More on Engine 3

I received the following from Bob Cooper after I posted the photo of old engine 3 on the blog. What follows is a new photo from Bob and his experience as a young child. This is not meant to be humorous; but, rather a warm hearted story about a young kid that had a dream. Enjoy.

OK LODGE, LET ME SEND YOU A REAL PICTURE OF ENG-3 ALONG WITH A LITTLE PERSONAL HISTORY. WHEN I WAS A LITTLE TYKE,WE LIVED ON THE 8OO BLOCK OF MOY AVE. ONE COLD NIGHT I HEARD THE SCREAMING SOUNDS OF A SIREN APPROACHING OUR STREET AND UP PULLED THIS BEAUTIFUL BIG RED MONSTER OF A FIRE ENGINE THAT STOPPED RIGHT IN FRONT OF OUR HOUSE AND STRETCHED LINES TO A WORKING FIRE IN THE HOUSE DIRECTLY IN ACROSS THE STREET FROM US. I REMEMBER RUNNING OUT IN THE STREET IN MY PJ'S AND BARE FEET TO GET CLOSE TO THE ACTION. I WAS HOOKED. I KNEW WHAT I WANTED TO DO FOR A LIVING. SHIVERING IN THE COLD, I WATCHED THE WHOLE PROCESS UNTIL IT WAS KNOCKED DOWN. ONE YOUNG FIREFIGHTER SEEING ME SHAKING BAREFOOT IN THE ROAD, SAT ME ON THE TAILGATE OF THE OLD, THEN NEW ENG 3 WHERE I WAS WARMED BY THE EXHAUST BLASTING FROM UNDERNEATH. THAT YOUNG FIREFIGHTER TURNED OUT TO BE, AS I LATER FOUND OUT, TO BE HERM. LEMIRE. AFTER THAT EYE OPENING NIGHT EVERY TIME I HEARD # 2 LEAVING ON A RUN I WOULD JUMP ON MY BIKE AND RACE OVER TO WALKER AND RICHMOND JUST TO WATCH THAT BIG RED BEAST BACK INTO THE STATION .AS I STOOD NEXT TO THE FENDER,THE TOP MY HEAD CAME TO THE TOP OF THE HUGE FRONT TIRE. .YEARS PASSED AND AFTER MUCH PRAYING AND SUCKING UP,I WAS HIRED ON AND I GOT TO HANG ON TO THE BACK OF THAT BIG FAST RED BEAST. AS TIME WENT ON, I WENT FROM HANGING ON FOR DEAR LIFE TO GETTING BEHIND THE WHEEL. HOWEVER,I WAS NEVER SURE WHETHER I WAS DRIVING THE ENG.OR WAS IT DRIVING ME. IT WAS AS FAST AS HELL AND AFTER MANY YEARS OF GRINDING A POUND OF METAL OFF THE GEARS,I WAS PROMOTED TO THE RIGHT SEAT AS SIREN PUSHER AND WAS MADE RESPONSIBLE FOR LOOKING AFTER CLOWNS LIKE YOU. SO HERE'S A REAL GOOD PHOTO OF THIS AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL MACHINE THAT CHANGED MY LIFE....LOVE YA.. COOP..

Old Engine 3

Bill McLeese sent me this photo of old engine 3. I can't believe we used to ride the back of this antique!! BTW....today is November 15! On this very day back in 1971 Bernie Glabb, Bob Waranchak, John Verbeem, Doug Hussey, Randy Meyer and myself started on the department. I think most of us were older than Engine 3 at the time :)

I received this the other day from Cindy Hillis. Most of you remember Jack. Her comments are below and a couple of photos of Jack in WW 11.

Hi Jack. Here is a little more information on my dad, Jack Hillis Dad turned 90 years old on Oct. 20. He is now the oldest living retired fire fighter in Windsor. He gets a kick out of telling people that. He was retired 30 years on Oct. 20 He had 4 children, 4 grandchildren and just became a great grandfather for the second time 5 days ago. Cindy Hillis

Old Guys Revealed

Well, here they are! Thanks to Ted Seagull for the photo. Apparently the boys were involved in Radiation Training somewhere between 1963-1965.
Once again, click on photo to enlarge.

Name the Old Guys

Another Contest!!!!

You could win an all expense paid holiday to downtown Detroit!

ENTER NOW......

Name The OLD Guys .... Who's Who?


(click on photo to enlarge)

Name The Old Guys

Let's see how good your memory is.

Name the guys in the photo. Was there electricity when this was taken or were people still using candle light?

Five Years TODAY!!!

Wow.. 5 years ago today a bunch of us were celebrating my retirement from the Department. Time sure flies when you're having fun : ) Here are a few pics of that night way back when at Kokopelli's. I especially like the last photo. Whoever thought that he'd become a union guy? ; )

A Story About "Rotten Ralph"

Some stories are funny... this one is hilarious and touches the heart at the same time. For those that have never experienced "the good old days" this is a typical day at the hall. Thanks go to Tom White for this story about a guy we all loved and respected. This was "Rotten Ralph" at his best. Enjoy.

Hi Jack

Thanks for the heads up on '' Ralph's '' passing. Imagine Barney , Ale and Ralph back together again.

I've often wondered who hung the name rotten ralph on Derush.......

Personally, I remember meeting Bob in the summer of 69..... It was a Thursday and being the redass I got shipped to headquarters on pit street.

It was window day and we were doing the windows upstairs. Bob stopped me and said what are you doing, Stupid, you don't wash the whole window , you pull the shade half way down and just do what shows. After I had done a few like that, Bob and Ron Lemay went and told Lt. Jack Hillis the redass was only doing half the job.

Later that day I thought I was going to get even;Lemay and Derush and Smitty were playing pool and this was my game..... I was good and too stupid not to show off. I went to my car and brought in my own cue. After letting me in to the game, I proceeded to show off. Bob asked to see my stick and proceeded to brake it over his knee and throw it out the third floor window. Ralph knew when to be rotten ,when a lesson in humility was needed and believe it or not had a big heart. Bob and Ron took a shine to this little alley rat of a kid named Phillip and they would hose him down in the hose tower and clean him up regularly and feed him and give him money.

God those were good times. Once Bob was on my side in a water fight. I was waiting at the foot of the stairs out front to throw a pail of water on Fenton who was driving the chief. Bob yelled let it go and I threw the whole damn bucket on Ray Berthiaume who was the meanest man I ever met. How could I have trusted Rotten Ralph.....? We all have our memories and those old pit street ones are special........

Retiree Tom White

An Apparatus Door Injures Chief 2's Vehicle

“Hey, it wasn’t my fault!” That’s what I proclaimed that night at Station 2 and I’ve held onto that belief ever since. Here’s what happened:

It was a dark and scary night when Chief 2 left the building to do his nightly rounds on the east end and points beyond. Bob Cooper and his driver had been known to traverse the city’s both East and West sides just in case Chief 1 had missed something. Bob was like that; he accomplished stuff.

Looking for a quiet place in the station in order to read my book I found that the watch booth was empty and so took a seat and began my read. A couple of hours passed by without much interruption. The only person that visited me was Ron Trofin who asked me what the meaning of “being Trofed” meant. Other than that it was rather quiet unless you consider the fact that the only other disturbance occurred when Dave Stroud came in to reminisce about some repetitive stories that took place during the 1950’s that he remembered as though they actually happened yesterday.

When Chief 2 returned from his “cross country” ride it was quite dark inside as the apparatus lights had not been turned on and the apparatus door had been closed. Or so I thought at the time. Apparently I was mistaken. Being always diligent about helping out the Chief I promptly pushed the button on the console to open the apparatus door so the Chief could enter the building. Not aware that the door was still open it started to descend the same time Chief 2’s driver started to reverse the command car inside the apparatus floor. My timing was exquisite.

The apparatus door made contact with the command car’s light bar perfectly and if I remember correctly landed square on the hood of the car. I would be remiss to not mention that Chief 2 and his driver nearly suffered dual heart attacks at that moment. It would have been OK though as I had just recently been trained in CPR. As the Boy Scout motto declares; I was prepared.

Visit Boblo

Here's a blast from the past... click on the link to see a great site about Boblo Island...

http://boblosteamers.com/

What Does A Firefighter Wear Under His Bunker Gear?

Ahhhh… I remember the adventurous nights working the shift at # 6 station with Bob Carroll. Picture this scenario. It’s around 3:45 AM on a summer night as the tones come in and the bedroom lights blind you as you get dressed. I climbed into the cab of Rescue Six and I wait for Bob, my officer, to climb on board. Numerous thoughts run through my mind. Where exactly is the fire? What is the best and fastest route to get there? How do I look? (Dennis Axford taught me that question).The apparatus doors open and we’re on our way to fight fires and save lives. It’s what we do. (I always wanted to use that line).

So, Tecumseh road is so empty that you could fire a cannon ball down the center line and not hit a thing.

Now this is where it starts to get strange. Bob looks at me and says, “Hey, guess what?”; so I reply, “I don’t know; what?”. Bob winks at me and makes a bold statement by stating, ”I’m naked under my bunker gear”. Then he breaks into a rather long belly laugh at my expense. I moved a little closer to my door during the run. It was a good thing that Tecumseh road was clear. It was when we returned to the station that I began to have visuals of his statement. I didn’t sleep well after that

Photo Op

Another blast from the past. Pictured left to right are: Ed Romanko, Father Mike Graham, a chief, I believe from Tecumseh and Jimmy Meyer.

Thanks to Freddie Meyer for this pic.

The Clown Revealed

I really don't think the clown resembles Danny Simonitto, Barry Jones, Studley, or the worst comment that he looks like Pat Cushing! : )

Who's This Clown?

Ok... this is going back in time... who is this guy?

Old Officer's Class

This is interesting. Every one of these guys are now retired. I don't want to say when this picture was taken but check out the "cutting edge" technology.

Wow, a slide projector : ) If you look closer there's even an overhead projector! I bet they even had Underwood typewriters to practice on.

Another thing; BR has dark hair! What's with that??? Hummm..isn't that Bootnose before the operation or was it after? Oh well..hard to tell at times.

Blast From The Past Answers

A couple of you got only two of the guys pictured in the photo. Here's a shot with the names added to the shot. Again, to see the larger image, please click on the photo itself.

Blast From The Past

Ok, here's one from way back in the "Ancient Days" of 1957!!! Some of the older guys may be able to figure out who's on the receiving end of the arrows. Who are they? I'll give you a hint; two of the guys are related. Hope that helps. Respond if you even have a half of a hint. Good luck!

(Click on the photo to enlarge)

Thanks to Jim Berthiaume for the photo... was it taken on a Brownie? : )

A Look Back At Lavender Forest

Here are a few photos of Lavender Forest's Miniature Railroad operated by Doug and Betty Patterson. Betty sold the property this year. There were a lot of good memories for all of us.

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The Blog Hits Over 20,000 - Let's Have a Contest!

Thanks to all of you .... The Blog has had over 20,000 hits since its inception in January 2006... To celebrate we're having a contest. The best suggestion on how we should celebrate wins!
Details in the next post.
Ok, kids... send in those suggestions right away.... contest closes midnight Oct. 31!

(Hey, that's the day that I retired : )

Another Hockey Picture

Thanks to Paula H we now have another hockey picture of old guys who were once young... I believe most of these folks were born circa 1850's or so and had to play the sport indoors by candlelight.
I know for a fact that a couple of them shook hands with Queen Victoria personally : ) If you can name the players go right ahead....