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I decided to start my own topic since Tim will most likely be getting me out a lot more this season.



Howard County Fire Rescue

Truck 18

Training Bureau

(rumor is that it will replace Tower 7 in the future)

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I grew up in Tacoma WA near the old Station 8. At that time, E8 was a 1970 ALF Type 900, one of eight total identical engines owned by TFD.



Last summer (July 2009), I stumbled onto one of Tacoma's eight 1970 ALF pumpers by complete and total accident. Having long considered buying and restoring a rig to remind me of old E8, I absolutely could not pass a chance at one of the actual Tacoma rigs, and pounced on it.



The complete story, along with other obliquely-related ramblings, is documented on a blog called The Engine 17 Project, at http://e17project.blogspot.com .



Here is one of her identical Tacoma sisters, representing what she looked like back in the day (sans original painted unit markings and trim replaced here with decals and placards):







Here is what she looks like today:







Getting back to red is the first priority, and we'll see how it goes. Big job.

Finally…after months of snow, rain, Work Drama and other such stuff…a new fire station post. These pics were actually taken back in late October and early November last year (Before we knew just what kind of winter we were in for!



So, without further ado!



The City of Chesapeake…And here it starts to get interesting (This happens a LOT in The Seven Cities, BTW).



http://cityofchesapeake.net/services/dep...ions.shtml Chesapeake Fire Station Map



The city is shaped somewhat like a medieval knight wearing a cape (This hiding his legs), looking back over his left shoulder with his back to you and his left arm upraised. Chesapeake’s bordered by Portsmouth and Norfolk to the north, Va. Beach to the east, North Carolina to the south, and Suffolk to the west. The great majority of the city’s western quarter or so (From below the knight’s left armpit all the way down to the NC State Line) is Great Dismal Swamp, with Lake Drummond tucked into the southwest corner of the city. The northwestern panhandle (The upraised arm), and the northern, and central portions of the city are the most densely populated areas with the eastern, southern and western portions of the city being the most rural. I believe Chesapeake was Virginia’s largest city area-wise until the consolidation of Nansemond County and Suffolk in ’74.



Chesapeake has only been in existence since 1963. The area that’s now The City of Chesapeake was once comprised of Norfolk County and The City of South Norfolk. The City of South Norfolk was tucked up into the north-central portion of the present City of Chesapeake (South Norfolk formed what’s now essentially the knight’s helmet) The small city was basically landlocked within Norfolk County, which was being pecked away from the North by both Norfolk and Portsmouth. In fact South Norfolk would have been left surrounded by Norfolk in one annexation suit by that city.



Beginning in 1961 a series of meetings, referendums, and discussions occurred, with a vote to consolidate South Norfolk and Norfolk County, the new city taking the name Chesapeake when the consolidation became official in 1963 (And if you think it went that smoothly, just remember…Politics were involved! That is a story worthy of it’s own book, or part of one, and in fact, is. )



From a fire buff’s stand point, this left former Norfolk County stations and station sites scattered across portions of three cities…am I gonna have fun or WHAT?!





Now the numbers and such:



The Chesapeake Fire Department is a combination department protecting 220,000 people living in just over 350 square miles, running 17 engines, 3 truck companies, a pair of heavy rescues, a fire boat, and numerous special pieces out of 15 stations.



CFD protects a very diverse and varied area, with the harbor of Hampton Roads to the north, and miles of rural countryside abutting The Great Dismal Swamp to the south. Within this area they protect a busy general aviation airport, a US Navy Auxiliary field, portions of 4 Interstate highways,( 64, 264, 464, 664) 4 US highways (13, 17, 58, 460) and State Rout 168. Five railroads pass through Chesapeake (CSX, Norfolk Southern, and a trio of short lines) as well as a portion of the Intracoastal Waterway (Including a system of locks). CFD also protects miles of waterways, a large coal powered power plant, numerous marine-related industries (The Essex Class carrier USS Franklin was scrapped at Portsmouth Salvage Company, within sight of the The Gilmerton Bridge, which carries US 13 over the Elizabeth River), Innumerable medium and light industrial occupancies, vast reaches of rural woods and farmland, a sizable chunk of The Great Dismal Swamp including Lake Drummond, several historical districts, and some HUGE homes, many of them in the southern portion of the city where water supply can be, shall we say, limited.



An interesting note…Chesapeake has more bridges than any other city in Virginia (And its own bridge maintenance division to prove it!) and THEY lost a bridge recently as well. These bridges form their own kind of challenge as several of the older ones have weight restrictions that keep fire apparatus from using them.







The weather fooled me on the Sunday I picked to shoot the first 10 stations. The sky was clear and bright blue in Chester when I left the house, but clouded quickly as I headed east on U S 460…I was educated on just what ‘Partly Sunny’ actually means. (Apparently it’s actually a P. C. way of saying ‘Mostly Cloudy) as well as being reacquainted with just what the wind that close to the water can feel like. ( C-C-C-Cold…the wind was whipping that day, as the flags confirm!)



All in all it wasn’t bad at all, though, and I had a blast getting the shots.



About a week later, I took advantage of the truly strange work schedule I had at the time, and shot the last five stations (And reshot one) on one of the prettier Wednesdays that Fall in Tidewater can offer up.



Now to the stations



Station 1 South Norfolk



   



Station 1 was actually the third station I shot. The present Station 1, (South Norfolk) at 1201 20th Street was opened in 1969, and presently runs 3000+ calls a year. An engine, a medic, and a foam rig are assigned to the station. The station is in the extreme northern portion of the city, right at the knight’s forehead, and is the top point of a five pointed star formed by stations 1,2,3,4, and 14

Hello Fellow Fire Buffs,



I have been a firefighter for 12 years in Lancaster County, PA. Recently I have been spending some time shooting photos of fire apparatus (I think I found a new hobby). I am new to this site (thanks to Bruce Anderson!)and I have really enjoyed what I've found so far. Please take a look at my photos and let me know if there are things I can do better. I will try to add more of my collection as I figure this out.



Thanks!

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Me and my good friend Andy Thomas have been working on our web site kansasfiretrucks.com. It has been a big task but has allowed me to gather some great photos from around the state. So I thought it might be nice to show some of what the Wheat State has to offer. Please add to this thread if you have any Kansas photos. Enjoy and stay safe,Rick



My favorite fire engine in Kansas has to be Manhattan, Kansas Fire Department Old Engine 1. With K-State moving forward in the NCAA I felt we should start with this pump. This rig was in reserve service until the late 1980's and then was stored by the department until the complete restoration was completed around 1995-1997. This is the pride of the department. Most of the original equipment was placed in storage over the years for the eventual restoration.



Old Engine 1

1947 ALF 700 Series

750/300

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I took a short trip on Tuesday since the weather was nice. I had stations in my mind, but only two targets. Wound up only getting the two targeted rigs, but these made my day.

With the return of the Live audio on Firepics, I am hoping to attract a few more people willing to broadcast to the site. Broadcasting is actually very simple. All you need is a PC, scanner, audio cable and internet connection. The advancement in software has made it much less resource intensive for people to broadcast, allowing them to utilize their computer for other purposes, rather than having to dedicate a computer to an audio feed.



If you would like to provide a feed to Firepics, start with the following:



PC Computer, DSL/Cable internet connection, Scanner. Then download [url="http://www.k1pgv.com/ScannerCast_DL.html"]Scannercast[/url] (be sure to read the requirements, as you may also have to download the Microsoft .NET framework). Install Scannercast, set the number of "Max Clients" to 25 (about 400Kbps at max connections-roughly 1/2 a DSL limit and way below a cable limit) and you're good to go.



The only problem you may have is that if you are behind a router, you may have to set the "port forwarding" of the router to allow connection from the internet to your computer. Since there are so many types of routers out there, I can only recommend doing a search with your router's brand name and model number, and "port forwarding" to access specific instructions for your router.



Once you have done this, send me a PM with your IP address and the port number to access your feed, and I will add it to the site. If your feed is very popular, I will set up a Shoutcast server to relay the traffic, allowing many more simultaneous connections. Currently, feed providers will receive free membership (or $2.00 per year refunded to their account for lifetime members and yearly extensions for 5 and 10 year subscribers) for as long as the feed is provided.

While going through some older images for the "book", I happened on this little gem. October 19, 1990 about 0448 hours a 5-11 alarm fire at 6220 Northwest Highway. This was Harry's Lumber yard, and the fire building was a ratty old wood frame lumber shed...which spread to several other structures at this occupancy. You can see engine 119 with the old ALF rig, and a member hosing it down to keep the paint from blistering due to the radiant heat...notice the turret gun is working and they have several lines off....squad 2a snorkel is in the background. The shed had pretty much been consumed and collapsed at this point. I owe a debt to Chief Nord of the Lyons FD who woke me up with a phone call and said I think maybe ya outta take this one in.....I guess he was right. I kinda thought he was nuts because I didn't hear much on the radio, but as I backed outta my garage I could see the orange glow lighting up the sky. I arrived at the same time the duty district chief did and he pulled a 3 and 4 -11 while he was putting on his fire clothes. As the shed was rolling I tried to run across the front to get to the south area of the building..I made it but literally singed the hair on my arms as I sprinted past.....the vinyl siding on the buildings across the street ( the ones I was running past) was melting ....This was a real memorable job...I had to work the daywatch that morning and we had a very busy day...lots of other jobs....Anyone else have any memories or stories about this fire?

Steve

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Here is a picture of a 1950 Ford my dept is restoring.

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