maiden voyage that pisses me off

[joes mack]

our new to us mack got to go on her maiden voyage today. this drug head that lives less than a mile from the fire house decided to burn his house today at 10:40 this morning while fighting the house fire one of the members looked across the highway and saw one of the oldest churches in harlan county burning ( aparently he wasnt done ) so we had to split the few firefighters we had up and fight both fires until mutual aid showed up there were 5 departments at both scenes. the house is a total loss the church has major dammage but it is being investigated to determine its fate. and the prick has been caught.

[Rob]

our new to us mack got to go on her maiden voyage today. this drug head that lives less than a mile from the fire house decided to burn his house today at 10:40 this morning while fighting the house fire one of the members looked across the highway and saw one of the oldest churches in harlan county burning ( aparently he wasnt done ) so we had to split the few firefighters we had up and fight both fires until mutual aid showed up there were 5 departments at both scenes. the house is a total loss the church has major dammage but it is being investigated to determine its fate. and the prick has been caught.

I vote that he be drawn and quartered after a fair trial and conviction.

Rob

[joes mack]

i say pour diesel on him and light it

[hatcity]

And how did the "new" pumper function?

[joes mack]

great

[hatcity]

great-thats all.

C'mon, you got more of a story to tell than that

[billythekid]

Some people are some sick bastard's Wacko's! lol good thing they caught the maniac anyhow.

[joes mack]

you couldnt ask for much better it pumped for nearly 4 hours non stop then short break less than 5 min and then for another 4 to 4 1/2 with no problems except when the tankers were slow getting back. the fire hyd broke that was close to the house so they had to use tankers all total 4 tankers and three pumpers. our mack and its sister were working together again.

[bulldogboy]

Wow, that was quite a baptism by fire. Sounds like the Mack performed well but those of us who have used Mack fire apparatus knew

that it would. Good job by your department and mutual aid departments.

bulldogboy

[joes mack]

thanks thats only the 3rd time since the dept started in 84 that we have had to get help from the big city dept (ladder truck for the church) but the other 3 depts we work with quiet often actually roll on page with 2 of them because of limited manpower and resources. (small departments) but its also nice to know that if you need a fire dept to give mut ade that most will roll but we have a few in the county that could care less if you need help or not. i will say that 13 of 16 will be there when you need help and the other 3 wont help if its a 100yards out of there jurisdiction and they have more trucks than needed to cover there own area if needed by another dept.

[41chevy]

Glad the pumper worked and nobody was injured or died. As for the druggie....I can't say what I feel for them, but an appropriate punishment since he enjoys fire is a thermo bar and a MAP gas torch. 8000 degrees should cure him of his arson desires and clean up with a Swiffer is all that needed after punishment. Hope they nail him good! Paul

[Firemack]

Sounds like a good stop if the church was not a total. Once they get going- a church is hard to stop because of the high roof lines.

Did it have a slate roof?

Firemack

[leversole]

Around here (northeast PA), over the last couple of years, five or six city and volunteer fireman have been caught setting fires! Must be like SEX for them!

[57 bcr]

Too bad the degenerates of the world are still around to practice their "craft". Can't we just round 'em up and then some law enforcer's riot gun accidently goes off on the way to the lockup,taking them out of the gene pool! Oh, I know, that wouldn't be fair!! Go ahead,say it"wake up.you're dreaming!!!!!"

[joes mack]

the church has a tin roof and it destroyed one room and damaged the basement but the congregation room has smoke and water damage and minimal fire damage except to the floor joist and a few of them are pretty bad but it can be saved. leversole do you remember about 15 years ago when all of the fires were being set by members of two fire departments. i think there were 7 or 8 that were involved and only 2 were prosicuted.

[roadusercharges]

We have vollies in this country that have sick ways too. unfortunately it takes a while before a conviction takes place

[Timothy Maikshilo]

A little over twelve years ago on holloween two boys...old enough to know better started a fire in the middle of the covered bridge near my farm and totatly destroyed the bridge. They got caught and said they didn't mean to do it and had to pay some of the money to rebuild it. Like that happened.....Well the bridge got rebiult and looks great but it is not the same. This one has been sprayed with fire proofing.

[fxfymn]

Any time you can save a church or any building where you are forced to use a rural water supply set-up is a rarity; to go two for two is way beyond what most of us end up doing. Great job!

[joes mack]

the house was gutted but the insurance adj done looked at the church and estimated it done $120,000 damage.

[joes mack]

i just got back from another call in the same area as the house and church( actually you could look out the window and see the church ) this time it was the post office the clerk was in the bathroom smoking and thought she threw the cig out the window but it landed on the window sill and cought some paper towels on fire and the sill and insulation in the wall but we got to it before any major damage.

[Freightrain]

Firemen starting fires reminds me of the movie "Backdraft".

Glad you caught the guy. Rowdy wasn't so lucky with his gun weilding idiots!

[bulldogboy]

i just got back from another call in the same area as the house and church( actually you could look out the window and see the church ) this time it was the post office the clerk was in the bathroom smoking and thought she threw the cig out the window but it landed on the window sill and cought some paper towels on fire and the sill and insulation in the wall but we got to it before any major damage.

Joe:

You guys are getting your money's worth out of the Mack! I read about the other two fires online on the "Harlan Daily Enterprise"

website. Nice save on the church.

bulldogboy

[joes mack]

thanks for the good comments. aparently to some around here we got lucky and to some extent i agree as it was built in the 1890s/early1900. if we had not been alredy on the house fire it might have a difrent story though.

[fdnymackcf]

Around here (northeast PA), over the last couple of years, five or six city and volunteer fireman have been caught setting fires! Must be like SEX for them!

I tend to agree,but I also disagree. Odd as that sounds (which it does), the fire service (for those not familiar with it) is a unique calling, a calling for which one also has to prove themselves as well. In the emergency services of FD,PD and EMS, you only become good at your craft at someone else's expense. There are those like you mentioned who get their rocks off with fire, but there are those who are probably in small depts who not only want to get fire, they also want to show their peers they are competent firemen. So we end up reading about these degenerates of the fire service, and sometimes with tragic results. Many young kids in their zealousness, would sit around the firehouse climbing up the walls wanting a 'job'. Then explaining to them that someone, possibly their neighbor, classmate, or family would have to lose everything they have worked their whole life for to keep a bunch of yahoos happy. Needless to say, most never looked at it that way. And the ones that didn't care you read about getting charged with arson, and sometimes murder. Shame.

But this is not also 100% correct. Back in the early 80's, many Boston firemen,some with many years in, were busted in an insurance scam. Lost jobs, jail time, and justice served.

But you will always have your pyromaniacs, and some end up in both the career and volunteer fire service. What goes through the human mind will never be figured out in our lifetimes.

[Olivetroad]

I tend to agree,but I also disagree. Odd as that sounds (which it does), the fire service (for those not familiar with it) is a unique calling, a calling for which one also has to prove themselves as well. In the emergency services of FD,PD and EMS, you only become good at your craft at someone else's expense. There are those like you mentioned who get their rocks off with fire, but there are those who are probably in small depts who not only want to get fire, they also want to show their peers they are competent firemen. So we end up reading about these degenerates of the fire service, and sometimes with tragic results. Many young kids in their zealousness, would sit around the firehouse climbing up the walls wanting a 'job'. Then explaining to them that someone, possibly their neighbor, classmate, or family would have to lose everything they have worked their whole life for to keep a bunch of yahoos happy. Needless to say, most never looked at it that way. And the ones that didn't care you read about getting charged with arson, and sometimes murder. Shame.

But this is not also 100% correct. Back in the early 80's, many Boston firemen,some with many years in, were busted in an insurance scam. Lost jobs, jail time, and justice served.

But you will always have your pyromaniacs, and some end up in both the career and volunteer fire service. What goes through the human mind will never be figured out in our lifetimes.

Well put.

What do firemen think of that series that was on cable a few years ago with Dennis Leary - It was called Rescue or something like that? How realistic was it? I liked seeing the trucks and the actual firefighting, but there got to be less of that and more of the crap I don't want to watch.