Day 1 - Friday 5/5/07

My friend Ron Arnow and I left Venice about 9 AM with a first stop in North Port, the next city south to shoot two new E-One units. First stop was at new Sta#5 where we found former E82, now E85, a 2004 E-One "Typhoon" 1250-1000 which was placed out in the sun for us. The station consists of a mobile home and a protective shelter over the apparatus. A NPFD ambulance is also quartered here. We went from there to Sta#84 to shoot one of the two 2007 E-One "Cyclone II" 1750-500-75' rigs, Truck 84 and also Tanker 84. a 2005 Kenworth/Fouts Bros. 750/3000.

Next stop was Sta#2 for the other new E-One. The officer offered to take it to a lake for us if we wanted to get a nice background. We opted for a ride to the large park at the rear of the station. It was 11 AM before we left North Port to head for North Fort Myers to catch a new E-One since we were there last, two years ago. Keep in mind that Ron works part-time for E-One in Ocala and takes web site and calendar photos for them. We shot NFM E1, a 2006 E-One "Typhoon" 1250/1000/CAFS and a home made brush unit, a 1989 AM General 300/700/20 which they had recently completed. The crew was wroking on completing the piping of a small pickup size unit in one of the bays while we were there.

Our next stop was the Bayshore Fire District Sta#1. It is located in a quite rural area east of North Fort Myers on the north side of the Caloosahatchee River. The department is a combination department, paid and volunteer. Some of the rigs are in the station, some in the backyard and some under a large shed, none of it particularly new. E22 is a 1992 E-One "Hush" 1250/750, E2 - a 1988 E-One "Hush" 1500-500, E22 - a 1979 Duplex/E-One 1250/750 rebuilt by RPI, Brush 41 - a 1971 Gamma-Goat 60/250 (shades of Minnesota), Tkr71 - a 1976 Dodge, ex-USAF 3000 tanker, and Brush 42 - a 1988 AM General 600/800. There was also a large, 3-400 gallon Mack tanker in the rear of the shed that we couldn't get a shot of.

Our next stop of the day was North Fort Myers Sta#3 to shoot a 2002 E-One "Typhoon" 1250/1000 and then on to Cape Coral to seek out some newer E-One's. We were headed for Sta#5 on the way into the city to find out where the rigs were located. About two blocks from the station the engine and ambulance left on a run. We stopped at Sta#2. They weren't sure where they engines were so we shot their 2003 Pierce "Quantum" 1250/1000 and headed for Sta#4. Nobody around. (We found out Sunday that Sta#4 had moved about four blocks north). We then headed for Sta#8 to get a new squad. We had seen them on the road earlier and thought for sure that they would be back in quarters an hour later. No such luck. Getting near time to start back toward Venice so we headed north the Sta#7 to shoot Truck 7, a new E-One "Typhoon II" 2000/500/75' Quint. The identical new Truck 9 is also stored there as Sta#9 hasn't been built yet. Must have gotten a good deal on buying two at a time.

As we came into the south Venice metro area we stopped at Sarasota County Sta#22 and got pictures of new E24, a 2007 E-One "Typhoon II" 1250/2500. While the dinner steaks were grilling the nicely positioned the rig in the sun for us. No invitation to share dinner though. We arrived back at my house about 6:30, quite tired but having met a great, friendly and accommodating bunch of firefighters.