All in a day's work...Curt's work that is!

So I went to visit Curt at his station today. It is fun to see Curt and to hang out with his crew every now and then. They don't seem to mind too much, especially when I bring them treats!

If they get a call when I'm there, most of the time I can ride along. For some reason, I'm usually a call-deterrent, they hardly ever get calls when I'm there. They got a couple calls today though. The first one they were headed out lights and sirens, (which can be fun) but they got cancelled before they got to the intersection by the station. I thought, oh well! About 15 minutes later they got another call that a semi was on fire. Off we went!

I got to go quite a ways with them lights and sirens. It is crazy what people try and pull when they see a fire truck coming. (HINT: If you aren't sure what you are supposed to do when you see lights and sirens, get out of the way and stop, or if you can't move, just stop!)

Well, the fire turned out to be at the Waste Management recycle facility. Talk about a stinky fire...just imagine smelly gym socks and sneakers on fire and that was what it smelled like. (One of the guys on Curt's crew told me on the way back that I would have that smell in my nose for a couple days. Great.

I just had my phone with me to take pictures and I couldn't get any on the way in where you could really see the flames. Curt parked behind the other engine so they could take the hydrant and so I didn't have a good perspective to see any of the flames. I wasn't allowed out of the rig until the fire was put out. Good policy to have, but torture for a photographer! Who wants to take a bunch of smoke pictures??

Well, I got a couple little flames here, it was going pretty good though

This is mostly what I could see from the engine...smoke.
those guys can move fast with those hoses, and they are heavy!

a couple of the guys from Curt's crew taking the hydrant

The engineer from Engine 14 saw me taking pictures from the Engine. After he knew it was safe, he came and got me and took me over by the action. This was after the fire was mostly out. Curt said that with these garbage-type fires, they can just sit and smolder for days. They put foam on this one in addition to water to help smother it more. One "lucky" crew got to stay there and keep hosing it down as they took the burned piles off the trailer to make sure it was completely out. Luckily we got to take off!

Curt in his gear after things were winding down.


Curt with some of his crew and his engine. There were a ton of firefighters there! I think that's the most I've seen in one place "in action" before! It was pretty exciting to go. It makes me appreciate what firefighters do! (Luckily this call was AFTER dinner!)