Collyer's Mansion Conditions

There's an absolutely excellent article to be found in the Firehouse.com news. I would highly suggest reading the whole artice, it's mind-boggling in a way.

http://www.firehouse.com/news/news/collyers-mansion-conditions

The common translation of firefighter lingo to plain english for Collyer's Mansion Conditions is "firefighter's nightmare."


The basic jist of the story is the Collyer brothers lived in a large mansion in Harlem. One brother lost his vision and the other took care of him. They were recluse, and the sighted brother was very suspicious of the outside world, though he would venture out at night for supplies. He became a hermit and a hoarder. He eventually died when he accidently triggered one of his own booby traps. His blind brother died a few days later of starvation, dehydration, and other ailments.

This is a partial list of the valuables removed from the Collyer home, they include:
136 tons of debris
14 Grand pianos
2 organs
1 clavichord
Human medicine specimens (in glass jars)
Model-T Ford chassis
Approx 15,00 medical and engineering books
Weapons
6 US flags
1 Union jack
1 x-ray machine
34 bank deposit books: balance $3007.18
Baby carriages
Plaster statues and chandeliers
Gardner baskets and picture frames
Old Christmas trees and press makers dummies
Bundles of sheet music
Newspapers: Langley collected every newspaper published in New York City since the years 1918. He did this in the hope that Homer would someday regain his sight. Langley once stated that he did that "so when Homer regains his sight he can catch up on the news".


The irony of this is that a few weeks ago my Captain was asking us about Collyer's Mansion Conditions. Nobody knew what it was, but google helped fix that problem, and I educated myself. It was entertaining to a degree to have just learned about this, then experience it firsthand.

I'll be making a seperate post later on about the actual call, I need to walk away from the keyboard for a while and find some food.

The Real Fireman's Prayer

Oh God of the bell that hangs on the wall
We pray to you to give us a call.
We don't want to see anyone hurt or in pain
We just want to see wall to wall flames.

We hate to have anyone lose their possessions
But if it happens, remember, we're tops in our profession.

So God of the bell that dispatches the call
We pray to you, KNOCK THAT SUCKER OFF THE WALL!!!!!!!!



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There's nothing better to lift the spirits of one melancholy Firelady than responding to a rockin house fire and getting my fill of nozzle time. More info to come later, for now, a homework assignment.

What is a "Collyer's Mansion"?

No cheating and using google, if you don't know, just say so. I'll be posting more about this soon anyways.

Ever had one of those days that started out great and then just took nosedive after nosedive? I hate days like that.


~"Can't get right"
A.K.A.
~Firelady

I'm sporadic and impatient.

I went to the mountain yesterday in the new shoes. I limited myself by only going to the halfway point though. I walked up and jogged down. The shoes are awesome.

I had 1 person stop me and ask about the shoes, saying he was considering buying a pair. I told him the truth........

It's been 3 days (at this point) and that's the first thing I've really done other than walking around the house and driveway. The only problem I've had is while jogging down the mountain and jumping around on the rocks, the material between your toes can push back pretty hard and is pretty annoying. They're really nice so far though.

Today, my calves are a bit sore, but my feet feel fine. I also went to the barn and rode my horse for almost an hour, so that didn't help any. My legs were extremely tight when I got out of the car after the hour's drive back home.

So far, I'm loving them though.

This made me laugh so hard this morning. It shouldn't be nearly as funny as I thought it was.

Mama's got a new pair of shoes

I was turned on to these very very recently, but I love the idea so I jumped on the bandwagon tonight.

I'll be wearing these around as much as I can and seeing how they work out. I already don't have any issues rolling my ankles or stumbling, I just enjoy toe-socks and being barefoot. I just got home with them a few minutes ago and I've been wearing them about 45 minutes so far and they're really comfortable. It's weird feeling them, but not the least bit uncomfortable.

I walked up the driveway and into the house, and feeling the bumps in the concrete and other things was so cool. I'm excited to go try them out running or hiking. The style I bought is one of the more all-around styles.

I'm just curious how well the tread will last. That's my only real question.

I'll be keeping ya'll updated.

Ya know what 1 thing can make a 2-alarm structure fire even more fun?
(other than nobody being hurt, of course)






Getting said structure fire 1 hour before shift change. We get to have all the fun, the oncoming shift gets to pick up all the hose.