Wednesday, November 30, 2005

I monitored Atlanta, Cobb County and Fulton County through an earphone over night and didn’t hear any fires. I heard lots of runs going out. It seems that everybody here is pretty busy. I loaded up and checked out of the motel around 9AM. I took I-285 to the southwest near the Cobb County-Fulton County border intending to get off on Bankhead Highway near Atlanta Station 38. Somehow I missed the turnoff and ended up south of I-20.

I took a few main streets trying to get back up to the area and then realized they had changed the street names (it was now named after somebody named Holloway). I found Station 38 and stopped to get photos of the Engine and Truck. The driver was washing the engine out back and they pulled the tractor-trailer aerial out for me. Then Engine 22 showed up for gas, so I got their photo also.

Atlanta is sending three engines, a paramedic engine, at least two trucks, Rescue 4 and two battalions on every reported structure fire. They now have one paramedic engine in each district (six districts). Rumor is that there will be six more soon. New Atlanta Station 14 has opened and another new station is underway (Station 11, I believe) for a huge new development within the city limits.

I headed out old Bankhead into Cobb County, stopping at Station 27. It was a fairly new station equipped with an engine and an air-utility unit. I got photos of both. I headed to nearby Cobb County Station 1 and caught the Ladder Truck parked out back. A very nice paramedic there pulled out the rescue truck and told me that recently almost every engine has been replaced with new Pierce Dash pumpers. I stopped at Cobb County Station 9, but conditions for photos there were not good.

I was going to go into Fulton County, but my maps didn’t go as far as I thought they did. Very little of southern Fulton County was on either of the Atlanta maps I had with me. I decided to head down south towards the cities of East Point and College Park (they were on my map anyway). I stopped at East Point Station 1 and arrived for a video taping they were doing for a going away video tape for the outgoing Mayor and Council Person. They had all the fire crews standing next to Ladder 1 with the retiring Mayor and Council person in the middle of the group.

I got photos of Engine 1 and just arrived Engine 2 while they were doing the taping. When they finished, I got photos of Ladder 1 and headed south towards College Park Station 1. The station was a mess as the crews were in the process of moving to a huge new public safety building about two blocks away. I ran into Fire Inspector Murray, eating lunch at the time, who insisted on helping me out. He mentioned that I must be one of those like Dave Organ, a firefighter on Tower 1 at Station 2- is a big time apparatus buff.

First Inspector Murray pulled Engine 2 out (it was being stored in Station 1 after the rig had been rear-ended by a car). Then he insisted that I follow him over to new Station 1 so I could get photos there. They had a1924 ALF engine in the station he said.

I followed him in the fire inspector’s car the two blocks to new Station 1. He moved a bunch of boxes so that they wouldn’t be in my photo of the 1924 ALF. Then, he took me through the new station and introduced my to the Assistant Chief. After I got photos of Engine 1, he insisted that I follow him to Station 2. I did.

He proceeded to pull out Rescue 3 (normally at Station 1) for photos and then Tower 1 for photos. We went inside and I met the guys on duty at the time. One of them called Dave Organ at home and I talked with him briefly. He said he was tied up at the time and asked me what direction I was headed from there. I told him towards Clayton County, where I would spend the night.

He told me to have the firefighters at Station 2 direct me to Cobb County Station 4. Then after that he told me to have firefighters at Station 4 direct me to Station 1. Dave said he would finish the business at hand and meet me at Cobb County Station 1- so I thought he said. Here starts a series the dilemma.

It turns out that none of the firefighters on duty know where Cobb County Station 4 is. I went out to my car and checked all my maps. None of the maps I had encompass that area of Cobb County. What to do? I got my computer out of the trunk as I have DeLorme map program that I have plotted all the fire stations on. I found Station 4, but I decided to go directly to CobbCounty Station 1 because of the time lapse.

I stopped at a gas station on the way and picked up a map of the south suburban area of Atlanta. I found Cobb County Station 1, but nobody was home. They had a gorgeous new ALF Eagle/LTI tiller truck in the station in the departments white paint scheme with gold striping and graphics. Oh how I’d love to get a photo of it.

Eventually the engine returned form their run and I got photos of it. Then the rescue rig returned and I got photos of it. The ladder truck was out inspecting hydrants and the crew wasn’t sure when they’d return. I waited around the station for almost an hour and a half and Dave Organ never showed up. I finally left after giving the crew at the station my cell phone number if he showed up.

I headed out I-75 to where I was going to be staying for the night. It’s a quiet area in the SE corner of Clayton County where I’ve stayed at least twice before. The facilities are very nice and I know I can still pick up the Atlanta FD from there. I checked into the motel and then went next door to the Golden Corral Buffet for a much needed combination lunch/dinner. I hadn’t had any lunch yet and it was almost 4:00.

I returned to the motel and still hadn’t received a call from Dave. Maybe I miss-understood what he said? I must have, or he would have called when he showed up at Station 1. Oh well…maybe I can meet him on the way back when I’m headed north.

I heard parts of a fire on the radio this afternoon for a fire somewhere in DeKalb County. They just had some video on the 5PM news here of a charred house on Orchard Circle in DeKalb County. They also had some video footage and a report on the four-alarm fire last week at a multiple-story housing project here. The report said that the fire had started when some material was stored too close to a heat source (which was not identified). A firefighter in East Point had earlier told me that they had sent an engine to Atlanta that day (probably to cover a vacated station).

I sure wasn’t very prepared to cover either Fulton County or Clayton County today. I guess I should have checked my maps out before I left. I thought I had a map that covered those areas. I sure do now.

Tomorrow I’ll be driving about 430 plus miles into the Tampa area. Friday morning Karyle flies in. It is supposed to get to near freezing here overnight. It will be cold when I take off in the morning. I’m far enough south that I shouldn’t have any problem with traffic when I leave.

That’s all for today.

Your unprepared Roving Reporter