Task Force 7

R.I.P. Lt. My thoughts and prayers are with your family and with the members of Dallas Fire Rescue.

WOW!! You've been very busy running all over the good Ol' USA! Great job as always on all the photos, Jimmy.

As a Texas Rangers fan for 34 years now, I've learned that I have to hate the Yankees!! However Jeter is the only Yankees player past or present that I like. So out of respect for him I congratulate Derek Jeter on his milestone!! NOW LETS GO RANGERS!!!

Here are a few shots I took while in Houston on Friday 7-1-11.

Great job, Seth!! So did you wait in that 4+ hour line for a burger?

Nice shots, Eli! I like all the fire rigs, I'm not a fan of that new International rig from Boston EMS.

When I volunteered for Westworth Village here on the Westside of Fort Worth, if we ever had a plane go down in the Village our FD may not of had the equipment to handle it ourselves. However we would have automatic aid from the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth Fire Dept. which has 3 ARFF units, a Engine, and a Quint. The main gate onto the base is in Westworth Village. We could also have Lockheed Martin Fire Dept. respond mutual aid if needed.

Nice shots, Seth!! I also love the shot of the STARFLIGHT refilling with water.

Even at 6'7" tall, I'd prefer the hose bed on the right!! If I can't reach the hose with my feet firmly planted on the ground (that does not mean rear step) then it's too high.

When I first volunteered in 1990 we had just bought all new PPE. The bunker gear was made by Globe and was yellow pants with orange reflective stripes around the bottom. The pants came up to your waist and had the red suspenders. The jacket was also yellow with orange stripes around the cuffs around the bottom of the jacket and about at chest level. The jacket would come down past your waist, but stop a few inches above the knees. The helmet was a Cairns Metro. The SCBA was MSA with the elephant hose. We still had a few steel bottles, but we tried to keep those as replacement bottles. Just before I left in 1993 we switched to the SCOTT SCBA, and were switchimg to the new Globe PBI gear and black Cairns 1010 helmets. Our Engine was a 1976 ALF Pioneer, and our Quint was a 1985 Pierce Arrow with a 75' aerial which they just replaced last August (2010).

Here are some of the E-Ones that I have pictures of. East Saint Louis, Illinois Tallahassee, Florida Elgin, Oklahoma Elgin, Oklahoma Haslet, Texas North Richland Hills, Texas Norton, Ohio Barberton, Ohio

Yes, they would have been there as a mutual aid company. It's in the N.W. part of Austin. I believe this was an area that was, or still is unincorporated. The Jollyville Fire Department provides fire protection and rescue services for approximately 24,000 people living in an area of 10 square miles. The department operates out of one station that functions in a primarily residential area. Jollyville residents have an ISO rating of 2 and a State Farm Insurance rating of 2. The department enjoys 8 pieces of state of the art apparatus and responds to an average of 3-4 calls per day, maintaining on average a 2-3 minute response time. The membership has grown to include 19 volunteers and 18 paid firefighters. The paid firefighters staff 2 engine companies, 24 hours a day. http://www.jvfd.org/ Seth, Great job on the photos!!

I saw this on the News this morning, and then on the Today Show. I can't believe it. This town is where I always stop to grab a bite to eat, fill-up, or even stay overnight on my way to, or from Milwaukee. My prayers go out to all the people of this town!

Joe, Great job on all the photos!! I love the new Rescue 5!

Great job with the photos, Seth. Yes, we know what a Roto-Ray is here in Texas. I know Grapevine, McKinney, Sherman and Fairview have them.

I like the looks of these new Medics! Great job, Seth. BTW... you say we, do you work for ATCEMS?

I was driving through Trophy Club, Texas yesterday when I happened to see that the Circus had set up shop in the parking lot of the Country Club. Curious to know what it was, I pulled in and parked. It happened to be Trophy Club's fire station. They have a Engine, Brush Truck, Medic, and Quint parked inside. There's a mobile home set up next to the tent for their living quarters. The reason for this is because they tore down the old station to build this new station on the same lot as the old one. This new station is set to open this Summer.

What is the purpose of a Fire Dept. Parade? Being from Texas, I have never ever been to one. We may have a few fire trucks in a July 4th parade, or Christmas parade. Otherwise we don't have such things like that down here. The only time you would see several dozen firetrucks driving down the road together would be for a firefighter funeral. So I'm just curious because I know they seem to be a common practice up in PA, NJ,and NY.

Haltom City, Texas, has a fire station like that. Set up in a water tower. It's home to Engine 473, and I believe Engine 475 (a reserve). It has two bay doors, and I don't think they have a water slide in it though.

Better yet can the artist who painted this grafitti use the U.T. Longhorns logo and slogan?

That was pretty cool!!

Every Fire Dept. I've ever been with was this way. You started out as a Probie, then became a FF, then a Engineer (Apparatus Operator), then LT, and so on. Most depts. around here you don't drive if you're not assigned to do so, and you have to test to do so. It is a promotion. There's also FF's who are trained as back-up, to fill in if the Engineer is off, or if the Engineer is filling in for the Officer who may be off. When I Volunteered it was the same way. If I got to the station first, I had to wait until someone who was licensed to drive showed up. Yes, we had Engineers.

On Saturday I had the honor to go on a photo tour with several guys from around the country here in the Dallas Fort Worth area. Here are some of the photos that I took. Coppell, TX. Truck 123 Coppell, TX. Rescue 122 Coppell, TX. Engine 122 Squad 121 Coppell, TX. Reserve Truck

Ladder Tender 9 has a 250/250 pump/tank. This is the only Ladder Tender in all of Fort Worth. It was bought back around 2000 because Station 8 was in it's original 1950 era house, and their 1980 something ALF Century ladder failed it's ladder inspection. So the firefighters were not able to use the aerial. At least not climb on it. Since the Sutphen Quints that Fort Worth had in reserve at the time were too big to fit into Station 8, they needed something to use while they drew up specs for a new aerial. Fort Worth purchased this Ladder Tender and assigned it to Station 8. When Truck 8 received their new ALF Midmount aerial/tower which just cleared the top of the bay door they kept the LT as a back-up piece. When Station 8 moved into their new house a few years ago they relocated the LT to Station 9. The LT really now is used as a Rescue more than it is use to keep wear and tear off the Quint.

Here are the logos. The Lewisville ones were actually on the side of the rigs. Of course the Coppell one is painted on the wall inside the bays.