Day 30, April 11, 2009

Dallas had at least a couple of working fires during the night, one south of downtown in Engine 14’s area and one east of downtown (I believe in Engine 32’s area). Dallas sends three engines, a truck and a two battalion chiefs on a first alarm residential response and when a working fire is declared they get an extra truck and an ambulance to the scene. |

The Dallas Fire Department responds to an unbelievable amount of motor vehicle accidents, mostly on freeways within the city limits. They must have 10- to 20 times as many freeway accidents as we have in the entire Minneapolis-St. Paul area.

Robert Knowles picked me up at the motel around 0830 hours and we had breakfast nearby before we headed over to the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport. Dallas Lieutenant (and fire buff) Ronnie Tocci met us after breakfast and we drove his car to our first stop, DFW Airport Station 5 (the paramedic station). They have four medic rigs, a medic supervisor, a mass casualty unit, a huge command bus and a structure pumper at this station. We got photos of the bus (indoor) mass casualty rig and a medic unit (the engine was attending a drill). The guys at Station 5 were great and we spent a lot of time touring their new station and discussing their department. The DFW Airport encompasses 33-square miles and is the second largest airport in area (just behind Denver). DFW Airport is a very confusing place to get around. You could very easily get lost on airport property and have a hard time figuring your way out.

Station 5 is the newest and is a very impressive and modern facility with private rooms for each paramedic/firefighter. There are apparatus doors on opposite ends of the station, the east end being where the structural engine and command unit are kept, and the west end where the medic rigs, EMS supervisor and the mass casualty rig are kept. Each of the dormitory rooms has a status pad which the firefighter/paramedic uses to log in the unit that he is assigned to. At night, only the rooms of those assigned to the particular unit responding automatically light up and hear the alarm they are being sent to. The other rooms remain silent and dark until they are dispatched. The station averages 12 to 15 runs a day, mostly medicals. Robert had a number of old time acquaintances he’d made with the paramedics at Station 5 as they use Parkland Medical Center, where Robert is the Bobby Troup of the “Emergency” TV show.

Ronnie rode with us to our next stop, DFW Station 2, on the NW end of the airport. Station 2 has a structural Quint, a Rapid Response Vehicle, two crash trucks and a Haz Mat unit. The firefighters were very nice and pulled out each rig so we could get photos. The firefighters there were very helpful and friendly and had some interesting stories. Crash 21, which had also been out on a drill, returned just in time to get photos before we headed to Station 4

Station 4 is located on the SW corner of the airport. Station 4 has the department’s “Fan Unit”, two crash trucks and a reserve crash truck (all 2004 Oshkosh Strykers). The fan unit has a huge telescoping fan that can create winds of 60-70 mph for clearing smoke from buildings (or airplanes) and can also be used for misting to cool patients during extremely hot situations. It is equipped with a 5-foot Tempest fan, the same manufacturer as Chicago’s (923 I believe), but a lot larger in size. Firefighters told us that the fan alone will propel the big Peterbilt rig down the pavement at 20-mph. It has been used in a number of situations where it quickly has removed smoke from a terminal building. It can save an airline a lot of money (as downtime in a terminal can be very expensive). I believe they said American Airlines contributed to the purchase of this unit.

The firefighters at Station 4 were extremely interesting to talk with and told us many interesting stories. We could have easily spent the rest of the day there just talking to the firefighters. Ronnie, Robert and I all have similar interests in airplanes and we got into a big discussion with the firefighters about commercial jets. We headed back to Station 5 to drop off Ronnie, as he had relatives visiting from out of town. DFW has a normal firefighting/paramedic force of 28 on duty at any time I was told. Robert and I got shots of the structure engine as it was back from the drill. Ronnie took off from Station 5 in his car and said he’d call us if he could rejoin us later in the afternoon.

Our next stop was nearby Grapevine FD Station 1 (just west of DFW), where we ran into another very friendly crew of firefighters. Grapevine has five stations with five engines(two with Quints) and one ladder truck. GFD Engine 1 was out in western Texas fighting the brush fires. Dallas, Fort Worth and many suburban departments have sent rigs and crews to assist the overwhelmed crews in numerous Texas counties fight the wildfires that have devastated many areas. GFD Quint 4 was being used by the crew of Engine 1 while their rig was in western Texas. Hopefully the rains that are expected tonight and tomorrow will put an end to the drought here and to the devastating wildfires. There have been hundreds of homes lost.

Firefighters at GFD Station 1 pulled out their Bronto aerial, Quint and brand new Dive Rescue unit for photos. We headed to Coppell Station 2, just east of Grapevine. We got photos of their reserve pumper and their new ladder truck. We headed to Coppell Station 3 and got photos of their Heavy Rescue, pumper and medic rig. The firefighters were very nice and showed us their 1941 Ford/??? Hose truck that the department has fully restored. It was immaculate.

Our final stop of the day was at Carrolton Station 2. Engine 2 had just left on a medical run, We got photos off their Ladder Truck and Heavy Rescue/Ladder Tender. The crews there did an excellent job of placing the rigs in the sun for us. They had to turn the rigs all the way around for photos. We caught Engine 2 returning from their EMS run and got photos of it too.

I told Robert that I better call it a day. I was worried about the rain coming in tonight and wanted to get the car pre-packed (except for the bare essentials) before the rain arrived in the area. Robert suggested having a steak dinner before heading back to the motel, and as we’d not eaten in over eight hours, we headed to a well-known steak eatery in the area. Robert treated me to one heck of a meal- the best I’ve had since I’d left home (and sometime even before that). My steak and shrimp dinner was awesome! Thanks again Robert.

We got back to the motel as it was starting to get very dark and overcast. I was able to get most of my stuff packed up in the trunk so that tomorrow I’d just have an overnight bag and my computer to throw in the car before heading north on I-35. The first rain came about an hour after I got back to the unit and it is supposed to storm overnight and into the morning tomorrow. I’m not sure exactly what time I’ll hit the road tomorrow morning. It depends on the weather at the time. I’ll try and avoid the severe thunderstorms and hail if I can.

I can’t thank local fire buff Robert Knowles enough for the great two days of buffing we had together. We got to shoot a lot of rigs in our two days together. Dallas is not laid out in a grid like much of Minneapolis and St. Paul are. The Dallas area is a very tough area to get around in. It can be very confusing going from one area to another as there are so many obstacles (rivers, swamps, lakes, railroad tracks, freeways etc) that make it difficult to get fro one area to another easily. I know I’ve had a great deal of difficulty trying to get from one place to another before when I was alone in Dallas. It’s sure nice to have someone that knows there way around this area.

We had another beautiful day here today, mostly sunny and around 70 degrees. It started out a little cool this morning when we first arrived at DFW, then turned sunny and didn’t start clouding up again until after 1600 hours