Resting on ready! Be sure to check those 911 maps. 

Just puttin' on the gear gets the adrenalin pumping. If you don't keep your cool you'll find the bottom of that SCBA before the expected 20 minutes!  

2nd from the left (in the old turnouts) is one of our new recruits. He's a Sargent in the National Guard who just came back from a tour in Iraq. He's already been called back up for another tour 'over there'. Even though he is new in the department I have confidence in his abilities. It's a vet thing. I don't even have to see him perform under pressure while handling his adrenalin pumping like I have these other guys. He's already 'seen the elephant'! He's still here, alive. I'll miss him when he goes back. 

SCBA refresher training. Either 'I got your back', or 'chain of command' would be appropriate captions here. The young man in the blue Tshirt is our new Asst.Chief's son. He didn't know that his first day in the VFD was going to be spent crawling around the floor of a smoke filled building with visability of only about a foot. All to 'rescue' a dummy! 

Engine#1 requires a crew to operate it. A VFD manned by volunteers who have other day jobs can't always turn out a full crew. This beast can deliver high volumes of water at a pressure that could cut a man in two. It can also suck it's onboard tank dry in five minutes. The remote rural nature of our fire district dictates that there aren't enough hydrants available everywhere they're needed. The solution is a 'drop tank' (shown here) that can be refilled by auxillary units shuttling water from 'dry hydrants' or remote hydrants. For this, our tanker has a special dump chute on it's onboard tank. This should assure Striech#3 her place in the department. They're talking about putting in for grant money to buy a larger tanker though. 

Engine#1 does have it's uses I have to admit. 

Technically, this is Tanker#1. For me, it'll always be Streich#3. (pronounced strike) My first Fire Chief, Earl Streich already had two daughters. This tanker/brush truck was his baby. Streich#3 and I are jealous and resentful of Engine#1. That primadonna is for civilization and it's paved roads. Streich#3 and I respond anywhere in the wilderness we live in for any kind of service any time! We take on wild fires, structure fires, and wrecks in remote rural locations. Forest, mountains, valleys, pastures, and yards.  

We can co-exist productively. 

We have to understand that fire is like a child. It requires some control, while demanding lots of respect. If you give it everything it wants it will run out of control and cause damage. If you understand it's needs and turn it loose in controlled circumstances it will be content to be productive. 

I like to think of mySelf as keeper of the fire rather than as fireFighter. I see my job more as a manager of fuel, air, and heat. As long as the triangle is present, fire will live. Fire is a useful and inevitable element of nature. If we fight it, fire will win. We have to learn to work with it. 

I have a new little friend that sits on my sholder. We talk to each other about our needs and danger.