Some Newport News Firefighters Nostalgic for Fire Station Sliding Poles

Two of the only fire station sliding poles you’ll find in Hampton Roads are in Newport News, reports The Daily Press.

Neither of them is operational.

The holes in the floor for the brass poles are both boarded up, relics of a time when many of the city’s firefighters slept a floor above their trucks and used gravity to get down.

Theoretically, the method shaved precious seconds off of response times, cutting out stairs entirely.

But department officials eventually decided sending groggy firefighters down poles late at night was a safety hazard and a bad idea.

But some fire department veterans nevertheless remember the poles fondly.

“When school children came to visit the fire station, they blew the sirens, and did this and that, and somebody always slid down the pole so they could see what firemen do,” said Bill Lee, who volunteered at the historic Hilton Fire Station in the 1950s.

“The image of a fireman sliding down the pole is probably what caused many to want to be a firefighters,” Lee said.

Read more of the story here http://bit.ly/1mPlahD

Saegertown explosion

Firefighters Among More Than a Dozen Injured in PA Explosion

A major explosion Sunday injured more than a dozen people, including several firefighters, in Saegertown, Pennsylvania.
Trailer Fire Metairie (LA)

Trailer Catches Fire, Explodes on I-10, Damaging Nearby Metairie (LA) Homes

A trailer carrying motorcycles and nitrous oxide cannisters caught fire on Interstate 10 and exploded Saturday, damaging two nearby Metairie homes and possibly a passing car, according to Jefferson Parish and…