Thursday, December 8, 2005

It was very overcast when I got up this morning. I don’t think it rained as much as they had predicted during the night. St. Petersburg had a working fire in the 600 block of South 4th Street this morning. An additional ladder (Truck 4) was summoned to the scene. It sounded like they had one unit of an apartment building involved. Just as I was about to hit the streets (around 9:30) it started to mist and rain. I waited it out and around 10:30 it stopped raining and I decided to give it a try again. I drove down 686 (which is a block north of Largo Station 41) and noticed a strange engine parked out front. I went around the block and parked and saw a unit lettered “TAC 41.” I went to take a photo of Tac 41 and Truck 41 got an accident run with a rollover. They stopped so I could get (another) photo of it as they left the station. I got my photos of Tac 41 and went and asked a firefighter what the deal was.

He explained to me that Largo units are so busy that to do any training they schedule a 10-hour Mon-Fri Tac Engine that fills in at stations for training and other special duties. The firefighters assigned work 7-5 M-F and report to Station 41 each morning before being assigned. They may fill in at one engine in the morning and another in the afternoon. Just as I was leaving, Rescue 41 got a run and I got a shot of them.

I went to Largo Station 42, but the engine was also on the rollover call. I got a photo of their Technical Rescue unit while I awaited Engine 42’s return. Then I heard the IC at the rollover call tell Engine 42 to secure the vehicle. I asked the firefighter where the rollover was and he told me. I headed down to it.

When I got on the scene, Largo Engine 38, Squad 38 and Truck 41 were on the scene and Engine 42 was just leaving. I got photos of the rollover vehicle, and all the fire trucks except Engine 42. One of the police officers on the scene would not allow me to cross over to get the year off Engine 38. He said I could take photos, but stay on the other side of the street. So that’s what I did. I zoomed my telephoto lens in on Engine 42’s Waterous plate and took a photo to get the year. It worked great.

I left the scene and drove the few blocks to Largo Station 38 and got a photo of the station and then headed back to Station 42. They pulled the big rig out so I could get a photo of Engine 42’s huge 75-foot Quint with tandem rear axles. It was huge! I asked the firefighters about the accident. It was a one vehicle mid-block accident where either they were driving crazy and/or lost control or something. There were two people in the car. The driver got out of the vehicle by himself, but the front seat passenger had to be extricated. They had to secure the car (laying on its side) before they could perform the extrication. They cut the top off the vehicle to get her out.

I headed to Pinellas Park Station 36 from there and got a photo of their engine. I started to got to Pinellas Park Station 35, but then decided to hit St. Pete Station 13. That was a big mistake. None of the streets on the map I was using actually went through. I hit two dead end streets and had to go way back around. I ended up driving way out of my way just to get near Station 13. Then, as I was about four blocks away, Engine 13 got a run and passed me by going the other way. Oh well!

I headed south to Pinellas Park Station 33. I met a couple very nice firefighters there who helped get photos of Engine 33, Truck 33 and a Pinellas County HazMat tractor-trailer unit. They have a new E One Bronto on order to replace their 22 year old Sutphen tower.

My next stop was Lealman Station 18. Lealman is not actually a city. Lealman is an unicorporated area north of St. Pete that has its own department. I got photos of reserve Engine 18, Squad 18, and Union-owned 1952 Howe 750 GPM pumper. Lealman also has a brand new 2500-gallon tanker, which is not yet in service. I got a rear-end photo of the big unit. Apparently Lealman has some areas with few hydrants. I also went to Lealman Station 19 and got a photo of Engine 19’s 65-foot Tsqurt.

I headed to St. Petersberg Station 10. I could see them leave the station when I was about a block away. Rescue 10 was in front of the station at a two-vehicle collision. When they returned to the Station I got a photo. The medics said Engine 10 was not on a run, but might have gone to another station. I didn’t wait around. I headed to St. Pete Station 4. I met a very helpful and friendly firefighter there that arranged to have the tower and engine pulled out for photos. The sun finally showed itself as I was taking photos. Just as I was about to leave, a captain introduced himself and invited me into the station to see some photos.

I was kind of in a hurry, but I went along anyway. He showed me a number of incidents where the crews at the station were involved in fires, extrications, entrapments, cave-ins, and even some photos from Biloxi, Mississippi where they responded as a part of a regional haz mat task force. They had quite a few photos of Katrina damaged buildings in Biloxi. Luckily I got out of the station before the sun set.

I headed to St. Pete Station 7, where they reportedly had a fairly new E One quint (everything else in St. Pete is Pierce). I got photos of returning Medic 7 and Engine 7’s new quint. It was getting near 4:00 and I decided I better head back. I stopped at Pinellas Park Station 35 on the return trip and got photos of Truck 35, a huge Quantum Quint.

I was back at the timeshare by 4:30. It looked like there might be a sunset, but around 5:00 the clouds started rolling in again. It is supposed to rain here again off and on through the night and clear up tomorrow. I will be leaving here early tomorrow morning with the intent of getting to at least the Atlanta area or maybe as far as Chattanooga or even better, as far as Murfreesboro. It depends on what kind of weather I run into along the route.

That’s all for this trip. I have more photos that I’ll be sending in the next few days.

Thanks for riding along.

Your Roving Reporter