It has been busy for Roanoke firefighters recently. After the funerals for Chris Brown, Warren Hawley, and Stick Walters, firefighters found themselves settling back into the grind.

  • There have been several fires in the area
  • Roanoke County’s new Station 1 opened up
  • County Ladder 5 was wrecked and is being fixed
  • Station 1 was hit by a car
  • Cluster meetings….they should really rename those!
  • City is going through interviews
  • Battalion Chief promotions coming up next week maybe
  • Lt, 1st Lt., and Captain promotional testing happening soon

C-shifts last day was a fun one! Captain Wines writes about Todd “multi-media” Harris on Engine 9 blog! Needless to say that no one likes an open mic! We tested the hose on Engine 13 and had help from Engine 9 and Engine 2 packing it back on the truck. The process took most of the day while running calls in between.

In the middle of the day we ran a call for a vehicle vs. building! This time the vehicle won. Someone decided to turn Domino’s pizza into a drive thru! Thanks to Engine 5 and Medic 2 for the assistance. A little bit different outcome than when the car lost when it ran into station 1 here. All of the fun ended with a Haz Mat response to Lexington for a fuel spill. There is nothing quite like transferring to another station at 1am to fill in! No big deal though….

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Info from Roanoke Fire EMS Press Release
Photo by Mike Overacker RoanokeFirefighters.com

To view more images go to RoanokeFirefighters.com

Pictured in the image below is Lt. Travis Simmons 2A

On Saturday, March 21, 2009, Roanoke Fire-EMS responded to a residential structure fire at 618 Loudon Ave. The call was received
in the E-911 Center at approximately 6:36 p.m. The response of 4 engines, 1 ladder truck, 3 medic units, 2 Battalion Chiefs, 1 EMS
Captain, the Investigation Unit, the Assistant Fire Marshal, 1 Administrative Chief and the service truck for a total of 29
personnel responded to the scene.

When crews arrived they found heavy smoke and flames coming from the front of the one story structure. Crews quickly began to extinguish
the fire.

There was no one in the house when the fire started. There were no injuries to civilians. Two firefighters were transported to Carilion
Roanoke Memorial Hospital with minor, non-life threatening injuries. They have been released from the hospital.

The cause and origin of the fire are currently under investigation. One person was displaced from the home. They are being assisted by their family. Damage estimates at this time are approximately $40,000.

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Submitted by Lt. Baron Gibson

At 22:09 station 6 was notified of a structure fire in the 500 block of 18th st. SE. E-6, E-11, L-1, M-6, RS-1 & BC-1 were dispatched. M-6 was returning from the hospital and arrived on scene to find a two story structure with heavy smoke showing from Alpha side and advised dispatch of the working fire. Upon arrival E-6 took their water supply with them with the help of M-6 connecting the hydrant for us. E-6 gave a size up and began stretching an 1 3/4 line into the structure and made a fast and aggresive attack on the fire (it was the rookies first nozzle job and he did ok) that was located in an upstairs bedroom. A second 1 3/4 was stretched as back up but was never charged. Cause of fire appears to be electrical, but is still under investigation. It was very cold water began freezing quickly but we never experienced any problems with the cold temps. A cat was found under and behind a couch on the first floor after the fire much to the delight of the owners. No one else was hurt and we all came home from the working fire at apprx. 23:50hrs.

Mike over at RoanokeFirefighters.com has several pictures of the fire on 715 1st Street NW on February 10th.

Click here to view more images.

Photo by Mike Overacker

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On February 24, 2009, Roanoke Fire-EMS responded to a commercial fire
at 1207 9th St., Shirts Unlimited. Three engines, 1 ladder truck, 1
medic unit, 1 EMS Captain, 1 Battalion Chief and the Investigation
Unit responded to the scene for a total of 15 personnel. The call
was received in the E-911 Center at approximately 3:29 a.m. and was
ruled under control at 3:51 a.m.

When crews arrived they found smoke showing from the basement of the
single story building. Crews entered the structure and extinguished
a small fire found in the basement.

There was no one in the building when the fire started. There were
no injuries to civilians or Fire-EMS personnel.

The fire started in the basement and was contained to the basement.
There was minimal damage. Damage estimates are approximately
$3,000. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Roanoke Firefighters battle a house fire in Southeast Roanoke.
One homeowner is reported to be injured as well as one Firefighter taken to the hospital.

Click here for more pictures and information on VAFireNews.com

UPDATE: One firefighter suffered from possible heat exhaustion/dehydration at the scene and is at RMH now recovering.

Fire on Thirlane Road the other day. I was working for Doug Hurd when we caught this fire. I will come out and say that I made a huge but not very costly mistake and learned my lesson. I reversed out from Engine 10 to a hydrant laying 900 feet of 5″ hose on the ground. The mistake was that there was one 200′ away from Engine 10 that I didn’t see. Lesson learned.
Click here or on the picture for more photos by Drew Abel.
Engine 9 was first in on this house fire on Rorrer Avenue. C shift responded to find fire blowing out of 4 sides of the attic. An aggressive interior attack on the fire brought the fire under control quickly. No injuries were reported.
To view more pictures and read the press release click here.
Hey guys. I got an email from a frequent biker to the Mill Mountain Trails. She wanted to thank all the firefighters for their work. The email came from Jen over at “Jen’s Bike Blog”.

She writes:

Please pass along my Thanks to the firefighters both Roanoke City and County who responded to the brush fires on Mill Mtn the other day. I ride my bike up there regularly and have hiked and done trail work, etc up there so the place means a lot to me. We rode by where one fire was, and we are very lucky they caught it when they did. Mill Mtn is ripe for a huge fire – lots of deep, dry leaves. Again many thanks from a grateful biking community.

I know that the fires weren’t that big by County standards, however most of us City guys aren’t used to fighting many brush fires within City limits. Let alone near midnight on the side of a mountain.

Click on the pictures for more photos

Lt. Baron Gibson was able to get some pictures of the Highland Avenue fire yesterday. Click here or the picture for the story and more pictures.

Here is video from Roanoke Times on the fire today.

I have a couple of pics from after the fire I will try to get online tomorrow. Check over at Mike Overackers site RoanokeFirefighters.com for more pictures.

Click here for pictures to the Church Avenue Fire on VAFireNews.com. Pictures by Mike Overacker and Drew Abel.

Roanoke Firefighters have battled 3 fires today:

Times are approximated.
0430 – Famous Anthony’s at Grandin and 419 in Southwest
1700 – Single Family Dwelling Fire at 33 13th Street Southwest (look for pics on VAFireNews.com by morning)
1900 – Two Alarm Warehouse fire in the 700 block of Church Ave. SE (pics on WSLS and WDBJ)

Great job guys/gals. Stay Safe.


Roanoke Fire-EMS Responds to 31st St. Fire

Press Release from Roanoke Fire EMS

On December 19, 2007, Roanoke Fire-EMS responded to a structure fire at 753 31st St. The call came into the E-911 Center at approximately 4 a.m. The response of 4 engines, 2 ladder trucks, 2 medic units, the EMS Captain, the Investigation Unit and a Battalion Chief for a total of 26 personnel responded to the scene. The fire was under control at 4:23 a.m.

Click the picture for more pictures and the rest of the story.

Mike Overacker was on scene taking some really great photographs. I have the story and photos on VAFireNews.com, and Mike has some more photos on RoanokeFirefighters.com.