Rain, sleet, snow, or hail the banquet is on for tonight. The Hotel Roanoke is paid for, the food will be cooked, and the drinks will be served!!!

I haven’t heard about the numbers, but I am sure it will be a great time.

It seems as though Sec/Treas. Parry has really pulled off a great event this year. Over the past many years I have heard all kinds of complaints. From juvenile to complex. However, it appears as though there aren’t any reasons not to attend this year. The place should be packed.

I hope to see you there!!!

Hey guys, scroll down to see the retirements for the following:

Clonnie Yearout
Leroy Edwards
Jimmy Renick
Hank Pfister
Ricky Troutt
Roger Markham

That is 188 years of experience out the door. I certainly hope you guys were listening and learning while they were here!!!

If anyone has any images to add just email them to me. Enjoy!!!

Captain Clonnie Yearout has been on the job since November 12, 1973. He is retiring with 36 years on the job. Clonnie’s last assignment was as Captain at Station 13 A-shift…Who am I kidding? With the exception of a short time, Clonnie has worked his entire career at Station 13.

It has been a lot of fun seeing and interacting with Clonnie at 13 throughout my career.

Clonnie is a proud Grandfather  a couple times over and I am sure that his grand-children will bring a lot of joy to his newly found “extra” time. Clonnie has also painted for a long time and I imagine he will continue painting.

I must say that Clonnie might be the last of his kind…meaning guys who work at one station throughout their career. Mostly we get moved around and shuffled when the wind changes direction. Clonnie has been a mainstay at 13, has maintained distributing the station supplies for as long as I can remember, and knows 13′s territory inside and out. Then again he lives in our first due territory (the county first due area of 13).

God Bless and enjoy your retirement

Lieutenant Leroy Edwards retired from the Roanoke Fire-EMS Department after 34 years on the job. Leroy was hired by the Roanoke Fire Department on December 15, 1975.

Leroy’s most recent assignment was the ladder Lt. at Station 13 on A-Shift. He filled that position for a long time.

I have enjoyed changing out with Leroy for years in the morning when C-Shift relieves A-Shift. Leroy and I have had a great relationship of jabbing at each other every morning until one of us gets pissed off and leaves! Just kidding, kind of.

Leroy had a retirement party at the fire station and I was able to stop by. Actually it is the only one I was able to make it to. There was also a retirement party at the Homeplace for Clonnie and Leroy. I have pictures from both events.

Thanks to Mike Overacker for the video below and Tim Cady for the photos from the Homeplace. The photo to the right is from Maurice Wiseman.

The video is great! This was a song that was sung and Leroy joined in…a great passage on to retirement. Leroy and the rest of these guys have a lot to be thankful for…mainly a long and healthy career.

Captain Jimmy Renick has retired from the Roanoke Fire-EMS Department after 34 years. Jimmy was hired on December 15, 1975 by the Roanoke Fire Department. His brother Ronnie retired several years ago as a Captain as well.

Jimmy’s last assignment was Engine 8 A-Shift. I enjoyed eating lunch and hanging out with his crew when I worked at the Credit Union when it was upstairs at Station 8. Jimmy has always been really good to me. We even caught a few fires together back when I used to swap time with Rob Humphreys.

Jimmy, you will be missed. Enjoy your retirement.

The older pictures are from Maurice Wiseman. The newer pictures were taken by Maryanne Marx during Jimmy’s retirement party.

Hank Pfister is retiring after 25 years on the job. Hank was hired January 1, 1985 (that is the date I have). He was one of the original EMS Department Paramedics. Hank is a beloved member of our department and has an affinity for motorcycles!

Hanks last assignment was Station 4 A-shift.

Ricky Troutt has retired from the Roanoke Fire-EMS Department after 34 years on the job. Ricky was hired on December 15, 1975 and I believe his last day on the books is December 15, 2009 (although he has already worked his last day).

Ricky obtained the rank of Battalion Chief and his last assignment was on the Northside on A-Shift.

Ricky and his wife own Iron Sports Custom Cycles. His son Adam is a firefighter with Roanoke Fire-EMS as well.

Congratulations Chief, if I win the lotto I will hit you up for a custom chopper!

Roger Markham has retired after 25 years on the job. Roger began his career with the Roanoke Fire Department on October 2, 1984. Roger’s last assignment was on A-shift at Station 14.

Here is the thing about Roger…I hardly knew him and he hardly knew me. I can remember awkward silence when he walked into the Credit Union the first couple of times when I was there because he didn’t know my name and I didn’t know his. We got over it, but still rarely saw each other.

Anyways, here is to a long and healthy retirement Roger!

This is all I know right now….

James Firebaugh and Terry King were promoted to Battalion Chiefs.

Firebaugh will go to Northside BC on A-shift. Saunders will be the Southside BC on A-shift.

I have not heard where the others will be moved to.

Let me know if you hear more.

If anyone has any photos to share, information to share, or stories to share in the posts please get them to me ASAP. I am working on posts for the retirements we have had recently!!

Admin@RoanokeFire.com

I have finally created a fan page on facebook for the Roanoke Fire Blog….

Check it out here

There is a great write-up in todays paper on the new football team (Roanoke Rampage). I cannot imagine that a huge story above the fold on Thanksgiving won’t help spread the word. Looking good guys. I can’t wait to be there at the game with maroon and orange paint on my bare chest….I just need a few more to spell out R-A-M-P-A-G-E!!!

Here is the link to the Roanoke Rampage homepage

Story by Amanda Codospoti
Roanoke Times
Full Story

Phillip Dillon limped to the sidelines.

“Ah. I pulled — a delicate muscle, shall I say?”

The 45-year-old Roanoke fire captain walked off his injury and was soon back in the huddle with his teammates, several former college football players and a former professional football player among them.

Monday was the third time that the Roanoke Rampage, a newly formed, minor league football team, has practiced.

The players are all firefighters, police officers and sheriff's deputies throughout the Roanoke and New River valleys, and the team is one of 25 in the National Public Safety Football League, which was established 12 years ago.

The Rampage's season begins in April.

Continue reading…. New public safety football team snaps to it – Roanoke.com.

Here is the list of new hires for Roanoke City. Ole Willie states that he got his updated first…NOT A CHANCE. If he had taken the time to notice, I have had this post online since yesterday. That is right. I got a hold of the list prior to the guys/gals even getting a call. Just look at the date and time of the posting of this blog post. I had it posted yesterday at 1700 hours. Does anyone even read his blog? * denotes ALS certification.

Congratulations all…

A. Helems *
J.Kaylor
J. Dixon*
C. Walsh
J. Anuszkiewizz*
B. Wasson*
G. Crabb*
B. Hodges
J. Walker
M. Akers*
J. Lonnemann

Eat your heart out Willie!!! Stealth mode has been enabled and I have once again flown under the radar.

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….

Yesterday and today I had the pleasure of meeting up with a true fire history buff. Tommy Herman lives in Chesterfield County. He is a retired Richmond firefighter and a long time volunteer at Ettrick station 13 in Chesterfield County.

Tommy had reached out to me a while back and had called a couple times when he made it to town. This time we were able to meet up. Tommy is a foremost authority on Oren apparatus and the company itself. He has a book coming out in the spring on Oren apparatus and it has several Roanoke Trucks in it. I got to peruse the draft of the book and I cannot wait to thumb through my own copy.

Tommy had some great stories. It was amazing how he knew all the people I had contacted, tried to find, or had heard of when I was writing “Firefighting in Roanoke”. He left me two large files to look through and scan. We went to dinner last night and afterwards I took the time to scan everything. I scanned from 8-12 last night.

Needless to say, Tommy knows a lot. He knows about Roanoke FD, REMS, Oren, Seagrave, ALF, you name it. Hell, he knew Maurice Wiseman too. Willie mentioned my meeting and some news about other Orens here.

One thing he said stood out…He commented on how Roanoke is so quick to get rid of stuff. I couldn’t agree more. Of all the great firetrucks we have had over the years, what do we have to show for it? Squad 1, a couple other rusted trucks hoping for refurb. So many great trucks are gone forever. I realize we can’t keep everything, but at least hand it off to someone who cares.

One thing Tommy was able to do that I wasn’t even thinking about was rekindling my curiosity of our history. He got me thinking about that second book and maybe the complete history book. He got me thinking about continuing to find out history, reclaim OUR artifacts, and move forward.

And with that, I shall set back out on my quest. I just ask anyone who has any images to share please let me know. I have asked in the past and not gotten much of a response. The process is simple…you get me the photos, I scan them or copy them, I get them back to you. If I use them in the future you get credit.

For now I will leave you with this little teaser of some of the images I got from Tommy. You will see more in the future!!! Feel free to chime in and comment on the trucks if you want.