Just when I thought I had seen it all

[deere755]

I have been a volunteer fireman for all most 23 years now and been on every type call you can think of or at least I thought I had. I was just getting ready to walk out the door for work this morning at around 4 am when I was paged out for a train engine fire. Dispatch said that the train engine was on fire and that they were going to try and get it stopped at the edge of town. I was on my way out the door and it is a 5 mile ride to town but as I got past the woods there it was a train coming down the track with the second engine on fire. I radioed dispatch to let them know that we did infact have a train on fire. What a sight too see. I needed to get across the tracks to get to the fire station so I speeded up and was able to get to town before the train got there. A lot of the firemen thought it was a hoax and until they heard my radio traffic. Turns out that a oil line busted in the engine compartment and caught on fire. We were able to put it out using foam.

 

[czechsonofagun]

I can imagine those reactions: Isn't it suppose to be on fire? Like old General

In my country, some of the railroad runs on DC and some of it on AC - historical reasons mainly - and sometimes the engineer forgets and slides from one to another without switching. That can make a nice fire in the cable room too

 

[mjarrels]

Always respected non-payed firefighters... but, local New Market FD had some bad apples in the cookie jar to the toon of about $30,000 dollars that went missing.

mark

 

[Double Orange]

I wish to THANK YOU!
Brave men like you keep this Nation Safe!

 

[SnowRidge]

From the title of this thread, I thought it was about something truly strange.

I don't understand why a locomotive fire would seem so odd to a group of firefighters. All kinds of internal combustion powered equipment can catch on fire. Firefighters are frequently called upon to fight vehicle fires. Why not a train engine?

 

[Bird]

From the title of this thread, I thought it was about something truly strange.

I don't understand why a locomotive fire would seem so odd to a group of firefighters. All kinds of internal combustion powered equipment can catch on fire. Firefighters are frequently called upon to fight vehicle fires. Why not a train engine?

Well, I've seen lots of trains in my life, from the old steam engines (yep, I'm older than dirt) to the modern ones but I've never seen an engine on fire. That's interesting.

 

[LBrown59]

I'm older than dirt)

But you're not much older than me.

 

[Bird]

But you're not much older than me.

So????? I'd heard that old age ain't for sissies, and I believe it. I got out this morning and drastically pruned a big crepe myrtle with my Makita reciprocating saw and my Gorilla ladder, then I had to cut some of the longer stuff short enough to fit onto my little Ranger pickup truck. Neither my wife nor the guy next door thought we could pile it all on the truck in one load, but I did. Then by the time I got through unloading it at the dump, my arms looked like I'd been sacking wildcats, my wife's still not sure she can get all the blood out of my coveralls, and by the time I drove back home I was was so tired and sore I couldn't hardly get out of the pickup.

And I was about halfway through with pruning that crepe myrtle when the young lady next door came out talking on her cell phone and spoke to my wife who immediately began yelling for me to come help. It seems that the water heater had burst in that rent house and that young lady had no idea how to turn the water off. Of course, I quickly shut off the water at the meter, then went in and turned off the water to the water heater, turned off the breakers, and then turned the water back on to the rest of the house. Of course, I showed her how to do all that if she should need to know in the future.

I don't know whether I'd have survived today if it hadn't been for a little Scotch and water and a hot shower.

 

[ragkar]

This past summer a train caused a six mile long fire in my area. It seems that one of the railroad cars snagged something as it passed through Bangor Pa and then dragged it with them until they got the train stopped in Portland Pa. All the time the dragged thing was spraying sparks into the underbrush next to the track. Hence the six mile long fire.
When contacted the railroad said that they were not responsible for the fire!

 

[SnowRidge]

This past summer a train caused a six mile long fire in my area. It seems that one of the railroad cars snagged something as it passed through Bangor Pa and then dragged it with them until they got the train stopped in Portland Pa. All the time the dragged thing was spraying sparks into the underbrush next to the track. Hence the six mile long fire.
When contacted the railroad said that they were not responsible for the fire!

The person who put that "something" on the track is probably the one responsible.