Welcome to Firetown, USA

Bear with me on this one. I am at work. My wife is at work. My children are at home. Here in lies the problem. Let me summarize the last 4,327,953 phone calls from home. Keep in mind I get a smaller percentage of them than my saintly wife receives, and when I am actually home my children gravitate to any other room in the home to avoid the “can you help me with this” question that I usually come up with as I see them idle in front of the, pick an appliance, TV, computer, microwave, refrigerator,… Continue

Recently the Wellsboro Fire Department was notified that a local business was removing an existing fire sprinkler system during a significant remodeling effort. Naturally the Fire Chief called to express his, and the department’s, disappointment and offer some suggestions about retaining the operating system. Principally he mentioned that there has never been a multiple loss of life in a fully sprinklered building and that fire sprinklers are widely recognized as the single most effective method… Continue

Isn’t it always like this: We were having a quiet night and preparing to head home when things began to pick up. We are in and out of this building regularly and think nothing of it because it is at the end of the business district, well hydranted, and fully sprinklered. No signs of problems from the outside so we head into the kitchen to see and ask what’s going on there.

I was the second firefighter into the kitchen area backing up one of our newer guys. There was a light smell of smoke but a… Continue

We’ve had an exceptionally busy month and it’s only half over. The capper to that is this is the Pennsylvania State Laurel Festival Celebration in our town. A week of runs. bikes, parades, carnivals, car races, and yes firemen. We get 50 or 60 thousand extra tourists in our first due and a concurrent increase in calls to boot. The nice thing is that we staff the station for visitor tours and have extra folks rotating in for stand bys and relief. I’ve met and compared notes with safety officers v… Continue

OK we're finally leaving after one of our guys just turned in his papers to get out and I mean this guy has been a fixture at the station for well, hell I think that they built the station AROUND him originally. Anyway we're outside and the local motorcycle Hecks Angels are revving up the Harley's and we can't even think it's so loud and we yell over across the street to tone it down and they issue a profanity laced tirade as they drive off across the street onto the sidewalk nearly crash into t… Continue

I should’ve known when the call’s address was Moon Walk Lane that there was something not right about it. I did know that we were headed down hill when the relief crew said “we hauled the frequent flier the last three times it’s your turn.” It’s eight minutes before shift change. So we did our thing professionally and it turned out to be a good call. The patient actually needed an ambulance. How refreshing. We quickly returned for a mandatory training and got even with the duty shift when they w… Continue

It seems that every volunteer department in our area has an annual awards or appreciation banquet for its members. Good or bad I have been invited to be Master of Ceremonies at many of these get togethers. I can tell a few jokes, share a wonderful meal, and even get credit for taking my wife out for a night of dancing if everything works out to her liking.

Recently I have become friends with the local newspaper columnist that has also tagged along, by invitation, to many of these same banquets.… Continue

What happens when you are at the top of your game, everyone is singing your praises, and you are reveling in the glory? Usually you wake up, but if you are living it, the feeling is sweet. But what’s next? Sure you invented a tool, a machine, asked the right question, or espoused some other new and improved way of doing somethi… Continue

Wienermobile wipes out
Famed vehicle spins, crashes on snow-covered Pa. highway; 'hotdoggers' OK.

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Why would some want to be a part of your organization? Is there cache like being a Clydesdale pulling the Budweiser Wagon? Or is it something else? We recently brought on several new firefighters and we threw out the conventional wi

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