Monday, October 10, 2005

It was raining when I got up this morning. I took my time getting cleaned up and dressed as their seemed no rush to go out and get wet. By the time I had cleaned up and began to load the car, the rain stopped. I checked out of the motel as I didn’t plan on spending another night there as I lost the Cincinnati FD signal during the night and was only able to monitor Hamilton County.

I decided to visit some stations as I made my way (north to south) through the Cincinnati Metro Area. I stopped at nearby Village of Glendale FD, a few miles west of the motel. What a find that department was! On the way to the station I saw signs that read “Support our Fire Department” and “Keep our Fire Department” on street poles.

When I asked VGFD firefighters about it I found out that Glendale Village is a small Cincinnati suburb with much history behind it. There are many stately mansions in the small village. The village has always been known for its black squirrels. Yep. You got it- black squirrels. But it doesn’t quite end there. Over the years the Glendale Village FD has seen some hard times. More than once the department has been almost lost due to money problems.

A number of years back, when the department needed a new engine, a wealthy resident by the name of Mrs. Carruthers told the department she would donate the money to buy a new truck. Her only stipulation was that she would pick the color of the truck. Her choice was the current department color- black with gold lettering (in honor of the black squirrels).

In 1999, when the department wanted to replace an old back-up engine, the department was told if they could raise half the money ($105.000) the Village would provide the rest. Firefighters raised the money in seven months and got their new truck. The department is again in financial trouble. There are two paid firefighters on duty each weekday between 0730 and 1530 hours. Volunteers take over after operations after 1530 hours on weekdays and all weekend.

The department wants another full time person, but the Village has not been able to come up with the money. The department only has two engines (both black) and a utility van (also black). Their parade piece is a nice-looking 1928 Ahrens-Fox quad. The station is very old (but stately looking) with a rounded driveway onto the street. And of course there is a large black squirrel holding a small hose line out in front of the station.

I headed to the Woodlawn FD, just south of Glendale. I met a nice rookie firefighter there that showed me around and pulled a couple pieces of apparatus out for me. The first-out rig is a 1996 Sutphen Quint that they bought from the Kansas City, MO Fire Department after KCMO gave up on the trying to operate with the quint concept.

My next stop was Cincinnati Station 2. Engine 2 was out on a run, but I got a photo of Ladder 2. The Cincinnatti FD roster is mostly E One, both for engines and ladder trucks. Once I had a photo of Ladder 2’s 110-foot rear-mount, I had a representative photo of every truck.

I drove by Station 38 and got a station photo (the engine was out). I headed toCFD Station 20. The engine was out and I got a photo of their E One rear-mount. Just as I ws leaving, the engine returned and I got photos of it. All of the engines are E One with the exception of one Sutphen and one older Seagrave. Those will soon be replaced with E Ones.

I headed to the nearby CFD shops and got some photos of Engine 19’s new engine, Ladder 14’s truck, a spare heavy rescue and an old Seagrave reserve engine. I stopped by Station 34, a neat old house on a very busy corner. It took me four light changes before I was able to get a good digital photo and slide of the historic looking house. Station 19 was the next stop. I got a nice shot of Ladder 19’s almost new E One rear-mount when a very friendly firefighter pulled it out. The crew got called to lunch, just as I was about to ask them to take the reserve engine out for photos. The reserve is one of six 1999 Freightliner/Ferrara 1250/500 sedan pumpers that were bought strictly as reserve units. I was told the department got a heck of a deal on the six.

Station 5 was just down the hill from Station 19, but I missed seeing it and drove right by it. It’s located in a very destitute area of the city. I had a heck of a time finding a place where I could park to take the station photo. I never went in as there was no ramp at all and it was on a busy, narrow street. Ladder 5 is the only remaining tractor-trailer aerial in the department. I could see why. The streets are extremely narrow in that area and don’t even have parking lanes. I also took a photo of nearby Station 29, also on a busy street with no ramp.

I headed to Station 21. That one was really hard to find. I had to stop and ask for directions. As it turned out, I drove over it. It is located under the long bridge that crosses the very busy rail yards that you go over to get from the east to the west area of the city. The rail yard occupies the valley between the hilly areas of the city. Cincinnatti is extremely hilly and very easy to get lost in. It was a real challenge, navigating from station to station, let me tell you. It is also a very old city with many vacant buildings. There are very active railroad tracks all over the valley area of the city.

The last Cincy station I visited was Station 17. The Ladder was out, but I got a nosey photo of the engine. This station is also located on a busy thoroughfare with a short ramp. Firefighters gave me directions to a lookout area in a nearby park. I went up to the overlook and got some nice shots overlooking the city, Ohio River and Covington, KY. It was almost 1500 hours and it was still overcast and seemed to be getting even darker. I decided to head to Louisville for the night. Hopefully, tomorrow will be less dreary in Louisville than it was in Cincinnati today.

I jumped off I-75 near Covington Station 1 thinking I had time for one more station. As it turned out, I picked a bad time to visit. All Covington companies were out doing a “Smoke Detector Blitz.” I guess they supply new batteries and even a new detector if one is missing. I drove around the area for ten minutes thinking I might catch the companies on the street, but no luck. It was off to Louisville, about 100 miles away.

I arrived here in Louisville around 1630 hours and checked into a motel. I’ll probably be here two nights. Hopefully it will be nicer out tomorrow. I’m staying near the airport, in a small, unincorporated area just south of the Louisville City Limits. Fire protection is a volunteer department about four blocks away.

Louisville just sent an assignment to a reported structure fire at 3708 Stanton Boulevard, about three miles east of where I’m staying. The assignment was Engines 8-20-11, Quints 9-10 and Car 54 (District 4). Engine 8, about six blocks from the incident, got in there right away and reported they could handle with Quint 10. The rest of the companies were cancelled.

That’s all for this report.