Anticipation

So here I sit at “The Deuce” and it is snowing and blowing out where the airplanes cannot take off or land. The wind is howling around town creating snow drifts 8 to 12 inches high and I am just looking out the window admiring the scenery and how beautifully innocent and yet so desolate it is at the same time. The people in town are itching to leave and the new ones that came in are itching to settle down. Town is a cornucopia of people wanting something better but selfishly it is for them alone and not for the betterment of the town or the population. Most want to leave the wonderful landscape of the “mining town” they have so much animosity for due to the lousy food or the lack of night or the lack of smell or the lack of dreams. I on the other hand am content with the “mining town” right now. I know that in 10 days the population will go down 825 people to about 200 and then in a little over 3 weeks the population will be down to 170 or so. I look forward to my fellow firefighters leaving to go on their vacations or to go back home to see family or fix their flooded basement. But for some they are looking forward to going home so that they can start their life into a new track. One firefighter is already on his way home to propose to his girlfriend and hopefully she says yes. I truly am looking forward to them all leaving so that I can work 7 days straight covering the airfield for their departure. To seeing the South Pole firefighters coming back into town and to see “Cap’t Howie” for what will be the last time in months. I look forward to getting settled into a routine, and to becoming bored, and to learning my Italian language, to getting my beach body back, to…. Well I look forward to it all. I did not take a vacation that was offered to me so that I could have the whole experience of being on the ice for 14.5 months, from August 24th 2009 to October 15th 2010. I will keep in touch with some, some others that I want to keep in touch with will undoubtly become causilities and finally some I will just plan old not talk to at all.

I am sad that my friends are leaving, some a few more then others.

Take care,
Stay Frosty
-C

Radio call sign "Pegasus Fire Station"

Well the weather outside is frightful,
And the season is so delightful,
I have no other place to go,
So let it snow
Let it snow
Let it snow.

I hope you all enjoyed that little poem that I just completely made up. Ok, I borrowed some from a Christmas song but I made it my own and that is what counts.
-Firefighter Corey Walsh with axe in hand talking to "Fuelie Eddie"

-Firefighters Cory Casarez on left, Corey Walsh and Rob Weidman (inside van)

So last Monday, the 8th of February 2010, I'm working out at Pegasus Runway at station 2, commonly called “The Deuce,” when a radio call comes in for “Pegasus Fire Station” and I immediately jump up and start getting my gear on. So, I am in my turnout boots and pants and have picked up my coat before anyone else in the station is even up to answer the radio. Then over the radio I hear, “Go ahead for the fire station” and the reply is, “We have a van on fire at pit 2! Can you come help? Please?” So Rob Weidman, one of my personal photographers, and I jump into our vehicle and speed down there. We arrive on scene as the 2nd vehicle, due to over-exuberance on my behalf, and begin doing what we have been trained for. For those of you who don’t know, I mean putting out fires not lounging on a beach. Rob takes the attack line from the 1st arrival vehicle and makes initial knock-down of the interior in an attempt to locate the hood latch for what looks like an engine fire. After opening up the engine compartment he realizes that the vehicle, a 2006-ish Ford E-350 van 4x4, is still running. So he proceeds to turn the vehicle’s ignition off. All the while I begin gearing up and begin ventilation of the rear and passenger side of the van via the main doors, after feeding more attack line to Rob. -Firefighters Corey Walsh & Jeff Kennett (well his right sleeve, anyway)

-Firefighter Corey Walsh picking up after everything is all done

Now after I ventilate we -- Rob and I -- notice that the fire is indeed inside the vehicle and looks to be coming from the vent system, as evidenced by the fire coming directly from a vent. So Rob, having the nozzle still, “put some wet stuff on the red stuff” attempting to extinguish it while I go to the driver's side to see if there's anything I could do about horizontal ventilation. Horizontal ventilation is a perpendicular wind source that helps with lateral movement of smoke or fire in an attempt to better locate or extinguish the source. So since the wind was coming directly perpendicular to the passenger side I figure it will greatly help with ventilation. This, however, does not work as planned. The smoke is still getting bottle necked at the windshield. Light bulb! Take out the windshield! So Rob and I decide to extricate the windshield from the van’s A pillars. Voila! The fire is vented and the smoke is 85% gone. Dang, we are good. So, after some extricating of the dashboard and a little more foam on the fire, the fire is out and we saved a two million dollar LC-130 that was 200 feet away.

-Firefighters Walsh, Weidman and Robert "Jason" Royer investigating

So to the moral of the story: If you need a firefighter, just be polite on the radio when calling and we will get there and do what it is you want us to do.

Take Care All

Stay Frosty

-C