Wednesday, December 07, 2005

St. Petersburg had a good working fire sometime during the night. I assume it was St. Pete as the fire was on the South Tac channel (normally only used by St. Pete). It didn’t rain much during the night as they had predicted, but it was very overcast when we got up this morning. Karyle packed up for the trip to the airport and we had breakfast in the unit.

We headed to the airport around 8:45AM and arrived there around 9:45. Karyle’s Sun Country flight was scheduled to depart at 11:50. [Karyle just called me from Minneapolis (it’s now 4:00PM) and said the flight was on time and enjoyable and that she had arrived safe at home Minneapolis. Her cats missed her.]

After I dropped Karyle off, I headed to nearby Hillsboro County (HCFD) Station 20 and got a photo of Engine 20 and the HCFD Command Post. A firefighter there told me about a couple of stations I would pass near as I returned across the north end of the bay. I stopped at Station 31 (engine was gone) and got a station photo and then at new Station 39, where I caught a photo of Engine 39 returning to quarters.

My next stop was at the Oldsmar FD (Station 54) in Pinellas County. It had moved since I was last there in the 80s and because it was drizzling I only got a station photo. I headed around the north tip of the bay and stopped at Clearwater Station 50. The Rescue went out just as I pulled up. I met a couple very neat firefighters there. They pulled the engine out and gave me some Clearwater Fire and Rescue trading cards with apparatus photos on them. I drove by the nearby Safety Harbor FD (Station 52), but nobody was home and there wasn’t even a spare rig in the station.

My next stop was Clearwater Station 48, home of Engine 48, Truck 48, Rescue 48 and the Training Division. I met a CFR driver there that was really sharp. He knew the years of all the apparatus in the department. He pulled Engine 48 out so I could get a photo. He told me that Truck’s 45 & 48 are being returned to Pierce as they are having all kinds of trouble with the two Pierce Sky-Arm trucks. The aerials on them are much heavier because of the fly section being able to bend down. They’ve had all kind of trouble with the rear axels on the 78,0000 # trucks. Pierce is going to replace them with straight 100-foot tower trucks.

The driver took me out into the training area where I’d seen a couple engines. One was their first International Orange pumper, a 1990 Spartan/Quality. The other new unit was one of two 2004 Pierce Contender pumpers they bought as reserve units. Apparently their other reserves were in pretty tough shape. I also discovered two older scrapped pumpers, a 1987 Ford C/Gator (in red color) and a 1972 Maxim (in faded orange color). Also scrapped was a 1979 Chevrolet/E One squad (I was told it was their original squad). I got photos of all.

I headed to new Clearwater Station 51 and got a station photo (I’d already shot their pumper). I had some time and it wasn’t raining so I veered up to Dunedin Station 60. Just as I rang the doorbell to the station, Engine 60 got a run. I did my best to get both a digital and slide image as they pulled out. The ladder truck was out of the station, being repaired someplace in the area. I decided to head back towards out timeshare unit. I stopped and took Station photos of Clearwater Stations 46 and 44 stopped briefly for some lunch and then headed to some Largo stations. It was still very overcast, but not raining.

My first stop after lunch was at Largo Station 39. I got a photo of a reserve engine out back and a very helpful firefighter pulled the TSqurt out for me. All but one of Largo’s engines are equipped with 55-foot TeleSqurts. I headed to new Largo Station 41, across the street from where it had been last time I was here. As I knocked on the door, Engine 41 got a run. I tried to quickly get a digital and slide as they responded. A very nice fiorefighter pulled the truck out for me so I could get photos.

It started to rain again and this time it kept raining. I decided to call it a day and headed back to Indian Rocks Beach. I don’t think there will be a sunset shot this evening. It is supposed to rain overnight and last until sometime in the morning. I will probably stick it out here one more day. It might turn nice tomorrow afternoon. I’d like to get down further towards St. Pete and visit some more stations in that area.

That’s it for today. Sorry we didn’t have any sun for better-quality photos today.

Your Roving Reporter