Day 1 - Warren Township, NC

Hi guys.

I recently finished a weeklong trip through Indiana,Kentucky and Tennessee on my way to Flat Rock North Carolina. I am also blessed with a laptop computer,digital camera and a cell phone to send the photos back to you. Unfortunately, I neglected to transfer all the e-mail addresses to the new computer. Although, I do not get as much time to buff, I probably spend as much time in the planning as Steve Skarr. I research fire departments for station addresses and plot them using mapping software. I have not gone to the extent of looking at the addresses of poling places for fire stations yet.

I was able to spend a couple of hours in the Indianapolis area before visiting a relative. I spent the bulk of my time in Warren Township. Warren Township Fire protects an area of about 33 sq. miles with a population of about 100,000 people. The department operates 5 stations with paid firefighters and paramedics.

A note about E4. It was recently restored by WTFD firefighters Mike Fontaine and Gary Powell. About 2000 man hours were needed to transform this beautiful engine. While the engine is not in service, it still has a working pump, a tank full of water, and carries a full complement of hose. Mike would not tell me exactly what the cost was, just that it approached a six figure sum.

Day 2 - Pigeon Forge Township, NC

While these installments are in order, they may cover more than one day. I spent Monday in Louisville KY and really did not spend much time buffing for a couple of reasons. It was overcast all day and my wife and I wanted to see Churchill Downs. While driving through an area near the hotel, I was able to photograph an engine of the Anchorage Fire Department. Anchorage is a small suburb (about 4 sq. miles) that is protected by 23 fulltime fire fighters. The department operates two pumpers and two ambulances. The afternoon was spent at Churchill Downs. The track was in heavy preparation for the upcoming Kentucky Derby. I learned more than I cared to about horse racing, including the differences in track surfaces.

We spent Tuesday driving to Lexington. I was only able to shoot a couple of pieces of apparatus in Lexington. Lexington Fire Department protects a population of about 300,000 citizens from 21 stations placed throughout 280 sq. miles. The department operates 21 Engines, 6 Aerials and 7 Medic units.

We drove into Tennessee on Wednesday and decided to stay the night in Pigeon Forge. The area is the home of the Dollywood theme park and resembles Wisconsin Dells to me. I was able to leave my wife at an outlet center and spend a couple of hours buffing. I stopped in at the Pigeon Forge Fire Department and met a nice firefighter who said that he would have the rookie pull anything out that I wanted. The Department has two people on from 8:00 to 4:30 each weekday in addition to a fulltime Chief and Inspector. As it was nearing 4:30, I only asked them to pull out a couple of pieces.

Thursday we will drive through the Great Smokey Mountains National Park.

Day 3 - Ashville, NC

We left Tennessee and spent Thursday driving through the Great Smokey Mountain National Park and the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Parkway extends some 470 miles from the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia to the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. We saw lots of scenery but no apparatus. We arrived in Asheville Thursday evening and I planned to try and work some buffing in for Friday.

We started the day by driving into downtown Asheville to visit Station 1. Much to my surprise there were several pieces of apparatus parked on the street. The department was rotating crews to the station for training. Lucky for me all I had to do was stand in front of the station and wait. I was able to shoot 10 pieces of apparatus on Friday and Saturday morning. I noticed that there were several pieces of apparatus with All Wheel Drive. The city has lots of hills and the AWD makes it easier to respond to those areas. Engines 1,7,8 and Tac 1 all have AWD.

Asheville is a city of about 70,000 people and is the home of the Biltmore Estate. The fire department is a paid department with a staff of 210. The department operates 9 engines,4 aerials and several specialty units from 9 stations. Station 4 on the south end of town shares space with the Skyland Volunteer Fire Department. The term volunteer is a misnomer in this case as the department has 27 paid personnel.

Day 4,5 & 6- Ashville & Blue Ridge, NC

I was able to spend most of Friday in Asheville before heading down to Flat Rock N.C. Flat Rock is in Henderson County and lies about 20 miles south of Asheville. Henderson county is served by 1 fully paid fire department in Hendersonville. The balance of the county is protected by 11 volunteer or combination departments. On Saturday morning I spent some time at Blue Ridge Fire & Rescue station 1. I met the two members of the duty crew and two volunteers and after explaining what I wanted to do they went to work. In fact, they were pulling apparatus out of opposite sides of the building so fast, I was not able to keep up. After I finished photographing and documenting the apparatus, I noticed that no one was there anymore. I looked around the station and several cars that were there when I drove up were now gone. I felt a little funny leaving, especially since several of the apparatus were left running. I hope that they did not intend for me to back them all in.

Blue Ridge Fire & Rescue is a combination department that protects the village of Flat Rock and the south end of Hendersonville. The department has two stations and runs three engines, three tankers, two rescues and two medical response vehicles. Last year the department responded to 1528 calls including one car accident on the freeway which led to severe damage to Engine 10. The department had just got the engine back a month ago. The moral of this story guys is pull to the lane opposite of the apparatus if you can.

Day 7- Lexington, NC

This is the last update of my North Carolina trip. I spent last Sunday and Monday driving home and did not do any buffing. At the hotel near Indianapolis on Sunday night, apparatus started to show up for the FDIC that was start last Monday. I was able to photograph a mini rescue built for Calgary Canada Fire Department. Waterous also had a demo truck with a nice mural that I photographed. Had I remembered what week it was I might have found a shopping mall for my wife and hung around the convention center for the day. On the trip home from Indianapolis, I saw several apparatus heading my way on the freeway. Smeal had three in procession, including a ladder tower lettered for Cleveland. I saw others that I could not readily identify. I also saw a Minneapolis engine and ladder. The engine was complete and the ladder was just cab, chassis and ladder.

Tonight's photos are some that I did not get info for and some are not the best quality. They are in no particular order in relation to the trip that I took. I hope that you enjoy them anyway. I am planning a three week trip to New England in September and I hope to have all the bugs worked out so that I can send you some quality photos.

Lexington E-1 Pierce Dash Lexington HM International Haz Mat Lexington L-1 2003 Pierce Dash 105 ft aerial Calgary R-14 2004 Ford 550/Supervac rescue 8.5Kw generator,light tower, and 12,000 lb. winch Waterous Demo 2004 Ford Cherokee N.C Ford mini pumper