July 4th

[E40FDNYL35]

STAY SAFE
An off-duty firefighter lost at least three fingers on his right hand when he lit a powerful firecracker in the kitchen of his home - and it blew up as he tried to toss it out a window.

[MalahatTwo7]

I echo the Safety/Well Wishes. Hope everyone has a fun and SAFE holiday today. The ambulance has a seat with my name on it tonight, starting around 6pm. Kinda hope its an uneventful shift. Although I just received the following weather advisory for the NVA region:

Issued at: 11:37 AM EDT 7/4/06, expires at: 7:45 PM EDT 7/4/06

heat advisory in effect until 8 pm edt this evening
The NWS in sterling virginia has issued a heat advisory, which is in effect until 8 pm edt this evening.
Hotter and more humid weather will move over the region today. With afternoon temperatures expected to be in the mid 90s and high humidity, heat index values will rise to near 105 across the metro area during the mid to late afternoon.
A heat advisory means that a combination of hot temperatures and high humidity will create a situation in which heat related illnesses are possible. Drink plenty of fluids, and stay in air conditioning and out of the sun as much as possible. Check up on elderly relatives and neighbors.

So I guess its a timely reminder....

[mcaldwell]

Wow, still like Virginia Rick?

That's a little hotter than old Victoria.

[MalahatTwo7]

Funny you should ask that. I do like it here. A lot. Of course I miss watching the setting sun over the Pacific, but this is actually a really great place to be and I'm enjoying it a lot.

[backsteprescue123]

105 heat index? thats nothing!

I was just down in Lake Charles, La. where it was constantly above 100 degress and heat indexes got as high as about 112 and when I was working on a roof one day the temp was too high for the thermometer to read, and it went to 120. Needless to say we all drank lots of water and surprisingly no one overheated, had heat exhaustion, heat stroke, or any major injuries.

[MalahatTwo7]

We just got tagged with a severe thunderstorm warning too. Nothing new or unusual about that, other than I'll have to make sure the dog is inside before I leave for the station later. Damn WUSSIE Dog.

[DeputyChiefGonzo]

Brothers ansd Sisters.. have a safe 4th of July.

If you are off duty or on call and going to drink a from a fifth or imbibe in a six pack.. shut the pager off and enjoy the day.. let the sober guys handle the calls!

If you are working today or tonight... make sure that you and your brothers and sisters go home at the end of the tour!

PS: if you want to see fireworks.. see a professional show. I beleive that the A&E network will be featuring the Boston Pops Annual Concert on the Esplanade (with Steve Tyler and Joe Perry of Boston's own Aerosmith as guests!) with the fireworks show toinght!

[E229Lt]

I might catch a rocket or two at work tonight

[ffbam24]

Have a safe and happy Fourth of July folks!

230 Years Old today!
We have our faults but we're still the best damn country out there.

Be safe. Be vigilant. Never forget.

bam
And of course, hydrate.

[LaFireEducator]

Thanks to about .25" of rain yesterday and a couple of light showers today, brush fires started by fireworks have not been an issue today and should not be a problem tonight. Given how dry and hot it has been and how many fires we have been averaging the past week (2-4 a day) this 4th was real worry for us. Luckily the rain has allowed us to relax a little bit and allowed the volunteers and off-duty paid guys to have to worry less about spending the day fighting fires.

The city next to us lost a house with heavy damge to an exposure thanks to fireworks the other night.

Everybody have a great night.

[MalahatTwo7]

WELL NOW. That was an interesting day. Fireworks started with another big "micro-burst" of thunder, lightning and rain in the early part of the afternoon. Enough so that Co Dispatch went to Condition 3.... again. I wasn't sure there were going to be any pyrotechnics of anything other than the natural kind, but that didnt turn out to be the case.

We put the amublance in service to give med coverage for the fireworks that were to take place in the ball field across from the Fire Station. (What better view than from the roof? LOL)

Aaannnyyyhowww... The fireworks show while somewhat brief (according to my compatriots) was truly excellent. Its been quite a while since I've seen a real fireworks show and what I saw last night was certainly capable of giving a full reinforced armoured brigade conducting a night time life fire shoot a run for the money! All that was missing was the beer and pickled sausage! (which as most gunners know is about the worst combination after spending days stuck in the turret, sniffing gunpowder fumes under hot sun conditions heheheeeehee)

And we had two walk-in calls after the show and one paged out just prior to the show. So all in all it was a pretty good night.

[Bones42]

We had one of the best shows I have seen, for my area. It was also, thankfully, one of the quietest Fourth of July "weekends" ever.

[DeputyChiefGonzo]

As many of you are probably aware, consumer fireworks are illegal in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Last night, my group was on duty at the firehouse when we heard a loud Ka-BOOM! that rattled the windows. Going out to the rear driveway drill yard area, we could see that someone had quite the fireworks show going on, with professional grade fireworks. It appeared that the "show" was coming from somewhere in the vicinity of the Marlborough/Southborough town line.

Both PD's went to the area to investigate. Marlborough thought it was in Southborough, Southborough thought it was in Marlborough, and we got to enjoy a 30 minute display while waiting for the tones to go off.

The cops never found the "launch point".

[MalahatTwo7]

The cops never found the "launch point". heeheheheheee

Do they ever? We used to watch them go tear-*****ing around back home too. Although they and the Coast Guard used to get pretty upset when people near the ocean would shoot off the old Roman Candles that had the red flares in them.

Some friends and I had to have a wee friendly chat with a trooper, one time about that..... I think it was the next season when Roman Candles no longer had red in them.

My stn was very quiet last night, but other parts of the Co were bouncing pretty good. Although much of that was related to the thunder storm from earlier, I think.