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| From Antarctica - Austral Summer 2007-2008 |
We brought it in for brake, oil pressure, and other issues regarding the foam delivery system (primarily the turret) from Williams Field. To give you a brief rundown of the vehicle, it's over 20 years old. It weighs in excess of 80,000 lbs and it tops out at about 8 mph. It's over an hour ride out to Williams Skiway in Red 2 and damn near an hour and a half to two hours out to Pegasus. Today, I almost caught it on fire when I was driving it back from the VMF to the firehouse and the parking brake engaged on its own (unbeknown to me). I didn't find out till I smelled the brakes burning and I saw the plume of smoke bellowing from underneath the vehicle. Within 30 minutes of it leaving the VMF, it got picked up and brought straight back. So now, being the only person in station qualified to drive it and the only person that's familiar with the parking break problem (this is the 3rd time in the past couple weeks this has happened, I am privileged to drive this 40 ton piece of shit back out to Pegasus...at 2300 hrs. I can't even begin to imagine what else can happen to the vehicles tonight. On top of that we have 2 engines without a working pump, 1 engine with a tank that has more holes than a spaghetti strainer, a nodwell that's leaking foam, a van that just likes to die whenever it feels like, an Renegade with a broken radio, and 2 ambulances that are running on their last legs (or wheels I guess). The best part is the season has only begun...
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5 comments:
Hahaha that sounds like are fire trucks over here in the Marshall Island. Hi my name is Javier by the way. Am sitting here in dispatch which we do are own dispatch...fuck
I was bored and lookin at other contract jobs looks eye opening over there in the cold. Never been passed NY city in my life. But aww i hear ya on getting fire trucks fixed right. Not saying anything but mech may not be fire truck cert mech who knows. But shit what can you do.
Anywho how long you been working over there?
Hahaha that sounds like are fire trucks over here in the Marshall Island. Hi my name is Javier by the way. Am sitting here in dispatch which we do are own dispatch...fuck
I was bored and lookin at other contract jobs looks eye opening over there in the cold. Never been passed NY city in my life. But aww i hear ya on getting fire trucks fixed right. Not saying anything but mech may not be fire truck cert mech who knows. But shit what can you do.
Anywho how long you been working over there?
Not gonna lie, I once buried that exact truck in a snowbank just outside of Willy field, had a D8 haul us out. Funny to see other people from AFD having issues with everything there like we did a few years ago, what a great time though. Stay warm.
The great thing about the AFD is that despite the vehicle issues we have whether it's due to the cold or their age, we manage to adapt and overcome every single time. It took me two whole season to appreciate that. That and we have one hell of a vehicle maintenance crew down there. In retrospect, that day was a bad day for me but by the end of the season it always made me happy to see how much we could overcome and continue to get the job done....Hey Javi, I've been here 2 seasons so far....
Same here the trucks seem to brake down or leak like Niagra Falls lol. But we seem to take care of busness even tho here the Mechs are for shit. They seem to do more harm then good, your lucky up there.
Good group of guys here, met alot of lasting friends. So whats it like personaly up there.
javi
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