In an area as rural as this, folks have to work together to take care of each other and the Troopers, the Sheriff's Dept, local Police (in the larger communities), the Ambulance Service, the various Fire departments and even the operators of towing services all have a role to play in Emergency Services.
You know, most boys want to be Firemen when they grow up but then life happens and people get careers and that dream fades. But then sometimes you retire from your main career, you hit your AARP years and the dream re-ignites. Who doesn't like to see Fire trucks and related equipment or hear sirens and see the lights?
Our host for the event was a State Trooper who lives down the road from us and as everyone knows, Police really want to be Firemen, so he is also a volunteer with our Fire Department and we had a lot of fun. He was issued this brand spanking new Hemi Dodge Charger and wanted to show it off so......
Its hard to mistake the signature Hemi heads on this thing and though its kind of a tradition in the rural Ozarks to run from the cops, I am thinking not too many will be successful with this rig.
The radio communication system is top of the line with various narrow band radios to conform to the new FEMA standard, GPS, direct data links etc. I would also point out that as tax payers we should all be pleased with how well these guys maintain their issued property, this pursuit rig was about 4 months old and still spotless and we live where dirt roads are more common than paved.
CPL Dudley from the Hartville PD was on hand to give a demonstration of the capabilities of his drug detection dog.
This old ladder truck was from 1948 I believe and still had the original tires. The wide running boards were so that you could ride on them while holding on to the ladder.....current regulations discourage that!
Our district is intersected by a two lane highway and a four lane limited access highway to the far south so some of the recovery/towing requirements are heavy lifts. These guys are every bit a part of the EMS team as any of us and we all work together.
We demonstrated the use of hydraulic extractors (Jaws of Life) and here I am using the hydraulic cutters to notch the floor pan so we can do a dash roll.
We train constantly and have used the extractors numerous times and the really are very important pieces of equipment...and very expensive (as in about 40K).
The Cruise In was successful on many fronts, it got us all together to share ideas and issues, we all conducted demonstrations and shared techniques, and the training was good.
We also did a bit of a snake round up. I am not sure about where you live but the snakes have been really numerous this year around here. We rounded up several during the Cruise In and relocated them away from the homestead because of the kids and chickens (these were harmless black snakes).
It was a good time, good training, and just part of life down on the farm.
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