Downtown Lancaster...

Hey everyone,


Hope your enjoying your Black Friday. Today's photos were taken just a few hours ago in Downtown Lancaster City. I decided to head into town and take a walk around the square and shoot some things.

The first one is on top of the Prince Street parking garage looking NW from the center of town. That section of the city is probably the nicest part of the whole city to live in.



Photo 2 is of the Greist Building, currently the tallest "High Rise" in the city. Nothing like what my Harrisburg friends are used to though. I think it's only 8 stories.



Photo 3 is of a streetcar that a group is displaying next to the city police station. Apparantly, some people think it would be a good idea to put tracks down through the city and run street cars/trolly's in the downtown to attract business to the new convention center that's been a big stink for the past 10 years but is now finally being built and almost finished.


I don't think a street car is a good idea. Mainly, because of the traffic volume in the city. The streets are tight enough to begin with. I'm sure that this group though consulted with the most important department in the city to get their input as we all know politicians and people who want to improve things do, and that department would be the Fire Department(Note the tone of sarcasm)


Ok, off my soapbox. I hope you all have a great weekend!!


Woody

Happy Thanksgiving...

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

I hope you enjoy your day today. I won't be getting my dinner till sometime later as I have to work today, so no skywatch today.

These two photos were taken at Halloween. The first one Wyatt was posing with Lisa and then Wyatt charged me laughing. I was leaned back with the camera when I took this shot. The second one was out on our back deck and Wyatt was doing a superman pose, so I was actually laying down on the deck looking up at him. I think that photo came out well.

If some of you remember about my brother in law being over in Iraq. He is officially HOME from his tour. I am happy about that and thankfull. Wyatt and Lisa are down in Texas now, they left Monday morning. I was not able to get off work, so here I am. I miss them both, but they will be home in a few days. I can't wait...


Have a great day everyone!!

Last Barn Fire Picture...

Morning Everyone,

This will be the last day for the barn fire. This was shot after our Truck repositioned to get a better knock on the fire. I did a little cropping work to remove a tree that was in the photo just to the left. I was actually standing behind the tree and leaning against to take the photo as it got pretty hot with the radiant heat.

I hope you all have a great holiday!


Woody

More Barn Fire Pictures...

Good Morning Everyone,


I hope your week is going well so far. Here are more photos from the fire Saturday. The first few are of my department's ladder truck getting set up and ready to fly(Brad, the truck had first water on the fire) The other photo is of an engine crew protecting a silo that was an exposure and was about 20-25 feet from the fire building.

That is all I have for now, Have a great day!!

Fully Involved....

Hey everyone,

Yes I am back. It has been a little bit of a rough week, but things are starting to get back to normal.

Now for the photos;

These were taken this past Saturday. I was ready for work when I got the text page for the barn. I had a little time, but not a whole lot so I ran down with my camera. When I was heading down the highway, I could see black smoke pushing out of one end of the barn, my initial thought was that maybe the boys could get this. Well, I parked out of the way and walked up and well, what you see was the end result.

I shot about 100 images before I had to leave for work. Otherwise, I would have tried to shoot more manuel, but I did all these in auto due to time constraints.

The fire was ruled accidental due to a faulty wood stove. I will post some more of these later in the week worked up in photoshop and let you judge how they came out.

Again, sorry I was not around but I am going to start getting back in the swing of things..

Have a great week everyone!


Woody

Standing Tall..

Hey everyone,

I hope you all had a good weekend. This photo was taken Saturday night at a working shed fire my department had. I had just got done taking some photos for the investigation when I looked up and saw my friend standing on the roof of the shed. He had removed some of the shingles to make sure there was no fire extension. I think he was actually waiting for the chief to come over so he could fill him in. I thought it would be a cool photo to take, so I did...


Have a good week everyone!


Woody

Yes, I really use to fight fire...

Hey everyone,

Hope your having a good week. Sorry I did not get a chance to post yesterday. I left for work Wed and I was not counting on staying till 0600 Thursday morning. By the time I got home, slept and woke up. Time to head back into work.

Anyway, this photo was from a fellow fire photographer. His name is Greg Leaman.

I know the story behind this will make Brad Myers smile as he is a diehard truckman.

The photo is of me loading a ground ladder back onto the ladder truck after a house fire. Before I stopped running, the truck was and still is my favorite piece of fire apparatus. On this day, we were dispatched to a building fire at a local restaurant assiting another department. We arrived and were in staging when a house fire comes in 3 blocks away. A mutual aid engine and my truck company were released right away to go check on the house fire.

The engine and my truck arrive at the same time, The engine left us enough room in front of the house(Only thing they did do right) Smoke was pushing out the front door. I hop out of the truck with forcible entry tools and start heading to the house when I look over and the guy riding the seat of the engine(he's a friend of mine) hops out, does not have his airpack on, is slowly taking his time getting ready. I tell one of the younger guys on the truck to go grab the line off the engine. He looks at me, I told him the same thing again and said, if he's too slow and not prepared, that's his problem, we're not waiting on him to get ready.

So, he runs over and grabs the line of the engine and away we go. We get inside the house and start knocking the fire before the engine crew gets inside and my crew held the fire to just one room.

Needless to say, my friend got harassed for quite awhile as his company is a proud engine company and does not take kindly to losing their line, especially to a truck company.

You have to understand there is usually a friendly competetion between the engine and truck guys. The engine guys usually will never give up their line or get their line stolen, especially by another engine and never by a truck since engine guys think they are smarter and more intelligant then us.


Not this day...


Hopefully this weekend, I can get out and photograph some new things for you guys..


Have a good weekend everyone..


Woody

Got Foam??...

Hey everyone,

Well I really did not have anything planned for today. Things have been hectic lately and I have not had a chance to go out and photograph anything. So I decided to post a few more photos from the drill I photographed at the airport.


These are photos of the Lancaster County Foam Task Force, made up of several different departments. The units pictured here in the bottom two photos are Lafayette Fire Company Engine 6-3-3 and 6-3-2. The other engine is Lancaster City Bureau Of Fire Engine 6-4-2.

The foam task force is also made up of the county haz Mat team and also Neffsville Fire Company which responds with their tanker(2-7) each department also has a foam trailer they can bring to the scene for additional foam. The FTF can respond anywhere in Lancaster County and has gone out of County on mutual aide. The most recent out of county response was to the Adhesive Research Fire in Southern York County a few years ago.


That is all for today. Hope your having a great week!


Woody

Veterans Day...

Hey Everyone...

Because of what today is, I thought this would be an appropriate photo. If you know someone in the military, make sure you thank them for their service. Whether you agree with the war or not, it's because of the brave men and women who are currently serving that we continue to have our freedoms that we do today.

To all the men and women who have served, past and present, THANK YOU!

This photo was taken at the Millersville Parade two weeks ago.

Have a great day everyone!

Woody

Classic Cars...

Hey everyone,

Today's photos are from the Millersville Parade. I have always liked classic old style cars, I admit I don't know alot about them but I've always liked them. These two were from local business's in town.

Hope everyone had a great weekend..

Time for bed, I just got home from work..


Woody

Glow in the sky...

Hey everyone,

These photos were taken last weekend just below Quarryville. I heard the Quarryville Fire Department and mutual aide units get dispatched for a barn fire. So I turned the scanner and heard the additional of two barns well involved. The responding fire chief reported he could see it from a few miles away. I figured my station would go, so I slowly headed down that way. We got dispatched to relocate to Quarryville's station and then got pulled into the scene to establish a water supply.

I was not too happy with how these photos turned out. I did shoot almost all of them manuel and no matter what I did or what settings I changed, nothing seemed to work for me. Oh well, I'll just have to keep practicing...


Have a great weekend everyone!!!


Woody

Skywatch...

Hey everyone,

Happy Skywatch!!

I'm changing it up abit. These two photos were taken from the recent airport drill I photographed. The first photograph is the men from Cumberland County Engine 45 on a access road at the airport. If you look straight down the roadway, that is Sarah Palins plane sitting there. If you look straight up about the middle of the photo, you see an aircraft flying towards where we are standing. The second photo is of that aircraft flying overhead. It is a USAF C17 Cargo Plane (Thanks to Sparky for the info on the plane)

The aircraft flew overhead several times, so I'm not exactly sure what they were doing in the area.

Have a great week everyone!!

Woody

For more great SWF photos, click on the link to the left!

Wild West...

Hey everyone,

Sticking with this weeks theme. This is a old Wells Fargo wagon that was in the parade. To be honest, I really don't know alot about it. I thought it was pretty cool to photograph so I did.

Hope your week is going well!

Woody

Nothing like a MACK...

Hey everyone,

Hope your week is going well so far. This is again from the Millersville Parade that was held this past weekend. Can you tell I love Mack trucks?? This beautifull bulldog is transporting the Rajah Temple String Band down George Street which is the main drag through Millersville.

I have to tell you though, some people are just rude. The first shot I was getting ready to take of the truck. Someone not involved with the parade just walking along the route, stops and stands right in front of me blowing the first shot I had, but I was able to lean out around the person and get this shot. Once the person saw what I was doing, they moved. People have no manners..


Have a great day!

Woody

Coco Visits Millersville...

Hey everyone,

This week I will be doing a few photos from the annual Millersville Community Parade. I decided to lead off with this photo for my friend, Bradley Myers as he is a diehard Hershey Bears fan. This is the famous Coco the bear, the Hershey Bears Mascot riding in the jumpseat of Millersville Fire Company Engine 6-5-2.

It was a good day for a parade. little chilly but it was fun overall.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Woody