FReeper Canteen~Tribute To Firefighters~August 3, 2006

The Canteen Crew

[AZamericonnie]

 

The Canteen Pays Tribute To



The badge of a fireman is the Maltese Cross. This Maltese Cross is a symbol of protection and a badge of honor. Its story is hundreds of years old.



The Maltese Cross is your symbol of protection. It means that the fireman who wears this cross is willing to lay down his life for you. The Maltese Cross is a fireman's badge of honor, signifying that he works in courage - a ladder rung away from death.



Today, fire and rescue remains a mix of paid, call, and volunteer responders. While urban areas such as New York, NY and Boston, MA are typically served by large, well-coordinated paid responders, there is no requirement demanding either paid, call, or career firefighters and many departments are so-called "mixed" departments - full time responders handle the day-to-day needs of a department and work with either call or volunteer responders when more manpower is needed. Other departments are completely "call" or volunteer, depending on local tradition, needs, and, most importantly, financial ability.



In popular literature, firefighters are usually depicted with Dalmatian dogs. This breed originated in southern Europe to assist with herding livestock and run along with horses, and in the days of horse-drawn fire vehicles, the horses were usually released on arrival at the fire and the Dalmatians would lead the horses to a safe place to wait until the fire was out. Dalmatians also filled the role of protecting the horses' feet from other dogs as equipment was being transported to the fire scene. In reality, most fire dogs were mutts pulled from the street.




Bucket Carriage used by Continental Bucket Co.No.1, of Jamaica, Long Island NY. Iron stanchion in center of machine bears metal plate, “Jamaica 1787-1907”. Four-wheeled carriage equipped to carry 50 buckets to use in places where there were no hydrants.



Glass Fire Grenades ranging from ½ pint to 2 quarts in size, filled with water or saltwater. These provided an effective means of quelling a small fire from 1868 to 1903. In later years they were filled with carbon tetrachloride and used to the mid 1960’s.






Click Here to see some of Austin's finest at work!






Now there's a handsome firefighting family!

“If Prometheus was worthy of the wrath of heaven for kindling the first fire upon earth, how ought all the gods honor the men who make it their professional business to put it out?” -- John Godfrey Saxe, (American journalist, poet, and lecturer) circa 1850



Click here to see some of Ft. Worths Finest in action!




The Fire Bike was a motorcycle built by Orange County Choppers on the American reality television show American Chopper. It was put together by everyone at the OCC, the project holding more emotional weight with its ties to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Click here for more information




10/13/2005 - SATHER AIR BASE, Iraq -- Firefighters assigned to the 447th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron render a final salute in memory of Sgt. Brian E. Dunlap, an active firefighter and a member of U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, who was killed in action Sept. 24 in Iraq. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Randy Mitchell)
Click for the rest of the article


The Firefighters Memorial Fountain at dusk. The memorial, at 31st Street and Broadway in Kansas City, was created to honor those killed in the line of duty.




Keeping up the fight - Phoenix firefighters battle a three-alarm fire at Bowen Poles in northwest Phoenix (Pinnacle Peak and I-17) Feb. 4. No one was injured in the fire.





Click here for recipies



RAPID RESPONSE
Years ago, when I was working on a small town ambulance, it was not uncommon for my wife and me to stop at the local grocer to buy food for dinner after a call. I had gone in to get a head of lettuce and some apples. Unknown to me the floor was wet from the newly installed produce sprayers. Down I went, hitting my head hard. When I came to, the manager of the store was sitting beside me telling me not to move, that he had called 911. At the same time my pager went off and he looked at me and asked, “What was that? I said "My pager, I am 911." He looked at me, shocked " Boy, you guys are fast!"

More jokes here...


Fireman History Quiz



















A heartfelt thank you from the Canteen to all Firefighters & your families for your service & sacrifice!

[Kathy in Alaska]

wh!!

Luv.....#50!!
Sand.....#100!!

[MS.BEHAVIN]

what a gorgeous thread connie
thank you
good evening ma
good evening canteeners and troops
my shift key is not working so bear with me
i have to type in lower case until i can figger out what the heck is going on
i'm in for abit
hugs alla round
ms.b

[AZamericonnie]

Oh no! I hope you all get well real soon. Congrats on the ladder truck. I'm so happy your hubby is enjoying the thread...he & those like him are the reason for posting it!

[Kathy in Alaska]

Thanks, alfa....really great pictures. I was a volunteer some years back. We rarely fought wildfires, but we responded to a request really close to town. A tanker made a pass directly over us and radioed to the guys in charge to get us all on the ground, in a certain position before they dropped their load of orange retardant. WOW!

[AZamericonnie]

Earth Wind & Fire~Serpentine Fire

[AZamericonnie]

Hiya Meg...any critters running about? We have the cutest bunch of ground squirrels hanging around right now. They are just precious!

[Kathy in Alaska]

I joined a volunteer department a bunch of years back in California, and when I came to Alaska I was on the volunteer department on the north slope. My first fire was in February and the temp was 10 below. Talk about shocking!! Everything froze including me. Before I joined in sunny California, I had my first experience with fire sirens....where I had come from, that was what the air raid sirens sounded like. Talk about spooked!! One firefighter at a time we eventually all got personal pagers.

[tina07]

lol, thanks for the soup! I never get sick so it's been awful! My husband has bronchitis too, his antibiotic doesn't seem to be working at all, he's been sick since 7/14. Time for a return visit to the doc.

[luvie]

Very cool, Alfa! Thanks for the drive-by fly-by! :D

[basil]

Ping, Mr. FireFighterforFreedom.

Thanks for all you do here in Austin.

[Kathy in Alaska]

good evening, ms b...((HUGS))
no shift key saves the little finger...lol
how ya doing tonight

[luvie]

ms.beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee....

hugs111111

i'll just join you! hee-hee!

[Kathy in Alaska]

Thanks, A, for your service to community.

[AZamericonnie]

Wonderful alfa....thanks ever so much!

[MS.BEHAVIN]

hiya ma
hug
this is terrible
i can't add any question marks or stuff
fuming
ms.b

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, Hawaii.....find those socks yet? How much longer do you have to look?

[HiJinx]

My husband has bronchitis too, his antibiotic doesn't seem to be working at all, he's been sick since 7/14.

Smart man...that's too long to be sick with bronchitis.

[AZamericonnie]

thank you ms b.....i'll join your no shift in solidarity...lol

[MS.BEHAVIN]

lol
that post just made my night
hug
ms.b

[tina07]

Wow, 10 below, brrrr. The first fire scene I was on with the ladies aux. was in winter, around 10 above, and my teeth would not stop chattering, then my whole body was chattering. Most of the other ladies were fine, they had more meat on them than me! Couldn't imagine below zero temps.

My inlaws had a siren right by their house, their one dog would howl along with the siren!

My husband WAS the fire call once, 7 yrs. ago. He was in a head-on collision. My then 16 yr. old son rode to the scene on his bike to make sure it wasn't his girlfriend's mother who had just left, only to find it was his father. When I got to the scene, despite the shock and horror (hubby was stuck in his car with live wires across it) I was at ease seeing all his fellow firefighters right there taking care of him. They, and you, are an amazing bunch of people!