RFD 5

Working fire started our cold day.

2012-01-04T11:06:00.000-08:00

It's been a while....but here we go again.....

We walked in just after 7 this morning to break shift and got the call before we could even put our gear on the trucks. We had the mad dash to our gear lockers then to the trucks with everyone yelling "turn over reports" to each other.
The "Southies" from station 1, along with #7 and the folks at #2 helped out today and a good job was done by all. Thanks to FF/Paramedic Abel for the action shots and nice pumping job on Engine 5.

The day is still going and we'll update if we get anything worthy of blogging. I'll leave you with some pics of the departments bell from old #1 and it's trailer makeover as well as the old fire boxes from 5 and 9 that are being redone to get placed on the new station 5.

And finally some shots of Santa. We had the opportunity to transport Santa to give some gifts to the local kids. Good times over the holidays......Be safe out there.

I know....I know.....I am a slacker

2011-12-11T12:04:00.000-08:00

Well, let's catch up. It has been cold here lately....and we all know what that means. It seems B-Shift has been getting the work lately. Unfortunately I don't have any pics of their fires. A-Shift on the other hand has been dry lately. Even pulled a no-hitter on one shift.
We got our vacation sign-ups out of the way. That's the shift we sit down and the whole North side of the city rotates a call from the Battalion Chief to pick what days they want off for the whole year. It goes by seniority and a bunch of phone calls.

Even "The Turtle" (Ladder 5) has been craving some work lately. When they stick me on that slug I am sure to have the appropriate sign displayed. "Medic" seemed like the one for me.

The most truck work we had lately was when Capt Weeks, FF Fulton and Lt Good O helped out the fellas with some construction at the union hall. They have upgraded a room to store our "precious memories" or important stuff.
As always Lt. Fleitz from the "Hippie Hotel" #3 was down there helping out. Here is a picture of him wearing all the big manly construction stuff. Look at how rugged he is. Truthfully he sat on his ass the whole time calling his idols on FDNY asking them if they found his plastic Fire Critic chips in their rigs. However he did look the part of the master carpenter.

We even let him hold the hammer when we didn't need to use it.
We head back to work on Tuesday for another cold cycle. I leave you with some pics I grabbed over the last few weeks....enjoy and be safe out there.

Welcome Drew

2011-10-26T06:40:00.000-07:00

Welcome FF/Paramedic Drew to #5. I would say that since we lost Jerry to retirement (quitting), Drew fits in as his replacement well. He is filling our medic slot. I have worked with Drew in the past. He is a great employee and we are thrilled to get him. I would almost say that compared to Jerry....our staff has improved 1000%. He works hard and he isn't fat....like night and day. (Miss you Beans!)

We got off to a decent start with him this cycle. Here he is getting familiar with his new trucks.
1Lt Gardner welcomed Drew with his warm and tasty sticky buns. Unlike Jerry, he had one and then got right back to work.

A few average runs with nothing too exciting to report. We did manage to get some old foam unclogged from our trucks system and give Drew some pump time as we filled a multi-million gallon tank....500 gallons at a time.

I will try again next cycle. We leave you with a shot of a broken sprinkler head at a local hotel.....

That's all folks...Be safe out there.

Better late then never

2011-10-17T11:22:00.000-07:00

This free digital slideshow generated with Smilebox

Another one gone.........

2011-10-16T18:55:00.000-07:00

Yes folks another one is leaving 5-A Shift. We'll miss him like an old sock, but we wish him luck. FF Harris (B-Rad) is headed to #3 'The Hippie Hotel". Since Franks left we were short a medic, so we will get FF/Paramedic Able at the start of next cycle. I will be on RS-1 for a day or two, but I will be sure to stop by and give him hugs and kisses, and let him know how glad we are to get him.
I don't have enough pics of Brad for a farewell slide show, but I have a few to post now.......

To show our appreciation for our Brother Harris, Wheels made a few cakes. One for us.......

And a special one for Brad......

It was special because it was made only for Brad. It was also special because it was made with 3 pieces of bread, crust cut off and Wheeling's famous Mayonnaise frosting!!!! He only had 1 bite. Very rude, but it was his cake.
After all the good bye hugs and tears, we managed to knock out some chores cleaning some of the 25,000 windows in the new station.

Then in traditional fashion, we smoked #7 into their first due territory. Oh yeah....TWICE! The second time a working fire.

After kidding with the guys on scene and a quick clean up we were back to the station for some Saturday afternoon down time. It was a good thing. Engine 5 got a critical patient with "Life Savers" Bevo and Duke on Medic 5. A few ALS skills and quick transport later, we were headed back to the house. We were so close to being done with B-Rad and welcoming Drew, when we caught some more work with Engine 2 in the early morning hours.

It seemed a young lady had a car that decided to burst into flames instead of take her home. We took care of the car and made sure she got anything of value out of the vehicle. Once she was safely on her way home with family, we topped off with some fuel and water and tucked the engine in for the night. Captain, B-Rad and I made sure to walk softly through the halls since the Ladder crew had a loooong night sleep that we didn't want to interrupt.
That is all I got for this cycle. I'll try to post some more next week when we return. Goodnight and be safe. Jerry, we still miss you.

Let's catch up!

2011-10-09T08:33:00.000-07:00

I am sorry for the break. We are gonna try to fill you in on what happened. Since the move we had a bunch of adjustments. The biggest of all was Jerry leaving us. I know.....flushed his career down the crapper. We even had a cake made letting him know that was how we felt.

I am working on a slide show farewell just like we did for Dixon and Ben back in the Station 9 days. I hope to have it up this week.
We settled in to the new station and made it more like home. The guys on C-Shift restored the old chalkboard and even installed the old run board from 9 with some of an old poll from old 5.

We would like to get back to posting every A-shift day again......but if I get once a cycle in the beginning I will be happy. Here are a few pics from our calls just to prove we have been doing something.

Bevo showing his support above and beyond for a Breast Cancer Cure

Take care everyone and be safe out there.

We're Back........

2011-05-02T17:49:00.000-07:00

The old 9 crew combined with the old 5 and we have formed the new station 5. We now run Engine 5, Ladder 5, Medic 5 and Battalion 2. Everyone has requested our return, so we thought we would give it another shot.
Look for the same old stuff: Scene shots, practical jokes, and the occasional funny video. Minus the man with the mustache of course. He is now a big time fancy shmancy blogger doing his own thing at WWW.IRONFIREMEN.COM
Tonight is the first night back this cycle for A-shift. Nothing to brag about. If you drove by and saw a bunch of fat guys jumping up and down in front of a basketball hoop.......that was us!

Not too much more has changed....Franks is still fat (look at the pictures)and we are still running calls. We leave you with a few shots around the station. Next day I hope to get more pics up and have something good to blog about. Good night from the new number 5. Be safe out there.