Christmas Volunteer Fire Fighter

A few installments over the next 9 days - all will be here.
1/1/08
Today was spent working at the chief's house putting a partition in a shed, finishing a retaining wall and filling in some holes. Nothing too serious but with a gang of people it wasn't so bad. A few less items for him to have to worry about.

We got a call for a sick person - unknown problems early this morning. When we got there a woman was outside and claimed that somehow the guy inside was unresponsive. While the crew is on the porch in front of the trailer, a black guy comes up and says the guy inside just called him a little while ago and seemed fine. I didn't notice it but the gal left the house after we got in with her bra in her hand and had gotten her purse out of the bedroom.

She left with the black guy that I had spoken too. Just another fine day in Pearlington. Oh the guy seemed fine once the crew was able to talk to him. I think he had placed an order for something other than pizza but I'm just guessing.

12/31
I spent all day cleaning tools and stenciling them. There are four fire fighters down from just north of Philadelphia and we are able to accomplish a lot just by putting elbow grease to work.

This evening we got a call for a wreck and the address given was HWY 604 an 90 which is just 1/2 mile down the road. We get down there and don't see anything. The actual address was 10 miles east at 607 and Hwy 90. A Jeep Cherokee ran off the right side of the road and into the trees where he naturaly stopped.

He wasn't injured but the sheriff was running him through fine screen since he had a 9 page criminal history, no license and no insurance (Welcome to Hancock County where laws are regarded as suggestions). The sheriff thought he had thrown some stuff in the ditch and we spent a good amount of time looking for it but I purposely didn't want to find it since that might make me have to go to court. I don't know if I could get court time for that or would have to take vacation so I just kind of stood back and let everyone else look.

This group is cooking meals so I took them to Gulfport yesterday and we spent over $400 on food for 7 days. I think they bought heavy but it beats eating fried food every day. I picked up a pork loin to cook. This one is pre-seasoned with lemon pepper and I hope its as good as the last. I am still getting compliments on that. I need to copy my scratch recipe and show these people I really can cook. I already had a discussion with one lady who thought it was her husband who cooked it.

Weather is warm today and hopefully the rest of the week.

Just as I was getting ready to hit send, we got alerted for an elderly lady with her foot caught in a bed rail. naturally I expected to find a lady laying in bed stuck but she was in a scooter and had run her foot over the rail and then it fell slightly. This was just enough to get her stuck in her chair. There was no way she could move at the angle she was at.

Using engineering tricks not taught in any university, we helped her stand and get into a lower chair then held her foot up and moved the bed and suddenly she was free.

12/25
I woke up to the sound of rain beating on the double wide this mornining. Shortly after that the Kiln got alerted for a house fire. It didn't take long before they started to scream for more tankers including specifically West Hnacock's. Having been up already I was out the door by the time the tones went off.

I had to wait a few minutes for another person, but we headed out in under 5 minutes I think. The tanker is slow to get rooling since it has 2,000 gallons of water. Being heavy I didn't want to go very fast out to the interstate. There isn't a lot of room to manuver. The road has no shoulders and ditches on both sides so you have to be a good judge of speed. there are only two curvew but the tanker has a lot of sway.

Finally got up to the interstate and could run wide open which is 69.5 mph. People are still screaming for water and tankers are having problem keeping up with the flow etc. Its starting to sound like a real cluster but I am maxed out and there is nothing I can do to get there any quicker.

When we hit the 603 exit the Chief from Kiln is calling for ETA's and people are saying its getting hot. The guy with me wants to call for directions. I told him not to worry we go to the Jordan Shores development and look for all the blinking lights. That's where the party will be.

The house was a cape cod style 1.5 story w/ dormers, ordinary construction. When we turned off there was a big column of smoke but 5 minutes later it seemed fairly well knocked down. They hook me up to the ladder pipe and I give him 2,000 gallons in under 2 minutes. The chief is still screaming for water. I counted two hose lines. The entire front of the house is burned off including the roof. I double checked to make sure everyone was out before pumping the tower.

I knew I should have taken my camera.

According to the owner, the Christmas lights or outlet shorted out and set off the vinyl siding. That seems about right given the weather as i woke up. It was a rebuilt home since the storm. The owner said the outlets were explosion proof (I'm guessing that't redneck talk for ground fault). Either it malfunctioned or they were not ground faults. Its hard to say.

12/23
All is well here. The engine and tanker have had some nice organizational work done. Thecross lays are now 1.75" brand new blue hose. Still canvas but they are gradually making headway. The rescue tools have been placed in a wooden box and there are two sets. The only problem is they are sitting working end up so you have to grab the cuttind edges. Its a little hard to get to but it should work. Daryl is going to look at teh box and see if he can rebuild it so the handle sits up.

They are going to have a big party here tomorrow with lots to eat. I have offered to cook a pork loin.

I'll keep you posted daily or more frequent if anything exciting happens. I got my gear all set so now we just need the tones.