Wolfskin Volunteer Fire Department
Oglethorpe County, Northeast Georgia
Peace in Wolfskin

wolfskinvfd@yahoo.com


Mark Your Wolfskin VFD Calendar!
Send additions, corrections, etc. to wayne@sparkleberrysprings.com.
Please note that as of the beginning of 2015, Wayne's descriptions of training are accurate, but not official. For the official reports along with attendance please contact the new
Assistant Chief and Training Officer, Charleen Foott (foott@att.net).


May 2015

May 5: (Tue 7:00pm): First Tuesday Oglethorpe Firefighters Association meeting (Farm Bureau Office in Crawford).

May 7: (Thu 6:30pm): First Thursday Business Meeting.

May 14: (Thu 6:30pm): Second Thursday Training Meeting. Discussed response responsibilities and tactics, esp in terms of going directly to scene or station, eventually decided should go to station first except: two others have indicated they're headed there; and take a look at scene but only if on way or out of way by less than 1 minutes round trip. No more than 1 minute to check out scene. Also exemption for repeated false alarms from same residence over short period of time. Strongly suggested using number of fire depts called as indicator of potential seriousness.

May 16-17: (Sat/Sun): Firefighter Weekend. Charleen and Glenn left 5:30am on Saturday and returned 6:03pm on Sunday evening. Each took a 16-hour course. CF: Training Operations in Small Departments: This course is designed to provide students with some basic tools and skills to coordinate training in a small fire/EMS organization. A training function in a smaller department typically may include conducting training drills and coordinating training with a nearby larger city or state training function. Exam: Passed. GG: Principles and Practice of Command: This course will present principles and foundations for maintaining a command presence during emergency incidents. In addition, sie ujp, tactics, strategies, and effective communications will be discussed. No exam.

May 21: (Thu 6:30pm): Third Thursday Training Meeting. Thermal Imager was charged while pumper was run for 1 hour. Practiced using booster hose, PTO, and pump.

May 28: (Thu 6:30pm): Fourth Thursday Training Meeting. Chainsaw training: TM and MP went over prepping chainsaw with gas mix and oil, chain blade tightness, starting and safety measures, and fundamentals of cutting up medium diameter trees. (Phyllis arrived and took photos for newsletter, 30 minutes.)


June 2015

Jun 2: (Tue 7:00pm): First Tuesday Oglethorpe Firefighters Association meeting (Farm Bureau Office in Crawford).

NOTE: Jun 3: (Wed 6:30pm): Business Meeting. Changed to Wed night Jun 3 because of unexpected difficulties with attendance on Thu Jun 4 by several members. Sorry! This happens very infrequently.

Jun 6: (Sat 9:00am): County wide training - Search and Rescue. 1096 Elberton Road. See OCFFA Description for details and contact info.

NOTE: Jun 11: (Thu 6:30pm): NOTE: Postponed to 6:30pm Friday Jun 12. Second Thursday Training Meeting. We'll be looking over SalemVFD's brush truck. Sorry about the late notification.

Jun 18: (Thu 6:30pm): Third Thursday Training Meeting.

Jun 25: (Thu 6:30pm): Fourth Thursday Training Meeting.


July 2015

Jul 2: (Thu 6:30pm): First Thursday Business Meeting.


Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Week of March 27

FC Phyllis Jackson has three announcements:
First, there is an Optional training on trucks this Thursday March 30 if
weather okay. May start 6:30 pm; come when can get
there. There will be plenty of action to keep FF
busy. T.O. Ed will follow with details.

Second, don't forget the usual Business meeting is next week, April 6.

Finally, and this will be fun: Wildland FF class is on track for **first 2 week-ends
in June.** Save those dates --we won't get another
opportunity like this, maybe not ever again. (On a
$2,200 GFC Grant, and no cost to us)

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

WVFD Blog Words

There's an interesting site that scans your blog and gives you a picture of the words most often used. The size of the word is how often it's used. It gives a good impression, filtered anyway through Glenn and me who write most often, of the website.

The above site's intent is to sell you a t-shirt custom made with the words on it. That's not my intent of course. I just thought it was interesting:


-Wayne

Sunday, March 12, 2006

WVFD 1-3-5 Year Plan

I've added the current understanding of our plan for one and three and five year goals to the sidebar. You can also get to it by going directly here.

The plan, constructed last year at this time, was FC Phyllis's brainchild; Ed Frey chaired the committee and Lisa Vaughan, Phyllis, Mary Nouri, and myself worked on it.

We're pleased to report that we've achieved nearly all our goals for Year One, and with the help of our Wolfskin neighbors and friends, a very major part of Year Three - see the post below for the good news.

WVFD has only come short in one way: we need more volunteers! Let me rephrase that:

We need more volunteers!

There are a lot of jobs, some of them exciting and some of them only very important! There's no one who doesn't have talents that can't fit into a congenial and friendly VFD where everyone works together well, so PLEASE do get in touch or come to one of our meetings if you have the time, and honestly it doesn't take that much time!

Our business meeting is the first Thursday of the month, and our training sessions, always fun, are the third Thursday of the month (except possibly March - we just had a training session - have to check with Phyllis!).

Thursday, March 09, 2006

The Supertanker Arrives!

This one is going to be heavy on the pics, but I've sized things down to a fairly manageable download even if you're on dialup. And since I always specify my height and width attributes, you can read my wise prose while things are downloading! How about that!

First, the big event is the arrival of the Watermaster described by Fire Chief Phyllis Jackson in detail in the post below. We've been waiting for it for four months (at least), so we were as excited as the kids who showed up with their folks to see it. The tanker is somewhere in the neighborhood of $170,000, 95% paid for by DHS and 5% that we had to raise ourselves as matching funds. The Wolfskin Community responded very generously and we passed the $8500 mark at the end of January.

This was an impromptu training session, but curious folks did stop by. We'll be having a formal presentation to the community soon.

Let me introduce you to Phyllis. A lot of people worked hard on the grant, matching fundraising, and facilities to house the supertanker. Without Cary Fordyce none of us would have been able to negotiate the bewildering paths of the IRS and other entities. Lisa and Ed put in endless time with phone calls and footwork. Glenn took on the task of fundraising letters and thank yous. Frankie kept us in business, as always. But Phyllis had the original inspiration last March and provided much of the impetus, enthusiasm, and most of the grant writing ("We can DO this!"). And today she's a happy camper.


I arrived at Phyllis's (three miles away by road, but a half-mile if I tromp through the woods) at 3pm; the tanker had just arrived.


Here's the "wolf" skull (actually not) that Phyllis wired up with red LEDs.


The tanker is a beast. 2500 gallons. Automatic transmission :-)


Now I know you're curious about the house you see in the background of one of the above pics. That's Phyllis' and Jeff's. Jeff is a wildlife biologist. They built the house gradually over several years and have added their own unique touches.


It was probably 12 years ago that we had a training session using ladders on their upstairs balcony.


Isn't that an interesting ornamentation embroidering the trim? Let's look a little more closely.


And then there's Frankie, on the left. Now Frankie is a sine qua non. Without whom nothing. He fixes things. He fixes everything. Right now he's trying to figure out how to fix something.


And then it was time to drive the tanker to WVFD to get ready for the fete. I could hardly keep up. The road, by the way, is Blacksnake Road.


And here it is, 6pm already. I missed most of the fun part where it was discovered that the tanker, at 119" high, didn't quite fit under several items on the 121" high ceiling.


No problem for Frankie. He pulled off the stack, cut a few inches off, and put it back on. Presto!


The brains of the system.


By this time, folks were arriving and it was time for company owner Richard O'Neill (in the yellow jacket) to show us how things are done. We're getting out the drop tank here. It's a big plastic tank that opens out. The idea is you drop your water from the tanker into it for other trucks to use, and then you take off to get more. (Or stay - the tanker is fully equipped as a regular pumper.) We must have filled it and sucked it back into the tanker a couple of dozen times during the course of the evening.


The hose is big because this tanker sucks water fast. It attaches to that neat metal strainer. The design is very clever. There's a seal air chamber so it can't turn upside down or sink, and it allows 2500 gallons to be pulled out of any body of water at least three inches deep, and in 2 minutes.

Around here you can't rely on fire hydrants. You make an onsite pond instead.


The drop tank is filled from the side of the truck. It can be filled slow, or really fast. The kids liked this a lot.


While this isn't necessarily normal procedure, we used the sucker to pull the water back into the truck, so it could be used again. Less than a minute to pull it all back in.


Everyone needed a lesson, so this went on well into the evening.

Today's the Big Day!!!

From WVFD Fire Chief Phyllis (and if you don't have time during the day, join us tonight at 6pm or after at WVFD on Wolfskin Road to celebrate the arrival of the supertanker.
FF and Friends,

Yee-Haw!!!! The WaterMaster super vacuum
pumper/tanker arrives in Wolfskin—after lunch today.
Richard O’Neal, one of the 3 owners of Southern Fire
Equipment is bringing it from Laurel MS, with a stop
in White Plains AL. “The Liquidator” (Wayne came up
with that ) will be parked at my house this
afternoon—drop in! I took a vacation day.

**Spectating, Truck Training, 6 PM.** Lee Shearer
from the Athens Banner-Herald is coming to do a story
for Friday paper. Family members and Wolfskin
neighbors, y’all come check out the new razzle-dazzle
mobile water supply unit. Let’s get some civilians in
the newspaper photo, and maybe some gung-ho kids.

FYI: Check our www.southern-fire.com for info on the
truck and the company owners—all 3 are volunteer
firefighters, and developed the first truck and
low-level water strainer (fills from just 2 inches of
water source) for their own rural department. The idea
came from—not real exotic here— “Hey, lets modify and
outfit a septic tank sucking truck.”

Also, type “watermaster truck” in Google.

In the FEMA Grant application, I wrote that this
vacuum tanker is perfect for our rural fire department
needs: “Sucks, safe, simple; swift, solo, and
shallow.”

Here are some specs:

2500 gal tank on Freightliner chassis (International
would have been my first choice, but the demo was a
Freightliner—and okay, it’s similar.)

Maximum water with minimum personne needed. Wittig 430
CFM vacuum system; fills tank in 2 ½ minutes from
static water (dry hydrant). That thing sucks!!!
(Guaranteed to out perform conventional tankers 2 :1
in a two hour water shuttle. Video cameras so you
can sit in the cab, operate the “command center,” and
watch your back.

Will draft around 35 feet, vertical! (I got 90 ft of
suction hose, w/ rapid Storz connections—should get us
to about any stream from parked a road in outlying
areas. 10 ft vertical draft is about what our
conventional trucks do easily.)

1000 GPM Hale fire pump (Had that added, to make it
also a Pumper for firefighting. We need 2 Class A
Pumpers for ISO Class 8 rating)

No-rust aluminum tank. Tank can be chloroxed and used
to haul potable water in event of disaster. (Of
course storing the amount of chlorox needed for that
would make us a haz-mat site.)

2500 gal portable drop tank, stored on fold- down
carrier on side.

Wolf skull with red blinking lights in eye-sockets—Our
mascot for the dash!!! (Well okay, that was not
standard equipment, and it’s actually a big coyote
roadkill, but hey, it works in Wolfskin.)

See y’all tonight! Peace in Wolfskin,

Phyllis

Friday, March 03, 2006

Supertanker arrives Thursday March 9!

Everyone in the Community can greet the new Watermaster Pumper/Tanker Supertanker that will arrive at the Wolfskin VFD the afternoon of Thursday, March 9! You have donated money, time, or at least best wishes towards this event and you deserve a reward. I don't know what all might be planned, and it will probably not be the formal commissioning party, but come see the monster tanker and enjoy whatever might happen during the evening.

Entertainment will be provided by the firefighters! Training for firefighters will start at 6:00 pm sharp, lead by the President of Southern Fire Equipment, who we are told is driving the tanker from Mississippi where it was fitted with a monster pump. See the new turnout gear, the new SCBA, the kitchen that was turned into a truck bay, and the site of the new fire station in waiting!

-Glenn

Thursday, March 02, 2006

WVFD Business meeting Tonight!

The minutes of the previous meeting, Feb 2, have been posted. On the agenda for tonight:

Agenda, WVFD Business Meeting 03-02-2006; 7 pm

Officer Reports:
Minutes of January meeting - Lisa
Treasurer’s Report – Cary (PJ)
Chief’s Report- PJ– Announcements,Appointments & Misc.
County FF Assn Meeting 2-21-06. Lisa or Jim K to
attend 3-21-06?
Fire calls since last meeting
I. C.- Report incidents 100% - file in notebook & to
wolfskinvfd@yahoo.com
P.R. Article in Echo
Work Party report; further work
Assistant Chief’s Report-Jim
*******************************************************
Top Priority Business/Reports first

2004 FEMA Grant : Amendment for wildland suits;
Grant close-out –Cary (PJ)
Wildland fire tools; A-V equip; Misc equip.;Thermal
Imager- John W, PJ. Inventory and Issue Records –
John (PJ)
2005 FEMA Grant – Tanker delivery & training Thursday
March 9. Yee-Haw!!!
Rural Development Grant application update
Capital Fund Drive –Door-to-Door Phase. ** Need
Co-ordinator**
Building and Grounds – Need Chairperson
Steer raffle tickets-Lisa

*******************************************************
Officer and Special Committee Reports, continued:

Training Report- Ed
In-house - What a night!
GFA classes upcoming; FF Weekend March 24-26
Wildland Firefighter Class – June 3-4 and 10-11
FF recruits for March 2006 class GFA
Apparatus Report – Frankie
Equipment Report– Dave
Information Officer - Glenn- NIFRS , Incident Report
revision, Capital Fund Drive
(Operating Fundraising – Acknowledgement letters to
donors?)
Webmaster – Wayne
(Standing Committee for 1-Yr, 3-Yr, 5-Yr WVFD Plans–
Ed)

Old Business: Accountability; Security system; New
keys; SCBA storage; New equipment marked, SCBA
engraved

New Business: