The Big Red Ones

These are my toys! Not that I own them, but in that I get to play with them, and take care of them. You'll notice the sign above the bay doors. That's not who I volunteer for. Actually, the vehicles all say, Island County Fire District #3. The District annexed the Langley Department when Langley ran out of money to pay it's fire staff. Out of defference to Langley, who still owns the building, and charges us a rather stiff rent for it, we leave the sign up. However, since we are building a new facility on land we own in Langley, this will only be true for another couple years. As that process takes place, those pictures will be posted as well.

This picture was taken during the second extended blackout of the winter of '06. The first occurred after Thanksgiving, and the second one just ended. Our power at home came back up last night, anfter going down Thursday night last at roughly 8:00 PM. I have been on duty both those weekends as it happened to be. That simply means that I am in the red Chevy there on the driveway. It's a Medical Emergency Response Vehicle, or Merv for short. I have to respond to every call that has the vehicle numner in it. You can barely make out the black plate on the front there, but it says "A32". So any call with A32 means I go, despite the hour. Things were so crazy during the Thanksgiving blackout, which was caused by several inches of snow, that between medical calls I was dispatched by my area commander to check on trees and lines down, and help other crews fix those problems as much as we can.

I meet some really cool people during medical calls. It reminds me how every one is a fascinating story. And even though I learn about those stories in some rather dire circumstances, they are worth the learning.

Anyway, the truck on the right is the primary vehicle for our station, Engine 39. The one on the left is an old timer that still works, but is in reserve in case stuff breaks or all hell breaks loose. It's called the Marion, which was that company that made it, and it sounds comfortable and definitely identifies the one truck.

So those are my big red toys. I am honored to serve this community, and alongside some of the finest people in this business. Thanks for letting me play!