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 16, snow and wind causes wrecks.

The cold, windy, snowy blast we received today created 3 first responder calls due to auto wrecks. All three were on I-70, the first two Liz and I were working and couldn't respond (a semi and truck and u-haul rollovers) with very minor injuries. The last call occurred at 11:30 pm and was generated by a passerby seeing the original semi rollover. I got up and responded as well as Dugan and Tait W. and we searched the area with a county deputy, determining that there was no new wreck, just the origional so we cleared off the frequency and went home.

Jan.29, smoke in house call.

I was at Brookville attending an Ell-Saline basketball game, talking to Micheal H. when my pager tones for smoke in a house located around 4000 north Link Rd. We ran to my pickup and stopped at Michael's truck to grab his gear, then drove the half mile to the station. Shane B. was already raising the door to E-341 when we drove up and "geared up". We decided that Michael would ride with Shane and I would bring T-342. The temperature was 18 so I had to start the pump to recirculate the water preventing freezing then took off. The house involved was located at the far north end of our district. Units from Glendale and Hedville arrived first. They could not find any fire and turned us around before arrival, a good ending on a cold night!

February 22, grass fire at 4100 N. Link Rd.

It was early evening when the pager tones for a grass fire on Link road. I was loading fire wood in the pasture when the call came in so while I was driving to the road, I called Jeremy and he met me along the way as I headed to the fire scene. We arrived after squads 320 and 350 and Jeremy and Michael H. rode on sq 350 but due to light winds the fire was not large and was easily contained. There was a good turnout from district 3 as all four stations responded with trucks. Cause of the fire was sparks from a burn barrel.

March 2, A wet run, no fire found.

I was home from church Sun. afternoon, talking to my storm chase partner on the phone when the pager tones for a semi loaded with bales on fire, I-70 mile marker 246. It had been raining for the last couple of hours and roads were slippery on the drive to I-70. Hedville units quickly arrived on scene, finding nothing so it became a search for the fire area. We searched I-70 from Lincoln co. line to just west of Salina finding no trucks on fire. We figured that someone saw water spray from the rain curling up behind the semi looking like smoke which promped the call. A good ending to a rainy afternoon.

Saturday March 22, grass fire call to Ellsworth Co. highway 141& Ave. L.

It was around 3:30 in the afternoon when the pager tones for a controlled grass burn now out of control in Ellsworth County. The fire scene was 3-4 miles north of lake Kanopolis area due south of where I live, so I was first on scene. The weather was cloudy and cool with a north wind around 10 MPH. I found a large grass fire in VERY rugged terrain but not spreading much except in one area where there was a substantial head fire on the south side. I talked to one of the land owners who was on a ATV and then made a size-up for our responding units. I then called for Ellsworth county units for mutual aid and devised strategy with the land owner on placement of fire units when they arrived. I basicly routed our district 3 units a mile loop around the east side of the fire (due to terrain) and assigned them to stop the head fire. Then units from Kanopolis arrived and I had another local ATV driver lead them to the west/northwest fire line. This was done verbally since I had no joint radio bands with Ellsworth Co. units. I then placed district 3 tankers as near to the action as terrain would allow and this paid off well as we refilled mainly Ellsworth Co. units. Fortunately the south head fire burned into a "wet" springy canyon and did not jump so burned itself out negating any attention from the district 3 units I sent there, basically cutting the fire control problem in half. After that it was basically a mop up situation and we got the fire under control rather quickly. We had a good response from district 3, with squads' 320-340-350-360, tankers 342-351-399 as well as E-341. I called the fire out around 5:30 and after filling all squads and tankers we all went home.

Saturday March 22, a second call of the day---pickup/camper fire I-70 mile marker 247.

I was just getting out of the bath tub around 9 pm. when the pager tones for a pickup camper on fire with propane bottles involved! I dressed and jumped into my pickup calling in that I was responding. Squad 350 pulled on just ahead of me so I followed them to the scene. Our first units on scene, (from Hedville) stated fully envolved with the propane relief valves already venting! Sq. 350 and I got on scene and with the highway shut down in both directions we were able to cross the medium and park in front of the burning mess. I jumped out and snapped a picture then donned my gear and assisted Jed B. on the speedlay hose from E-321 attacking the camper area from upwind. Shane B. arrived with E-341 and with plenty of firefighters on hand manning the hoseline I went to E-341 and packed up taking a hose line from I think Sq. 350 and extinguished fire on the down wind side (smoky side). Visibility was nil as I traversed the entire length of the pickup/camper and back, but this action pretty well knocked out the remaining fire. I was now exhausted from a long day's work and still recovering from surgery 2 weeks ago, I was granted release by the incident commander and headed back home.

Sunday March 23, out of control grass fire at highway 141 and Ave. L---AGAIN!

I recieved a phone call from the people who lost control of their burn yesterday that they were going to attempt to finish their burn this evening. Winds were light from the north but switched to the south around 10 mph. When the wind switched, they lost control and we were paged out around 9 pm (at night). This time I called Jeremy and he and Meghan met me in route to the fire and jumped in my truck. We got on scene and Jeremy and Meg got on Squad 340 and we drove to the scene as I did yesterday. The difference was that Ellsworth Co. trucks were already on scene fighting fire with many more Ellsworth Co. and district 3 trucks arriving all the time. When Jed B. arrived with 342, I jumped on with him and we "worked" the east fire line while most of the other trucks worked the west (bigger) fire line. With all the many trucks piling on, the fire was quickly brought under control and we got home at 11:30 pm. Tomorrow is supposed to be windy and warm so hope this one stays out!

Friday March 28, State St./Wyman, controlled burn out of control--then back under control again.

I was hauling a bull from one pasture to the next when the pager tones for a controlled burn now out of control. As I was unloading the bull I called Jeremy and he came down to my place while I was taking the trailer off my pickup. We drove to Brookville per request of the incident commander and Jeremy took sq. 340 while I drove T. 342 towards the scene. We got around 4 miles from the station when the IC. turned us around---the landowner got the fire back under control. It appears that many ranchers are trying to get their prescribed burns done this weekend so maybe more action for us at district 3.

April 4, minor injury accident powerlines arcing in trees, highway 40 west of Brookville.

The morning wakeup alarm had just sounded at 6:30 when the pager tones for fire in trees caused by power lines arcing, highway 40 west of Brookville. Then the pager tones for a minor injury accident at the same location! Now we know why the power lines are down. I donned my grass gear and called in that I was responding and about the same time Sq. 340 and 350 called they were responding too. Shane and Michael in sq. 340 arrived on scene and turned 350 and myself around-- there was little fire. A driver probably fell a-sleep, jumped a ditch and broke off a power pole. He only sustained a small cut and a bump to his head, minor injurys for such a wild ride.

April 16, controlled burn out of control, 2100 north McGavern Rd.

After enduring Red Flag/high wind warnings April 14-15, the winds dropped to 10-15 mph during the afternoon. Everybody who needed to burn seemed to be out and burning when I left home to drive to Salina for church and fire fighter 1 classes. I was just finishing choir practice and ready to go to station 1 for classes when we were paged to this grass fire. The address was close to my home (within 3 miles) so I quickley called Jeremy who was home and got him started to the scene. I initially thought the fire was 2 miles north of where it was due to talk on the radio, (there was smoke plumes everywhere!) but Jeremy called back and dialed me in where the fire was. This I confirmed with dispatch and alerted responding units where the scene was as I continued to the Brookville station. Squad 350 arrived on scene, took command and Jeremy rode with them as they attacked what was probably the smallest fire in the area. Sq. 330 and 320 got to the scene and the fire was quickly put out with minor problems due to muddy fields. I stood by at Brookville along with many of the firefighter 1 classmates until the fire was out, then we went back to Salina to complete our interrupted class. A note about the previous two days---a very large range fire started up in northeast McPherson Co. April 15. Saline Co. district 1, 2, and 5 were called to assist with this fire so with the winds howling up to 50 MPH it was decided through cell phone calls that some of district 3 (Brookville) firefighters would be in Brookville area for quicker response. Jeremy, Meghan, Michael and Shane stayed in Brookville for a while to be close. Then, today,(April 16) a large grass fire started in southeast Saline Co. during the morning while I was feeding cattle. With winds switching in the northwest part of the Co. where I was, I called Emergency Mngt and informed them that the winds were about to switch at the fire scene. They broadcast this information to the incident commander and the winds did switch about 15 minutes later at the fire scene, actually driving the fire away from some structures in that area.

May 14, car off bridge call 901 S. Hedville Rd..

I was driving to choir practice/planning team/firefighter 1 class when the pager tones for a possible injury accident, car off a bridge! At that time I was 11/2 miles from the accident scene. Thinking that I would be the first on scene with a radio and that the possibility of a serious situation with maybe a car in the bottom of a creek, I turned off and drove to the scene, finding a much better situation. A high school girl was driving home from school when she swerved to miss a dog and lost control of her car, sliding off a 6x6 concrete culvert backwards. Upon my arrival she was out of the car and seemingly uninjured so I called dispatch stating one person involved, no entrapment and no injury. I then stayed on scene until EMS and deputys arrived and showed them who was who as a small crowd had gathered. District 3 firefighter Jim K. disconnected the battery cable as EMS checked the girl out finding no injuries and after that I left the scene and continued on to Salina. Fortionately for the driver she was going pretty slow when she went into the ditch, otherwise she could have been severely injured.