PaulBalentine

Really touching story, guys, it brought a tear to my eye.......GREAT JOB, BROTHERS!!!! This job isn't just about fighting fires anymore. We do much more than that. The HFD and its officers and members are to be commended for their great work. People especially the young man, DO NOT soon forget your act of extreme kindness, additionally it makes the fire service as a whole look great!!!!!!!

This rig served Pelham, NH for a very short time, It was left lettered as Pelham, NY.....It is lettered as Ladder 2 so Pelham just ran it as that. I don't think it would fit in their firehouse so it sat outside the whole time it was there. I don't know if it ever really entered service in Pelham, NH. My career FD (Salem, NH Fire Department) responds with our Ladder Co. as an auto-aid piece to Pelham, even when they had this they were calling us for certain responses.

Check out these links in reference to a CO2 leak at several McDonald's restaurants 1 resulted in a close call for Phoenix firefighters and another one about a month or so later resulted in a civilian fatality. Kudos to the Phoenix FD for being proactive in getting this information out to the rest of us. This was ery eye opening. <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/eY__H-CMvw0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/XZmyjkhs3T4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

In anybody's eyes, it is a bad situation all around........Those of us in the public sector (police, fire, ems, what have you) can't afford any bad press!!!!!!

sweet looking rig!!!! I am a diehard traditionalist, like many of you here, (leather helmets, gamewell boxes, and RED firetrucks) BUT!!! I have always liked the look of the New Haven Rigs, and this one is no exception. Good luck with it, brothers, Pierce is the Cadillac of fire apparatus!!!!

I was one of them!!!!!!

COULDN'T AGREE MORE!!!!! Those who are not using smoothbore nozzles or have not used them in actual fire conditions should try them out before knocking them. My Volley dept. runs SB nozzles on 1 of our 2 crosslays (the "blue" line) and our 300' "apartment line" off the rear of our rigs (the "orange" line) that is just for our 1 3/4" on our 2 1/2" preconnects we run a triple stacked tip "playpipe" (1" 1 1/8" and 1 1/4") We have been running some SB nozzles for about 7 or 8 years and have had great success with it.....The chief (my father) wasn't a huge SB fan because he came on in 1972, the beginning of the end of the SB nozzle hey-day. He like many old timers you all have described had MANY reservations and mis-conceptions about the SB nozzle. I tried all the angles, including flow tests etc.....Finally what worked was when I told him that WE were the ones using it and WE liked it. HE wasn't going to use them so HE didn't have to like them. He just had to give me the OK to order them, which he finally did......now our rigs are all standardized, and the FF (the end-user) has a choice on the fireground whether they want the "blue line" (SB) or the "yellow line" (adjustable gallonage foz nozzle) It's been my experience that 8 times out of 10 the guys are pulling the SB (blue line) on the fireground. It has really taken hold here. I have done much research and worked all the angles.....I think the reach argument is crap. I don't need 100' of reach.... 25' is sufficient inside a fire....the SB nozzle WILL hydraulic vent (not as great as the fog nozzle, but, you don't buy a nozzle based on your ventilation concerns) I think where the battle is won and lost is in the nozzle reaction. with a fog nozzle when the NR gets to be too great what do we do??? GATE IT BACK!!!! what happens now is you have restricted your discharge orifice now compromising GPM's which overcome BTU's as we all know. With a SB nozzle you have much less NR so the nozzle is less apt to be gated down thus leaving you more GPM's available to fight the fire. There are pros and cons to every nozzle, thus there are room for all in our "toolbox" the SB nozzle wont "do it all" but if I am going into a structure fire, I will be sure to have selected the "blue line" on my rig!!!!!!! below are links to my Volley dept. web page a couple stories relating to our nozzle standardization project and our standardization of colors for our hose loads. take a look at them and tell me what you think...... http://www.yorkvillagefire.com/news/fullstory/newsid/127739 one more: http://www.yorkvillagefire.com/news/fullstory/newsid/142514 Try this at your next training burn (or actual 1-room fire). Somebody called "tried but true" ( That means it worked for a very long time). Engine company: Stretch 1 3/4 with SB to the fire room and control the door. Keep it closed if possible. Ladder Company or the company performing vent: Find the window showing fire behind it and vent same. Engine Company: You will hear the glass break. Open the door, let the fire "light," bang your stream off the ceiling for a few seconds then hit the seat of the fire. I Said nothing but "try it". If you like it, use it. Oh, by the way, if you all have radios, the Engine guys don't have to listen for breaking glass

Tim and Rob, SO GREAT TO MEET YOU GUYS THE OTHER DAY!!!!! It was well worth the trip down, I am still in awe of the whole Gamewell experience!!!!!! It was almost as good as Disney!!! It would have been better if we could have filled our trunks, though.......I am also glad you guys turned me on to this website, there's alot of stuff on this site, I can't wait to have more time to explore. So far, I am looking around in between chasing my older son around!!!!! BTW the video on youtube above this post is Brian Owen's collection in his early days (the guy from Connecticut) He has since made improvements to his collection and it is very presentable as you will see in subsequent videos that he has uploaded. Stay safe and keep in touch!!!!

Hello all, My name is Paul Balentine (obviously) I am a Captain in the York Village Fire Dept. (York, Maine) I am also a paid FF in a career FD in Salem, NH (45 minutes away from York) I am a fourth generation firefighter in York, my father and grandfather are still members of the YVFD. I grew up in the fire service and have always wanted to be a firefighter. I don't really have any hobbies outside the fire service. I enjoy collecting fire service memoribilia, of pretty much all types. I always enjoy learning different aspects of the job, as no two calls are the same. I am also very passionate about teaching and passing on my experience on to others in the fire service. Otherwise, I am married and have two young sons, who I hope will carry on the family tradition one day!!!!! Please check out my Fire Department's website at http://www.yorkvillagefire.com