Saturday, December 03, 2005

We checked out of the motel around 9:00AM and headed the few blocks to the Golden Corral Buffet for breakfast. My compliments to the chef. After breakfast we decided to check out a fire department sign along Hillsborough Boulevard where there are no cross streets. First we checked the north side and didn’t see anything, so we looped around to check the south side of the street and sure enough, there was a sign for Hillsborough County Station 20.

We drove in the drive way next to a store and sure enough, behind the store is a fire station. I couldn’t find anyone around, but the station was wide open. The engine was gone, but there was a medic rig there and a reserve engine parked out back. I took photos of the reserve engine and a communications van parked inside and we left.

I was noticing an unusual amount of talk on the North Pinellas Tac channel as we left the buffet. As we were going over the causeway bridge into Pinellas County my pager went off for a two-alarm fire in Clearwater at a hospital at Jeffords and Fort Harrison. Karyle found the location on the map while I kept heading west. It took us about 15 minutes to get to the fire scene. As we pulled up, Clearwater Engine 45 (first due at the hospital) was just leaving the scene. It must be over I thought.

I drove through the hospital lot to the other side of the hospital and looked down the side street and saw a Clearwater ladder truck. I pulled down the block to jump out and get a photo. When I got in front of Ladder 48 to take a photo, I saw more rigs parked down another street. Wallaah! Squad 49, Ladder 45, Engine 47 and a number of chief’s cars were parked down the hill. It looked like companies were picking up and the next thing I know, they were suiting up to go back in.

I got the info on the rigs as they headed back into the hospital. They must have found more smoke on an upper floor of the building. We left the scene and headed to Station 45 a few blocks away. Just as we turned at the street Station 45 was on, Engine 51 comes screaming down the street headed to the fire. Now what? I checked the station and no one was home. There was a Ford F350 squad-type vehicle parked out front of the station and a guy in a pickup truck was working on it. He was doing the lettering of the new vehicle. When he put the Rehab-48 on the back end I new what it was. I got the first photos of the rig lettered up! The other side was still blank.

We decided to go back to the fire to see if there were more rigs there. Engine 45 pulled the same routine as the first time- turning the corner to leave as we turned in. Then I saw Engine 51 and jumped out of the car and waved them down so I could get a photo of their rig. They probably thought I was nuts, but I told them who I was and the captain told me the rig was new in 1998.

We headed south towards one of the bridges over the causeway towards the timeshare. We stopped at the Bellaire Bluffs station, County Station 43. It is a very unique station in that there firefighters there from the City of Largo along with those from Bellaire Bluffs. There used to be a Largo Station 37 about a mile away. That station has closed and Largo Rescue 37 has moved to Station 43. The Largo FD trains and assigns the Bellaire firefighters which are paid by the town of Bellaire. Largo runs the EMS service and provides a Paramedic and an EMT at the station to ride the engine or take the squad on certain types of calls. I took photos of Engine 43 and Squad 37 (parked outside). There is also a medic rig that can be used by the Largo firefighters.

Next we headed out over the causeway and stopped at the Pinellas Suncoast FD (Station 27 in Pinnelas County). They protect two or three small areas in Indian Rocks Beach and Bellaire Beach. They also operate Station 28 on the mainland and a separate portable station with a medic rig further down the peninsula or key. I got photos of Engine 28. We headed further south along Gulf Boulevard, the only street that runs the 22 miles from Clearwater Beach down to St. Petersburgh Beach on this long narrow island.

When we found out that we were going the wrong way, we turned around and headed north towards Clearwater Beach. We drove by the unit and had lunch up in Clearwater Beach. By the time we finished lunch, it was already 2:00 and we thought we’d try checking in before the official 4PM check-in time. We checked in OK and went up to the fourth floor to see our unit. It is very large with two large bedrooms, a nice sized kitchen, nice-sized combined living/dinning room and an outside deck that looks on the gulf. The bedrooms have windows on the east side that face the mainland. It’s a nice setup with a large pool and deck area on the main floor and white sandy beach out front.

We unloaded the car and then headed back to the mainland to do some grocery shopping. After we returned to the unit and unloaded the groceries, we headed towards Tampa (25 miles east) to see the Christmas Lighted Boat Parade on the canals around Harbor Island at 6:30PM. We were very frustrated about where the boats could be seen from as we went to all three locations listed in a brochure Karyle had picked up and were told the boats would not be visible there because they couldn’t get under the bridges. We got back in the car and as I headed over one of the bridges nearby, we saw some of the lighted boats coming. I told Karyle to hop out and I’d try to find a place to park. She’s the one that wanted to see the @*%$ boats. I could care- unless they were fireboats. I did find a fairly near place to park and walked back to the bridge to watch about 35 boats cruise the channel by all the fancy nightspots on Harbor Island.

We headed back to our unit around 7:30 and stopped for dinner at a different Golden Corral Buffet restaurant. We finally got back to the unit around 9:00PM. That’s why this report is coming to you so late.

I’m able to monitor Tampa, Hillsborough County and of course all of Pinellas County fire department radio from our fourth floor unit. Temple Terrace FD (NE of Tampa) just put out a run. I get them also. The fire radio traffic here is non-stop- mostly EMS. I did hear a working kitchen fire in north Pinellas County late this afternoon (no address).

That’s too bad about the New Orleans FD accident and LODD of a Captain when the responding rig was struck at an uncontrolled intersection (traffic lights weren’t working) and rolled into a ditch along the roadside. I stayed at a motel very near that intersection in the spring of last year. The driver was thrown from the rig and has unspecified broken bones. A firefighter riding in the rear seat was less injured.

Sounds like Dallas had a hell-of-a day with a difficult sixth-alarm fire in a senior citizens high rise with many rescues and then later with a fourth alarm fire where a couple of large houses burning.

That’s all for today.

Your Roving Reporter