JBE

And finally, 10-84 and 10-9 at Queens Box 1782. A big thank you to the following Departments, Clark County, Fort Lauderdale, LA County, Las Vegas Fire/Rescue, Miami-Dade, Miami Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Port St. Lucie. An even bigger thank you to FF Martin for his help, even if I did pay for dinner. Mark Carr for hooking me up with PBG and to the Coral Gables and Palm Beach Gardens PD's for being good sports and allowing me to continue a tradition I started with the NYPD in 1991 in front of the Hard Rock Cafe. And to Teena, our waitress at Denny's. Hey honey, I said heavy on the lemon, not morbidly obese. (Two lemons worth of slices ringing the top of my Diet Coke) I hope you enjoy my little trip as much as I enjoyed sharing it. As always, if you want copies of these pictures, PM me. I don't want to have to start watermarking this stuff.

I guess they don't want to put a Welcome to NY sign off the Outerbridge Crossing, so I suppose this will have to do.

My grandfather (RIP) got me a patch from Palm Beach Gardens many years ago, so I decided to check them out on the way home. Now, I have never been big on the lime rigs, and that's because no matter what color they are, someone will crash it, or into it. But, in Palm Beach Gardens there is one saving grace, and it isn't the Roto-Rays, either. EVERYBODY has a Q, including the chiefs!!! Here's Engine 2. They are called a Rescue Engine, so I am presuming they are a little like the Squads here. Truck 1. My next stop was Port St. Lucie, Spring Training home of my beloved Mets. This is Station 14, first in to where the Mets play. It's a Quint, a Foam Truck, Safety Chief, and Special Operations 14, the Technical Rescue Team. Quint 14. I got this shot of the Safety Chief over at Tradition Field, and took in a Mets game while I was there. After all of this I figured it was time to head back to chilly, windy New York City. Here's my diary of each state as I passed through.

Miami Beach Engine 4, and a spare TL which saw service as Truck 3. We headed over to the shops and Station 1, and found Engine and Truck 1. Lots of construction going on over there, so it was a little crowded. We returned to Fort Lauderdale and stopped by Station 13. The house is scuba trained, as shown by Ladder 13's dive flag. Lucky for us, Engine 29 was heading by as well. Last stop in Lauderdale, Engine 49. They run the fireboat out of here, so it was a treat to get a shot of that. I bid FF Martin adieu and called it a night after another trip to Denny's. The next morning I decided to head back home and make a couple of stops on the way. Palm Beach Gardens and Port St. Lucie.

OK, let's see if I can fit this all into one post. Miami-Dade Station 8. They run Engine and Rescue 8, and Engine 63, a Haz Mat Tech Engine. Engine 63's patch and grill. Next up, Engine 58 on the Tamiami Trail. This station, according to FF Martin, is near where that ValuJet went down a number of years ago. Now, it's off to Miami Beach.

From the Brooklyn Dispatchers office to Fort Lauderdale in just over 18 hours, and I was still picking up WCBS AM as far south as Jacksonville. About a gallon of Gatorade, Pepsi, and a ton of Aspirin later(rassum frassum sinus headaches), I arrived in Florida to get a little taste of what FF Martin calls "The death march". First stop Fort Lauderdale Station 2. They run Engines 2, 8, Ladder 2, Rescues 2 and 8. The houses were combined, and this place is HUGE. For those of you who know him, there's FF Martin wandering into my shot!!! Engine 2. Ladder 2. We then headed over to the Broward County Shops. Not much to shoot except for Old Puff. This was a foam rig stationed over at Port Everglades. I've been in PE a few times back when I was in the CG. Puff was recently retired after over 30 years of service. Next stop, Miami Dade. For all you Lime Green fans out there, get your drool rags ready!!!

I drove up to Clark County Station 18. These guys protect most of the strip. They run two engines, a truck and three buses, and a Battalion. Here's Engine 66, which just happened to be there for a meeting with the Battalion. Engines 18 and 218. Truck and Rescue 18. Here's something that confuses me. Why have such a big bus, if you don't transport?? Next stop, LVFR Station 1. This building also houses the dispatch office and admin offices. They are looking for dispatchers, $40,000 to start with the opportunity to hit 6 figures with OT. Supervising Dispatchers top out at $106,000. Station 1 runs two engines, a truck, three buses and I believe Mask Service. This is Engine 201, which I shot for a Code 3 re decal job I am working on. Rescue 201. After 2100 the ambulances are turned out by phone. How nice. After returning to NY last Monday, I took my sister home and got myself ready for the next trip. This time solo, and on the road. It's off to Florida for me.

I ran upstairs and headed over to FCCF(Fire Command and Control Facility) and shot the breeze with a few of my pals there. I was somewhat dismayed to find out that if I had taken the job with LA, I would have started last week. But hey, the pay cut and cost of living weren't as enticing as I wanted. Here's me and Supervising Dispatcher Al Jackson. As you can see, our work attire differs quite a bit. This is Bernard Peters. He's working the north end of the county, one of those areas being Battalion 6. Battalion 6 is one of X635's favorite destinations. In NYC, when the computer crashes, we use plastic chips to track units and incidents. It's called the status board. Here is the LA County equivalent. Battalion 1 covers West Hollywood, Universal Studios(FS51) Marina Del Rey(FS110) and two other stations. Battalion 7 covers Carson, which borders Long Beach. We bid adieu to LA and headed back to Vegas. A little more than 4 hours in the car, gotta love driving through the desert and 70 MPH Speed limits. I rested up and left my wife to the casinos and it was off to the races for me. First stop, Clark County Station 11. They cover the south end of the Strip and the famous Welcome to Las Vegas sign.(It's actually about 300 feet diagonal of the firehouse) Here's Engine 11. Truck 11, driving a spare. Next stop, Clark County Station 18.

The monitors are in Da Bronx and SI that I know of. I do not know how many units are online with the system. It is not integrated into the present CAD system, and ATT there are no plans to integrate it into any future CAD systems.

I got mine the other day and I had a question for you Somers guys. I think I remember seeing this rig at the Amawalk Firehouse back in the early 80's. Am I correct?? Also, was there another similar looking rig, either white or lime green in that house as well, or was it an old Ambulance?? Thanx in advance. PS, AWESOME LOOKING PIECE!!!!

OK, like I said, this was years ago and many of my memories of that time are kinda shoddy. Thanx.

We don't give 65-2's when we go to FB3. It's just announced, usually followed with the section in the communications manual to refer to. 65-2 messages are Department messages that cover a number of different things. Examples, Bad weather safety precatuions, Non-LODD of a member, uniformed and civilian. Certain special events, stuff like that. There are a lot of them that are just teleprinter only.

This is a tough one to take. Rich was my mentor in my early days with LCFD. As time went on, he became a friend, and a father figure. Always knew it was gonna be a fun ride in the back of 17-7-1 when he was on board. God Bless you, my old friend. May the original SSgt. DADBO RIP.

The shops are a pretty cool place to visit. Not sure about pictures though. As far as 89/50 are concerned. It is a very tight fit for both companies. If memory serves me right, when 50 Truck had the 95 footer, 89 Engine would back in practically to the back wall of the apparatus floor. Not too sure if they still do that. I haven't lived in the neighborhood or been in the house in a few years. My own feeling would have been for the city to buy that lot on Bruckner and Crosby where the A&P used to be(or whatever it is now), knock that down and put a new house there with the apron facing Crosby. It would probably cut down on some of 89/50's response times. Definitely would be easier to get out onto Tremont than having to loop around every time they go out the door.

Because I know how much he likes them....

I got mine yesterday and had the wife figure it out. I suck at math, always did. I figure with the residency and military, I did pretty good.

This is a book released just recently by Dan Alfonso, a longtime FDNY buff, Dispatcher, and now Firefighter. Although it hasn't made its way into my home, I highly recommend it. He's taken some awesome pictures over the years. Not to mention he is a good friend of mine and one of the better known younger fire photographers here in NYC. http://www.lulu.com/content/508078

At least I'm not the only one who thought it was a bit expensive. Believe me, I let him know.

A weather event??? How does one purchase tickets for that?? Ticketmaster have any?? Is it sold out??

Oh. it gets better... FORT LEWIS, Wash. - The judge overseeing the court-martial of an Army lieutenant who refused to deploy to Iraq declared a mistrial Wednesday, saying the soldier did not fully understand a document he signed admitting to elements of the charges. First Lt. Ehren Watada was fighting charges of conduct unbecoming an officer and missing movement for refusing to leave last June with his unit, the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. How could he not fully understand the charges against him???

As far as officers go, he isn't a high rank. He's an O-2, O-7 being a one star General. He went OCS. Looks like he wants the publicity. Just hope he realizes it's going to be used by the bad guys against our troops who are fighting.

I think he has his right to be against the war, but the only thing he does is demoralizes troops that are already demoralized by either the press, or protestors. If you agree with the war or not, those troops put themselves in harms way, and should be thanked for their service. If he didn't want to go to war, maybe he could have gone into a military specialty that didn't involve being the commander of an armored vehicle. Jail term or not, I think it is safe to say that many troops will look at him as a coward. I enlisted in the Coast Guard fifteen years ago next week, I joined with the intent of saving lives at sea, but knew full well I could have been called upon to fight, and die for my country. I spent my first two years on a warship. Or as my brother would say it was only a peg and a half on the Battleship board. But I knew what was required of me and went in with my eyes open. This guy dishonors anyone and everyone who puts on a uniform.

I know one thing is for sure, I was in front of the Brewster Main Station just as the tone test was starting one Sundy morning, and never heard a thing on my scanner. I was no more than a few miles from P-911. Either the signal stinks or my scanner is crap.

Oh believe me, we get false alarms via cell phones quite often. It's mostly when they can't pinpoint the location and they go to the nearest cell phone tower. 911 only Cell Phones are no picnic either.

Nice shots Duane. Got a few stops on my agenda for next month.