Day 10, March 22, 2009

We didn’t get the storms that they had predicted overnight. When I finally got up this morning (I slept in as I expected rain all day) and opened the drapes in my room, I was greeted by a fairly clear sky. The weather reports on the morning news said that both San Jose and San Fran only got about a quarter inch of rain. I quickly got cleaned up and dressed and hit the streets. It was only 45 degrees when I left the motel.

My first stop was new South San Francisco Station 1 (61), which was converted from a former commercial building into SSFFD headquarters and Station 1. The driver pulled Engine 61 out so that I could get photos. He told me that they usually had a heavy rescue in the station, but Quint 62’s rig broke down and they were using the rescue to help carry all of the tools from the quint. The wind today was unbelievable with constant gusts of 40 mph and more all day long. It was a bad hair day for everybody.

I was headed to new Daly City Station 2 (92), which replaced their old horse-drawn station when it just started poured cats and dogs for a few minutes and then cleared up again. It was one of those days where the clouds are really moving in and out in fast forward motion. I got photos of new Station 62 and Engine 62. Daly City has a new Smeal TDA on order to replace their KME TDA (which they report is out of service more than it is in). The department recently bought a used ALF TDA to use as a reserve piece so that they can get rid of the KME. Now where have I heard that before?

Daly City’s last three engines have been Smeal and they have been very happy with them. Daly City also had two LTI engines (I believe the only two that were ever built) that were nothing but a headache for the department. They operate five engines and one ladder truck. A firefighter told me that I should check out the Colmar FD Station not far from them. That is one station I had never figured out exactly where it was. I stopped by there to find no one around (they are paid-call firefighters and it was Sunday morning). I did see two new Seagraves thru the station windows and I was told they also have a small museum building out back. I looked in the windows and saw what looked like an old Ahrens Fox and an old chiefs buggy.

I was going to head into San Francisco, but Daly City Engine 63 got sent to a reported working fire in Milbrae (two cities south) as the RIT team. I thought it strange that a DCFD rig would go that far on a first alarm. I later found out that Millbrae Engine 37 was out on a medical when the run came in. Sent were besides Daly City Engine 73 were Millbrae Engine 38, San Bruno Engine 51, Engine 52 and Truck 51, and San Bruno Battalion 17. It sounded good, so I checked my map to try and plot where it was. It was in a tangled area that was obviously (because of the winding streets) up in the hills of Millbrae. I could see that by getting on the 280, then the 380 to El Camino Real that I could get there fairly quickly- so I thought.

I need to go back to last night at this point. There were a number of San Mateo County VHF fire ground channels at the motel that were picking up extraneous RF (either radio or TV signals) and I locked them out, rather than having the scanner locked up all the time. Well it turns out that one of the channels I locked out was the fire ground channel that this fire was assigned to.

When I heard the dispatcher acknowledge that the companies were working, I jumped on the 280 freeway and headed down that way. I quickly found the main drag heading up into the hills and got totally frustrated trying to find Bonita (a block street near the top of the hill). I sure could have used a navigator. A number of times I stopped, figured out where I was on the map, but still could not find Bonita. After ten minutes of searching, I finally gave up and had to ask a civilian how to get back down to the main drag. It turned out the fire was caused by a wood burning stove that started insulation on fire vented through the roof.

By this time I heard that Engine 51 and Truck 51 would de clear from overhaul in a short time. I decided to head to San Bruno Station 51 and wait for the rigs. San Bruno has one of the earliest E-One TDA ladders. When I pulled up to Station 51, Engine 52 was out back gassing up. I got some poor photos of it in the shade. I got photos of Engine 51 and Ladder 51 when they returned. I headed to Millbrae Station 37 and got a photo of their engine, which would have been first due on Bonita, save for the medical run. Millbrae has it’s own battalion chief, who was out of service today. San Bruno and Millbrae have been saving money by alternating battalion chiefs (one day it’s a SBFD chief, the next day MFD).

Alarms in San Mateo County are dispatched in Redwood City. They send 4 engines, a truck and a battalion chief on every reported structure fire. There are no department boundaries on the county. The closest rigs go. I headed down to Burlington and stopped at Station 34. Parked outside were Engine 34 and Truck 34. I got photos of them. Everybody had mention San Mateo had a new TDA at Station 1 (21), so I headed there next. The station is in downtown San Mateo, a very busy area with an awful parking situation. After driving around for awhile, I gave up and headed to new San Mateo Station 6, on the other side of the 101 Freeway.

I was told that the reason they built a new Station 6 (26) was because the old station was not earthquake safe. I found the new station and met a very nice crew. I asked why they built the station where they did. I was told because the city owned land there. They pulled the rig out for me so that I could get photos. My last stop was nearby Foster City Headquarters (Station 28). They have a very impressive, enormous new building that they run two engines and a truck (TDA) out of. It was one of those stations that you could not get anybody to come to the door at, as the only civilian door was through the department offices. There was a sign there listing a phone number to call. I called the number on my cell phone and got a 9-1-1 operator who said she’d call the station and try to get a firefighter to let me in,

A young, two year veteran firefighter came down to greet me. He showed me around the station and equipment, which also included a reserve engine and ladder. He arranged for one of the engines and the truck to be pulled out for photos. They run three firefighters each on the two engines and one truck. Sometimes, the truck has four assigned to it. As the sun was going down, I decided to head back to the motel with a stop by Quint 62’s quarters to get a sunny side shot South City’s (that’s how most refer to South San Francisco) heavy rescue. I was disappointed that they were gone.

I drove up to San Francisco, just to see how the scanner would work in town. It was very quiet, but I did hear a few medic rigs canceling the engine on medical runs. When I drove by Station 7, Engine 7 was just returning to quarters. I got a quick shot of them backing into the station with a firefighter standing on the side. I’m sorry, but that dark maroon (they got on an ALF order) is just plain ugly looking if you ask me. As it was after 1700 hours (1900 hours your time),when I returned to the motel for the night. It only hit 55 degrees here today, but with the wind blowing it felt more like 45 degrees.

I called San Francisco buff Phil Reed this morning. He gets mad if I come through town and don’t call him. Phil said he was sorry that he wouldn’t be able to get together with me today as was committed all day. We will however, be getting together for lunch tomorrow. I may run down to the San Jose FD shops first thing in the morning and then spend the afternoon in San Fran with Phil. The weather outlook is much improved for tomorrow.