Day 13 - In Houston area

Day 13 – April 8, 2004

Houston had a working fire last night just before 1:00 am. The robot dispatched Engines 38-2-5-62, Ladders 38-301*, Bn 5, Bn 28 and a Safety Officer to a report of a f ire in a restaurant at 7620 Katy Freeway. Engine 38 arrived and reported heavy smoke. Engine 5 was told to feed Engine 28. Companies reported heavy smoke, but little heat. The I/C requested a “Cascade Unit” and Cascade 2 responded. I fell asleep before they “tapped it out.”

*Ladder 301 is the Village Fire Department’s (career) aerial ladder. The Village FD protects a few very small villages surrounded by Houston in the middle of a west Houston area and is dispatched by the Houston FD in that area. It is the only unit as such to respond on first alarms in the city of Houston on a regular basis. The Houston FD will respond to and assist the Village FD on fires reported in the village areas.

This morning the HFD responded to numerous freeway accidents with multiple injuries. They drive like absolute fools here, often cutting across three lanes at the last second to exit a freeway etc. An EMS supervisor usually responds along with the Ambulance, Medic, Squad, Ladders and whatever other units respond.

I left the motel and headed past Houston Hobby Airport. It’s amazing how close the planes are to you at the end of the runway. I got a few pictures of Southwest 737’s, which dominate the traffic here. American flies in a few planes and Delta Connection as flies in here, but mostly its Southwest keeping the place going.

I got lost a few times trying to go from one map to the other. One map ends at Hobby and another starts there. It’s really hard to go from one map to the other without loosing prospect. I finally made it to my first stop, HFD Station 55. I met a very nice firefighter there who usually works at Station 46 (one of HFD’s busiest). We talked about the HFD firefighter who died on Sunday’s “two-tap” fire. When the I/C wants two more engines it’s a “two-tap fire”. Four taps is four engines and five taps is a ladder truck. I imagine this goes way back to the old Gamewell box days.

Everything is hush-hush about what actually happened at the fire. There may have been a big flashover when the fire found the accelerant- no one is saying yet for sure. One of the suspects arrested apparently tried to burn this same dance hall down once before. One firefighter who lost his air pack when the ceiling came in, is still undergoing treatment in a hyperbolic chamber. His lungs were burned from the heat. The private internment was today about 30 miles west of Houston.

I got photos of Engine and Ladder 55. My next stop was to a vacant Station 47 (closest since March for remodeling). I took a station photo and headed to 59 (where Engine 47 was running from). Both Engine 47 and Engine 59 were out. I got a photo of Ladder 59.

My next stop was Station 48, which was vacant. I got a station photo and headed to HFD Station 82. Engine 82 is running a loaner from E One. I ran into Jerald Ricks, President of the Houston Fire Buffs, who was visiting the station. He explained to me that there are so many E One’s broken down that the department is leasing rigs as all the reserves are already replacing E Ones. Just as they were going to pull the rig out for photos, they got a run.

My next stop was Station 68, the busiest (or second busiest if you ask Station 51). On the Houston FD Yahoo internet site, there is constant bickering between Stations 51 and 68 about who makes more fires, does more work, lays more line etc, etc. Both the engine and ladder were out when I pulled up. As the ladder returned, I got photos of it and met a very nice, very friendly crew.

The crew took me upstairs to see the huge table they constructed for their kitchen. They got the idea from FDNY stations, many of which have made their own company tables. It must measure at least 4-1/2 by 20 feet. It has large symbols of each company on the top, the names of every firefighter on each of the four shifts on top and the names of every firefighter that has served at Station 46 around the sides. The entire table is decoupaged. It is mounted on four hydrants that were individually painted by the four shifts.

The engine returned just as I was about to leave. I got photos of it and talked to the Captain of the engine. I asked him about the competition between 68’s and 51’s. It was Engine 68 that had a sign painted on the rear tarp of their engine that read “We beat you in again in your own district. Now shut up and lay us a line.” The tarp disappeared after a short period of time.

You wouldn’t think by looking at the neighborhood that this is the busiest area in the city. But the area is packed with multiple dwellings and huge apartment complexes. I drove through the area on the way to Station 51. Engine and Ladder 51 were dispatched by “Dispatcher Debbie” (as the crews at 68 call her) to a reported house fire just before I got to their station. I got a station photo.

I headed to Station 10 and just as I pulled up they were dispatched on a run (before I could get out of the car with my cameras). It must have been a medical run as I saw their Medic rig respond a few minutes later. Even though I am monitoring all Houston FD frequencies, there is so much talking going on that it is very easy to miss something. The scanner might be locked up on a medic crew and a supervisor discussing a problem and “Dispatcher Debbie” is giving out a run on the other channel. This happens a lot here.

Also, at about this time, the HFD responded to a tanker truck spill and fire on NW Highway 610 Loop at Lockwood. All kinds of special apparatus was specialed in along with the entire first alarm response. This incident tied up at least one radio channel the rest of the day. Traffic was still detoured around the incident as of 7pm tonight.

I went to Station 73 and the crew was running to the rig as I pulled up. I got one quick photo of the engine and s quick station photo and then headed to where their medical run about one mile away. I got better photos of the engine there. I headed to Station 76 and met a couple very friendly firefighters there. They pulled out the engine and ladder for photos.

I went by HFD Station 75 (vacant) and got a photo from the car as I was in the middle of a huge traffic jam due to roadway construction. As I headed to Station 69, Ladder 75 and Engine 75 passed me going in the opposite direction. It took some doing to get to Station 69. It is on the one-way service road along the west side of the Sam Houston Freeway. To get to the station, you must come in from about a mile north of the station on the one way, as there are no through streets to the service road.

I got photos of Engine 57 (using a reserve piece), Engine 69 and Ladder 69 (one of three E One towers). I asked for directions to get to the “Village Fire Department” which protects Hedwig Village, Bunker Hill Village, Hunters Creek Village, Pinney Point Village, Spring Valley, and Hillshire Village. Village Ladder 1 (Houston Ladder 301) is assigned as the ladder on a number of areas of Houston that borders these villages. Houston also responds into these areas with two engines and a battalion chief on alarms of fire.

I got photos of Ladder 1 (HFD 301) and Engine 1. As it was now past 4:00 pm it was time to head in for the evening. I knew it would take me forever to get from where I was back to the motel. Houston traffic is sooooo bad. I was 22 miles of freeway driving away from the motel. Village Station 1 is about a block off the freeway (heading back into the city) and the motel is two blocks off the freeway. It took me from 4:10pm until 5:50 to go the 22 miles on the freeway. Much of the driving was at a snails pace (sometimes slower). I could not deal with this on a regular basis. My sympathy goes out to Houston drivers.

I pretty much finished the southwest corner of Houston today. When I was here (Karyle and I stayed in a Galveston time share) in 2001 and we pretty much visited the downtown and southeast area fire stations of Houston. It got up to 79 here today. It was sunny this morning, but it clouded up a little this afternoon.

I have decided to head to Austin tomorrow (a day early) rather than stay in Houston another day. One reason to leave early is to keep my sanity (driving here is really scary) and the second reason is due to weather reports that say it is supposed to rain over the entire area on Sunday (which would mean I’d loose one of the two days I was going to spend in Austin). I’m running one day ahead of the schedule I had set when I left home (due to the rain in New Orleans I left there a day early).

Take care.

Your roving reporter.

Day 14 - Houston to Austin

Day 14 – April 9, 2004

The fire footage on the 10pm news last night of the accident and fire on the NW Loop of the 610 Freeway yesterday was spectacular. News reports indicate a tire fell out of a truck landing on the pavement. A car swerved to avert the tire and caused the tractor-trailer tanker hauling cleaning fluids to loose control and crash. The driver of the truck got out before the tanker exploded in fire. KHOU-TV has some excellent film footage from their helicopter. Check their video coverage out at khoutv.com for great video of the fire.

An overnight house fire (that I did not hear) in southwest Houston killed a man who did not live in the house. The fire was in the area protected by Stations 51 and 68. Arson investigators said the fire is highly suspicious.

I checked out of the motel around 8:30 am and headed back the same route I had taken back from west Houston yesterday afternoon. It took me 23 minutes this time to cover the 22 miles (that yesterday afternoon took 1:40), and that was driving into downtown from Hobby Field at the end of rush hour. They did say on the news last night that the I-10 was unusually busy yesterday because of the fire on the I-610 NW loop.

I was still picking up the Houston FD radio 50 miles west of that the city. One of the Tac channels went down around 9am, which created all kinds of problems for rigs that had been assigned that Tac channel for their runs. The medics need a whole bunch of new frequencies for all of their radio traffic. Eighty per cent of HFD runs are medicals and they are sharing the same Tac channels that are assigned for fires. Hopefully the new fire chief (whenever he or she is hired) will figure out a better system.

The drive on I-10 was packed with Good Friday traffic. It seemed like everybody in Houston was on the way to San Antonio. The construction along I-10 made things even more difficult for drivers. When I turned off I-10 onto Highway 71, traffic was much lighter. The Highway 71 cut-off to Austin is a four-lane, unlimited-access highway that travels through a number of small towns. There are traffic signals, restricted speed zones through small towns and vehicles (even farm tractors) pulling on and off the highway all along the route. That last 80 miles on Highway 70 wasn’t a very relaxing drive- that’s for sure.

EAA Member Greg Pillar (now residing in San Antonio, TX) called me on my cell phone as I was nearing Austin. We will be getting together on Monday in San Antonio. I’ll probably drive down to San Antonio (in the rain) on Sunday- it’s only about 90 miles from where I am in Austin.

I started picking up the Austin digital trunked radio just outside of town. It’s fairly hilly in the Austin area, so the signal doesn’t carry as well here. I stopped at new Station 42 near the Austin Bergstrom International Airport. After driving around the area a couple of times I gave up (turns out that the station hasn’t even been built yet). I drove a bit further down the road to Station 35. The firefighters were just switching shifts. Yes! They switch shifts at noon in Austin. I met some great firefighters coming on duty that pulled out the engine and ladder and gave me a lot of interesting information.

Manpower in Austin is four per single engine company and six at stations with an engine and a ladder. The two stations with Quints also are assigned a six-man crew. The 1000 member firefighters union here has succeeded in getting local politicians to veto attempts to utilize mini-pumpers here. I was also told that the single-axle Quints the department bought did not hold up and the department was forced to buy dual-axle Quints.

I headed to Station 22 and got photos of Engine 22 (already parked outside) and “Flipper” 22 (Brush 22). They call it “Flipper” because its top-heavy and has already flipped once. It actually says “Flipper” on the sides of the rig. My next stop was Station 6 in a very yuppy part of town with a great view of downtown Austin and the state capitol. Station 6 is also the home of the “Smoke Buster,” a rig with a big fan on the back with flexible tubing that can be used to extricate smoke from buildings.

I headed into the very impressive downtown area. I stopped at Station 1 and nobody was home. I headed east out of downtown to Station 7 (the Engine was already out) and got photos. Station 15 was just a bit further east and their engine was already parked outside. A very helpful firefighter told me the ladder was at the station up the street and that there should be several rigs there as they were having a retirement party.

I jumped in my car and drove to Station 14 where there were at least seven rigs parked in an adjacent parking lot. Luckily, they were all spread out so that I could get pretty good photos. A couple more rigs pulled up. A few left. This went on until around 3:30 at which time I had captured photos of 12 engines, four ladders and the haz-mat rig. It truly WAS Good Friday!

I made notations on my map of all the companies that I had photographed so that I could focus on the companies I still needed. Tomorrow morning I’ll start catching up on what I missed. Rain is supposed to invade the area sometime late tomorrow afternoon. I’ll try and get an early start and see what I can before it gets wet here.

Have a great weekend!

Your roving reporter.

Day 16 - Austin to San Antonio

Day 16 – April 11, 2004

Austin never got the severe weather that some areas not too far away received. I’m not aware of any overnight fires in the area. It was raining pretty good when I got up this morning. I took my time getting ready to head down to San Antonio as it was reportedly raining there also. I got all my luggage ready to go just in case it stopped raining.

Sure enough, around 9:45am, the rain stopped briefly. I quickly loaded up the car, checked out of the motel and got on I-35 south right in front of the motel. It started raining again when I got on the freeway. It was coming down pretty good as I drove through Austin. There were huge puddles everywhere. Some lanes of traffic were flooded in places.

I took my time, as I wasn’t exactly going to be doing much buffing in the rain in San Antonio. I came across a bad accident just past New Braunfels. There were at least three cars, a pickup, and two 14-wheelers involved. One car was pretty well flattened. It continued raining all the way down to San Antonio.

I got off on I-410 and headed towards the motel in NW San Antonio. There were huge puddles all over the roadways here also. I got off the freeway near the motel. I turned on the right street, but couldn’t find the motel. Everything in this area of Texas is closed today. The shopping centers are vacant of any cars, and even Best Buy is closed here today. I found a gas station and asked the attendant if he knew how to find the motel. He gave me directions.

It turns out the street I was on abruptly ended. I was told to turn on a side street and look for the street to start up again by a gas station. I found my way to the gas station, turned and sure enough I was back on the same street again. The motel is on a hill 9 miles NW of and overlooking the downtown area. I checked in at the desk and was told the room wouldn’t be ready until 1:30.

I caught a quick lunch and headed back to the motel for check-in. I heard some talk on the trunktracker when I first came into town, but it has been dead the last couple hours or so. I Hope I didn’t accidentally hit some buttons on the trunktracker. I did notice back home that when I downloaded this V-bank from the scanner memory to the computer that not all the frequencies for San Antonio were listed.

Supposedly, the Pro-96 doesn’t need ALL the frequencies to scan a system. I’m not so sure about that. I may have to re-program the San Antonio bank in the Win-96 program with all the frequencies listed and then download the info into the scanner again.

It stopped raining here a little while ago, but I decided to just take it easy and watch the Master’s Golf Tournament on TV. It is still very overcast and only about 53 degrees here. It is supposed to rain again in the next few hours and be cool here again tomorrow. This morning I put on a long sleeve shirt for the first time since the day I left home.

I just talked to Extra Alarm Association member Greg Pillar (here in San Antonio) on the phone. We will be getting together tomorrow. I’ve got two full days to do buffing here before Karyle flies in to join me on Wednesday. Starting Wednesday, my buffing will most certainly be minimum. We plan to hit many of the tourist spots here on Wednesday and Thursday.

That’s all for now. I’m not sending any photos with today’s report.

Late note: I just found out that San Antonio and Bexar County have just recently gone to a new EDACS system with something called Key Codes. Supposedly there are no scanners that can decode this system. One local buff said the only way to monitor the system is to have two scanners running through a computer. I’m going to check the Yahoo Pro-96 website and see if there’s anything there that will help me out. Luckily, the Pro-96 is totally programmable and maybe there will be a download available from the internet. Otherwise, I will not be doing any monitoring while I'm here in San Antonio for the next four days.

Your roving report.

Day 17 - In San Antonio Area

Day 17 – April 12, 2004

It was cool in San Antonio overnight. It started out overcast and windy here this morning. I left the motel around 8:30 to pick up Greg Pillar at his home in suburban Schertz. It took me about a half hour to get there from the motel. I met Greg’s wife Lea, their two sons, and the two family dogs.

Our first stop was the Selma Fire Department. The Selma FD is currently testing for new recruits. Most of the rigs and department members were already over at the parking lot of the Retama Race Track. They were conducting physical testing of a group of candidates. We got photos of Selma’s fire trucks and I got to meet Selma Chief of Department Scott Lee. It was very overcast as we left the area. When Greg told me the snorkel was from Cleveland, I realized that I had shot this rig when it was new at Ladder 3 in Cleveland. It was part of a large order for Mexico City that was cancelled by them for lack of funds. Cleveland’s apparatus was in such bad shape at the time, that they bought all the Mexico City rigs with Federal Aid (so I was told).

We traveled in I-35 towards downtown San Antonio and the sun slowly started peeking through the clouds. We got off southwest of downtown and went to the San Antonio FD shops and training area. The chief of the maintenance division allowed us to walk out in the yard and training area to take photos of apparatus. Almost everything in the yard was still lime yellow (bought before 1990). Since 1990, the department has been buying white over red apparatus. We took quite a few photos of the reserve fleet as the sun was now shining brightly.

I noticed two rigs that I photographed at the shops when they were brand new back when I was here in March of 1983. At the time San Antonio had purchased two new Seagrave engines and two new Hendrickson/3D engines (now part of the reserve fleet at the shops). By the way- they call what we refer to as engines back home “motors” here. On many occasions today as we visited stations it was “our motor’s out” or “the motor were using is a reserve.” That’s certainly some different terminology!

I wanted to go out and see one of their Service Ladders at Station 36. We left the shops and went by Station 25 on the way. The “motor” was out and we got photos and met a couple friendly firefighters. We went to Station 36 and we’re very disappointed that the Service Ladder was using a reserve engine. We met a great crew there and we talked about the San Antonio FD.

Most of the engines and ladders here run with four-man crews. I believe there are only about 12 or 13 single engines that run with three-man crews. Each station determines at what time the shifts change. I’m not sure how that works when there is someone “tramping” (a Minneapolis FD term for firefighters on roving assignment) from one station to another. One station we visited shifted at 9am, another shifted at 11am.

One thing that did come up was the new radio system just put into service here in the last month or so. Firefighters said that it used to be that you could not hear all the stations in the city. Some rigs were apparently being picked up by one EDACS system and some on the other side of the city were picked up on another EDACS system. I know there were three separate EDAC systems in use in Brexar County. I had each installed in three separate banks of the Pro-96.

From Station 36 we headed north to Station 35, home of Engine 35, Ladder 35 and Haz Mat 35. The haz mat rig was out on a run when we arrived. The firefighters pulled the new ladder out for photos. The Haz Mat returned, but only with their second rig. Their main rig is in a shop having electrical repair work done.

We headed to nearby Station 26, where they were also using a “spare motor.” We got photos of Air 26. It was on to Station 10, a traditional 2-story firehouse built in 1914 and remodeled in 1999. The station was empty. We went looking for Station 8 and came across the old Station 8. I got a photo of the old two-story station.

We found new Station 8 at 619 S Hamilton Avenue. The crew pulled out their 1988 Pemfab/LTI aerial ladder for us to get photos of. Station 11 was our next target. We arrived there in the nick of time as the whole crew was heading out to training for the afternoon. We got great photos of Engine 11, Ladder 11 and Heavy Rescue 11 before they left.

We drove by old Station 11 and I snapped a shot. We drove through downtown San Antonio crossing the gorgeous river walk a number of times and I took a few photos. We found Station 1 (built in 1938) and looked at the only tiller aerial in the city, a 1995 Spartan/Quality/AI (I believe the only one of it’s kind). One of the firefighters told us about all the problems with the suspension in the tiller cab. A number of firefighters have been injured while riding in the till of Ladder 1. The department has tried a few changes to cushion the bouncing in the tiller cab, but it sounds like the problem is still not fixed yet.

We started heading back to Schertz as Greg had to be home at 3:00 to meet the kids from the school bus. We stopped at the Live Oak FD to see their huge new station and large fleet of apparatus. We got a few photos of rigs in the house and then headed by the Universal City FD (white rigs with blue stripe). Engine 4, a 1976 Ward LaFrance TeleSquirt was parked outside. We got photos of it and their new engine inside the station.

I dropped Greg off shortly after 3:00. The boys were standing outside and told dad that he was late! Greg and I had a great time today and I wish we could find more time to do a little more buffing together. Greg is very busy with both work and attending college.

On the way back to the motel, I stopped by San Antonio Stations 40, 14, 31, 37 and 32. I was lucky enough to get a number of apparatus and station photos. I had started the day wearing a jacket, as it was only supposed to be 60 degrees for a high. It turned out to be a very sunny 67 degrees this afternoon, very comfortable without a jacket.

That’s all for today. Take care.

Your roving reporter.

Day 18 - In San Antonio Area

Day 18 – April 13, 2004

It was cool and sunny when I got up this morning. My intention was to complete San Antonio stations on the NW corner of the city. First, I drove down the hill into the small City of Balcones Heights (population 3,000+), which sits in the central NW area of the city of San Antonio. They had already pulled all the apparatus out on the station apron. I got photos of their snorkel and twin Ferrara “motors” (yes, they also use that terminology) and met a great crew. We talked for quite awhile about how their mutual aid works with other small cities and the City of San Antonio. Normally they work closely with the other suburban departments, many of which are inside the city limits of San Antonio.

I headed to SA Station 27 and got a photo of their engine, an older 1977 E One Cyclone rig that is about the only one that will fit into their station because of low apparatus doors. I headed to Station 41 to get a photo of their Service Ladder. I was again disappointed to find out the service ladder was having radio work done on it. I told them I’d try and get back later.

My next stop was Temporary Station 49. New Station 49 will start construction in the next month or so next door to where the temporary station sits, I got a photo of their one-of-a-kind ALF/General Safety “motor,” which was supposedly bought as an emergency purchase.

I was surprised when I arrived at Station 34 and found Engine 42 and Service Ladder 41 parked outside. The radio man was installing radios in the apparatus. When this new radio system went into service a few weeks back, the department was only using portable radios. The rig radios have been installed daily and they are almost finished with the mobile radio installations. I got photos of Engine and Truck 34, Engine 42 and Service Ladder 41.

I headed way up to the northwest corner of the city to Station 47, also in a temporary building. Engine 47 has a very large area to protect, although there is a great deal of vacant land in the area. The FAO (Fire Apparatus Operator) told me they have a lot of grass fires in July (when the area burns out). Everything is very green and nice looking now, but it gets very, very dry in the summer months.

On the way back into town I had to stop at a Krispy Kreme donut shop to use their facilities. I felt obligated to buy a few donuts on the way out (hey, it’s my first Krispy Kreme this whole trip). I went by Station 42 and got a station photo. My next stop was at my local protectors, Engine and Truck 32. The truck was out on a run and the engine had just returned from a run. The crew pulled the rig out for photos and not a minutes later, they got a run.

I headed down into town to catch up where Greg Pillar and myself left off yesterday. My first stop was Station 6, home of motor and truck 6. Station 6 is one of many historic San Antonio two-story stations that have been completely rehabbed. Station 6 had another apparatus stall built in the same design as the original two stalls. They did an excellent job matching the brick. I got a photo of Engine 6 and talked with the crew waited for the truck when to returned. I got nice photos of both rigs.

Station 4 was my next stop. The crew pulled out the rig so I could get photos. I ran into another friendly bunch at Station 5 (originally built in 1929, and remodeled recently). They showed the nice job that was done rebuilding the apparatus bays, kitchen and day room. They also pulled out the “motor” for a photo.

I headed to Station 9, home of Engine 9, Ladder 9 and District Chief 60. Station 9, built in 1914, was just rehabbed in 2000 with the additional of another apparatus bay. This remodeling also resulted in a very impressive looking match of the old and the new. I got photos of “Truck 9’s: quint, the only Pierce in the department and one of two ladder trucks using quints.

I also drove by and got station photos at Stations 3, 7 and 12 before I headed back out northwest to the motel. I took a number of digital photos as I drove through the very impressive downtown area of San Antonio. It was an absolutely gorgeous day here with temperatures in the low 70s with clear blue skies. I’m looking forward to Karyle’s joining me around noon tomorrow. I’ll be picking her up at the San Antonio Airport.

It’s been light here until after 8pm the last few days here. It’s sure nice to have the longer days for picture taking. It has actually been a bit more relaxing not being able to monitor the fire radio here. I certainly don’t miss wearing the ear plug at night – although it never really bothered me that much. The only thing that bothers me is being in town and possibly missing a good working fire.

That’s all for now. You’ll probably be seeing more scenery photos in the next few days.

Your roving reporter.

Day 19 - In San Antonio Area

Day 19 – April 14, 2004

It was a gorgeous day here in San Antonio today. Absolutely perfect! I left the motel around 9am and headed to three stations just east of the motel, Stations 19, 24 and 17. I got a few rig shots and station shots. Engine 19 (just south and east of here) is the busiest “motor” in the department.

I still had about an hour and a half before Karyle’s plane was due to land at San Antonio International. I headed out south on I-410 and got off near Station 20, a huge new building with a very unique design. I got a photo of their new engine and new station. I headed up the street a few miles to Station 18 and got a station photo there. I drove by Station 30 and also got a station photo.

My next stop was Station 38, in an area very much like our Industrial Boulevard in Minneapolis- loaded with trucking outfits and warehouses. Station 38 protects that NE area of San Antonio. I got a photo of Tower 38, parked outside. I headed to Station 24, not too far from the airport. Just as I had finished getting photos there, Karyle called to say she had just landed. I headed the mile or so to the airport area and parked and waited for her to call when she had her luggage. It wasn’t long before Karyle called me back and said she was out front of the terminal with her luggage. I was less than a mile from her and picked her up within a few minutes.

We returned to the motel and Karyle checked into her room and freshened up. We headed to the Golden Corral for a great lunch. Following lunch we headed for downtown San Antonio. We went by the Alamo and found a nice parking spot near the San Antonio River Walk. We loaded up the parking meter and went down to the walk.

We took the river boat tour, which lasted almost 40 minutes. It was very picturesque and informative and we saw a lot of neat areas along the old river and the new canals created for the river walk. The river walk area is loaded with shops, restaurants, and entertainment venues. I took about 60 pictures as we traversed the channels through downtown San Antonio. It was $6.50 for the boat ride, very reasonable we thought.

When our meter was up, we headed to Hemisfair Park and the Tower of America, which rises 650 feet and was built as part of the World Exposition of 1968. On top of the tower is a rotating restaurant and an indoor and outdoor viewing deck. I stood at the window of the elevator, which is on the outside of the tower as you go up. It is scary looking straight down below you as you rise 650 feet in less than a minute.

It was very windy on the outside deck as I took some pictures of the San Antonio area high above the city. Karyle even dared to venture around the outside deck. I was amazed considering her fear of heights. I asked Karyle if she wanted to take the steps down and she said no. So we took the glass elevator back down to the bottom. It was well worth the $2.50 they charged for us old farts.

We drove around downtown for a bit and then returned to the river walk. We went down to the same area we had boarded the boats. There is a huge center atrium area where there is live entertainment, shops and all kinds of restaurants. We got large waffle cones and sat and listened to an awesome Peruvian Band, kind of similar to a mariachi band but with more wooden wind instruments. The group was very entertaining. We sat through the entire show and really enjoyed the music and atmosphere of this busy little courtyard area along the river walk.

We left there just after 6pm and headed back to our motel. We stopped to pick up a few items at the local H-E-B store (the largest, and seems only) chain of grocery stores here. We returned to the motel for a short period of relaxation. We went to dinner late at a close-by Applebee’s Restaurant, where they were having Karyoke night. Most of the singers were pretty good, but we could have used Simon for a couple.

We got back to the motel just before 10pm. It was a long day for the both of us. Karyle had to be at the airport around 5:30am! Tomorrow we will check out a few more tourist spots and probably take the river boat cruise downtown again. We really enjoyed that.

That’s all from beautiful San Antonio. We had a great day- hope you did too!

Your roving reporter.

Day 21 - San Antonio to Austin

Day 21 – April 16, 2004

It was very overcast in the San Antonio area this morning. We departed the motel just after 9:00am. Greg Pillar called this morning about meeting us for breakfast on our way out of town. I told him I’d call when we got near I-35. As we approached I-35, I called Greg and he said we could meet at the bank at Shertz Parkway and I-35.

We got there around 10am and Greg and Lea pulled up a couple minutes later. We followed them to the diner. When Greg pulled into a shopping center by a Mc Donald’s Karyle said “Maybe we’re eating breakfast at Mc Donald’s?” Greg had spotted Schertz Engine 1 parked in the lot by Mc Donald’s. I got a few pictures. Shertz is the department that is really paranoid about visitors. The Shertz fire station is enclosed inside a large gate and when they respond on a run they open a remote-controlled gate.

We ate at a very popular dinner right off I-35. The restaurant is full of local residents, most known by name by the staff. Greg and Lea were recognized as we walked through the door. We had a great breakfast with Greg and Lea. While Greg and I talked fire buff, it seemed like Karyle and Lea discussed everything else. Greg and I had a great time and it looked like the girls were too.

When 11:30 passed us by, I finally said we should probably be hitting the road on our way to Austin. The Pillar’s treated us for breakfast so we are looking forward to their coming our way so we can treat them to dinner in the Twin Cities. It sounds like Greg, Lea and the family will be moving back our way in the not too distant future. We will all be looking forward to that, although it’s really nice to have friends in San Antonio. We really enjoyed our couple days here and look forward to coming back.

We hit the road and headed north on I-35. We arrived in the Austin area around 12:30pm and got off south of the downtown area and drove in Congress Street, a very popular shopping area. We took Congress Street all the way down to the Texas State Capitol and Karyle took some photos. We drove around downtown Austin and then headed up by the University of Texas- a large and very busy campus area.

It was after 1:30pm and we headed up to the motel. We’re staying at a very nice Summerfield Suites two-bedroom unit with a full living room area and full kitchen. It is a very impressive layout. And what a deal we got on the internet- $67.00 for the night! Unbelievable!!!! I almost hate to leave the place.

We unloaded our luggage and then headed down to Zilker Park, just south of the Colorado River (another Colorado River) and west of downtown. Karyle wanted to see the Botanical Gardens there. Seeing as I had seen my yearly quota of botanical gardens yesterday, I dropped Karyle off and visited Austin Stations 32 and 11 (nobody home at either). Just as I left Station 11, Karyle called and said she’d seen enough. I picked her up within five minutes and we started looking for the nearby Charles Umlauf Sculpture Garden. We found the Sculpture Garden in another corner of the Zilker Park. The 130 outdoor-sculpture exhibit of the world-famous artist is laid out on the side of a hill overlooking the park. We went inside to see a short movie about the artist, his works and his life before heading out to view the sculptures.

The sculptures are placed throughout a shady nature area with a waterfalls and small pond flowing through the center. We walked around and I will have to admit that I have seen some of his works before (the artsy-fartsy person that I am) and a number of his works are in famous galleries around the country and even in the Smithsonian Institute. Luckily, the area was very shady as the sun was now out and it was hot and humid.

We headed over the Colorado River (no, not the big one) into the downtown area and drove around the historic area west of downtown that is full of many old, and fancy large homes. I went by Station 4 to get the photo I had missed a week ago. It was after 4:00 and we were both starting to get hungry. We headed up to a local Hometown Buffet Restaurant near Austin Station 24 (I got a Station photo). When we couldn’t find the restaurant, I stopped and asked the firefighters where to find the buffet. We were told it closed about a year ago.

We went to Plan 2- the Local Golden Coral Restaurant. We went by Station 30 on the way and I got a station photo. We finally arrived at the Golden Coral and it was so good- we both ate too much. We headed back to the unit to relax from our feeding ordeal. We are going to a nearby mall after we relax a little. The mall is right next door to our suite.

It was nice to hear the fire radio again- just after we entered Austin. I haven’t heard any full response runs yet. I’m hearing mostly accidents and medical runs so far. I was told that Austin has four levels of “Recon” that control apparatus movements. The most un-restrictive recon allows units to go almost anywhere in town. Another recon level restricts units to their own first-in area. A third status requires that units remain in quarters. The most restrictive recon requires a callback of off-duty Austin firefighters and/or suburban units to move into the city.

Everyday at noon (after shift change), dispatchers give a run down of status of units out of service, units detailed to training etc, and the recon status of the department. The noon report is very detailed and goes throughout the department.

Tomorrow morning we head to the Dallas-Fort Worth area for three nights. We will be staying on the north end of Dallas. It will be about a 200 mile drive from our unit h

Take care.

Your roving reporter.

Day 22 - Austin to Dallas

Day 22 – April 17, 2004

It was extremely overcast and humid in Austin this morning. We checked out of our wonderful unit and turned our keys in at the desk. We then saw that there was a continental breakfast being offered for guests. And what a continental breakfast it was. We both had our fair share of a really fulfilling meal and headed towards Dallas. When we left the temperature was about 65 degrees.

Three Texas Highway Patrol squads (going Code 3 about 100 mph) passed us as we were driving north on I-35 just past Round Rock, TX. After about 10 miles we ran into very slow traffic ahead and then we saw the flashing lights up ahead. There had been an accident on our side of the highway. We were about 50 cars back at the time.

We slowly edged our way up towards the incident and saw the fire trucks, ambulances, constable squads and the highway patrol vehicles. Then we saw a huge dead dog in the right hand lane with a male victim being worked on along the shoulder about 100 feet ahead. But we didn’t see any vehicles. Then, as we moved another 200 feet or so we saw the motorcycle that the victim must have been riding laying burned in the middle of the highway. The motorcycle rider must have been thrown off the cycle when he hit the dog and the cycle veered across the highway and either hit on-coming traffic or burned up on its own.

That’s why I hate the freeways in Texas. Most of the freeways here are not “limited access.” They are almost never fenced along the sides and can be easily accessed by any animal, bike rider or pedestrian. Most have a service road 30 feet or less to the side with very short ramps to enter or leave the freeway. It’s downright scary when you’re traveling 60+ miles per hour and some car enters the freeway right in front of you doing 30 mph.

The drive the rest of the way into Dallas was uneventful. The skies were starting to clear as we traveled through Dallas. We got off the freeway in Carrollton and drove across Belt Line Road into Addison, where we are staying. It was just after 1:30 and our unit was not ready. We were told to return around 3:00. We drove around the area and stopped at Dallas Stations 7 and 13. I got a couple photos.

Then we headed up to Plano Station 175. The Plano FD has 225 firefighters operating from ten stations (10 engines and 3 trucks) and serves a population of 245,000 residents. The department has two new stations in the works and expects to top out with 13 stations.

It was getting to be close to 3:00 so we headed back to the unit. I caught a station photo of Dallas Station 10 on the return. We checked into our unit in a very nice area of Addison. There is a large new development just north of us consisting of numerous large apartment complexes with first floor commercial occupancy. It almost reminded us of Disney’s Town of Celebration near Kissimmee, Florida.

Tonight there is an outdoor concert in the adjacent park area. “Kansas” will be the featured group, performing at 9pm. After unloading our luggage in the large two-bedroom suite, we went to dinner at Chilies. We stopped to pick up a few groceries for the unit (full kitchen) and dropped them back off at the unit. Karyle laid down to rest a bit and I ventured to find an Addison fire station.

I had no luck finding the Addison City Hall. It is not where my map shows it to be. I went west to Carrollton Station 112. I got photos of Engine 112 (they got a run while I was there) and Truck 112. I headed to Carrolton Station 111 and caught Engine 111 returning from a run. I also got photos of Utility 111. Carrollton has seven stations. Most companies ride with three men.

I have contacted a Dallas Firefighter (I will ask him if he wants his name published) who had E-mailed the club website wanting to get together with the “Roving Reporter” when the reporter came back to Dallas. This firefighter has E-mailed me a nine-page document explaining everything about DFD operations, including terminologies, box information and apparatus information. It is really a wonderful resource for someone interested in the Dallas Fire Department- someone like your roving reporter. The document is extremely well done.

I didn’t realize until I read his document that Dallas FD Box numbers use the station number as the first two digits and the direction as the last two. Box 4900 would be at Station 49. Boxes in the 495- series would be south of station 49, etc. When I meet with Ronnie on Monday, I’ll ask him for permission to make the document available.

9:30 pm- Karyle and I just came back from the concert in a nearby Addison park. We walked over to see what was going on and were given free tickets. We watched as the 70s rock group “Kansas” played some of their better know hits- I guess. It was loud! We left before they finished.

I’m able to monitor Dallas, Fort Worth, Irving, Carrollton, Plano, Richardson, Grand Prairie and some Arlington (kind of broken up) fire radio traffic here in the motel. I’m obviously back in the “Major Accident” capitol of the world, as I’ve heard dozens of them since coming into town. I’ll try and monitor with an ear-plug for any overnight activity.

That’s all for now. Have a great day!

Your roving reporter.

Day 23 - In Dallas

Day 23 – April 18, 2004

Carrollton, the next city west of Addison, had a 2nd alarm last night around midnight at 2501 Camp Avenue. The fire involved a processing room of a chemical storage facility. Dallas Haz Mat 4 responded from downtown Dallas on special call due to the chemicals involved. I would have gone, except that it sounded like everything was inside a large plant along the railroad tracks (nothing to see on the outside). I saw the news coverage of the fire this morning and I didn’t miss seeing anything.

We ate breakfast (provided by Summerfield Suites) this morning down by the pool. It was overcast, fairly warm already and a bit windy, but nice enough to be outside enjoying the gorgeous manicured flowers, shrubs and trees in the deck and pool area between the three-story suite buildings.

This is an extremely nice area that we are staying in. Addison has a lot of entertainment venues and rows of new multi-occupancy housing units with many of them being made to look like rows of old historic buildings. There are people walking all over the area. It’s just such a nice atmosphere in this area. There is a very nice large park just north of us (where they had the concert last night).

We headed south towards downtown Dallas. We drove through a huge new commercial development just south and east of us, which has many tall new high-rise office buildings. We stopped briefly at Dallas Station 41 and met a very friendly crew. The truck was already out (they were working on some of their rescue gear) and they also pulled out the engine for photos. They also told us about the Texas Fire Museum next door to Dallas Station 16, a nearby auto show near White Rock Lake and about a lot of other interesting goings on in the area.

The crew from Dallas Station 41 was first-due at the largest house fire that the City of Dallas has ever seen. About two years ago, the 75,000 square foot home was being remodeled and a crew was applying urethane to the wood floors. It was in the winter and they had heat on in the house. The fumes from the urethane eventually hit the furnaces near the roof of the complex and there was a huge explosion. I remember seeing the fire footage on national TV.

Firefighters told us the fire spread across the complex through the servant’s corridors, which are just under the rooftop of the complex. The owner had the corridors constructed so that the servants would not have to be seen as they moved about the huge home. One of the firefighters said very seriously that it’s very embarrassing for him also to have his servants seen roaming around his house when he has guests. The crew showed me a huge photo of the burned complex after the fire had been extinguished.

We kept heading south through some very expensive Dallas homes (we were told this is the richest area of the city). I got a station photo of DFD Station 27. We drove through the ritzy suburbs (in the city) of University Park and Highland Park. We saw some awful fancy and expensive brick homes- most of which were huge. We finally arrived in the very up-scale neighborhood just southwest of Dallas Station 11.

There is a trolley that runs through the many shops and restaurants along McKinney Avenue. There is even a trolley car museum and shop where the old trolley cars are repaired and rebuilt. There are also many new high-rise office buildings in the area. The area is full of people walking, shopping and eating. Many of the restaurants are very expensive. We looked at one where a Spaghetti Dinner was $23.00 (they must have good sauce).

We drove into the downtown area and were awed by the number of new high-rise office towers. Dallas has a huge downtown area and many of the new buildings are very attractive. We headed to the Dallas Zoo. I dropped Karyle off to view the large zoo complex. She said they even have a working Monorail system that she rode on to view animals in a far corner of the park.

While Karyle was at the zoo, I drove to a number of Dallas Fire Stations in the area. My first stop was Station 15. The truck was already out and I got a photo. I got a station photo of Station 14. I stopped at Station 26, but the companies were gone. I drove way out west to Station 16 and the Texas Fire Museum. I was very disappointed that the museum was closed and there were no cars around. The building is huge and you can see apparatus parked everywhere inside. There is also an outdoor fenced in area behind which has a number of sheds with rigs parked all over.

I headed back in towards town and stopped at Station 36. I just took a station photo as the ramp is very short and on a very busy street. I couldn’t for the life of me find Station 45. I drove around the block three times trying to find it. Station 23 was my next stop and as I was standing out in the street to take a photo of the station, a firefighter came running out and told me not to take any photos. I guess they had a problem with a visitor who took a number of photos and used them in some magazine without permission. After an officer called someone on the phone, I was told it was all right to take photos. I got a station photo and moved on.

The problem with buffing Dallas is that all the fire trucks are the same. Every engine and truck are either Spartan/Quality or Spartan/LTI, and that includes the reserves. There are a few different generations, the older canopy cab Spartans and the older straight aerials compared to the newer rear-mount aerials. But otherwise, all the apparatus is almost identical. I’m sure that is great for the DFD, but it doesn’t make for very interesting apparatus buffing.

When we got back up in the area and found a spot to park, we got out and looked around and didn’t really find a restaurant that we both liked. I wasn’t up for the $23.00 Spaghetti dinner. Most of the area restaurants very expensive. My Chevrolet was parked amongst Rolls Royce’s, Cadillac’s, BMW’s and the like. We decided to head out west to White Rock Lake Park area where they were having a huge outdoor car show.

We got lost a few times trying to get on the main east-west street into that area. We finally found our way through a very nice area of the city with some huge homes and well-kept lawns. Somehow we ended up driving by Station 17 and I got a station photo.

When we got to the take, we were surprised to see the huge dam at the SE end. The lake is actually 20 to 30 feet above much of the area just south of it. There is a dam and a series of small falls that allow a certain amount of water to flow from the lake down into a creek. We found a very nice place to eat in the area and had lunch. I got a photo of nearby Station 31, a neat old fashioned looking house near the lake.

When we left the White Rock Lake area, we headed out into the City of Garland to stop by a few stations. We stopped at Station 2 and I got a photo of Engine 21 (Engine 22 was using a reserve). We then went by Garland FD headquarters, Station 1. A very young and enthusiastic firefighter greeted me at the door and showed me around. He also pulled out their tower ladder and engine. He was extremely nice.

We headed to Garland Station 3 as we started heading back west towards Addison. They were just going to eat at Station 3, but two very nice firefighters showed me around the apparatus and pulled out their truck. Their Ferrara engine was parked behind the ambulance and I would have liked to get a photo, but the two firefighters had already postponed their dinner. I said I had to get going and they said to have a great time, but be careful. Great guys! Garland currently has nine stations with two more under construction. They are currently running with mostly three-man crews.

On the way back we stopped to get station photos of DFD Stations 57, 22 and 20. We also drove by the homes of Karyle’s relatives. She is getting together with her half sister tomorrow and they are going out to eat and out to the Dallas Arboretum. It was unbelievable that I had booked a motel that was within six blocks of Karyle’s half-sister’s home (considering how big the Dallas area is). I had no idea of where she lived when I had booked the unit. Her half-sister couldn’t believe we were so close to her.

We drove by the Addison Headquarters station, about a half-mile north of us. The engine was out and the sun was about to set. We returned to the unit, both of us pretty exhausted from the long day. We got to see a lot of the area and some extremely nice homes. I was pleasantly surprised at how many nice areas there were on the north end of Dallas.

I didn’t hear any good working fires in the area today. I heard a goodly number of “major accidents” again, however. Dallas had two small fires today that I heard where they canceled the second truck and chief (they’re sent on reports of smoke or fire showing). Normal assignments are three engines, a truck and a battalion chief. Because of the wind, there were also a few boaters that had to be rescued by Dallas firefighters on area lakes. I heard a few Irving runs, but nothing out of Arlington and Fort Worth (I may have been out of range much of the day).

Tomorrow I will probably visit some stations in Richardson and Plano and then have lunch with the Dallas Firefighter. He will be calling me in the morning to set up our lunch. Hopefully he will allow us to publish or establish a link to his Dallas Fire Department informational guide that he put so much time and effort into. I’m looking forward to meeting him.

That’s about all for today. I understand the Twin Cities are finally getting some of the rain that is so needed in that area. My cell phone has had numerous text messages today reporting fires in Carrollton (2nd Alarm late last night), Minneapolis (two lines-laid fires), a 3rd Alarm in New Orleans, tornado warnings in both Scott and Carver Counties, a San Antonio meat market fire and a Maple Grove, MN working fire- in that order.

Until tomorrow, take care.

Your roving reporter.

Day 24 - In Dallas

Day 24 – April 19, 2004

I monitored all night through an earplug again and didn’t hear any working fires in the Dallas area. It has been pretty quite for fires here. I saw on the news that Fort Worth had an overnight working fire in a house there on Saturday night. I’ve only heard a few box assignments go out in Dallas over the last few days.

We had breakfast courtesy of Summerfield Suites again this morning before we headed out. I left right after breakfast and headed to nearby Addison Station 1 and caught Engine 102 from Addison Station 2 also visiting. I got photos of all the rigs at station 1 and then headed east on Beltline Road towards Richardson. Karyle’s half-sister picked her up at the motel around 9:30 and they headed off to the Dallas Arboretum.

I got a station shot of Dallas Station 56 on the way over to Richardson as it clouded up pretty good. There were reports it could rain here in the afternoon. My first stop in Richardson was at Station 2, which was vacant. I headed to Station 1 (headquarters) and got a station photo as Engine 1 was using a reserve. Just as I was about to leave Station 2, I got a call from DFD Firefighter Ronnie Tocci. He had a few things to do in the morning, but wanted to get together for lunch. He told me he’d call back in an hour or so and we could set something up.

I had good luck at RFD Station 4. One of the firefighters pulled out the rigs and I got nice shots of Engine 4 (a quint) and Rescue 4, a heavy rescue. Richardson has six stations, five of which have quints running as their engine. Station 1 has a regular engine only. Normal assignment for a reported fire is three engines, the Heavy Rescue and a battalion chief. Richardson is pretty much landlocked now and will probably not be adding any stations in the future. I headed to Station 3.

Station 3 was one of those that you would never recognize as a station. The rigs respond out the backside of the station onto a side street. From the corner, the station looks like any house on the block. Dallas has a few of these also. The idea is to keep the rigs from having to back up or turn around on a major thoroughfare. Station 3 was also empty.

I headed to Station 5, a beautiful combination fire/police station with great landscaping and a pond out front. It is really a nice looking facility. I caught a photo of Reserve Engine 10 (out back) and Engine 5 and met a couple great firefighters. They told me that I should see Station 6 if I thought Station 5 was a nice facility. I headed west into the Richardson “panhandle”. There is a thin strip of Richardson between Garland and Plano where Station 6 is located. Richardson Engine 6 is actually first-due in a couple areas of both Plano and Garland.

Engine 6 was out when I got there, but I got a great station photo of an extremely nice looking facility on a hill overlooking the area. I headed up to Plano and far-southeast side Engine 173. Just as I was nearing the station, I heard them dispatched to a fire alarm on E Park Avenue. I stopped at the station just as they responded out the door and took a station photo before heading to the incident. I caught a photo of Engine 173 in the apartment complex.

I headed to Plano Headquarters/Station 1. It is a relatively new facility with a station, large apparatus floor, fire department offices and a training area/tower behind. Ladder 171 was out back in the training area shooting water through their pre-piped waterway. I got a great photo of the ALF quint and then waited for Engine 171 to return from a run.

They had responded to a near electrocution. A tractor-trailer dump truck had been dumping its load and accidentally came into contact with a high voltage line. All sixteen tires on the rig blew from the voltage. Luckily the driver was not injured. I got a photo of Engine 171 on their return.

Plano currently has ten stations with two more being planned. There are currently three ladder trucks in the city and Engine 7 is a Ferrara quint. As I left Station 171, DFD Firefighter Ronnie Tocci called again and we set a meet at 1:00pm at Hwy 171 and Preston, near a large shopping center.

I headed to Plano Station 2, quarters if Engine 172 and 182. It started to drizzle as I neared the station. I took a station photo through the window of my car and started for our lunch meeting. A few minutes later, my dash lit up with a “Low Tire Pressure” light. I didn’t pay much attention at first. Then, when I changed lanes, I could feel the low tire. I stopped at a nearby gas station (nobody has service stations anymore it seems) and put some air in the tire to try and get up to where we were meeting.

Ronnie called me on my cell phone and asked how I was doing. I said, “Not too good right now,” and explained the situation. He said he was already at the meeting spot and would look for a service garage in that area. I kept putting air into the tire until I got 30 pounds in (hopefully enough to get me to our meeting spot).

Luckily the tire held up and Ronnie found a Sears Service Garage near the intersection we were meeting at. Ronnie had started coming towards me to see if he could help. He called me on the cell phone again and asked where I was. It turned out I was at the same intersection he was at. He led me to the Sears Service Garage and we dropped my car off to have the tire repaired while we went to lunch at a nearby Bar-B-Q restaurant.

We ate and talked for nearly three hours. Ronnie gave me an updated Buffing Guide to the Dallas Fire-Rescue Department. He had added six more pages since the last version. Believe me, this is a total guide to everything there is to know at the DFRD. He has spent a lot of time working on the guide. Once he lets his captain look it over and he has the approval, he’ll allow us to publish it.

We had a great conversation. Firefighter Tocci as been on the DFRD for a little over four years and has 11 years experience in the suburban New Orleans area. He is currently assigned to DFRD Engine 32,east of downtown Dallas. He is also a sales representative for Ferrara Fire Apparatus in his spare time. Anybody need a new fire truck- contact Ronnie.

We had a great lunch. The food was excellent. We covered a lot of material in the almost three-hour lunch. Ronnie gets up to the Twin Cities every now and then. He used to come up to our area more often, until his grandfather died. I look forward to his contacting me next time he visits the frozen tundra of our Twin Cities.

We went back to the Sears garage around 4:00 and the car was ready. I paid the $16.00 to repair a hole from a nail I’d driven over. It’s amazing how nice things worked out considering I had a flat tire in far-away city. #1- It was raining anyway (hard to get rig photos in the rain). #2- I luckily had a friend who quickly found a place to get it fixed. And #3- We were already planning on getting together for a late lunch.

Ronnie gave me a Ferrara Calendar and some Ferrara apparatus literature before we departed. I will, for sure, be contacting Ronnie on my next visit to this area. He is a great guy, very knowledgeable and extremely interested in the fire service. It I were a chief, I’d want someone energetic and knowledgeable like him in my command structure. He has some great ideas. Wait until you read his Buffing Guide. It is by far the most complete informational guide on any fire department that I’ve ever seen. And I’ve been buffing for 46 years!

Kayle got back to the unit around 3:00 after her visit to the Dallas Arboretum with her half-sister and then having lunch with her half-sister and half-niece. They may be getting together after dinner again.

Tomorrow morning I will be dropping Karyle off at the DFW airport around 9am for her 11am flight to Minneapolis. I will start heading north towards the Twin Citied. I am not sure how far I will get tomorrow. It depends on the weather conditions as I drive up. I may stop in Tulsa as I’ve never been there before. I’ll play it by ear.

I had originally planned to take four days to return from Dallas. I’ll most likely do it in two or three days instead. Again, it depends a lot on the weather on the route back. We’ve sure enjoyed the area we are staying at here in Addison. We’d both come back here again- for sure.

Until tomorrow, who knows where I’ll be.

Your roving reporter.

Day 25 - Dallas to Kansas City

Day 25 – April 20, 2004

We got up early this morning and packed our bags, Karyle for her flight home and me for the start of the drive home. It was still overcast and there hadn’t been that much rain. We had breakfast courtesy of Summerfield Suites and then headed to the airport. I dropped Karyle off at around 8:30am for her 10:40am flight.

I headed north on I-35E towards home. It was overcast all the way up to Oklahoma City. I started hearing the OK City FD radio about 45 miles south of the city. IO only heard a few medical runs while traveling through the area. The sun came out briefly and then some swift-moving clouds started rolling in. The forecast on the radio said there was a storm system moving into the area. I kept going, as it didn’t seem like it would be good picture taking weather. I’ve been shooting in overcast weather the last three days.

I made my way up to Wichita by around 2:30. There were some extremely dark clouds rolling in from the west side of the city and two times huge droplets started to fall on the windshield. A storm was defiantly on the way. The radio said there was a tornado warning issued for the area until 8:00pm. It looked rather ominous to the west. Sorry Aaron, we’ll have to get together on my next trip through Wichita.

I thought I could stay ahead of the storm and get into Kansas City before it hit there. I wasn’t that lucky. There must have been another storm front as about 70 miles outside of Kansas City I ran into either the Pacific or Atlantic Ocean- I’m not sure which. It rained cats and dogs for more than 50 miles. I pulled off the road twice when I lost my steering briefly due to the huge amounts of water on the roadway. It was really scary for quite a while. I thought briefly about finding a motel in the boonies, but there were none that far out.

Then my “low tire pressure” light came on in the dash again and I thought “Oh no, not another flat tire.” I wasn’t about to get out in the pouring rain to check the tire. I still seemed to have good steering- not like yesterday where it was hard to turn the wheel. When I finally could see some civilization, I pulled off the freeway and drove under a gas station overhang and looked at the tires. They all seemed fine.

I got back on the freeway and I had 30 miles left to get to the motel in Overland Park. I saw a number of accidents on the freeway as I neared I-435. Traffic was barely moving on I-435. Luckily I only had about four miles to go to get to the motel. I made it just as the rain started to break up. What a relief to be off the road after that downpour. My car sure got a heck of a wash.

It’s still supposed to storm here in the Kansas City area tonight. They talk about heavy rain and winds in the 60mph range. I hope the storm is done by morning, or it will be a miserable drive through the city. They’re talking about storms here again on Thursday. It sure looks like I’ll be driving the rest of the way home tomorrow, which means my buffing is probably done for this trip.

It’s been a very enjoyable trip for me. I’ve already put over 5,000 miles on the car, and I’m still 450 miles from home. I would like to have stopped in Tulsa and buffed there today, but the weather was just too iffy. I’ll get there sometime in the next year or so, as part of another buffing trip.

When I get home I’ll try and put together a final photo essay on some of the more interesting fire stations I visited. There sure were a lot of memorable fire stations on this trip- new and old. I know some of you are probably as interested in fire stations as you are in fire apparatus. In another day or so we should also have the “Dallas Fire Buffing Guide” that DFRD Firefighter Ronald Tocci has so diligently been working on. So stay tuned for a couple more days anyway.

My thanks to EAA Member David Freedman (our webmaster) who has been posting all my reports and photos every day on the Extra Alarm Association web site. Great job Dave! Dave also keeps me posted of any messages or questions we get sent to the web site and let’s me know when I’ve accidentally send the wrong photo.

I’m just watching the 9pm Fox News here in the Kansas City area and they report there was a tornado touchdown in NE Oklahoma late this afternoon. Now I’m really glad I didn’t stop in Tulsa! They’re also showing TV fire footage of some huge fires in suburban St. Louis that were set in vacant buildings there. I missed the name of the suburb (some huge fires though).

That’s about it for today. I’m still drying out from the deluge. Take care.

Your roving reporter.

Sorry - No photos for Day 25.

Day 26 - Kansas City to Minneapolis

Day 26- April 21, 2004 (Final Day)

It had rained overnight in Kansas City, but nothing like the downpour I hit 70 miles southwest of the city the day before. I had heard a number of KCMO runs on their trunked system over night, but there were no working fires that I was aware of. One fire run sounded good, but I never heard and reports of there being any fire or smoke showing on arrival. I had also put the KCK trunked system in the Pro-96, but heard nothing out of them. Either I have the wrong information, or they have since updated their system.

When I checked out of the motel around 7am, the sun was shining brightly and it was 50 degrees out. I was somewhat tempted to spend the day buffing Kansas City. I decided to take advantage of the nice weather and finish the 430-mile trip home. It was supposed to rain the next day in Des Moines and Kansas City and I wasn’t looking forward to another drive like yesterdays.

When I got to the Iowa border it clouded up again and it looked like it might even rain. It never did, however. I arrived in Des Moines around 11am and didn’t hear anything out of the old 460mhz frequencies they used to use there. I know the police are trunked, so I assume that the fire is now trunked there also. The Des Moines area looks like it is really spreading to the south and west with huge housing developments. They have also added new freeway ramps and bridges in that area.

I arrived in Minnesota around 12:45 and was happy to be back in my home state again. I made it back to Minneapolis by 2:15 and it was nice to see the trees all budding in the area. I stopped by the post office to pick up a huge sack full of mail. I knew I had many bills to pay in the next week or so. The few that were due early in the month I double-paid last month.

I arrived home after traveling a little over 5000 miles in all. As much as I’d enjoyed the entire journey, it was good to be back home. Gas prices here were as high as I’d seen anywhere on the trip- $1.75 a gallon. I was normally paying for gas in the $1.58/gallon to $1.68/gallon range while on the road.

- Trip Reflections -

It’s hard to relate to you just how well I was treated by firefighters as I visited fire station after fire station during the 26-day journey. It was sad to hear the plight of many of the fire departments that are forced to run with less than four firefighters on their engines and trucks (some are even running with two per unit). Some departments/unions have successfully fought to educate and get the backing of local politicians and are now finding their department’s hiring-back off-duty firefighters in order to get to the minimum of four per rig. Congratulations to the efforts of those departments/unions.

It is very interesting to me to hear the different terminologies used by different departments as I travel. I found the San Antonio terminology of “the motor” (referring to their engine company) to be really unique to that area. You will also see (when we publish Ronald Toccis “Dallas Fire Buffing Guide”) that the Dallas FRD has many interesting terminologies that they use when referring to working fires.

I found the GHAC purchasing agreement available for governments in Texas to be very interesting and a much better system for purchasing fire apparatus than seeking low bids. It seems like most fire departments are very disappointed by the results using the low bid system for purchases.

It’s also interesting to hear (from Dallas Firefighter Ronnie Tocci) that both New Orleans and Dallas are both going back to tiller aerials. I’ve been told by many that currently there are only three tiller aerials in the entire state of Texas.

It is also interesting to see the different designs and innovations in new fire stations being built across the country. I’ve seen some very impressive-looking new stations. I personally feel that the Minneapolis FD’s new stations that feature individual dormitory rooms with three pull-down beds (one for each shift) and one bathroom/shower between each pair of rooms to be the best design I’ve seen. I saw many multi-million dollar stations that still had the old-fashioned large bunkroom for firefighters to sleep together in.

I also find it interesting to see how much money many cities are spending on new “state of the art” trunktracking communications systems. To me, it seems like many of these government agencies are getting sold a bill of goods by radio manufacturers (who come away with multi-million dollar contracts) and aren’t always necessarily getting a better system than they already had in place. Yes, the new personal alerting devices that come with the trunktrackers are great, but the alerting device could be included on non-trunked systems for one-third the price.

The County of Bexar and the City of San Antonio just spent millions of dollars for another new EDACs trunked radio system that has encrypted transmissions that supposedly can’t be monitored by any over-the-counter trunktracker scanner now available. Their previous EDACs trunktracking system they had could not have been that old. And now they just bought another new system with more new towers and all new radios? Does that make sense? Most of these new radio systems are financed heavily with federal funds. Where do you think that money is coming from? It’s coming from you and I!

As fast as the radio manufacturers come out with new systems to sell to government agencies, the over-the-counter scanners are being designed to monitor the new systems. The new Radio Shack Pro-96 is a totally programmable, over-the-counter, digital trunktracking scanner. When it first hit the streets, it would not pick up the new 9600 baud system now being used here in the Twin Cities area. Radio Shack already has a fix so that you can get the new programming system from its website and download it into the Pro-96.

And if that’s not amazing enough, how about being able to plug your lap-top computer into your cell phone and have unlimited internet access in almost every major city in the country. I successfully did this on this trip with the one exception being the Oklahoma City area (not available there yet). The cost for the month to do this on my Verizon cell phone was $79.95. It is amazing how much faster this internet service was than the slow connection speed of normal dial-up systems.

I was extremely pleased with the performance of the Pro-96 scanner. It worked flawlessly in every city I visited with the exception of the new San Antonio EDACs system that was just recently put on line. The audio is the best I’ve ever heard in a scanner . The downloadable V-folders made programming of most of the trunked areas I visited simple. All I had to do was eliminate the talk groups I didn’t desire. The Pro-96 doesn’t require any additional setup for digital systems. And the ability to be able to download system updates is an immeasurably valuable capability.

I certainly hope you all enjoyed the trip as much as I did. When Karyle gave me a digital camera five years ago, it made it possible for me to e-mail photos home to interested Extra Alarm Association members. When I started sending the photos back, I began to receive e-mail requests for information on the departments I visited. That got me to start doing the daily reports of my visits. Then our webmaster, David Freedman started posting my reports and photos as I traveled on the club website on a daily basis.

At last report Dave told me we were getting 2000+ “hits” a day to our club website. I was flabbergasted to hear that there were that many people “tuning in”. My greatest fear, realizing that my reports are being viewed this widely, is that I will report something that is not true. Obviously, much of what I report has been told to me by firefighters as I visit their facilities. It is certainly possible that I may mis-interpret what I have been told. My apologies go out to all our readers if any of the information I have received and reported is not in actuality factual.

The opinions I have expressed are my own and are not those of the Extra Alarm Association of the Twin Cities or its members. It was not my intent to criticize any fire department operations/procedures in reporting what I have seen. I reported the difficulty in monitoring Houston FD radio traffic because of the mixing of fire traffic with the medic traffic as HFD radio procedures now assign both fire and medic radio traffic to the same Tac frequencies. However, I was really distressed to hear a report from one firefighter from outside Houston who filled in at a Houston station so that HFD members could attend the memorial service of fallen HFD Firefighter Kevin Wayne Kulow, after his LODD in an arson fire.

I was told that this officer responded on a full assignment for a reported house fire and assigned a TAC channel for operations. His crew arrived at the scene and found a minor fire (something like food on the stove) and wanted to cancel the rest of the responding units. To his surprise, a medic unit was conversing with a medic supervisor about a cardiac arrest victim on the same TAC channel. As he knew the medic traffic was a critical incident and needed priority, he had to wait until the medic conversations were completed before he could notify dispatchers to cancel the rest of the responding equipment. I think anyone in the fire service can see the possible problems this procedure creates.

I would be remiss not to report the total dedication that I find in the fire service every place I travel. Firefighters are a proud lot, and they should be. Firefighters are continually training for their next rescue, their next fire, or their next hazardous materials incident. I saw all kinds of on-going training as I visited various fire departments. They respond at any hour as quickly as is humanly possible to any incident they are beckoned to. And they care!

It’s funny how often I’ve seen citizens pull up to a fire station to request directions here or there. Firefighters always seem to jump at the chance to be of help. Many departments take blood pressures for the elderly and concerned on a daily basis. They attend block parties and special events and entertain the young kids who visit the fire station for their first time. They were even out on the street “passing the boot” for contributions for a charitable fund drive on more than one street corner in one city I visited on my journey.

My thanks go to the ever-so-many caring firefighters that I came into contact with and helped make my journey so very enjoyable. I can’t thank you enough for your help and your dedication to your profession. You are truly my heroes!

Your roving reporter.