By Christopher Baker, GIFireE, via NFHC

It was 1986 on a warm summer night, and I found myself on the front porch of my grandfather’s home. I was then a new Fire Chief and my grandfather was a former Assistant Fire Chief. He was once again sharing those wild tales of firefighting in his time. Often he would tell me of that 1923 American LaFrance and how it performed on Christmas night 1949, at the Hyndman (PA) conflagration. Now, 35 years later, I find myself filled with regret that I had not listened more intently to the details he shared, which, unfortunately, have now since escaped my own mind.

As a child, we all remember playing a game of “Pass the Story.” We were sitting in a circle and the teacher would start by whispering a story in one child’s ear and they would repeat to the next and so on and so on. It was always astonishing to hear how much that story changed by the time it got to the end. In some cases, it didn’t resemble in the least what the original story started as. Interestingly enough, whether kids or adults, the stories end up skewed in that game.

Typically, if we are not proactive in our efforts to protect and maintain our history, the end result is one of the aforementioned events. The story will be verbally passed down from generation to generation with bits and pieces forgotten here and there or maybe even things added to embellish it. The end result is history that is more assumptions than facts. As was the case in my scenario, the details were all there; I just failed to adequately protect the information from being lost. Either way, history was lost by my failure to act to preserve the perishable.

I already know what you’re thinking. How am I supposed to preserve history? I am no writer or photographer extraordinaire. I am not a scrap booker. I am not even the company historian. If you are part of the fire service or fire protection family, then preserving the perishable history is your responsibility.

I would venture a guess that a significant portion of those involved in fire service and fire protection already have a powerful tool for historical preservation. Today’s cell phones not only offer the ability to take amazingly high-quality photographs, but they also afford us the opportunity to capture video. In the post-COVID era, we have become accustomed to utilizing apps such as Zoom, which provides you the ability to conduct virtual “face to face” discussions but also affords you the capability of recording them. These tools allow us to capture history like never before by snapping pictures and recording video of real-time events. They also afford us the opportunity to do something else. They give us the opportunity to capture those old stories verbatim before they exist no more.

The art of oral interviews is a fantastic way to capture the history but also some of the emotion associated with those memories as that individual recounts stories and responds to your questions. Multiple oral interviews from members of the same department can ultimately work to knit together a complete story of those days gone by. An article published on this site previously provided insight on the best ways to accomplish oral interviews and capture those stories from the senior members in your department. This can serve as an excellent starting point for the project. What a great gift to leave for the next generation.

Rewind 35 years. My grandfather and I are on the front porch and he is telling his stories once again and there I am with my video

The Cañon City (CO) Area Fire Protection District recently added an E-ONE aerial platform to its fleet, reports canoncitydailyrecord.com.

The apparatus has a height of 116 feet, weighs approximately 86,000 pounds, and its cab and chassis is nearly 42 feet long, the report says. In addition, it carries 800 feet of 5-inch supply hose and is equipped with a 2,000-gallon-per-minute pump.

Officials say they found a demo model of the type of apparatus they wanted, and E-ONE agreed to sell it for $800,000, including all the amenities, according to the report. Some of those amenities are a two-year warranty, three full days of training from E-ONE, the full NFPA required test/certification for the apparatus and pump, and an EMS-specific cabinet inside the cab.

The City of Rocky Mount (NC) posted August 17 a request for quotes for the design and construction of what will be its Station 2. The deadline for responses is 2 p.m. on September 16.

The future facility, which will replace the current station at South Grace Street and West Raleigh Boulevard, will be two stories high and cost an estimated $4.1 million. It will be built on the current station’s property and be roughly 10,000 to 12,000 square feet in size.

The future Station 2 will have three engine bays, two of which will be drive-through, double-stacked bays. The third bay will be a non-drive-through half-bay.

In addition, it will include: eight bedrooms each with a built-in desk; a storage room; common area restroom, with a separate shower for decontamination; community bathrooms with showers, including one dedicated to female employees; kitchen/dayroom; gym/workshop; a panic room for the public at the front entrance; and an emergency generator.

“Upon completion of the selection process, the highest ranked firm will be asked to submit a fee proposal to begin contract negotiations for a fair and reasonable price,” the paperwork says. “By submitting its Statement of Qualifications in response to this RFQu, respondent accepts the evaluation process as outlined in the following section, acknowledges, and accepts that determination of the ‘most qualified’ firm may require subjective judgments by the City. The city will then present the findings of the committee and propose the selection to City Council at the regularly scheduled meeting on October 11, 2021. The selected Team/Firm should be prepared to have representatives present for this meeting.”

The plan also calls for a Jan. 31, 2022 design completion, and a project completion of Dec. 31, 2022.

View the entire request for quote here.

The Wood River (ID) Fire Protection District passed an ordinance last month to send a $17 million general obligation bond to voters to finance the construction of a new fire station on the north end of Hailey, reports mtexpress.com.

The November 2 bond election—which will need two-thirds of the vote to pass—will ask residents whether property taxes should be raised by an estimated $72.60 per $100,000 value over 25 years to build the station, the report says.

Wood River fire personnel are currently stationed at Station 1 on Walnut Street and its own Station 3, south of Bellevue. Station 2, located on Third Avenue, is owned by the city of Hailey and is used to store fire and rescue equipment, officials say. They add that Station 1 lacks apparatus space and is too small to comfortably sleep three firefighters.

A new station on the north end would render Stations 1 and 2 unnecessary, the report says, and those could be returned to Blaine County and Hailey for other uses with the potential new facility.

The district’s bond measure aims to generate approximately $967,200 per year for the new station, according to the report.

Following a collision with another vehicle at King and Queen streets in York (PA) Wednesday afternoon, a York City Fire Department firefighter found himself trapped in his car a block away from the station, reports ydr.com.

The firefighter’s fire rescue car and a blue Nissan Rogue collided near the traffic light at that corner, according to police officials.

In radio calls with the emergency dispatcher, the firefighter could be heard reporting that he had been involved in an accident and was entrapped. Following the collision, the apparatus hit a street post and had to be towed from the site, the report says.

The crash remains under investigation.