Fire Fighter Transportation

When my father-in-law was a teen, he got drafted to help pull the old horse-drawn fire-hose cart in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. They’d get in the back of a truck and hang on to the tongue of the fire-hose cart, while the driver drove to the fire.

Enjoy this selection from bygone times:

Oldie taken by Dee Kull.

Another antique – this one shot by Gracey.

It’s a shame this baby hasn’t been restored – photo taken by Ray Forester.

Old Ford firetruck – courtesy of Christine.

I can’t tell if this one is old or not, but sure a picturesque scene by Bianca Meyer geb. Bollmeier.

Fortunately, we have better ways to get the equipment to the fire these days:

The following two photos are courtesy of Kenn Kiser:

Looking inside the fire house at this vehicle.

These three were taken by Kevin Connors. He has quite the collection of emergency vehicles--I've only given you a sampling this week and last.

Warwickshire, England fire truck.

Minifire vehicle – photo by Michael J Summerville.

This one was shot by Dani Simmonds.

Though in some areas, looks like the equipment could be improved. This photo is courtesy of Daniel Bayona.

(All photos are from www.morguefile.com)

If you have pictures you want to share on Seven Suns, email me at suford@virtualinventoriesinc.com!

Police Transportation

Police vehicles come in all shapes and sizes and paint jobs. Thought you might enjoy this collection of shots of varying modes of transportation.

Ontario Provincial Police cruiser photo by Gracey Stinson.

Hawaiian patrol car by Jim Munnelly.

These 3 photos are courtesy of Daniel T Yara:

Japan

Galveston, Texas

Washington DC

A different kind of “black and white” – photo by Ray Forester

The following 7 shots are from Kevin Conners. He had lots more, too.

NY patrol car

2 NYPD truck/vans

Boston police car

City of Melbourne, Australia police vehicle

Politie in Amsterdam

Polizei in Munich, Germany

Patrol car in Tiananmen Square

Harbor patrol at the entrance to Newport Harbor in Newport Beach, California, taken by Matt Geyer

2 mounted police - photo by Benjamin Dudoit.

2 patrol cars at the auto show in Columbus, Ohio taken by Kenn Kiser.

Copter courtesy of missyredboots.

Italian Policia motorcycle by Clara Natoli.


India police bus by Ameenullah.

Even live “vehicles” sometimes have special décor. Look at this Canadian Royal Mounted Police Horse (picture courtesy of Andrea Church)

Merry Christmas – photo courtesy of Kevin P.

(All photos are from http://www.morguefile.com/)

Self Defense - how much do you really know?

Here's a collection of quizzes to test your knowledge:

Self Defense Quizzes –– choose the quiz you want out of 7 on this website.

Self Defense Quiz from Boston Martial Arts Center

Rate Your Risk: Evaluate Risks in Your Life

Arming Women Against Rape & Endangerment (AWARE) Self-Protection Quiz

Of course, we offer Self Defense and Personal Security supplies on our website.

Self Defense Humor

You’ve probably heard this story and it’s probably a work of fiction, but I still think it’s pretty funny! “Stun of a Gun”

A humorous ad.

This video goes on a bit long, but there are definitely fun parts.

Self Defense for Kittens.

Self Defense Cartoon.

One more video.

Humor for firefighters

Strike the Box has Firefighter Jokes & miscellaneous humor, but they also have Viral Firefighting Videos.

I love the picture on this site. Click to go to more pages.

Fire Fighters Humor – 5 jokes and a one-liner

Murphy's Laws for Firefighters

Rank Definitions for a Fire Department plus 14 other jokes.

A slew of firefighter jokes from Steve Victory.

Jokes from Firefighter Real Stories

Firefighter Cartoons by Mark Parisi

EMS/EMT Humor

Okay, I had to go look for more humor to share.

EMS Humor forum

Medical Jokes from 10-7, including Top Ten Lies told by Paramedics

Funny photos - some good ones!

Not all of these jokes at Paramedic & EMT Gathering are related to the biz.

This you’ve probably seen and/or experienced: Murphy’s Law of EMS

You might be an EMT if…

The best for last, cartoons!

Need a laugh?

I found these sites with Police Humor. Of course, some jokes you’ll find on multiple sites, but there are enough unique ones on each site to make them worth sharing.

Angelfire.com has 15 pages of jokes, stories, one-liners and definitely some groaners.

101 fun jokes has a police page of jokes.

My absolute favorite joke was on the Life on the Beat site. The one titled “Police Harassment”.

The revised Miranda rights were good on this site.

I like the funny pictures here. Click on them to make them larger. There are jokes, too.

Police Wives Online has officer humor in the form of clothing with sayings.

Leine’s 10-42 Hideaway has Humor Behind the Badge – true stories.

And the very best for last—99 police cartoons from Off the Mark by Mark Parisi.

MAN discovered FIRE—MAN continues to discover ways to PUT FIRE OUT

How did we get to where we are today? Let’s take a look at firefighting history.

National Academies of Emergency Dispatch has a good article on the
History of Firefighting from early Romans to present day.

On his Rescue, Safety, Saving Lives site, Steve Victory has the History of the Maltese Cross, History of St. Florian, History of the Fire Apparatus, and History of the Star of Life.

Women in the Fire Service, Inc. has an article on Women in Firefighting: A Brief History. Their welcome can also be read in French, German and Spanish.

I found History of Fire Hoses at two sites: Fire Fighters’ Real Stories and at Firehouse Magazine.

We've come a long ways! Will be interesting to see what the future holds.

California Wildfires

The California fires have been in our minds, hearts and prayers. An incredible number of acres burns, houses lost, etc. This site has what’s still happening.
Click on Read the Latest Activity to see the status of all the fires.

CDF Firefighters has info on how to donate to those firefighters burned in the fire, plus stories of the fire.

The California State Firefighters' Association has info on How To Help California's Firefighters and links to news pages.

California Professional Firefighters talks about a fund raiser for critically injured firefighters in San Diego. At this site you can also view pictures of the wildfires

International Association of Firefighters also has a Disaster Relief Fund.

The California fires fire pushed other firefighting events out of the news, but Firehouse Magazine’s website, lists other fire news as well.

Our company’s sympathy to those injured, displaced, and who lost property and possessions.

Support the troops

My son-in-law is a Marine currently stationed in Iraq. One of the things he has been asking family and friends to send is reminders of the seasons at home (fall leaves, upcoming Christmas). Whether you believe we should be in this war or not, the guys and gals over there deserve our support.

This site, ourmilitary.org has information and news related to all branches of service. One page, provides a way for ebay searches to contribute to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund for free.

The following is what the site says about itself:
The internet portal and support site for our military service members, military families, veterans, and those who support them.
• Communicate with other service members, parents, spouses, and families using our forums.
• Stay up to date on the latest military news and events.
• Find the information you need with our military resources.

Here’s another news site: Defend America. It also has a page so you can send an email message of support to our troops.

Obviously, if you know someone personally in the military you can send mail and packages directly to them. The post office has guidelines on sending mail and packages.

Wired Kids even has an option for kids to send email to support our military overseas.

Call Home – You can help our military members call home by buying a phone card at Operation Uplink.

You can also support troops overseas by donating mileage, money, time at network for good. Lots of specific options here.

Another option is donating books (or money to ship books) to go to our troops. Check out this site.

The Cookie Lady loves to bake cookies for the military men and women serving our country. Read more at Treat the Troops.

BrigadeQM has a Gear for a Warrior program.

Marine Parents offers opportunities to support Marines.

AmericanSnipers.org is structured to help those that are on the front lines of safeguarding our freedoms. This organization was started by policemen. There’s a video that shows their purpose.

The mission of Operation First Response, Inc. (OFR) is to support our nation's wounded Heroes and their families.

I’m sure I’ve not covered every support organization out there, so if you’d like to share a link to more, feel free to comment.

A self-defense option

The International Krav-Maga Federation has info for civilians, police, military. Krav-Maga which means “Contact Combat” is the Israeli system of self defense, fighting skills, and defensive tactics. Course and seminars are being offered worldwide. Another resource is the Krav Maga Association of America, Inc. An online newspaper about Krav Maga has sprung up, too. There’s even a training center in my area of Kansas.

Some interesting chase scenes

I’m sure many of you get tired of the all the videos on police brutality and dishonest police, etc. Here are a couple videos of police chases without hint of either. This first one happened in the southern part of my state.



This one of a chase in Ohio shows amazing precision driving. I found it so fascinating I watched it a number of times.



Yea, team!

Emergency organizations & blogs

I missed it, but last week was the first ever "National First Responder Appreciation Day" on Tuesday, September 25th. You can read about it on this blog. The following is info about the organization.
First Response Coalition – a non-profit organization promoting the needs of America's first responders in the areas of communications interoperability and data/information preparedness. FRC is devoted to advocating for the needs of first responders and the public they protect.

Here’s another organization – this time in the UK. First Response – Volunteers Saving Lives. People are serving in these roles: Ambulance Responder, Life Bike Responder, Community First Responder, Control Room Assistant and Support Staff.

Emergency.Blog features news in a multitude of areas: Military, Emergency Service, Crisis, Terrorism OSINT. More of a news report, than a commentary, articles are posted from other sources, or articles refer to resources. This is evidently a service of the Emergency Response & Research Institute, who has another page that has archives in these categories: EMS, Fire, Police, Terrorism, Military, Haz-Mat, Infectious Disease and Disaster Ops. Though it appears they aren’t keeping these archives current.

Police blogs

Today I’m featuring some interesting police blogs.

Officer.com Police Blogs & Podcasts
Listen to (he has podcasts) or read Tim Dees on Law Enforcement. A recent post was titled: One Nation, Under Surveillance. It’s about video surveillance and is an insightful article.

Police Magazine: Community for Cops
Looks like a brand-new blog offered by “Police: The Law Enforcement Magazine.”

The Policeman's Blog
This British blogger says about his site, "This blog will do more to put people off calling the police than anything, other than actually calling the police." But don’t let that put you off. I think you’ll enjoy the humor.

One of the other fire vehicles

I wasn't the only one using my cell phone to snap pictures on Friday. One co-worked sent out a batch joking about our company BBQ. Here's the other ladder truck that came to our site.

Our own fire excitement

Friday afternoon, we had some excitement at our office. The fire alarms went off. People were slow to get moving, but we evacuated the 3 floors of the building. Once outside wisps of smoke were visible from the roof and it was obvious not just steam as we could smell something burning. Fire trucks arrive from different cities and three end up staying, including this one. (I took the picture with my cell phone.)

As the firefighters set up, a pickup truck of 3 of the roofers screech to a stop in the middle of the parking lot and they race up onto the roof. Pretty soon 3 more roofers arrive and go up, too. We're wondering, did they leave something up there that caught the roof on fire? Shortly, all 6 come back down off the roof.

I watch the firemen hook up a hose to their truck from the fire hydrant across the street. A fire chief vehicle parks next to the hose to prevent anyone driving over it, which, of course, blocks the street, fortunately a side street.

All in all, its about 45 minutes before the firemen start packing up.

This morning, I come in (we're on the 3rd floor) and see some ceiling water damage in a small area. But it doesn't smell like smoke anymore.

Hope the roofers have good insurance!

Fire and firefighter related blogs

This week I wanted to highlight some interesting blogs related to fire and firefighters. These are in no particular order.

Mutual Aid – This blog is associated with Fire Chief magazine. It’s written by a gal who grew up in a firefighting family. She’s also involved with the Fire & Emergency Manufacturers & Services Association, the International Association of Fire Chiefs Foundation, the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation and the Fire Department Safety Officers' Association.

Firefighter Blog – Self-titled “Firefighter Stories, Fire News, Commentary & General Firefighting Content.” The most recent post (9/18/07) by Ret. Capt. Mike talks about the Butler 2 fire (near Fawnskin, CA).

US Firefighters – Firefighter/firefighting blog with photos and more. The past week has highlighted those lost in the line of duty. September 6th’s post shows some incredible photos of a car/train accident.

Firefighter Nation: the Social & Resource Network for Firefighters, EMS & Rescue – Okay, this one doesn’t quite fit the category. It’s not a blog, but a discussion forum. But still, there’s interesting talk in 12 different sections. Recent discussions in “General Firefighting & Rescue” included: emergency vehicle colors, when is it time to give up firefighting?, and the hot button issue... seatbelts. Another section is called “Tools of the Pros: Equipment & Product.”

Fire Geezer – Self-titled “the hottest fire blog on the web,” there were 4 blog entries for today. One included a video of a “hot” fire station outside demonstration; another a judgment awarded to a firefighter’s family; a third, about a new police chief in LA. Many blogs have links to further info.

Fire Sprinklers – “An online Shoebox for News, Notes and Information” focuses on fire sprinklers. Here’s what the author says about himself:
My lot in the “water based fire protection” industry is as a salesman. Mostly, I’m a student of the industry always seeking a new challenge trying to retain the information I’ve learned so far and keep up with changes that seem to come so fast.
But don’t think of this as a sales site!

Hampton’s Fire – articles and videos of fires. Each blog apparently has pictures or videos, often of recent events. The site also includes helpful links.

EMT Blogs

Welcome to the new 7 Suns blog. I’ve been checking around in the blogging world to see what’s out there for Firemen, Police and EMTs and have found some pretty interesting sites, as well as some dismal ones, or ones where there are no longer new posts.

Thought I’d share some good ones I found. First, I’ll focus on a few EMT blogs.

Looking for some details? Street Watch is a blog of notes from a paramedic's journal. The writer has a good sense of humor, and is quite detailed about what he tells.

This blogger, MacMedic, does an “end of the shift” report. Last report was a month ago, but am hoping new posts will be up soon.

Random Acts Of Reality – a blog based in London, England, written by an E.M.T working for the London Ambulance Service – I found it very interesting.