Tri-Town Fire & Ambulance Co.

You know what they say about a full moon. Well when you throw in the remnants of a hurricane to the mix things can REALLY get interesting. And that is just what happened on the night of Sept 14th and morning of Sept 15th. Things started off with a power failure in Ulysses Borough and surrounding area about 2100 hrs. This was the result of a large tree that had come down on Academy St near School St in the Borough that stapped off a pole and took down a set of 7200 volt power lines (as well as CATV and Phone lines). After about 4+ hours of standing by at that scene, checking on the residents of Silver Maples and checking out an alarm activation at another structure we went home for some rest.

Well, it was a short rest. At 0410 hrs Dept 47 was toned for an engine transfer to cover station 48 Coudersport as they had responded on the 2nd alarm for an industrial fire at Elliott Lumber in Roulette. But the crew wouldn't stay at station 48 for long. About 30 minutes after arriving at station 48 we were requested to move up to the scene in Roulette. At the same time a second engine from Station 47 was requested along with both engines from neighboring Dept 20 Harrison Twp. Both departments would end up covering several assignments over the course of the next 14 hours including a response to a wires down with wildfire call on the Fishing Creeek Rd.

Our thanks to the crew from Dept 5 Westfield for covering our district while we were out.

Further information and photos on this incident may be found on PCFireNews.com

Photos by James Jones

Solomon's Word Blog

Pump Operations I Training

Sunday, 24 August 2008

There will be a Pump Operations I course held at Station 20 in Harrison Valley on Oct. 4th & 5th 2008. This course provides the fire fighter with an introduction to basic pump construction and theory as well as operating techniques. Emphasis is placed on getting water to the pump, getting water from the pump to the fire scene, and prevention of common mistakes in pump operations. Anyone interested in participating can contact the Potter County EMA office @ 274-8900.

New Recruiting Message

Monday, 04 August 2008

The recruiting message this week asks the question "If not you, then who?". What would happen if you called 9-1-1 and nobody showed up? As scary as it may sound it does happen some places. The membership in many departments is aging and the number of new recruits is not keeping up with the loss of the seasoned veterans. It is up to us to bring in new members to allow the organization to continue to function. So talk to your neighbors today and ask them, “If not you, the who?”.

And thanks to Cassie Whitney for coming up with the message for the week.

New (to us) Ambulance Almost Ready

Monday, 04 August 2008

The new 47-7 is almost ready for service. There are only a few more things that need to be done including the DOH inspection. This rig was actually purchased off of eBay from a car dealer in Scranton, PA. The vehicle originally saw service on a US Air Force base in Delaware. It is a 1999 and currently only has about 13 thousand miles on it. The cost of the unit was about a third the cost of a new rig.

You'll notice a few things differnt about this vehicle from the previous rigs. The first thing that you'll likely notice is that it is orange and white rather than the blue. The orange stripe is also reflective for safety. This one has a full width box which makes for more room in the back as well as more storage space. There are several compartments on the outside of the body as well as more storage inside. The emergency lighting is all stobes and there is no lightbar. But the most evident is the reflective cevron striping on the rear of the unit. This is now a requirement on all ambulances in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It provides for greater safety when the unit is parked on the roadway.