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MERRY Christmas from Ironfiremen.com Headquarters

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Following the tragic events of Christmas Eve, the Fire Service is in shock.  Having lost 2 Brothers in a senseless act of violence, it’s difficult for those of us on the job to be “merry” about anything.  Our hearts are heavy while our thoughts and prayers are with the friends and families of our fallen and injured.

photo from democratandchronicle.com

Firefighters Michael Chiapperini and Tomasz Kaczówka were killed by a sniper after  arriving at a house fire in West Webster, NY yesterday.

Firefighters Theodore Scardino and Joseph Hofstetter were also shot in the incident and remain hospitalized.

An on-duty Greece police officer John Ritter, was injured by shrapnel in the attacks as well.

The Fire Critic and Statter 911 has full and continuing coverage of the incident, arrangements and more over on their sites…

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Webster, NY coverage from the Fire Critic HERE

Coverage of Webster from Statter 911 HERE

I’ll share more of my thoughts on this issue, as well as the Sandy Hook incident when I feel it’s more appropriate. It’s been a difficult month for the Fire Service but we will recover.

So, I was on duty yesterday and the “good” part of my Christmas started then.

Rhett came by at shift break to exchange gifts.

He got me a custom made leather radio strap from Wolkpak Leather .

This strap is AWESOME!

The front says “Captain Wines” while the back says “IronFiremen.com”. The anti-sway strap even has “Buckaroo” stamped into it!

Wolfpak is the guys who made our custom suspenders as well. They also personalized those to include the Buckaroo’s name. These guys do GREAT work and it’s evident in their finished product. The fact that offer the option and that Rhett thought enough to include the extra stamping is AWESOME. It was the PERFECT gift!

In return, I got Rhett an APRON …. LOL..yea…. an APRON!

Not just any Apron mind ya …. I had him one custom made from Jamie Brads of Blue Ridge Rescue Suppliers .

It turned out AWESOME! It was WELL ABOVE my expectations.

The material is actually PBI (the same stuff our Turnout Gear is made of).

It has the reflective stripping just like our gear. The same buckles, snaps and even has pockets!

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As much as Rhett LOVES cooking, this should make a great gift.

I even had em put our patch in the center (in case he gets lost at the grocery store).

If nothing else, he’ll stand out in the kitchen.

We’ve already had several folks ask where and how to get one. Even though this was a custom job, Jamie and I discussed the possible demand for them once we got some pictures out.

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If you’re interested, use the link above (or just CLICK HERE ) and let Jamie know ….

So, I got off duty this morning and headed home.

As it turns out, I was better than I thought I had been and old Santa made a stop in Catawba!

This is where I received my best gifts of the season.

I arrived home to be surrounded by family.

The Buckaroo, my girls (Donna, Randi and Reba), my sister Marci (and Aaron) and even my mom and step father were in from North Carolina.

The stockings were hung and packages under the tree… it made for a peaceful morning.

The Buckaroo had a BLAST and that’s what it’s all about.

I hope that all of you had just a memorable Christmas as I did.

I hope that yours was spent with friends and family as well.

Thanks for all the well wishes, cards etc that we’ve received through the site, Face Book and even “snail mail” ….. it’s humbling.

For those of you who pulled a tour (or has to tomorrow) THANK YOU for the service. Thank you for covering the shift so that the rest of us can be at home, protected with our families.

We wrapped up the 2012 FireCritic / Ironfiremen 12 Days of Christmas Give-A-Way yesterday (we actually released the final winners this morning HERE). Congratulations to all of our winners and THANKS to our contributors!

The 2012 installments of the Ironfiremen.com’s Santa’s Sexy Helpers ends today. We worked our way up to see what ol Santa would find under the tree and I don’t think he was disappointed. Actually, I think Mrs Claus was also pretty happy.

Here is the final installment of Santa’s Sexy Helpers for 2012 … one for the guys and gals… ENJOY!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Stay SAFE and in House!

Captain Wines

Posted by on December 25, 2012 • Filed under: fire-rescue-topics, in-the-line-of-duty, line-of-duty, news, Uncategorized • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Paying my respect

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Tomorrow morning, I will leave the station early and head up to Alexandria, Va. to attend the funeral of  Alexandria Fire Department Paramedic Joshua Weissman.

Brother Weissman died from injuries sustained while operating on the scene of a vehicle fire on I-395 on February 8, 2012. He will be buried with full Fire Department Honors tomorrow.

CLICK HERE   for the latest details on the services

I hope the funeral will be well attended …. it sounds like it will be. For those of you near Roanoke (or between here and Alexandria) I still have room in the van if you’d like to ride along. Leave a comment or message me on Face Book and I’ll get in touch. We are leaving Roanoke around 6:30am and return before midnight (we will be attending the wake as well).

Before the services, I will be meeting up with Dave Statter who is planning on providing live streaming video. Check his site for more details as they become available .. CLICK  HERE 

I hope to see you there. I URGE you to attend if at all possible. Regardless of Rank or tenure ( if you’re a “Rookie” firefighter…you definitely should attend). I believe we owe it to each other to do so. It’s paying “RESPECT” to a Brother or Sister. It’s “RESPECT” for the job we do. For knowing that the next funeral could be ours. It “HONORS” the fallen and our profession. It also reflects “PRIDE”. I can remember at the services for one of our fallen Brothers ( Captain Chris Brown ) meeting several members from out of town and even out of State. I remember how proud I was that these Brothers would travel that far to stand beside us in a time of grief. It all goes back to that word we hear so much … BROTHERHOOD.

Read The Fire Critic’s post ” Go to the Funeral… You OWE it to them”  

Today, I moved into my new office. NO … I have NOT been transferred again.

I guess I didn’t move into a “new” office, my old one was just remodeled.

We just had our new computer installed in the rig yesterday…yea… all this time we’ve been “old schooling” it in “The Noke”.

We’ve had the computers in the Battalion vehicle for a few months now so I’m not a total stranger to their operation. It is, however; a lot different trying to use it while racing down the road in a fire truck vs. punching all the buttons etc while sitting still in the Battalion car.

It actually made me kind of dizzy. I find myself looking at the screen the entire time we are in route vs all the things I usually looked for / at. Talk about “tunnel vision”.

It’s also very weird not hearing all the radio traffic…. other pieces marking enroute, on scene etc. I guess it’s just gonna take a little getting used to. The good news is that in about 20 years or so they say we’ll have all of our hydrants and pre-fire plans on there as well. I can’t believe it’s taken us this long to get em in the first place. You know what they say … 100 years of tradition unimpeded by progress!  LOL

I got something else new today …. Custom leather suspenders !

Actually, I picked em up yesterday from Rhett over at Station #3.

They were made by Wolfpak Leatherworks.

Visit their web site HERE

Find them on Face Book HERE

I LOVE EM !!  The Brothers at Wolfpak paid a lot of attention to detail.

 The front straps have my name and department on em. Wines and RFD

The back says “Iron Firemen”

What’s even more special is the fact that they added the “Buckaroo’s” name on the front as well !  OMG that’s BEAUTIFUL !

Every run I get to see his name. I think about him for a brief moment and how important it is that I make it home to him in the morning (that’s also why I have his, my daughter and wife’s picture in my helmet… it’s the last thing I see before “going to work”)

Special THANKS to the Brothers of Wolfpak Leatherworks for an OUTSTANDING job! I have worn them all day today and can say that they are very comfortable. Rhett and I will be doing a full “product review” on them after we wear em long enough to give ya a fair evaluation. When completed, you will be able to find the review on our new site..

Firefighter Product Review 

Follow and “Like” Firefighter Product Review on Face Book click HERE 

Here are a few more pictures of my new suspenders …..don’t forget to check em out at the link above and tell em The Fire Critic and Iron Firemen.com sent ya!

That’s it for tonight … see ya in Alexandria tomorrow. Stay SAFE and in House!

Captain Wines

Posted by on February 15, 2012 • Filed under: ems-health-safety, ems-topics, fire-rescue-topics, firefighter-safety-health, in-the-line-of-duty, line-of-duty, news, Uncategorized • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,