Priceless

Two 2007 Triple Combination Pumpers - $760,000

One 2002 Toyota Camry, well involved with a burning puddle of fuel under it $5300

Services of eight trained fire suppression personnel for one hour - $250

Look on Captain Schmoes face when he is told Engine 224's pre-plumbed foam system doesn't work either - Priceless.

Whaddaya gonna do?


For you baseball fans.

When you are watching the game, do you ever wonder who has those seats right behind home plate? You know, the ones whose occupants you see every time the TV camera shows the close-up of the ball hitting the catcher's mitt. Well, one of my co-worker's family has those seats. While watching a play off game yesterday, I see my co-worker watching the game from the absolute front row, two seats from directly behind the plate. His family has had season tickets at this park since the beginning, my co-worker catches several games a year. Even though I've known about this for a while and I like the dude, It still pisses me off!!!!

The Hits Keep Coming

In August, I told you about a local businessman who was suffering through this awful economy. We inspected his business and I wrote about his and many others plight. Schmoe won't play (probably)  Today, we show up to work and find out that a water main had burst yesterday, just outside his roll-up door. The fifty bajillion gallons of water flowed around his building, with several inches of it getting inside and damaging some stock and some equipment. We stopped by today to check on him, he didn't look any less stressed out today than he did in August.

Here is a shot of the broken pipe. The water pressure in this area is really "hot" and this is a looped main. This means that a lot water was coming out of both ends of the break. It uplifted the asphalt a hundred feet away.

This is the last thing this guy needed. I'm glad we stopped by to check on him, I hope that this setback doesn't do him in.

Thanks for reading,

Schmoe

What Would Christopher Do?

"Stay back motherf*&^er" the young man said as he glared down at us from his perch on the rock. "Stay back or I'll jump!" We could see the tension on his face and the blood from superficial slash wounds on his wrists. I wasn't too worried about him jumping, he was only twelve feet or so above us. He would be easier to fight with a broken leg. We took a few steps back and pondered our next move.

I looked over at the deputy, who was on the radio in her cruiser. She mouthed to me that another deputy was only a minute or so out, we would wait for him before taking this on. This worked for me. The pt. was clearly out of control. He had used a broken bottle to slash his wrists and was extremely agitated.

A minute later, the deputy arrived on his shiny KZ-1000P motorcycle. His polished motor-officer boots expertly lowered the sidestand as he glided to a stop. His leg swung over the motorcycle and he strode over to the cruizer, nodding to us as he removed his mirrored ray-bans and secured them in a pouch on his duty belt.

The conference between the deputies was over by the time I walked the twenty feet or so from the squad. The motor deputy sighed, removed his duty rig from his waist and handed it to the first deputy, who secured it in the trunk of the cruiser. I figured this was going to be a wrestling match. Understand, this was before tasers, pepper spray and beanbags. Use of force went from fists to baton to gun, with an occasional sap thrown in.

The motor cop moved a little closer to our customer, who was still perched on his rock, his angst still evident on his face.. "Don't come any closer!" he demanded.

"Look, look just relax dude" the motor said "I just want to talk with you".


"I want to kill myself" was the reply.

Our customer and the motor deputy exchanged words for a few minutes, I didn't detect any progress being made. Obviously I was wrong, as the motor sensed an opening.

"What's your name?" the motor deputy asked.

"My name is Jesus" was the reply.

"No, what do your friends call you?"

"They call me Christ"

"Nooooo, no, what does your mom call you?"

"Oh". "She calls me Christopher"

The door of communication was now ajar. The next few minutes of conversation were irrelevant, but the result was. Christopher hopped down off of his rock, walked toward the motor deputy and gave him a hug.

I was surprised the motor let him do it, I am sure that he was prepared to defend himself if he needed to, but I don't think he felt Christopher was a threat at that point. Christpopher voluntarily agreed to be transported and was not a problem for the trip to the Psyc ward at the K.B. County Hospital.

The motor deputy is now a patrol sergeant, getting ready to retire. I don't see him very often, he works in another community. I ran into him while working an overtime a few weeks back. We laughed about this call, we both still remembered it. Maybe I will tell about it at his retirement dinner. Maybe not. Either way, it is worth a few laughs.


Thanks for reading,.
Schmoe

Casper News

One of the great things about my job, is it gives me great opportunities to meet interesting people and see interesting things. This blog has expanded this even further.

Recently, I met John and Kathy Casper down in Southern California.(Kathy, I hope you spell your name with a K, not a C. if not I apologize) They operate Casper News Service, which provides video to television stations in the greater Los Angeles area. They work together, with Kathy driving and John shooting.

The beauty of modern television distribution allows me to receive Los Angeles stations. I see Casper News Service video all of the time, especially during fire season when major fires are pretty common.

I admire Casper News Service for a couple of reasons. First, I think they get the best shots. Second, I think that any couple who can work together (especially under stressful conditions) without killing each other deserve some props.

Casper News Service has edited some of their footage and put it on You Tube. I thought enough of it to share with you.

Several things impress me about this video. First, there is a lot going on. Second, it shows an entire process, not just a portion of an event and third, this is real drama folks, not network TV.

The video starts with crews arriving and starting a hose lay to pick up the fire, which has crossed a road. Note the wind, and the smoke, which is being blown horizontally.

00:42 - The crew stops to add a length of hose. This entails shutting off the water, clamping off the water supply, removing the nozze from the hose, adding a 100' roll of hose, reattaching the nozzle and restoring the water flow. These wildland crews practice this constantly and do it very well. It is hard to do this under pressure, speed is essential. Wind, flames and topography compound the difficulty

00:48 - Someone does a risk vs. gain analysis, realizes that he fire is not catchable and that the risk factors are increasing. The order to pull out is given and communicated up the line. Notice that they leave the hose. Hose is cheap, firefighters are not.

1:01 - Someone - I presume the supervisor, asks "is that everybody?"

1:18 - You can see the water tender crew (that's a tanker for you east coast readers) loading hose onto thier unit. They appear to be in a hurry.

The urgency of the situation is apparent as you watch the various units pulling out.

2:32 - Kathy calmly drives out as the world begins to turn orange. I like how she feels the window with the palm of her hand. I'll bet it was a little warm.

2:40 - John continues to shoot out the back window as they drive down the road.

Great footage on this one. It gives you a sence of how a day at the office can be for both firefighters and news crews.

The title for this pretty much says it all for me. These are some of the points that I related to you an earlier post: "Should I Stay or Should I go?"

This video opens with some great shots of an officer running to size up the situation, of a USFS Chief Officer evacuating a woman who for whatever reason was still at the house and of a retardant drop near the structure.

00:31 - A resident leaves in his motorhome. Time is now an issue, time issues cause people to make poor decisions.

00:41 - As a Redlands F.D.Battalion Chief talks with a resident, several other residents can be seen running around in shorts, at least one of whom is using a garden hose to combat the fire. Again folks, if you're gonna stay, be prepared and dressed appropriately. Shorts and/or flippy-flops are not gonna cut it!!.

1:25 - A SEAT (Single Engine Air Tanker) streaks by. Don't blink, youll miss it!!

1:30 - Horses are being evacuated. Large animals present a problem for us, again, be ready and have a plan for getting them out.

3:20 - As this car prepares to leave, note the decreasing visibility. It gets much worse than this at times.

3:58- The best lines of the video. A kid asks "Mom! Where do I go?" Her reply- "I don't know!" 'Nuff said about that..

Another great video from Casper News.

And lastly, this excellent shot of a retardant drop:

I have been dropped on before, this video captures the experience perfectly. The noise of the tanker, the sound absorbing qualities of the retardant as it falls through the air and the sound that it makes as it rains down onto the ground. I could almost feel the coolness of the retardant as it hits your skin

I am sure there was a car washing party at the Caspers that night!

Thanks to the Caspers for letting me post their videos and thanks to you for reading.

Schmoe.