Thrashing On Our Hot Rod!!

It never ceases to amaze me what grown men will do to make a hot rod run 1/2 second faster on the dragstrip! We put so much power to the Camaro that the torque convertor wouldn't handle it. A Neal Chance Pro Mod convertor should do the trick. If not, we may trade for an F-16!!

632 Cu. in. of Pure American Muscle!

Thank You to a Friend.........

One of the finest men I have ever known in my life is Israel Fogle. He has been my friend and mentor for 46 years now. Our family moved to Charleston in 1964 when my Dad became Chief of the St. Andrews Fire Department. He was a volunteer firefighter at St. Andrews and my Dad would later ask him to be the Chaplain for the Department. Little did I know at the time that I would count on his guidance and counsel so many times along the way. He helped me get several of my first cars, gave me help when I was a young father with two little children and couldn’t pay my bills, has given me advice on being a father, husband, and firefighter, and really has been a father figure for me throughout my life. In 1984, he married my wife, Marci-Jo and me and we celebrated our 25th anniversary last November. I know that many of you share my love and respect for him and you too have benefited in your lives because of his influence. He is a true southern gentleman, a respected firefighter, a good husband and father, and a true servant of God. As he and I stood at the Charleston 9 Memorial on June 18, I realized that he may truly be one-of-a-kind and we are better people because he is in our lives. Thank you Chaplain Fogle, I’m sure I’ve never said it enough.

Squad 51, a New Beginning!

We were excited to bring our newest addition to our Team vehicles home yesterday. Many thanks to Chief Mike Sonefeld and the Irmo Fire District commissioners for their generous donation. Any time we begin a restoration, we take photos of the vehicle to document our progress and, quite frankly, have an idea of where all the parts fit after we put them in a pile! Wish us luck!

We're naming it Squad 51 after the infamous squad on the old televison show, "Emergency".  For all you "Emergency" purists out there, we acknowledge Squad 51 was a Dodge!

A New National Initiative to Support Firefighters!

A new national initiative to help firefighters cope with trauma and tragedy draws on Charleston's experience after the June, 2007 Sofa Super Store blaze that killed nine city firefighters.

The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation unveiled this new model at the Firehouse Expo in Baltimore, Maryland today before an audience of fire service officials from across the nation. It's part of a movement to promote better physical and emotional well-being in the fire service.

Click on the caption above for the full story.

A Beautiful Tribute!

This Saleen Mustang is owned by CFD member John Cole and is the 534th Saleen Mustang ever built. It has a full Saleen Racecraft suspension and a Saleen big brake kit with six piston calipers. It has the upgraded Whipple HO intercooled supercharger system rated at 550 hp at the motor. It was dyno-tuned at Tuten Racing in Columbia South Carolina with a Diablo Predator tuner and makes 478 horsepower at the rear wheels.  It was built by John in honor and memory of his brother firefighters, Shane Albers and the Charleston 9. The car has a custom cowl hood with hand-painted artwork for the guys by Stacy Lundy of Stacy's Designs of North Charleston. It will be on display this Friday and Saturday in the Mustang Car Show in the Colonial Mall on Highway 17 in Myrtle Beach.  Come out and support John and this magnificent car.

Congratulations to John on the completion of this great tribute!

Women Firefighters of the Lowcountry

As part of the public outreach programs of our Team, we display several fire department vehicles that we have restored. At present, we have a 1961 Mack pumper, a 1962 Ford Fire Chief’s car, a customized firefighter tribute motorcycle, a Charleston 9 Tribute drag racing car, and a customized golf cart. We have just acquired a 1979 Chevrolet Pierce squad truck that we are about to begin restoring. We have shown these vehicles at the South Carolina State Firefighters’ Association’s Annual Fire Rescue Conference in Myrtle Beach, various parades, public gatherings, fund raising events, car shows, school visits, and any other event where we can raise the public’s awareness of the Fire Service and the contributions that our firefighters make to the community on a daily basis. These vehicles are also used to garner the attention of our firefighters and their families with the hope that we can engage some of those who may need the services of our Team as a counseling unit.

At several recent events, we have been asked by many in attendance if we had any posters or photos of the vehicles for them to keep as souvenirs. After some thought and discussion, we have decided to have posters and postcards made of these vehicles to give to folks who attend the various functions. We are currently working with a group of women firefighters in the Lowcountry to have posters made with them appearing  with the various vehicles. We also hope to use some of  their department's current in-service apparatus along with our vehicles in these posters. These women, from many different departments throughout the Lowcountry, have come together to support and participate in this project. They have collectively agreed that they want these posters to be professionally done with them appearing in their turnouts pants, boots and helmets, along with logo t-shirts of their various departments. It is their hope that these posters will help promote their individual departments and the Fire Service. We propose to add job fairs and career days to our list of appearances to recruit other young people to join the Fire Department. We also plan to have tables set up at our various events where they can appear to discuss their careers, promote the Fire Service, and autograph the posters for people in attendance.

I have been personally impressed with the level of professionalism shown by these women in the planning of this project as well as their excitement and desire to promote not only their own departments but the Fire Service in general. Stay tuned for more to come!

Taking Care of Each Other . . . . .

Yesterday, while at Rockingham Dragway, I spoke to the mother of a young firefighter who had responded to a call earlier in the week involving the loss of an infant. She called him on the phone and we offered our support to them. We love drag racing and car shows, but we also love reaching out to our firefighters, anywhere we can. That's really what the "Never Forget" Camaro and all of our other "toys" are about!