Bristol Tennessee Chief To Retire

After 42 years Chief Phil Vinson is going to retire.

He has been Chief for 30 years!

Good Luck in your Retirement Chief!

Here is the Link From Bristol News.com

I will update with more information as I get it.

New Web Address for the Blog!

Well it is offical the blog has another address!!!

Update your records to:

www.BristolFirefighters.com

Take Care and have a GREAT and SAFE NEW YEAR!!!!

Roark

A shift Christmas Dinner

On Christmas Eve, "A" shift had a Christmas Dinner, here are a few Pics from the event.

Thanks to Lt. Richard Thompson for the submission!

Blog Change Info.

Over next several of days We are going to be testing several new looks.....So each time you visit it may be a little different. Hang in there with us as we figure out the new changes!

Thanks again

Have a great Holiday

Roark

Merry Christmas!!!!

Merry Christmas to everyone who visits the site!

The Webmaster and all involved with this Blog wish you and yours a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

We look forward to make several changes to this blog in the year to come.

Also special thanks to FireFleitz and Roanokefire.com for all of the help with our blog!


Roark

Working on a new look for the blog!

check out some of the new features and changes!

1. New name (the Url is still the same!) Bristol Virginia Firefighters Blog
2. Flickr account on the right.....if you have pics send them in I will up load them into the slide show.

I am working on a few other things that I will get on the blog after the first of the year!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Roark

My trip to Gadsen

Well here are a couple of pics I took while in Alabama.

The guys I met from Gadsen were great they are a department that is about the size of Both Bristol's. There Chief was with the guys as they were collecting money for needy children for the holidays!

The Picture quality is poor (I took the pictures with my Phone)

The Engine is a Late 80's or early 90's E-One

The Command unit is Just like ours it is a 2000 ish model Ford Expedition.

Anyway enjoy and I will post more tomorrow!

New Post!

I have been out of town In Collinsville,Alabama for the past several days, (Collinsville is between Fort Payne and Gadsen Alabama) I Met the Chief of Gadsen fire Department and an Engine Company while they were raising money for kids in need! They were doing a great job, maybe an idea for us next year!

I will post some pics sometime tomorrow!


Roark

Christmas Dinner Information

The Christmas dinner will be held at Bristol Life Saving Crew building on Sunday at 4pm. We decided to change the location to make it easier on everyone as far as getting tables and chairs and also for cooking purposes. If the wives would like to bring a dessert, it would be greatly appreciated. If you have any special requests for food please let me know before Sunday. The menu will consist of ham, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, rolls, green beans, sweet potato casserole and some other vegetables.

Thanks,
Robert

Message From Darren Rock

I would just like to say thanks to everyone on the department for making me feel welcomed at my internship this semester. You all were great to be around and I could not have asked for a better internship placement. I was so worried that I was going be ignored and not taken seriously, but that never happened. Over the semester I learned a lot from everyone as well as made some friends. I hope to keep in touch and thanks again for everything you did this semester.

Thanks again,

(Dogrobber, Lil Lieutenant., Junior, Assistant Assistant Chief)
DarRen

Darren Rock Was an intern from Emory and Henry College. He served at Bristol Va. Fire Department during the last semester.

New Station Assignments

Station 1

Capt. Jeff Simpson

Lt. Loudy
Sgt. Morphew
FF Taylor
FF Sproles
FF Witcher
And The new Rookie

Station 2

1st Lt Shumate
1st Sgt Nash
FF Quillen

Station 3
Lt Slagle
Sgt Steffey
Sr. FF Scott
FF Roark

Don' Forget the Christmas Dinner at Station 1 at 1600 THIS SUNDAY

Call FF Taylor with how many you are bringing

Look Close!

This article is reprinted with permission from WWW.VentEnterSearch.com


Look Close
December 08th, 2006 Category: Inside Functions
Vincent Wolfe from Charlotte Ladder 1 sent some pictures of something interesting they found on a call. Look at this picture and check out the supplemental page for a full description of their find. –Jimm-

The master bedroom had a 6 ft by 6ft bookcase near the window on the division A side. They found a crib in between the window and the back of the bookcase. If this had been an active fire situation and at night how many of you would have realistically taught to look behind there during a primary search? Something to think about.

You can notice in the photo above it looks like a bay style window that helps conceal the crib.

A sincere thanks goes out to Vincent and the brothers and sisters from Charlotte Fire for sharing this experience with us.

Special thanks to Our Brothers at www.VentEnterSearch.com

Promotions and Moves!!!

Congratulations to the following on their promotions:

Lt. Jay Bolling to Captain on "A" Shift
1st Sgt. Rick Slagle to Lt. on "C" Shift
Sgt. Nash to 1st Sgt. on "C" Shift
Sr. Firefighter Jim Ross to Sgt. on "A" Shift
Firefighter Jay Gouge to Sr. Firefighter on "B" Shift

Good luck to Bolling and Gouge as we loose them from "C" Shift

I understand that we have Hired a couple of New Firefighters I have heard Rumors but I do not have any clear picture of who they are and where they will be going!

Anyone know when the Firefighters will start?

New Record

Well this might seem a little silly but today as of 2200 hrs. Our blog has had 102 hits for the day. This is the most to date! I do not know if you noticed but I have added statcounter this counts how many times someone checks out the blog. And no It does not count the times I check it. Also tomorrow if you look under the links you will noticed a cluster map. This will tell us where people are from when they look at the blog.

Also if you have not had the chance to check out the links on the right do there are several AWSOME web sites that have some great information!

Remember if you want something posted let me know we will get it up on the blog!

I am also thinking of making it a Department Wide Blog let me know what you think about that idea?

Quint 1 and Engine 2 Respond to Bristol Tennessee Fire

Quint and Engine 2 responded to assist Bristol Tennessee on a Structure Fire off of Maryland Ave.

I do not have any Pics but here is a link to the News Story

Bristol News

If anyone has Pictures of the incident please send them to me and I will post them
email to Site Admin

News from a former Bristol Va. Firefighter

Kim and DJ, DJ, Dan and DJ

I got an email from guess who? DAN'O He is doing well and said to tell everyone hello. He has sent me a few pics of he and his family. I look forward to hearing more from Dan and keeping in touch with him. He also wants to know who put the concrete in his car?



In other news I have obtained permission from Chief Billy Goldfeder to link his website!

So check it out It is a great web site and has lots of great information on firefighter saftey!
www.firefighterclosecalls.com

Long Week

Thanks for all the comments on the past few post I think everyone has enjoyed them!! I know that I have.

And hello to our Brother from the north......Bickers it is good to hear from you! Keep us informed of you and feel free to email me a pick of you and your family and we will post it!!
Keep in touch!

Well this should be a fun week to be at work! Who are we going to hire, The Captains Test ETC....

Captain Findley has retired and once again good luck Capt. on your Retirement

Also for all of us "College Boys" this is Finals week. We have two finals this week and one next week.

If anyone has pics of Fin's party today email them to me at Sroark@firehousemail.com and I will post them!

Lets have a good week!

Capt. Findley Retirement

Just a Reminder of Captain Don Findley's retirement party Sunday at 1400 at the Main Station

Good luck in your Retirement Captain Findley