The Ripening of Squad 6

One of the biggest tasks in the Engine 17 project is getting her painted red again, or "ripened", from the lime-yellow coat she currently wears.

While that major task awaits, the other unit at my place was successfully ripened today.

As a result of a consolidation of fire protection agencies, the older apparatus in the district still bore markings from the two previous agencies that came together to form a new one. Squad 6 was one of them.


In every other case, the contractor was able to simply remove the old markings and apply new ones, in some cases extending a white stripe on the door with stock decal material. Squad 6 was the only unit, in the 22-vehicle fleet of various colors, that was white with a painted lime-yellow stripe, and the contractor had no stock lime-yellow that would match.

Solution? Cover the entire stripe with a new color. Hey, how about red?

She looks nice with her new stripe, doesn't she?

17 Gets a Visitor

I am having a heck of a time finding the time to get work done on 17, as the best days of the season slip by with so many other things going on. Hence, the sparse updates, precisely when I hoped to have the most going on.

Disappointingly, of the four or five SPAAMFAA and collector's auto meet events coming up this summer in the area that I would have liked to have attended with 17, every single one is scheduled on a day that I am scheduled to work. What a serious drag! I haven't ruled out arranging the time off, but vacation time is precious, you know. Still, drats!

I still take 17 out every few weeks, though. And she received a visitor a few days ago when Engine 3 made a courtesy call up here to Station 6.

Other apparatus at the house

One of the other district units was up at Station 6 for a practice drill a few days ago, and the event highlighted the strange, warped perspective my young boys have adopted from living in a fire station.

Tender 4 (Tanker 4 for those not on the left coast) arrived, driving past the large living room windows, in clear view of where the 3-year-old and 6-year-old were playing Wii Fit. The big, shiny red truck passed right through their field of vision, just six feet outside the windows, and they didn't even bat an eye. Kept right on playing.

About twenty minutes later, a locksmith showed up for an appointment in his nondescript white van.

Both boys dropped what they were doing and came outside to see what the white van was all about.

Huh?

Two little boys oblivious to a fire truck in their own driveway, but who get wound up when a plain white van pulls in?

Squad 6 in quarters, Tender 4 visiting,
and the exciting locksmith van.

That's just bizarre. I guess they've acclimated.

On a slightly unrelated note, I apologize, but this slipped my mind when I discussed the other fire truck at my house.

There is another vehicle owned by the fire district that lives at Station 6 where we live, but it only gets used seasonally, and even then gets virtually no public exposure whatsoever. It does have a warning light on it, and has unit ID markings. A strike against it is its nontraditional green color. One of the things I like about it is its throwback open cab configuration, but it has a hard time getting up to any kind of respectable speed, and is a seriously rough ride. Sadly, it has virtually no storage space, and is really only good for one specific function.

What do we call it?

Lawn Mower 6.

The rabbits and moles on the big lawn may or may not
appreciate being warned out the way, when
Lawn Mower 6 responds Code 2 to staff the Squad.

Chief can't help it

Seeing as how we live in a county-owned home that serves as a fire station, we are subject to the occasional inspection to verify we're not tearing up taxpayer-owned property, just as the dorm-room dweller resident firefighters at the traditional fire stations have to allow periodic inspections of their rooms. Essentially, the Chief comes through to see that we are not putting holes in the walls like rock stars at a hotel, and are maintaining the fixtures, keeping the gutters clean, etc.

Chief came by for the regular inspection yesterday, and we had the place shined up pretty nice just as anyone does anywhere when the Chief is coming. After we finished the walk through and he had notes on what needed attention or repair, we were outside and the inevitable question came.

"So, can I see your pumper?"

He hadn't yet seen it in person over the past six months.

Of course, Chief. Right this way.

Roles reversed, I would have asked the same thing. Any of us would. No one is immune!

The Other Fire Truck at my House

I've alluded to the other rig at my house, but it was pointed out to me that I never really elaborated on it. Since we are in the winter offseason, here's some more filler content disguised as a useful blog post.

I have served on four fire departments as I have moved around the country (five agencies if you count my two years concurrently serving as a wildland firefighter with the State of Minnesota). I've been in the job since 1993, but have been a probie four times. Hopefully never again, as it gets old starting over, and I'm not very good at keeping my mouth shut about "at the other place we ...", and even I hate it when other guys do that.

I joined a mid-sized county fire protection district, upon the return of my family to the Pacific Northwest. It is a primarily volunteer fire department, but there are a handful of career members and several part-timers, who help fill the gaps when volunteers and live-in residents are not available.

Last year, the fire district opened a new "satellite" station, the district's sixth fire station. The new location filled in the last major coverage hole in the district. It's not like we have career guys ready to staff the place, but the district wanted something more than a shed on the corner for a few apparatus to sit in. Besides, the district recently experienced the difficulty of selling old fire stations after a new headquarters was built and another station was overlapped by a city annexation. It's hard to sell an old fire station. In fact, we ended up keeping the overlapped station (for now), as it didn't sell and is now being used for other purposes.

So, instead of just building a 'shed' that required duty crews to go check on the rigs, maintain the building, and mow the grass at least weekly, the district bought an existing home in the right location and intends to put up a two-bay building for the apparatus by the house. In the future, should district/station reconfiguration happen again, selling an existing house with a big garage will be comparatively easy. And as long as there is a house, the district realized that a live-in resident firefighter can do all the rig checks, grounds maintenance, building maintenance, deter vandalism and theft... and when home, run a few calls to boot. Saves the district a bundle on the hourly costs of sending duty crews to do the work when they could be doing other useful things.

I applied for the resident position, and was blessed to be selected. So I live, with my family, in Fire Station 6. I don't pay rent, but I earn my keep by doing all the above mentioned tasks, and running calls when I'm home. It's a lot of work, but it's worth it to me. I still have a full-time job, which is also true for most of the other resident firefighters living in dorm rooms in some of the other stations. When we're around, we help, and if not, the next closest staffed station and nearby volunteers pick up the slack.

The building is not yet completed, so for now I am assigned just an EMS/brush 'rescue squad' kind of mini-pumper vehicle (Squad 6) which fits in the existing space at the station. When the planned building is completed, Squad 6 will tentatively be joined by an engine, though exact plans are still up in the air on exactly what the district will do for Engine 6 as yet.

I had a moment to snap a picture of Squad 6 while out on a traffic accident today. This is my 'take home' vehicle. It's my baby. I absolutely LOVE this little truck, it can do a lot and fill many roles comparative to its small size.


Thus, Engine 17 was actually the second fire apparatus to live at my house.... at Station 6. But to be absolutely clear, Engine 17 is not in service and will never be utilized as a district apparatus. It is not certified for that use, is too old to be accredited by a fire insurance company, is not equipped, and I would almost for sure be asked to pack my belongings if I tried that stunt anyway! Necessarily, I talked with the neighbors (all really great people) so they understand that the old American LaFrance fire engine is not a district rig, not in service, and not coming to their fire, so please don't get angry at the district when it doesn't show up.

So, that's the story.

Thanks for reading.

More Pictures

We had a back-to-school party for many of our friends today, had a lot of folks over. I don't need much of an excuse to bring out Engine 2. Lots of fire engine rides today. Here's Engine 2 parked as the teenagers were playing some improv games.


While the camera was out, though, I documented the evidence of The First Krang. Still angry with myself for this..... the pedestal behind the bumper is where the Q2B siren used to be... and will be again eventually.


Here is the first front picture of Engine 2 since I removed the '1312' from the front and sides... though you can see where it was. Oddly enough, while testing equipment to see what still works, I found that the officer's side spotlight is on the same circuit as the 'wag-wag' (high beam flasher). Dude... that is just strange. Only one of the air horns is making noise. Lots of projects await.


The sealed holes on either side of the red light indicate that at some point after leaving Tacoma, Engine 2 had a full-size lightbar installed, and then removed. If I had to guess, I'd say GCFD5 put the bar on, and then removed it when it was sold to GCFD13. But that's just a guess. In any case, those and the other holes should be prettied up a bit when Engine 2 gets red again.


An unpleasant rusty square and a plumbing cap remains where the Stang water cannon used to be mounted. Could be tricky to replace that. I am not sure why so little of the booster hose remains, either. There isn't enough to be useful.... but there is still a dinky nozzle on it.

Officer's side panel... missing caps.

The hose bed's oak tray, used to hold the hose up and allow air circulation, is long gone, but you can see where its base rails used to lay.

Compartment interiors are in great condition for a 40-year-old engine.

Pump panel, more missing caps. Several of the gauges are not original, but it is the main pressure gauge with the white background that is most obvious. There's a few more things missing that aren't obvious from this far away. Projects... lots of them. The oak trays in those crosslays on the upper left are still there, though.

Ah yes.... the original red color is obvious inside the cab.

More later when there is more to talk about.