My son Jeremy and I are members of Fire District No.3 which covers the western third of Saline County and the east-central part of Ellsworth county. My wife, Liz, is a medical “first responder” for district 3. The majority of our fire calls are grass fires with some car fires mainly on I-70. Occasionally we get a bale pile fire or structure fire. I will go with my wife on car wrecks when extractions are necessary and help with that. I will post accounts of some of our fire runs and how weather affects them.

January 17, State St. and Hohneck Rd. lawn mower on fire in a shed.

Liz and I were driving home from Salina after church on State street rd. I commented to Liz that somebody was burning as there was smoke a mile and a half ahead of us. Seconds after I saw the smoke, the pager tones for a shed on fire. We arrived on scene within a minute and got out to investigate. We found that the home-owner had started his riding lawn mower after charging the battery just to get things circulated. The mower was parked in a lean-to addition to a garage. After running the mower engine a while the home-owner shut things down, closed the door and went in to watch football. Minutes later the wife looked out the window and saw smoke boiling out of the shed. They found the lawn mower on fire with its gas tank already erupted. The home-owner got a fire extinguisher and knocked down the fire to smoldering condition just before Liz and I got there. I checked the wooden framework of the lean-to as well as the mower, then gave a sizeup---a smoldering mower in a shed. Liz helped the home-owners remove some scorched equipment plus dragging the mower out while I walked to the road to show Sq. 330 the way into the narrow driveway. I detailed the personel on Sq. 330 to pull the booster line and cool the mower down. When they charged the hoseline, water flew everywhere! The lines and couplings had frozen at the last fire when the temps were 0. E-321 arrived at this time and they pulled a speedlay and quickly cooled the mower. Sq. 340 arrived also, and we took a second close look at the wooden timbers of the tin shed for signs of fire. There were none. The home-owner cooled things down with his fire extinguisher just in time to keep the shed from becoming involved. We then examined the breaks on Sq. 330, stacked hoselines and I called the incident finished. The wild thing about this call was that we were so close to the scene when paged. I, for the first time, called in that I was responding and was on scene at the same time! Later that night we were paged to a car on fire on I-70 mile marker 242. I responded but there was no fire. The car had just lost a back tire and made a few sparks.

February 1, hay bales on fire, Crawford St. and Link Rd.

We were paged to this fire at 4:30 in the morning. There were 3 big round bales and a hay meadow burning. I responded to Brookville so I could bring a second truck from the station. Sqs. 340, 330, 350 and 360 got on scene almost at the same time as this fire was located at the center of our district. Jeremy responded to the scene and helped put out the fire while I stood by at the Brookville station. After about an hour, the fire was out and all went home. Cause of the fire was most certainly arson.

Feb. 9,grassfire in the medium, I-70, mile marker 236.

Grassland fire danger was "moderate" today. I was just walking up the stairs to my Dr. appointment in Salina when this fire was paged. Jeremy was also in town so I called a couple of firefighters, stating I could not respond. Sq. 320, 360 and 340 responded and quickly put the fire out as the gusty northwest wind did not jump the fire out of the medium. I ended up not responding but it was hard to listen to the action on my pager as this fire was only 3 miles from my house.

Feb. 17, grass fire Hedville Rd. and Humbarger Rd.

Grassland fire danger was in the moderate range today. Wind was light and temps were in upper 40s. I was in Salina at the Emergency Management office when the call came in---controlled burn now out of control. A farmer was burning brush piles and for some reason the fire spread to the pasture grass. I responded towards Brookville and I listened as Sqs. 320, 340 and 350 left their stations. Jed B. got on scene first and became IC. I got to Brookville and responded with T-342 following Justen in T-331 to the scene. We got on scene about the same time the fire was brought under control as well as the three Sqs. running out of water. Justen and I refilled all three squads from T-331 and all went home.

February 18,truck fire call and grass fire in the area.

Grassfire index was "moderate" again today with beautiful weather, ie. temps around 50 and winds around 10 mph. I was moving hay at grandma's when Liz called about seeing smoke to our northwest. We heard on the scanner that Lincoln county rural fire districts were working a fire 5 miles to our northwest. It was a controlled burn that got out of control. Later, Jeremy and I were working on my swather in the shop when the truck fire came in. It was on Reese Rd. and turned out to be my cousin's truck. Jeremy and I were loading into my pickup when dispatch came back on and said the truck driver had put out the fire. Jed B. had responded as well as Sq. 340 to check things out so we didn't respond to this call.

March 7, grass fire in the 10,000 block West Watkins Rd.

Liz and I had just pulled onto I-70 from I-35, coming home from church when this call came in. Grassland fire index was in the high category today. The page was for a large grass fire in that area. The page started a large response from the folks of district 3 as there was a scramble to get trucks rolling. As Liz and I responded westbound, I kept looking for smoke, and not seeing any. There was also an effort on the radio to narrow the address down. Soon Sq. 320 arrived on scene and called in a small grassfire and turned all responders back to stations. Evidently a burn barrel sparked and caught the surrounding grass on fire and the fire was burning in short grass towards some buildings/equipment wich colored the homeowners call to 911. Sq. 320 put the fire out quickly and the call was over.

March 9.

It was with shock and sorrow that I got word that Dean Speaks, the assistant Saline Co. emergency manager had died at his home. Dean and my paths crossed many times on rural fire calls and meetings. He was into storms pretty well so we always shared a "story" every time we met. Dean brought out the thermal camera on both our house fires in December and both times it was early in the morning. Dean was Dean and I will miss him.

March 28, car fire training at Hedville station.

With a change to a new admin, I can start to post accounts again. We held a car burning exercise for our newer firefighters in District 3. We put two wrecked cars together then stuffed the engine of one car full of hay to simulate an engine fire. We put an experienced firefighter behind a new guy for each phase of the exercise. I volunteered to back on the engine fire and we put out the fire then pried the hood up to finish mopping up. We then lit up both cars and let three newer firefighters knock out the fires with 3 separate hoses. All in all, it was a fun exercise combining air pack usage as well as giving our low time firefighters experience in a controlled envirenment. Liz videoed the exercise and I took some pictures. We'll post pics. when we figure the new picture admin.

March 31, simulated wreck exercise, Ell-Saline High School.

District 3, Salina fire and rescue as well as others, staged an exercise depicting a DUI prom group colliding with a car carrying a family. This was to show students the repercussions of drinking and driving. In order to compact the time of the simmulation, everybody involved had a scripted part of the exercise. The call was paged through the loud speakers, then Liz and I arrived first as first responders. Liz's job was to start treatment and code victims and I was incident command. Sheriff deputys, other District 3 first responders, ambulances and Rescue 1 arrived and did their things as students looked on. The neat thing for me was as Incident Commander, I created a LZ on the football field and got to "talk down" Life Star medic helicopter. The whole thing was pretty realistic and I hope scared some sense into the youngsters about drinking and driving. Little did I know then, that I would be taking command of a DUI wreck in a couple of weeks so this experience was good primer for me. The exercise was well covered by The Salina Journal and KSN TV. Just as we were finished cleaning up the scene we were paged to an out of control pasture burn southeast of Bavaria. Jeremy and Rod took Sq.340 from the high school as well as Michael,Justin,Sheldon and Kody taking sq. 330. I drove to the station and responded with T-342. By the time I arrived on scene the guys on the squads had the fire under control with their quick hit. We then returned to our stations refilled the squads and went home.

April 10, controlled burn out of control, Fairchilds Rd. and Magnolia Rd.

I was discing milo ground and Jeremy was fixing fence when this call came in. We drove to Brookville and took T-342 out as Sq. 340 & E-341 were already in route. We got on scene, put out a couple of hedge posts, then refilled Sqs. 340, 320 & 360. We returned to the station, filled 342 and went home.

April 11, one vehicle rollover, Armstrong Rd.

Liz and I were jolted out of a sound sleep at 4:30 am for this injury accident just 3 miles east of our house. We hurridly geared up and called into Dispatch. I told Liz "I bet the wreck is on the curves on Armstrong" and so it was. We arrived on scene, Liz started her assessment of the victims, (there were 3 sitting along side of the ditch), I took incident command, did a size up and relayed codes to dispatch. Jeremy then Michael H arrived next. I had Jeremy do ISD on the wrecked car and Michael helped Liz with the victims. Deputys, EMS and the EMS Lt. arrived and we loaded 2 of the three victims in the medic for transport. Non of the three kids were badly hurt which was remarkable since the car was "totaled." Apparently they were DUI and drove into the ditch on the curve, overcorrected and rolled, coming to rest upright. Only the driver was belted in. After the Medic left, we conferred with the Deputies and I cleared incident command and we all went home.

April 28 RR tie on fire 27 Rd. Ellsworth co.

Liz and I were in Salina when this call was paged. There was gusty winds this day. Jeremy responded as well as several Squads and a hunt started for the burning tie. The terrain was rugged and the fire was found only after firefighters walked the track in a remote area. Jeremy put out the fire by filling a traffic cone with water and carrying it 1/4 mile to the fire.

May 3, out of control controlled burn, 10,000 block west Watkins Rd.

Liz and Jeremy and I had just returned from Salina when this call came in. Grassland fire index was in the low category with light winds. Jeremy and I responded but were turned around when Sq. 350 got on scene of a milo stubble fire that wasn't too big. Squads 350 and 330 put the fire out in about 6-7 minutes.

May 18, two vehicle wreck. District 3 was paged to this wreck at Waterwell and Link Rd. just after 7 am. It was too far for me to respond. Jason took Sq 340 and Michael came in his pickup. This was a page that is sometimes different than what was paged. It was paged as a single vehicle rollover with one subject having injuries to their arm. Jason, in Sq. 340 was the first "official" (with a radio)on scene. He found, (and reported), two vehicles involved with one subject entrapped. Michael arrived, then both guys worked with EMS and Salina rescue to free the entrapped subject. They had just the week before, trained with the very same people and equipment in Salina that responded to this scene. Working together, they cut off the top of the pickup and quickly sent the injured person to the hospital, a job well done.

June 20, power lines arcing in Brookville.

I was awakened just before 2 am, when this page came in. I dressed and hopped into my pickup, hoping some of the guys would respond who lived in Brookville. Finally I called in that I was responding with Jed calling in a couple minutes later. I arrived on scene just after the sherrif's deputy. Neighbors pointed out where the arcing happened stating that sparks were falling to the ground. The trees were growing into the power lines along that area but we could find no arcing or burned areas. Jed arrived with Sq. 340 and stood by while the deputy contacted the power company and they put it on their work order. After that we cleared and went home.

July 19, no great big things happening.

We've had many medical calls the last several weeks but only a single fire call. That was at the extreme east part of our district and I didn't respond. Shane B. has returned to Brookville from his deployment overseas so that helps our response out of Brookville. As the hot dry spell continues, the grass will dry out and we should start to get some grass fire callls.

July 26, one vehicle rollover, I-70 mile marker 237.

I had just started to prepare breakfast around 7 am when this call came in---one vehicle accident with injuries, located in the medium. The 237 mile post is not too far from home so I knew I would get on scene quickly. Liz was unable to respond with me due to recent foot surgery. I got on scene and found a black SUV on it's top, not in the medium, but on the west bound passing lane. I gave a quick sizeup to dispatch and declared incident command before getting out of the pickup to check for victims. There were no law enforcement there yet so I parked my truck so to block the scene and protect the people. I checked for number of people involved,(6) if there was entrapment, (0) and somewhat the number of injured, (2, one seriously). In doing this I missed Liz's presence as she is trained to code victims. Then, since I have no portable radio, I went back to my truck and relayed this information. Law enforcement began to arrive so I moved my truck out of the way and detailed responding district 3 fire trucks their part in securing the wreck scene. I also relayed more patient info to dispatch as my attempts to talk direct to Salina EMS failed. Soon EMS, the EMS shift LT., then Salina Rescue truck arrived and began to work on the injured youngster. They "boarded" the seriously hurt kid and we carried him to the ambulance. I then released Sq. 340 & 330 from their traffic control duties when EMS and Rescue 1 left for Salina. Sq. 320 stayed on scene with me until the wrecker loaded the SUV, then I cleared the incident with dispatch and we went home.

August 15, fire in the propane system at Ell-Saline high school, Brookville.

The pager toned this call out at around 4 am. A fire in the propane area at the high school. I donned my gear and called in I was responding. All the Brookville guys responded before I arrived. They found a propane leak in the storage area that occasionally ignited small fires. They also started an evacuation of nearby residents. I got on scene and was going to help with the evacuation when the evaporator ignited again. Shane drove Sq. 340 up and Jason and I knocked out the fire with the hoseline. The fire would reignite as the leaking valve dropped propane down where a pilot light was located. Chief Mark, Rod and Joe W. cut the lock on the restraining fence and started turning off valves while Jason and I kept a steady stream of water pouring on the evaporator. The propane rep. arrived along with Saline Co. emergency mangaement. More valves were turned and then it was a wait until the line bled out. We then allowed residents to return to their houses gathered the hoses and took trucks back to the station. As I drove home I could see the dawn beginning to light the sky.

August 24, power lines burning attached to a house 7000 block Waterwell Rd.

This call came in at around 4:30 am. There was rain and lightning ongoing. I dressed and drove to Brookville where Shane and I stood by until Rod, in Sq. 340 got on scene. He found no fire so released everyone to go back home while he stood by waiting for the power company to arrive.

August 26, fire in semi-trailer tires.