Tuesday, December 06, 2005

We ate breakfast in the unit today before heading to Tampa. Karyle wanted to see the Tampa Zoo before she leaves tomorrow. We drove the 25 plus miles from our unit to Tampa and headed north towards the zoo. I dropped Karyle off at the zoo and then I headed for the Tampa Training Area on 34th Street. If you smell garbage, you are close- the garbage incinerator is next door.

Today only Tampa Engine 1, an old reserve ladder truck and Medic 2 were on the scene. A private business had rented out the facility for training of their fire brigade for the morning. They were busy doing burn demos in a pit testing various extinguisher agents. I got photos of Engine 1 and Medic 3.

I spoke with a very friendly TFRD Captain at the training center who told me that the Tampa Fire-Rescue Museum is not yet open. The building has a number of building renovations that must be made to bring it up to code. The bathrooms and an elevator are a couple things that were mentioned. It will be one of the larger former fire station museums to be opened as it has five doors along one side and two along the other side.

I headed up into the Hillsborough County area just north of Tampa and stopped at Station 14, one of the busiest fire stations in the country. They run Engine 14, Engine 14A, Truck 14 and Rescue 14 out of the station. I think a firefighter said that they are already over 14,000 runs for this year. A helpful firefighter pulled the huge E One truck out for a photo and I caught Engine 14A returning from a run, just before they got another run.

Then I headed to Hillsborough County (HCFD) Station 19. Just as I was going through the apparatus doors, firefighters came running out as they were responding on a run. I tried getting photos as they pulled out of the station. I headed south to Station 10. Just as I turned the corner of the block the station is on, Engine 10 got a run and headed the opposite direction. I stopped at the station and ran into a very informative paramedic who filled me in on the goings of the HCFD. At present there are four stations under construction, which will bring them up to Station 42, a huge new station with an engine, truck, squad, rescue and hazmat unit. He said that by 2016, the department is expected to have 71 stations (barring any more annexations by Tampa). There are now ladder trucks at Stations 6, 9, 11, 14 and 28. That means that some of the trucks have some pretty long runs. He said that the department will send an extra engine in lieu of a truck if the truck is too distant.

All of the first-line apparatus, except for the Rescues and their huge Squad 11, are on lease from E One. The leased rigs are being replaced every five years under the lease contract. All of the reserves are less than ten years old.

He pulled out their brand new un-lettered rescue truck so I could get a photo. He also said that they are putting a huge addition on Station 10 in the near future. There is already a large house trailer parked out back that will be used temporarily while the addition to the station is completed.

He told me about a couple stations I didn’t even have on my map. One of them was Station 38, at Waters and Shelton, which I then headed to. As I was in route, Karyle called to say she was done at the zoo. As I was still a ways out from Station 38, I turned back towards the zoo and picked up Karyle. We had a late lunch at the Golden Corral Buffet.

As we came out of the buffet I heard parts of a working fire on the Pinellas North Tac channel. I did not get enough information to know where it was. We made our way down the west side of Tampa International and made our way down to the Courtney Campbell Causeway. We headed across the Courtney Campbell Causway towards Clearwater. Most of the drive is on narrow man-made peninsulas that jut out into the bay. When we got to Clearwater we stopped at new Station 49, built about a block south of the old station. I was told that Station 49 is identical to new Clearwater Station 51, built at the city’s far NW corner.

Clearwater is moving away from the International Orange color they have used for years because of costs. The paint fades very rapidly and they try to keep the units out of the sun for that very reason. I’ve heard it costs more than $10,000 just for the pain cost/rig. New units will be red over white. Clearwater’s newest apparatus has all been Pierce, with Pierce Enforcer engines and Pierce Sky Arm towers. I was told they have a tractor-trailer unit on order for Station 45 in downtown Clearwater.

We drove by Clearwater Station 45 (headquarters) and I saw that Engine 45’s new Enforcer was in- so we stopped. I ran into a nice firefighter who pulled out the engine so I could get photos. I had got photos of the truck at the hospital incident on Sunday. It sounds like the new Clearwater FD Chief is at odds with his men. I was told by one of the firefighters that he was hired from someplace in Tennessee and that he brought all his deputy chiefs from there with him. It sure sounds like morale is low in the department right now.

We drove past Clearwater Stations 46 and 44, both located along Clearwater Beach, on the way back to our unit. We didn’t stop, as we wanted to get back to the unit to see the sunset and get some photos. It was just a fair sunset here tonight. The wind was mostly cloudy and cooler with highs in the 60s.

Tomorrow morning I will be taking Karyle to the Tampa Airport for her flight that leaves around noon. It is supposed to rain here tomorrow late and possibly into early Thursday morning. I have been watching the weather very closely. It appears that my best break will be to leave here on Friday morning (get as far as Atlanta) and go through Tennessee and Kentucky on Saturday and get into Chicago on Sunday and then return home on Monday. The highest temps along the route will be on those days as I return. Hopefully, I will be able to avoid driving through any snow.

Somebody has a fire going on right now in Pinellas County (6:35 PM EST). The units are operating on the Pinellas County Low Power Ground Channel. It could possibly be a drill because of the matter of fact way the units are talking about having a victim on this floor and three victims on another floor. From the units talking, it could be a St. Pete FD drill.

That’s all for today folks.

Your Roving Reporter