Do You Know This Man?

Who is the Singing Firefighter?? Find Out Soon!!!!!

911 Memorial song

Don't know if you've heard of this song yet or not....pretty good. "Everyday Heroes"

Great Video

Great video.... must have taken ages to edit. Thanks to Ray L from Michigan for this one! Four decades of musical movie dancing to one song...incredible! Click on bottom right to enlarge.

Rambo the Puppy

We have a dog that looks pretty close to this one. If you want to have a lot of fun with your pet you should invest in a Shihtzu! Our dog actually did this with the mirror that we had. Have fun watching the video.

Sandor the Great

Does anyone remember Sandor White? You know; the kid with the buzzcut that had a great sense of humour. The first time I met him was when I was transferred to #6. We had a lot of ‘new’ kids on the block back then. If my memory serves me right there was Kris Matton (who doesn’t write any more), Paul Bobbie, who was known for his famous phrase, “Jacko understands”, and of course, Sandor. We had some pretty well established older guys too; Bob Carroll, Mike Anderson, Dave Stroud, Doug Emery. I believe Gary Spratt was there also. But my memory fails me as to the other members of the crew.

Sandor was only on the job for about 2 or 3 years when he moved on to his home town of Barrie where he secured a position on that city’s fire department. I can only imagine the goings on there.

One of my fondest memories involved Sandor riding the back of the rescue which I was driving and I believe ‘Belle River’ Bob was the officer on the truck. We were dispatched to, which turned out to be a false alarm, in Forest Glade. As we were parked by the curb Sandor jumped off the back of the rig and came along side of the truck and stood by my window. I looked down and there he was in all his splendor. He looked pretty official in his bunker gear, gloves and even had his mask on ready to assault the fire single handed if necessary. He looked up at me and said, “Hey, Jacko, I smell smoke; we might have something here! Oh really”, I said. “How can you smell anything, you have your mask on!” The last time I saw Sandor during that time was walking towards the back of the truck.

I saw him back at the station where he was wearing a sheepish grin and he stated, “I’ll never make that mistake again!”

What a neat kid…. I still miss him to this day.

From Brent Marchant

Three fellows had passed on and were waiting to enter into the gloryland. While they were waiting, they were told that in order to enter, one of the prerequisites was that they could count to 10. No problem said the first fellow..1234…1234…1..2 .3 4…. I forget what comes after 4. I was a soldier in my earthly life and I was used to marching 1 2 3 4….1 2 3 4……

The second fellow couldn’t wait….1 2 3 4 5 6….let me see???? 1 2 3 4 5 6….I was a police officer in my past life and they gave me these 6 bullets which I counted every day for 30 yrs but I can’t remember what comes after 6!

The third fellow says “let me try” 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10…yep that’s it! Once more… 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10… I was a fireman you know, a very noble profession, and I served for 30 yrs as well! “So…. By any chance, do you happen to know what comes after ten” they asked? “Sure” he answered Jack, Queen, King, Ace !!!

Past Tales

Brent Marchant sent me a couple of anecdotes about time on the job. I haven't edited any of Brent's stories; these are his words... still funny after all these years

It was a Saturday morning about 7:45 am just before shift change at HQ… so there’s lots of guys hanging around looking for a cover. The WPD are also present because Half Reaumes’ van had been broken into overnight and his vending machine business money had been stolen, and they were doing a report and investigation. The Moon Beams truck is parked right beside Half’s van.

So Sonny (MB) gets in his truck , starts it up and moves it our about 15 ft and shuts it off. He then proceeds to the front of it and lifts the hood staring inside …….. So “wisecrackin Caverzan shouts out, Hey Sonny, what’s the matter … did they steal your engine? To which there is a hearty burst of laughter from everyone. Sonny replied with a very straight faced and stern look… No stupid, I wanted to be sure they didn’t take my battery! The place went bezerk!

Here’s another true one for you. I’m driving the eng out of #4, Randy Meyer is Captain, George Copland and Steve Appleyard are on the back. The call comes in ,,,…medical emergency to a lower apartment on Sandwich. ….seems The daughter was talking with her mother …suddenly disconnected…….no response…….daughter suspects her mother has suffered a heart attack!!

Lights and sirens, pedal to the metal! we roll. Arriving on scene the daughter is already there, and totally hysterical. Randy orders take the door down!......there’s no answer from within. Smash! Crash! The old wooden door is in smithereens They all rushed inside and find the mother sitting upright on the sofa with her hands across her chest and starring straight ahead. . MOM ….ARE YOU ALRIGHT??.... reply ….I’m mad at you,! I’m not talking to you! BUT MOM, THE FIR EMEN JUST SMASHED YOUR DOOR DOWN! …….reply….. It’s my door…. I don’t have to answer it if I don’t want to!! Cpt Meyer says …..oooookay! well we’ll be on our way now ,,come on boys…. Windsor dispatch ..... eng 4 returning

It was a great job, wasn’t it?

Firefighter Tribute

Paula Hillis sent me this clip. Apparently it was created by a Lakeshore firefighter... anyway, pretty good stuff....

Train VS Tornado

Just got this from Bill McLeesh.... great video ... you can really start to get interested when the rain starts and then 'buckle up' .. :)

Every once in a great while you receive a video that is priceless... sit back and enjoy as two dogs steal the show....

Seatbelts.... A Different View

Enough said...Buckle UP!!

Side Mirrors

After all these years we have someone who knows how to adjust the side mirrors on your car. I tried this and wished I had known about this hint years ago. No need to thank me but a few donations would be nice. : ) This might even work for the big red rigs!

Cancun

In Talum...mixing it up with the local natives. For awhile I thought we might be the main course!

Just got this from Mario in Fort Myers. The women look great but what the heck happened to the guys? Time is a terrible thing, isn't it? : ) Just kidding... they look pretty good too. Well, kinda.

Taking a break..

Dog Sedding in Banff

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?

Ace Buchanan and the Switching of the Keys

Way back in the early 80’s I was watching Ace Buchanan pitch golf balls in the back yard at #7 station. Anyone who spent any considerable time at “The Home” could tell you that most of us had way too much time on our hands at one of the slowest stations in the city. I recall many of the guys doing strange things to waste away the days before and after the training sessions (which were VERY intense, by the way). I once heard a story from one of the guys about Greg Seney, who is now the Deputy of Vaughn, and how he spent some of his leisure time. It seems that Greg had a fly cemetery on the window sill next to the chair that he used to sit in. I suppose you need some sort of training if you’re going to end up as a Deputy Chief somewhere. This may have been part of the plan. Sort of like a prerequisite of some kind. Fly cemetery planning 101.

In any event I digress. When I saw Ace pitching the golf balls I noticed that his trunk lid was open and the keys were still in the trunk lid. If you can forecast what happened next I can start to see the smile coming across your face : ). Everyone was well aware just how gullible Ace could be at times. One story comes to mind is the tale of Ace driving a ladder truck and following the leaking engine’s booster tank water trail to a fire. Too bad it turned out to be a street cleaner doing its job.

I always carried my car keys with me and came up with a brilliant idea! Why not switch the keys in his trunk for mine!!! Simple enough, right? I secretly switched my keys for his and inserted one of the keys into the trunk lid while I put his in my pocket. I then asked if the keys in the trunk were his. With a look of disdain Ace just stared at me and decided that was a pretty stupid question; after all, it was HIS car. The plan so far was working just fine. I looked at him and said, “Well, I just wondered why you would leave your keys in the lock if you suddenly had a run and might forget them.” To which Ace intelligently replied, “That’s pretty dumb, Lodge... I’ll just grab the keys when I go back in the building and get on the engine.” “I suppose”, I answered. The trap was now set.

Looking at Ace I promptly said, “Well, what would happen if someone came and did THIS???” In one quick action I threw my keys into the trunk of his car and quickly slammed the trunk lid down!!! It seemed that there was a defining moment when time stopped as I saw the look on Ace’s face. It was NOT a good look. What I heard next was not Ace’s voice; but, rather something that I had never heard before. I was a bit surprised that his head didn’t do a spin on his shoulders like that girl in the movie The Exorcist.

At that moment I thought better of my plan and decided to end the fun right there. When I started to laugh Ace realized what had happened. His next statement was priceless, “Phew, I didn’t think you were that stupid!” To which I replied, “Well, it wasn’t ME who left the keys available, was it?”

I left quickly when his voice started to change again.

Old Timer Hockey

I thought you might like to watch the video of Old Timer Hockey in Florida...if you look real close you can see Gary Spratt at the age of about 102 : )

Make sure you email him with your comments at gspratt@sympatico.ca

Poo-chi

I've been on the planet now for some time and have never seen anything quite like this clip.... enjoy : )

Air Canada

Still want to travel out of the country... This is what's going to happen soon : )