Mutual Aid

Ya know, we're kinda big. We can get a few units staffed and out the door for mutual aid strike team assignments. We have sent units throughout the state over the years. Once, we sent an engine to Yellowstone National park way up in Wyoming.

As I get older, strike team assignments have less appeal to me. Actively working for 24 hours, then having to sleep on a cot in an open field isn't as fun as it used to be. Especially when the open field is under a blazing sun and rigs are constantly driving by. Let the young pups do that, I'll stay home and back-fill.

There is however, one department that I would be happy to drive several hours to assist.

Should things ever become so dire at Tom's Place that the services of K.B.F.P.D. E226 were truly needed, count me in.

First, you have to understand a few things about Tom's Place. Tom's is a fishing camp located on Hwy 395, up in the Sierra Nevada mountains. I have never stayed there, but I have gone there every time I have camped in the Sierras.

Tom's has a lodge, cabins, a store, a restaurant and a bar. It is popular with the anglers who fish nearby Crowley lake and Rock creek. Campers and off-roaders stop by there as well. In the afternoon, the bar and restaurant are usually busy, with both tourists and locals sating their hunger and quenching their thirst. It's a friendly place, one with a sense of humor.

As they have their own engine, I might not even need to bring mine.

Much like me, it's '60s vintage, a little rough around the edges and lights up when it has to go to work.

With a little luck, I might be able to figure out how to get it into pump! Note the engine number - Engine 5150. 5150 is the section of the California Welfare and Institutions Code that allows somebody to be placed on an involuntary  72 hr. hold for evaluation and treatment. The term has been bastardized by EMS and LE personnel to mean crazy. It is the perfect number for the Tom's Place engine.

In hopes that my services will some day be needed up at Tom's place, I have purchased the appropriate vehicle identification symbol and placed it on my truck.

Not only does it look cool, but I'm hoping it will get me out of a ticket or two.

They have had some significant fires at Tom's place over the years. The original lodge burned down in 1947 and there was a large forest fire that burned within a mile or so several years ago. Their engine is the perfect tool to kill dragons when they're small.

Hopefully, Tom's place will never again be threatened by the ravages of fire. Should it happen, I'm ready to respond. I won't even mind sleeping on a cot.

Thanks for reading,
Schmoe