Last day with the Hill City Bravest

Yesterday started out like it usually does at Station 1 on the C-shift. I made a pot of Folgers coffee, put the tables and chairs back, went through the fridge yard doggin' B-shift's leftovers, and grabbed the Lynchburg News and Advance and settled in for a good tour in the city's downtown district. I don't live in the city, but every third day, the historic district in Lynchburg becomes my home, I spend 24 hours interacting with the people here on all different levels, some good, some bad. Yesterday, was my last day. I was fortunate enough to have spent the majority of my time in Lynchburg, at Station 1-C, because there is not a better group of guys. I have tried to mention names in previous posts but these are the men of Station 1-C in order of appearance and rank.

Battalion Chief Fred Mills
Captain Michael Thomas
Captain Sean Regan*
Master FF Frankie Campbell
Master FF Scott Kelly*
FF Steven Evans
FF Neil Patterson
FF Charlie Shealy
FF Jeremy Pillow*
FF Stephen Curry*

(* denotes ALS)

With Shealy and myself holding down the medical unit, the rest of the guys piled on the Engine. I need to make mention that it was also Jeremy Pillow's birthday, he wasn't sure if it was 36, or 37. Either way, we all decided the day was going to be celebrated in true St. 1 fashion: good food, sloppy lookin' homemade cake, and a whole bunch of runs to keep us busy. With the truck down for the day, there was only 6 of us at the station, so we invited E2 down for meals. Scott Kelly had to ride EMS-2, which meant his normal black cloud and ridiculous amount of call volume affected every medic unit in the city, thanks a lot Scott. Shealy and I tried to run out to the stations so I could say some goodbye's grab a few photo's, yadda yadda yadda. Well...that didn't happen, after 9am we ran, ran, ran...and ran some more calls. We went up and down the spectrum of serious to complete BS as far as calls go. The important thing was we ate every meal on time. I will say this, when you run from the morning up until midnight, with no time to yourself, barely time to use the bathroom between calls, just enough time to eat 3/4 of what's on your plate, you tend to sleep very good (when you do finally get in the bed) and by divine intervention, Medic 1 slept ALL night, after midnight. It was a great last day in the city, C. Lombre was with us working for Steven Evans, and cooked two incredible meals, with limited culinary assistance from the rest of the guys. Shealy and I missed the cake lighting but were able to scarf a piece or three down around 2200. Also, the continuous agitation throughout the day at my expense kept us all in good spirits.

 Again, it was a great day, and for a finishing touch, this morning around 0715, one of the LynComm dispatchers toned out the city and wished me good luck. It's CURRY, not Carry! (that was for you Shealy).

The last view of Station 1:

Until next time fella's...

Curry

C-Shift catches Miller Park Job

Every dog has his day, apparently, that day was last C-shift day for two of our St. 1 members. Just after 4pm, as dinner was getting started, Battalion 2 saw some work in an unoccupied structure. The run card included: E6, E1, E2, E4, T2, R1, M6, M3, B1, B2, EMS-2, and Chief 1. I'm pretty sure M6 marked first on scene with heavy smoke from the Alpha, Bravo and Delta sides. E4 who was just leaving the Food Lion added to the run due to their location and arrived just ahead of E6 and stretched the first line through the front door for an aggressive interior attack, FF Shealy at the nozzle (St. 1). The Rescue Co. took care of the primary, Miles in the lead, yelling something in spanish the entire time, typical. E1 arrived and grabbed the second line and stretched through the front door to assist E4 in extinguishment. Crews found a bedroom well off with extension into the hallway, heat and heavy smoke throughout. The fire was under control in 10 minutes. Due to medic class and a full vacation list, St. 1 personnel were spread out, but we all made it to the fire on about 4 different pieces of apparatus...except for Neil, because he was on Medic 4, and that's just funny. I was fortunate to be riding with 2 captains on Engine 1 again, Mike Thomas (my captain) and Chris Adams (A-shift EMS-2), two salty old dogs. Lets just say the Growler got us there in great time, he put that ole reserve American LaFrance in the wind and let her eat.