Day 11- March 19.2007

I guess I should have explained the abbreviations I was using while in the LA area. Of course everybody knows what an engine and a ladder are. Here’s what the rest stand for in LA City. LF= an engine (a “triple” in LAFD terms) and a ladder truck running together (6 man crew). TF= two triples and a ladder running together (10 man crew). RA=Rescue Ambulance (every department in this area uses that terminology). EMS= an ambulance supervisor. The 800 series RA’s are EMT’s and the rest are paramedics.

I got up early so I could pack the car, check out of the motel and head to the Chevrolet Dealer here for the third time. I stopped at a Mickey D’s for breakfast and arrived at the dealer at 0740 hours. They gave me credit for the part I’d paid for before (the wrong part) and told me the new part was in and cost $150 (I had been told by the dealer in Albuquerque that the part should only be about $130 installed). I questioned the service man about whether they had the right part and related the price the Albuquerque service manager told me to expect. The service man said something to the effect that the part may cost $130 installed somewhere else, but the part alone is $150 here. I told them to forget it as I was heading to Phoenix.

I took off in overcast weather with drizzle falling here and there. The LA area was expecting rain later in the day with it lasting into Tuesday. I made pretty good time heading east as all the traffic was heading west. It was backed up for miles and miles and miles. I don’t know what I’d do if I had to face that commute every day. Uuuf dah!

As I was about 50 miles outside Phoenix, Chandler had a working fire in 288’s area. They sent additional units from Mesa and Gilbert (one was a utility and I’m not sure what the other was. I made it into the Phoenix area around 1400 hours. I stopped at the Phoenix Training Center on the way in. I was surprised that no one was at the tower. It may have been because of the warm weather that they postponed classes. Today was the first day in days that it wasn’t 90 or higher here. There weren’t even any cars in the paring lot either, making me believe the entire center was shut down.

I headed to the Phoenix headquarters and shops off Jefferson at 11th. I was amazed to find that there were absolutely no rigs parked outside of the shops. Usually there are 20 or more rigs lined up along the west end of the shops. I did get photos of PFD Engine 20 and Brush 49 who were parked outside the headquarters. I drove by nearby Station 8 and everybody was gone.

I decided to head to the motel as it was after 1500 hours. I checked into a nice Red Roof Inn just across the freeway from where I’ll be staying the next four nights (they didn’t have any openings there tonight). I’m going to join the family when they get back from the Augsburg Baseball game. It’s my nephews birthday, so we’re having a little party at the motel pool tonight.

I bought two new street maps, one of Phoenix and one of the Mesa-Tempe area. My old maps were so outdated that they were missing a bunch of streets. I spent a couple hours plotting all the stations off my computer map program (which I’d updated before I left Minneapolis). That way I’ll be able to find where I’m going over the next four days. I can’t believe how many streets (and freeways) have been added here since I bought the previous maps.

It’s now around 1800 hours and Phoenix just had a good working fire at 8052 N 11th Avenue at (1750 hours) that involved brush, a garage and a house, burning almost all to the ground. It’s very, very dry here also. Channel 15 news just had live helicopter footage of crews on the scene trying to extinguish the fires in dense brush and trees. I’m not sure which started on fire first.

I hope to do some buffing in the morning and then pick my brother up at the airport around noon tomorrow. Then we’ll check into the Holiday Inn Express where the rest of the gang (the Augsburg College baseball team and my relatives) are staying. We’ll probably take in a game or two in the afternoon (they are playing mostly double-headers while the baseball team is here). Today they played in NE Mesa. Don’t tell anybody, but I may sneak away from the games from time to time to visit a few nearby fire stations.

I met up with the family after the baseball games and we all had dinner together tonight and then had birthday cake around the motel pool to celebrate my nephew Brett’s 5th birthday. I was exhausted when I left there at 2130 hours. I haven’t been monitoring this evening so I’m not sure what’s been going one fire-wise here. The 10pm news starts shortly. I’m sending some photos I from the LA area.

They just had that fire in Phoenix on the 10pm news. They said two kids playing with matches may have started the fire. When the fire spread into the two houses they had trouble with natural gas feeding the fire. Both houses looked totaled.

That’s all for now.

Your Roving Reporter