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"OUTSTANDING!!!!!
I was really impressed with the article on the Roanoke Life Saving Crew. It looked like it took a lot of effort and I appreciate it a lot.
Julian Stanley Wise was employed by the City of Roanoke, Va. Fire Department as an "Executive Secretary" to the Fire Chief and then he retired and went to work for Southern Oxygen Company (This information came from an old edition of the "First Aider", a monthly newsletter of the Virginia Association of Volunteer Rescue Squads).
I also know that it was his wife, Ruth, who originally put
the idea in his head of actually forming a group of people
to perform rescue work. The drowning incident that Mr. Wise witnessed really bothered him for years, and he took all available first aid and water rescue training offered during the day through the Boy Scouts and the American Red Cross. He was a Eagle Scout (just like me) and was active in the scouting program into adulthood.
Mrs. Wise passed away a couple of years ago, and I curse
myself for not going and trying to meet her, just to talk to her about what she experienced being married to Mr. Wise.
He traveled extensively to promote the concept of the volunteer rescue squad to various communities. Mr Wise was key in organizing the Danville Life Saving & FIrst Aid Crew (1945, still going strong and 100% volunteer) where I live and also helped get the Greensboro Life Saving & First Aid Crew started in the 50's (eventually evolved into the paid Guilford County Emergency Medical Services).
He seemed to be a decent person and it is a damn shame there
is not more out there about him."
Climbing for `a tough chick': - Colleagues of firefighter with breast cancer will help her make stairclimb for leukemia research
2006-03-05
by Mary Swift
Journal Reporter
She's 41 and battling breast cancer for a second time.
Even so, not much reduces Bellevue firefighter Camari Ferguson to tears -- not much until she starts to talk about how others are reaching out to help her.
Then, her voice breaks and she chokes back tears, struggling with emotion.
``I just blows my mind,'' she says. ``I'm very lucky.''
She was 33 the first time she battled breast cancer. Last November, eight years after her previous cancer, she found another lump in the same breast.
Doctors tell her it is not a reoccurrence of her previous cancer, but a different -- and rare -- form of the disease.
Go figure, says Ferguson, who has no history of breast cancer in her family.
She was on duty at Bellevue's Station 2 when she got the news shortly after Thanksgiving.
She called her husband, Brian, a member of the Kirkland Fire Department. Co-workers gathered around to give her hugs.
She and Brian, who met while both were in the military, share their south Everett home with three cats, the oldest now 20. The couple has been together 20 years and married 15. They enjoy an active outdoor lifestyle that includes scuba diving, rock climbing and skiing.
``How I get to do things is say, `Oh yeah, you're not tough enough,''' Brian says with a laugh. He became a firefighter five years ago. Camari, a former prostate researcher, followed suit two years later.
Before she had surgery in late December, the couple threw a ``boob'' party for friends. (Read More)
This is an engine with a 1000 gallon tank on it. The Sirius cab is roomy, however it still doesn't compare to the Quantum cab of Pierce.
This rear mount 100' ladder was impressive in its compartment space. The Sirius cab is the same as on the engine shown above. One interesting note was that in this cab, the seat belts have an alarm on them. When you sit in the seat, it recognizes the weight, and an alarm will go off if the truck is in drive while the seatbelt is not being used.
This is the hose bed. It comes out and shifts down. They boast that it will hold 1000' of 5" hose. This makes it easier to load the hose.
This is the picture from my house, the fire is about 20-30 miles away. The fire is on the border of Botetourt and Bedford Counties. The smoke was impressive today, however tonight the flames can be seen for miles as the Mountain top burns. WDBJ7 has the story here. The Roanoke Times has more of a story here. I can imagine that the Bedford County and Botetourt County Firefighters are busy tonight. I will report more as it becomes available.
Pictured Guy Zimmerman, Charles Paxton, Wills."Julian Wise died in Roanoke on July 22, 1985, at the age of 85. In a poignant twist, the Roanoke Life Saving and First Aid Squad received a call five hours after Wise's death for a possible drowning in the Roanoke River. The thirteen-year-old victim was successfully saved."(Read More)Roanoke Emergency Medical Services website offers this:
"On a May afternoon in 1909, a boy on the bank of the Roanoke River watched helplessly while two men struggled in the water trying to reach their overturned canoe.
Bystanders shouted hoarse advice and tossed branches into the stream. The men kept crying for help -- then suddenly, they were gone.
Memory of the scene haunted the boy for years. It was a needless tragedy -- there should be a means of quick rescue for accident victims.
Just 19 years later, in May 1928, Julian S. Wise, the boy grown man, organized with nine other volunteers, the Roanoke Lifesaving and First Aid Crew, the first of its kind in America.
As its fame spread, other communities have founded lifesaving crews on the Roanoke, Va., model...
And what do the members receive for their labor and the risking of their lives?
'It's hard to explain,' Wise said, 'but once you feel a human life come back under your own hands, that's all the reward you could ask." ----- Readers Digest, February 1945 (taken from www.roanokeems.org)
Members are demonstrating loading/unloading a patient. This unit is an International Travelall Ambulance.The next thing needed for the start of Life Saving Crew operations was an automobile. In July of 1934, through the generosity of our friends at the Roanoke Life Saving Crew, we received our first Life Saving Crew vehicle. The 1918 Cadillac Ambulance, which had been previously discarded, came equipped with enough light rescue equipment to handle most ordinary emergency cases. Our first vehicle contained numerous first aid supplies, a Stokes splint stretcher, two army liters, splints, axes, and grappling irons. The new Ambulance, which was painted all white and assigned to the Rivermont Fire Station, was put into service on September 16, 1934.(Read More)
Lynchburg's Ambulance, which was originally one of Roanoke Life Saving Crew's.
Waller Cecil "Pierre" Doss shown inside the Williamson Road Life Saving Crew/ Roanoke County Fire Station #10/ Roanoke County Police Department. This station was originally at Williamson and Fugate, next to where the 7 Eleven is now. Pierre was a Chief in the County. When Roanoke City annexed the area in 1949 Pierre came to work for the Roanoke Fire Department. Later on the Williamson Road Life Saving Crew moved to the station on Oakland, which now houses Lifeline ambulance.
Notice the phone number to dial for assistance.NEMSMS Press ReleaseI have never made it to one of these events, although they are held right here in Roanoke. You can find more information at NEMSMS website. The names of the honored EMS Providers will be included at the Memorial exhibit in the To the Rescue Museum which is another spot I have not been to. The museum is located in the upper floor of Tanglewood Mall.
Oilville, Virginia - The National EMS Memorial Service today released the names of the 26 individuals to be honored at the 2006 National EMS Memorial Service to be held Saturday, May 27, 2006 in Roanoke Virginia.
The National EMS Memorial Service has, since 1992, been honoring those EMS providers who have given their lives in the line of duty. The 26 individuals being honored this year join 308 others, previously honored by the Service.(Read More)
KNOXVILLE (WATE) -- A Knoxville firefighter claims she's being discriminated against because she used to be a man.I would love to comment on this, but I will refrain. If that is what he wanted to do. The whole thing about calling her sir or ma'am, well I can understand that they are confused. I can only imagine the jokes that go on in that department.
Fire Capt. Jamie Faucon has filed a grievance against Knoxville Fire Chief Carlos Perez and her supervisor, Mark Foulkes.
She accuses them of depriving her of a take-home car, of reassigning her and cutting out her overtime because she is a transgendered firefighter.
Faucon also says in her grievance Foulkes used incorrect gender terms when referring to her in conversations.
She says she never thought she would wind up in a situation like this but the actions that allegedly took place earlier this week left her with no other choice.
Faucon had surgery to change from male to female in March 2005. Before making the change, she says she spoke with several city officials and her co-workers were supportive.
Faucon's personal data change form notes her gender change was entered into the system in May 2005.(Read More)
Firefighters racing to the fire last week felt their stomachs drop at the report of three trapped.
Fighting fire is never a walk in the park. It's dirty and hot and dangerous at the best of times. Your life is on the line. You trust your fellow firefighters to have your back.
Firefighters will tell you they dispassionately weigh the risks and rewards before entering a structure to attempt a rescue. They understand the cold calculus of the job: When the alarm comes, you have to roll out; there's no guarantee you'll come back.
So as Piqua fire Capt. Vince Ashcraft and his crew pull up outside 527 Wood St. well before dawn, they are calculating their chances.
Smoke is pouring from a second-story window where the three were reported trapped. No flames on the first story. Entry is possible.
Police officers have attempted to enter but were turned back by intense heat and smoke. Clothed in heavy turnout coats and pants, shielded by helmets and assisted by breathing apparatus and years of training, the firefighters are the only ones with any chance.(Read More)
The middle to late 1960s saw the wide-scale introduction of crosslay hosebeds and pre-connected hoselines.
Up to this time, most hose was carried in the rear hosebeds. Pre-connected crosslays offer an option that allows for rapid water application under certain fire conditions.
In the early 1970s, Ward LaFrance created what was probably the most controversial issue ever to hit the apparatus field. By aggressively marketing a new color for fire apparatus,
LIME GREEN, as being more visible and therefore safer, a wedge was driven into the fire service.
Traditionalists stood behind the old standard red, while "progressive" fire service personnel preached the advantages of the new color.
At one point, there were actually more apparatus being delivered in the new color than the traditional red.
Many fire departments, both large and small, switched to the new color.
But after about a decade, departments began to switch back to red.
Many apparatus were repainted.
Virtually every large department that had gone to the new color returned to red.
Currently, few new apparatus are being delivered that are painted lime green.
I received this picture above and I am told that this was taken in Afghanistan when one of our firefighters was over there. Well apparently this firefighter travels a lot. I have gotten several other images sent to me from around the world showing of his travels.
Here you can see him in the Middle East fighting the war on terror.
Here he is blowing stuff up. Looks like fun.
Apparently he made a quick stop at the north pole to see what was going on.
Stonehenge was on the list of tourist attractions for our resident traveler.
Apparently he couldn't even stay away from this beached whale.
That is right, he was there. Move over guys, our man was the first Roanoke Firefighter on the moon.
Did somebody say Olympics? Our man wouldn't miss curling for the World. He says he might be ready for the Winter Olympics in 2010.
Somebody sent me this picture the other day. It appears as though the truck has been retrofitted with an articulating boom. I believe this is a Snoquengirt ( Snorkel, Quint, Engine, Squirt). Try saying that 10 times in a row.A former Buffalo firefighter has succumbed to injuries inflicted upon him while on-duty ten years ago. Donald Herbert, 44, passed away around 1:45 A.M. on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2006.
According to Dan O'Connor who serves as Secretary Treasurer of the Buffalo Professional Firefighters, the incident took place on December 29, 1995 when part of a roof fell upon the member of Rescue 1, 2nd platoon at a house fire on Interpark Street in Buffalo. The segment pinned Herbert in a sitting position to the attic stairwell, leaving him without air for six to ten minutes.(Read More)
TAMPA - A unique three-year course offered for the first time at Jefferson High School in Tampa and Durant High in Durant will give students a head start on careers as firefighters and emergency medical technicians.
Graduating seniors will be eligible to test as EMTs and will need only 200 hours of hands-on training at Hillsborough Community College before they can take the state firefighter exam.
That will put them a step ahead of those who wait until after high school to take the traditional 450-hour course at HCC, said Tampa's top firefighter.
"You'll jump right to the head of the line," Tampa Fire Chief Dennis Jones told students at a recent orientation session.(Read More)
Historic fire headquarters on the block
Foundation wants Vista building preserved, not razed
by Gina Smith of The State
COLUMBIA - Columbia’s old fire department headquarters is a hot property.
Wednesday, City Council members voted to put the 56-year-old building, across the street from the new convention center hotel in the Vista, up for sale.
It has sat vacant since the city built its new fire department headquarters on Laurel Street in 1995.
“If someone wants to preserve it, let them buy it and preserve it,” said Hamilton Osborne, City Council member. “We’ll see some creative proposals.”
The building is on a list of properties the Historic Columbia Foundation has recommended council add to its registry of city landmarks. Landmark status gives a building a high level of protection from demolition.(Read More)
n "A disastrous fire visited The Times plant yesterday evening ... and nothing but the prompt and fearless work of the members of the two fire departments saved it from utter destruction. It is now being operated under a very crippled condition ..."
n "Dirt for the new fire station No. 1 ... was broken yesterday and the building will be pushed to completion with all possible speed."
IAFF Member Wins Olympic Gold Medal in Turin
Duff Gibson, a member of IAFF Local 255 in Calgary Alberta, won a gold medal in the men's skeleton event at the Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Italy on Feb. 17.
February 17, 2006 -- An IAFF member has won a gold medal at the Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Italy.
Mark Faires, President of IAFF Local 255 Calgary, said his members are jubilant over Gibson's win.(Read More)
81 firefighter positions are open in the Virginia Beach fire department.
13News has learned the shortage is could force officials to freeze future personal leave requests. Any leave approved already would be allowed, however.
That news came from Fire Chief Greg Cade’s presentation to council on Tuesday. He said his department is 61% understaffed.
On average, because of the shortage, you'll be waiting 10 minutes for firefighters to get where they need to be. Also, there are now three firefighters on each truck instead of the standard four personnel.
"We're going to show up like we always do and we're going to do the great job that Virginia Beach firefighters always do," said Chief Cade. He admits, though, "If your house is on fire, there's no doubt that it's a scary issue."
"It takes longer to get the people there because they're coming from further distances," explained Ken Pravetz, the firefighters union president. (Read More)
"Roanoke City Firefighters Phil Dillon and Chad Riddleberger left the fire station one November morning for what they thought was a routine fire.
Chad Riddleberger: All three windows had blackened out in fact that back windows started to crack, and that's when we could see the flicker of fire coming out from there. That's when we forced the door in.
They could barely see. The house was filled with smoke."(Read More)
Engine 13 in the 80's
Engine 3 in the 80's: Pictured L-R Captain Howard "Pizza head" Guilliams, FF Jimmy Jennings, and FF Charles Harrington
Engine 13 1990-2006
Engine 3 1991-2006/ Engine 13 2006
Engine 3, 2006This is an unfortunate incident. I know of a lot of volunteers who look up to this company as an elite force. We will have to wait for the investigation to be completed to know what happened. However, there is no place for this behavior in the fire service. Period.
9 News has learned an investigation is underway into why Prince George's County Firefighters were fighting more than fires early Monday morning.
Departmental reports obtained by 9 News include claims by two career firefighters that someone deliberately shut off their air tanks and ripped off some of their protective gear while they fought the house fire on Standish Drive in Landover Hills.
The two firefighters, assigned to the Landover Hills station, received first and second degree burns. The reports claim that firefighters from the all-volunteer Kentland Station got into a battle over who was going to put out the fire.(Read More)
All New D.C. Firefighters to be Paramedics
MATTHEW CELLA
Courtesy of The Washington Times
D.C. Fire Chief Adrian H. Thompson yesterday said the department no longer will hire firefighters who are not paramedics or who are not going to be trained as paramedics upon entering the fire academy.
The pledge came in response to aggressive questioning from D.C. Council members during a Judiciary Committee oversight hearing.
The hearing was dominated by questions about the department's slow-moving transition to a fire-based emergency medical service system in which firefighters and paramedics are cross-trained to perform each other's jobs.(Read More)
Last night at around 11 pm a fire broke out at a residence at the corner of 9th and Patterson. WDBJ7 is reporting that one man, a cat and a dog were rescued from the house. The reports that I am getting from firefighters on scene is that Engine 5 rescued one man from the house, and then either Engine 7 or Ladder 7 rescued another man from the house. A dog and a cat were also rescued, and one dog perished in the fire. The Firefighters were met with heavy fire conditions as they entered the house, and at least one of the men was found at a front window on the first floor.
Fire kills dog, sends man to hospitalFrom the Roanoke Fire-EMS Department:The fire broke out late Monday night in the downstairs apartment of a Patterson Avenue house.
A fire in Southwest Roanoke left a Rottweiler dead and sent a man to the hospital for smoke inhalation late Monday night.
Fire crews arrived at a house in the 900 block of Patterson Avenue to find fire in the living room of a downstairs apartment and smoke throughout the house, said Battalion Chief Audie Ferris. Firefighters treated the injured man on the house's front lawn before taking him to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital.(Read More)
Benefiting Public Safety
Council approves new pay plan for city fire, police departments.
By Lea Mae Rice
February 10, 2006
Firefighters and police officers in the City of Fairfax will benefit from a new pay plan the City Council approved at its Tuesday, Feb. 3 meeting.
The pay plan will allow the City of Fairfax public safety departments to become more competitive with those of surrounding jurisdictions, said City of Fairfax personnel director Larry Brock at the City Council work session. Right now, he said, the City of Fairfax Fire Department is losing firefighters and emergency personnel to counties and cities who have more attractive salaries and health plans.
Fairfax County is, by far, the greatest threat to recruitment and retention at the city fire and police departments, said Brock.
"There is a definite increase and growing competition in the region for firefighters," he said. "It's really getting out of hand." The Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department provides housing for new recruits, he said, while in Prince William County, firefighters receive a $3,000 signing bonus as well as referral and retention bonuses. The city averages only four candidates per entrance examination, said Brock. The competition from the neighboring jurisdictions, coupled with a smaller pool of applicants and the high turnover rate the city fire department has experienced since 2000, led a public safety task force to consider a better pay plan for employees.
Both the police and fire department pay plans will use the Fairfax County entry-level salary as an "anchor point" on which to build a pay structure. The new plan will add a referral bonus to encourage current employees to recruit new members, as well as "longevity step" to the pay plan that employees would be eligible for after 15 years. It will also add riding pay for employees with certification in advanced life support.
"We are struggling on the recruitment side and we run the risk of losing the very capable workforce we have," said Owens. Many of the long-time fire department employees, hired during a period of rapid county growth in the 1970s, are reaching retirement age.(Read More)
February 13, 2006 - The IAFF is pleased to announce it is forming a union sportsman’s club to give members with a love for the outdoors and a shared interest in hunting, shooting and fishing the opportunity to engage in these activities in ways that can also benefit the work of the IAFF.
The IAFF has joined several other trade unions in affiliation with the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP) to give IAFF members a voice in an organization that focuses its efforts on conserving, maintaining and enhancing access to land for hunting, shooting and fishing. In addition, TRCP offers television programs on the Outdoor Life Network (OLN) featuring union members participating in these activities.
In the coming months, the unions within TRCP will roll out a union-focused sportsman’s club that will have its own magazine, web site, radio show (in addition to the television shows already in production) and affinity programs (such as discounts on union-, American- and Canadian-made guns, hunting and fishing gear and adventure trips).(Read More)
Nashville Fire Station #14 was modeled after Roanoke Fire Stations 4,5, and 6 which were pretty much all identical. I found this out several years ago, prior to my days of owning a digital camera. So on a recent visit to my parents, I drove by the firehouse again. I did not have time to stop in this time, but they do have an article on a desk in the bay explaining the relationship of the stations. In my first visit, I met a Captain at another station who was friends with one of our Battalion Chiefs at the time. Realize that this was probably 5-6 years ago. Nashvilles station is somewhat different inside. I believe this is due to a remodel. This station has a kitchen on the first level, behind the bay. So there you go, your bit of history for the day. Below is a recent Picture of Firehouse #5 in Roanoke.
Which is a far cry from when the Station opened.(Link)Uproar over armed firefighters killing chickens by homes
By Christa Jenkins
Herald Writer
HIGH SPRINGS — After seeing High Springs firefighters toting rifles through a neighborhood and shooting at chickens last week, residents said they are infuriated.
The southwest sector of town between Southwest Fourth Avenue and Poe Springs Road has had a chicken problem for years.
Many residents said they were upset not that the chickens were killed but the manner in which the situation was handled last Wednesday, Feb. 1.
Residents said they were not notified that the shooting would happen, that they worried about the safety of their children and pets, and that firefighters ran through private property without permission.
When the shooting was over, residents said they were left to deal with injured chickens and a bloody mess.
City officials, however, said that multiple safety precautions were taken, including having the city’s police chief on the scene with a safety perimeter in place.(More Here)
After speaking with numerous publishing companies in an effort to produce a book by this time next year, I have finally begun the next chapter of The Maurice Wiseman Project. And so it begins, the stage is set to have a book roll out by this time next year, if everything goes smoothly. (CORRECTION)The picture above is that of Fire Station #2 located at 4th and East. During the life of this blog I have posted numerous pictures, most of which can be seen at the Local 1132 site. The picture above represents all the pictures you have not seen, unless that is you bump into Travis or I and we have time to scroll through them with you. We are closing in on 5000 images, documents, and articles. So with any luck, I will find the time to complete this book. Hopefully, this book will be the first of at least 2. The second will be a detailed account of the history of the Fire Department. This book will take a lot more research. Luckily, Maurice Wiseman has done a lot of that research, I just need to decipher the information correctly, and credit the proper sources.
Fire Station #1 circa 1912
Fire Station #1 circa 2005Fuel truck hits jet at Richmond airport
Vehicle with 4,000 pounds of fuel strikes aircraft's right wing
BY CHIP JONES
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Feb 7, 2006
MONDAY
METRO BUSINESS
ON THEIR TOES:
How does the airport plan for emergencies?
A fuel truck struck a United Airlines regional jet early yesterday at Richmond International Airport, causing minor injuries, some missed flights and property damage.
But it could have been much worse.
"There was a lot of fuel out there," airport spokesman Troy Bell said. "We were fortunate not to have a leak." The threat of an explosion, Bell said, "was treated as the greatest immediate danger."
At 6:25 a.m. a fuel truck operated by a private aviation company, Million Air, struck the right wing tip of United Express Flight 8006.
"Apparently it was a pretty strong strike," Bell said, causing the 50-seat airplane to leave skid marks when it was shoved on the loading ramp.
The 42 passengers were quickly evacuated from the plane, with no injuries reported.
The truck, which carried 4,000 pounds of fuel, struck the Embraer 145 jet less than 2 feet away from the airplane's fuel tank. No fuel spilled, though.
The airplane was fully loaded with 5,000 pounds of jet fuel.
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