The Life and Tones Of The Lake City VFD.
The first due engine gets the action. A creative story.
Senior driver, Al Selig, pulls engine 15
out of the bay. He waits impatiently for his volunteer crew of four to gear up.
Al listens to the chatter on the county radio. Lake City Car one is on the
scene reporting a confirmed structure fire; heavy flames are roaring from the
living room window on the first floor of a four-bedroom colonial style,
residential home. Tones go out for a second alarm. In frustration the senior
driver yells at his firefighting crew with intense sarcasm, “If you guys hurry up we might be able to
save the foundation!”
The
apparatus is finally rolling and senior driver, Al Selig, is driving
expeditiously down the highway. Captain Tom Reklaw, Al’s co-pilot, operates the
attention getting air horns by yanking on the lanyard with a passion. While at
the same time he presses the switch to the screaming mechanical siren without
ceasing sending an audible message to motorists, “Get the hell out of the way!”
If
Al could bump and rub like they do on a racetrack then he definitely would. He
wants to be the first-due engine’ on
the scene in order to get himself and his crew in on the action. If his rig is
third pumper on arrival-they may be re-directed to function only as a water
supply pumper. Now there is nothing wrong with this position; water supply is
vital. However, for a crew of well-trained interior firefighters, they all want
to be in the action!
Frank
La Bracci is a senior firefighter and a lieutenant for the fire-police and
traffic control unit, on an emergency scene. He arrives first on the scene and
is preparing to direct the traffic once the apparatus arrive on the scene.
Frank wonders which engine will arrive first as he hears sirens and air horns
approaching from both his right and left hand side. By mere seconds, Al Selig
arrives as the first-due engine’,
with his chariot of heroes ready to do battle with the blazing inferno! His
mission was accomplished as his crew moved quickly and bravely into position,
holding the flames down from consuming the rest of the building.
