all as a firefighter. Have seen some good blazes, though. When you combine really cold weather with really old block buildings, it makes for some lengthy operations.

I just have to plug our website: www.depauvillefd.org.

Stay Safe. Test your smoke detector. Every month.

[Anonymous]

The funnist thing that happened to me was. A few years ago my FD got a call for a fully envolved structure fire. I was the engineer on the second in pumper. The first engine stopped at the driveway, I got out so we could do a forward hose lay and keep the water tenders out on the main road.[:D] Now anyone who's been doing this for any lenght of time knows that when you make a hose lay without a hydrant or a tree to wrap it around, you are supposed to hold it with both hands and put one knee down on it. [8D] NOT THIS KID !!!!!!! [D)] I proceeded to wrap the hose around my waist and yell GO [#oops] I was ok until the third piece of hose started on its way out. It got a coupler hung up.[:o)] Thats when I went bouncing down the driveway for about 30' until I got myself unwraped[B)] Other than a few bumps and scrapes I was fine. After that I erned the nickname of SKIP[}:)] I'll never be able to live that on down. [D)][|(]

[Anonymous]

HI Skip [}:)] [;)]

Just couldn't resist that one. [}:)] [:p]

Out in the country most of the time you don't have a plug. Therefore you have to shuttle water. No fun and not very helpful either. [:(]

I really don't have a lot of funny stories when it comes to firefighting. When you are in a rural area a lot of the time when the fire is noticed it basically is too late for that structure. The best you can do is protect the nearest structures and propane tanks with a water curtain. That takes a lot of water and definately more than one truck. When you can pump in excess of 500 gpm you can empty a tank real quick. Then if it takes 15 minutes to find a plug and refill you can see the problem here. Some departments have a tanker but most don't. So a fire in a rural area is a bad deal from the start. [:(]

A bad deal, even worse, is a trailor house. The floor buckles and when it does, Katy bar the door. NOT A GOOD THING AT ALL. [xx(] I think the older ones are worse than the newer ones. But since I don't do it anymore someone else could probally give better knowledge here.

Anyway, my bad stories would far outnumber my funny stories. [:(] I really don't care to go there. I imagine most of the other guys wouldn't either. [V]

[Anonymous]

Well we have 2 water tenders, one 4000gals. and the other 2000gals. Also within 6mi. we have another 4 tenders totaling 11,000gals. We don't run dry very often.

[tree68]

Just to keep things in a railroad vein (albiet model), and to prove that I'm providing fire protection to the communities on my layout:


Greenboro is protected by a (scratchbuilt) 1961 Ward LaFrance "Fireball" pumper, a Mack tanker (tender), a Ford rescue, and an old Caddy ambulance. The first pumper I ran in my real fire department was the model for the WLF model... They run out of a DPM building - Otto's Parts, if I remember correctly. They do need an addition - it's tough having to leave fire trucks outside in the winter.

Campbell Wood runs out of a house modelled after the Orbisonia, PA station, with a couple of old timers. The pumper is a cast metal kit, but I don't remember whose.

Monteola is protected by a (cast resin kit) Mack model R and an ALF pumper-tanker, running out of a scratch-built stone station. There's a lot of limestone around here, and that's what it'll look like.

OK, so everything is still under construction. It's a layout - they're always under construction. I am working on getting wheels under Monteola's Mack and Greenboro's Rescue, though...

[Anonymous]

100% COOL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[locomutt]

Tree,

Cool models, both stations & apparatus.
I have kit-bashed several pieces of apparatus,
however no quarters to put them in yet.

Marty,or SKIP;

Really GREAT!! that you guys had that much water,
available,most rural districts don' have or can't afford
that blessing. Our fire district was about half urban,half rural
Our pumpers had basic size tanks,however a couple of
the newer ones had 1200gals. aboard. We did have an old
tanker at one time(WW II suplus) Needless to say it did not

last long(deemed as to unsafe to operate). So we got a couple
of 1500gal. folding tanks for the rural side.
And ask how many homeowners with swimming pools
had them emptied when we did need water.

Enough for now,I'm like the rest of you all,more horror,than good.

Locomutt

[Anonymous]

12 years, 2 departments.

Went on the RR, no more time for it.

LC

[John Liebson]

Now retired, volunteer chief, started two departments, served on board of (US) national training organization, wrote articles, books, training manuals, confused entire known world, got some very nice mentions recently in a book by one of my former assistant chiefs--her autobiography of her service with the National Park Service.

[vsmith]

Ha Ha "Flame Jockey" has a whole different meaning to some of us.[:D]

At a BBQ lunch once, over the course of the meal I used an entire large bottle of Louisiana Hot Sauce,[:p] and later discovered a whole new definition of "Flame Jockey" [:0][:0][:0][:0][:0][:0] EEEoooouuuuuoooowwwwww!!!!!!!!!![xx(][:0][xx(][:0][xx(]

[Anonymous]

Used to have a big Fire Department on my layout.....until I've moved[:(][banghead] served the intire layout! a lot of time... and a lot of work! I only had two and a half stations (Had more Fire Trucks and ran out of space... [sigh][:O] so i made a make-shift station to hold all of Fire Trucks!) Had too many kids runnin' round the trainroom that made it almost impossible to keep track of the layout![soapbox]