Update is posted as a regular reply to thread (presently at bottom of pg.1) for the maintenance of continuity.

No, they didn't save my house from burning down, or rescue my kitten from a tree.  What I saw them doing was more rote/routine than heroics, but it just got me to thinking.

I've been off the arfcom radar for about a week, and I just got back from a real long weekend (had to trip on up into/thru the Panhandle), so I'm really tired and just wanna hit the hay, but I just wanted to say a big "Thank you" to all our fire guys.

As you all probably know, it's been just as dry up here as it has been in the rest of the state.  We just had over 100 consecutive days of "no measureable precipitation" until about 10 days ago when we had a 1/4 of an inch.  None since then, though.

Anyway, I was somewhere between Lubbock and Amarillo when I started noticing all these burn patches real close to the road (the grass fires have become so common, a lot of 'em don't get reported on the news anymore; or, if it's on the news at six, it'll have already come out of the 'news' cycle by the 10 o'clock news).

I'm not FD/VFD, so I don't know if any of them were of the controlled burn variety (for example, close to the road to help keep fires from jumping to the other side) or otherwise.  I see smoke on the horizon and, a few minutes later, come upon one that's still smouldering.  There's a small tanker or pumper truck and two guys hosing down some hot spots that are flaring up.  All up and down the side of the road for at least the next mile there are FD units of assorted vehicle types.  One dude took off his fire coat and had short sleeves on underneath.

And it's cold outside.  Real friggin' cold.  (Granted, not for the ones in full gear; for them, it's HOT).  I don't know how cold, but when I got into Dumas (about 60 mi N of Amarillo), the wind chill was 3 degrees.  Fire and ice, baby..... fire and ice.

Thanks a lot guys (and gals).


P.S. Off-topic, but does anyone remember the TXHTF thread from about a month ago where someone posted a link to a vid of an aerial course of fire (IIRC, it was at Tiger Valley)?

Quoted: FWIW, 2/3rds of all the firefighters in the US are non-paid, volunteers.   TRG

......and even the fulltime paid professionals don't make as much as they should.

Agreed, my previous post does indeed sound a little funny after having gone back and read it again.

When I (mis)used the term "professional", it was intended to mean those who derive their primary [although not often sole] income from being a FF as an occupational career to support their families, just like all other public servants; it was by no means intended to imply that volunteers are any less trained or competent.  We live in a VFD coverage area, and sleep well at night knowing that.

Most of the fires by roads are from cig's thrown out the window. use a half full water bottle for an ash tray.

and your welcome

FireBlade
Callisburg Volunteer Fire Department
Cooke County, Texas

Quoted:
Ahhh yes...The Canton, TX Foundation Savers.

that is funny

FireBlade

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: FWIW, 2/3rds of all the firefighters in the US are non-paid, volunteers.   TRG ......and even the fulltime paid professionals don't make as much as they should. Like educating, most people do not do it for the money. TRG PS.  Some of the volunteers that I work with are the most professional I have ever met. www.cantonfiredepartment.com

So true!   I maintain a professional attitude at my dept even though not all the other vollies do.  Every dept paid or unpaid has its misfits though.   Interestingly the majority of paid ff's really dont respect vollies (or atleast thats how it is down here).   Sad way to think of their brothers in arms but oh well.   Paid or unpaid, I thank you as I have been thanked



Citabria7GCBC
Cy-Fair Vol. Fire dept

Updated:

70 local/area firefighters, approx. 2 hrs.

Details still sketchy at the moment, but apparently in the early afternoon today in Lubbock, a propane station underwent multiple explosions.  The station serves mostly as a storage facility for those little bottles you can trade in at convenience stores, so they had thousands of those little buggers on hand.  They also have an 18k gallon tank, and run the gamut in between, including many service trucks.

Wylie Propane or Wylie Natural Gas or Wylie [insert reference to God's Gas here] is the name of the place.

Erm................. move that zoom over to the left a bit.

What is that container IN FRONT of the firefighter's face?!?

Updated again:

"The Lubbock Fire Department will allow all evacuated residents back into their homes at 11:30 p.m. Business owners are also asked to come secure their businesses at that time. I-27 and Loop 289 will also reopen at 11:30 p.m. tonight.

We will have the latest on this developing news story on Daybreak Today, NewsChannel 11 at noon, 5, 6 and 10."

I didnt know TRG was a brother FF!     I knew TxRdnck was.   ILL do you dabble where the devil lives too?