Day 23 - A Salute to Fallen Heroes

Todays day was dominated by the memories of the fallen fire fighters and other victims in the World Trade Center in New York City, at the Pentagon and of Flight 93.

Like all fire fighters all over the United States we started the day with pulling all aparatus in front of the station and putting the lights on. At 8.58 a.m. (at that time the South Tower collapsed six years ago) the 911-Dispatch pulled a 7-1 Alarm to remember the fallen comrades. All fire fighters remained for a minute of silence in front of the flag pole.

Afterwards Captain Ponce took me to the revealment of a statue that is dedicated to the Houston Fire Fighters and located next to the fire museum. The members of the fire museum chose the date of September 11th to also remember the fire fighters who died that day six years ago. Fire Chief Boriski and Mayor Bill White held speeches of memory and the artist who created the statue explained what moved him to create the statue as it is now.

When I was back at Station 42 we went and had dinner at a Cajun Restaurant. On our way back to the station we responded on a call for a minor accident with two cars and an 18-Wheeler, but none of the drivers needed to be cut out.

Day 22 - Salute to Houston Fire Fighters

Due to a lack of car wrecks and calls today, I jumped on the pumper for a response on a car fire. Next to Station 42 a car caught fire, because it overheated. We took the redline (fast attack hose) and put it out.

In the afternoon Captain Ponce picked me up and took me to a award ceremony "Salute to Houston Fire Fighters" at the Allen Center. Many diffenrent people thanked the members of the HFD for their effort and service throughout the year. At the same time a Houston Photo Club opened an exibition about the work of the brave Houston Fire Fighters. During this event I met Than who picked me up at the airport when I arrived.

Day 19 - Crane Training

At 8 a.m. Capt. Reinneger took me from Station 42 to a Crane and Rigging class and training. First we went to Station 11 for the theoretical part. Two guys from a local crane company gave a lecture on how to lift weights and how to operate a crane safely.

Afterwards we went to the to the crane company's yard to practice what we have heard before. We lifted some concrete blocks and soild pieces of metal.

Tonight is Friday night and we'll probably do a few car wrecks later. I'll give you an update then.

Day 17 - Station Change

Today I switched over from Station 6 to Station 42. Here I'll be riding on the Rescue Truck for a couple of days. Captain Ponce gave me a ride over and introduced me to the guys over there.

This basically is a Heavy Rescue Truck for shoring up collapsed buildings and securing them, as well as for major car accidents and height rescue. The truck they have right now is actually a replacement, because their original truck is at the shop for repairs after an accident.

We'll see which interesting things I'll see with Heavy Rescue 42.

Day 13 - Motor Vehicle Incident

Again it was a very quite day, before we responded to a motorcycle crash on the freeway.

I was on the pumper and we were on scene first. A biker was speeding and lost control of his vehicle and hit a light pole, overturned and was catapulted of his bike and landed 300feet behind the impact zone. The biker broke his ankle, both arms, several ribs at his back and he had heavy internal bleedings. We put a stiffneck round his neck to prevent him from spinal injuries and put him on a back board. He received IV volume to prevent a hypovolemic shock. His bike was totally wrecked and he did at least 150 mph when he hit the light pole.

At this point of time we thought it was a fatality, but later our Squad Unit told us that he had neither spinal injuries nor any other lethal bleeding, so he can probably make it despite his injuries.

Day 11 – A Tour round the city

In the morning we had a call for an automatic alarm at the Allen Parkway Office Building. A toast got stuck in a toaster and started burning. We ventilated the 26th floor with a fan and reset the alarm.

Later that day Captain Ponce picked me up at the station and gave me a tour round Houston with all the things a German firefighter can be interested in.
We started our tour with a reported house fire that Captain Ponce had received on his pager. He had to go there, because he is the Public Information Officer for the Hispanic community in Houston and the fire was in a Hispanic neighborhood. The AC in the attic had a short and set the entire roof on fire. The Captain had to give some interviews and took care of the family that lived in the house.

After that we continued our tour to the fire museum. The fire museum is located at old Station 7 and they show some old engines and other exhibits that relate to the Houston Fire Department, for example a part of the World Trade Center, because after 9/11 the HFD sent a rescue team to search for victims in the collapsed towers. At the fire museum I had the privilege to sign on the bay door, which is an honor for all fire fighters who are guests of the HFD. At the museum I also took the chance to take a picture with Captain Ponce who made it possible for me to come to Houston. In the gift shop of the museum I met Kevin Greene who designed nearly all logos of the different stations. I met him before at Station 6 and this nice guy invited me to pick two shirts and a bag of HFD for free.

Of course I had to have a picture of my generous patron.

On our way to the 911 Emergency Center Captain Ponce and I stopped at the Minute Maid Baseball Park to watch an inning of baseball. Due to the fact that both of us find baseball rather boring, he took me to a visitor platform at the 60th floor of an office building in Downtown Houston. The weather was clear and we had a nice view over the entire City of Houston.

The 911 Emergency Center is located outside of Houston and it’s a well secured object. The “floor” where all the dispatchers of Fire, EMS and Police are sitting is at least seven times bigger than the Kreisleitstelle Recklinghausen. The whole building is very impressive and I was given a nice tour around the Emergency Center.In the afternoon I returned to Station 6 and we made a few first responding runs and an apartment fire that turned out to be a BBQ in the backyard.

New Feature Added - Guestbook

Hi guys,

on special request by some of you, I added a guestbook to my blog.
You can see and write into my guestbook by following this link: http://www.gaestebuch.com/gb-extern/zusammen.asp?GUID=99D0A984-E012-4C93-9D77-3ECD5112A8D1

Feel free to drop me a line! :)

Four days to go! I'm already busy collecting all my clothes and stuff, especially my fire fighting equipment. Time is running.

Best,
Tobias

It's about time

Well, finally all organizational stuff is done I'll be off for my internship at the Houston Fire Department from August 20th to September 28th. I'll be flying from Duesseldorf via Atlanta to Houston with Delta. It was no problem to book this flight just three weeks before departure. As my contact in Houston Captain Ponce-Lopez told me, I'll be able to live at one of the fire stations, but we haven't yet made a decision where exactly. I would prefer one of the downtown fire stations, just to be close to the city. I'll let you know as soon as I know more.
21 days remaing until I'll have to change the good old German uniform to an American. I'm pretty excited about that, because I don't know exactly what to expect.

If you would like to know more about the Houston Fire Department, you can check: http://www.houstontx.gov/fire/

If you would like to know what kind of incidents are going on in Houston, check: http://cbtcws.cityofhouston.gov/ActiveIncidents/HFDIncidents.aspx

That's it for today. During my internship I'll hopefully be able to write at least one blog entry per day. Until my departure I'll keep you updated about all the news.

Best,

Tobias