March 2007

House Fire

March 23rd - Squad 49 responded to Cross St. and Midway St. in Howard County for the House Fire. Squad 49 was the first arriving unit and reported a double wide trailer fully involved. Because of defensive attack the squad crew with 6 split up. One crew did a walk around of the house to look for gas & oil tanks and any other hazards that needed to be secured. The second crew pulled the booster line off the squad to protect the closest exposure which sustained moderate exterior damage. Crews from Savage knocked the fire and Company 49 cleared within an hour.

Report of One Trapped

March 19, 2007. The station was alerted for a report of a car overturned with at least one possibly trapped. SQ49, A498, M49, CH49, 49A and 49B, responded. It turns out no one was trapped, but there was a truck on its side, still running, in the intersection.

Bad Weather brings busy 24 hours

Between Noon on March 16th and Noon on March 17th, Station 49's alerting system was ringing off the hook. In those 24 hours, 31 calls for service came in with 19 of them being for the Rescue Squad or Rescue Engine. Throughout the night the station maintained an engine crew of 5, and squad crew of 8, 2 ambulance crews, and a water rescue team for the possible flooding. Just another day with the "Northside Wrecking Crew"...

At 2225 Station 49 was alerted again for Mutual Aid to Howard for the inside gas leak with possible explosion at 9165 Hitching Post Lane. Upon arrival of Company 70, all units were staged until a report from Side Charlie came back advising heavy smoke from Side Charlie and Delta. Rescue Squad 49, second arriving Special Service, operated on the first alarm as the RIT. Rescue Engine 49 and A498 staged for the Task Force. Units cleared in approximately 2 hours.

RS49 - Sgt. Haggerty (OIC), Lt. Dodd (Dr), Cpl. Howe, FF Titman, FF Page, FF Ruehl, RH/FF Hurd

RE49 - FF Snyder (OIC), Cpt, Williams (Dr), FF Friend, FF Hurd, FF Skidmore

Chief's 49A(Globerman) and 49B(Fleeman) ran the call.

McDonald's goes "Flame Broiled"

On Thursday, March 16th, 2007, Communication alerted Station 49 for the possible building fire, mutual aid to Howard, at 9444 Washington Blvd. RE49 arrived on scene with heavy fire from the roof, securing the first due's water supply and pumping Tower 7 (Bannaker). The crew manned a handline keeping the fire in check so the towers could knock the bulk of it with a master stream. RE49 and 49A (Globerman) operated for approximately 1.5 hours before taking up.

RE49: Capt. Takacs (OIC), Sgt. Haggerty (DR), and FF Titman

2007 Awards Banquet

Saturday, March 10th - LVRS held its 55th Annual Awards Banquet. Life Member Sherrie Zabriskie was named "Member of the Year" for her current activities as Recording Secretary and her more recent contributions to the organization. More on Sherrie and her 35 year career at LVRS is available at the Laurel Leader.

Even though he could not attend (see article below), Dave Morgan was given the Chairman's Award by former Chair Richard Sien. Mike Haggerty received the Chief's Award from Acting Chief Mark Arsenault.

The Officers and members of Laurel Rescue would like to thank members:
Jared Hurd, Mike Skidmore, Mike Snyder, Rajah Rose, Scott Globerman and Gary Chatters who manned the station while the rest of us partied.

On the Job in Iraq

Sunday March 4, 2007. During some down time from another mission in Iraq, Chief Morgan stopped by to visit one of the local fire stations on COB Speicher in Tikrit, Iraq. What you see in the picture is the station, a trailier surrounded by a bunch of barriers to protect against the
stray RPG and mortar attacks. The engine actually has to say outside which is not bad right now, but in August and September it gets over a 120 degrees in the shade. These guys have a tough job in pretty tough conditions, but they love it and are very motivated to help out all of
the soldiers over here. You have to be impressed with the dedication and pride of everyone of here. They are all true heroes!