Station 103 Gets a New Engine

On Thursday, December 14, 2006, Engine 103 placed a new engine in service. This new 2006 E-One 2006 Cyclone II has a Detroit Diesel 60 series engine, an Allison 4060 World Transmission, a 1250 gpm Hale pump, a 750 gallon poly-tank and a 30 gallon foam cell and of course, a roto-ray. This engine replaces a similar 2002 E-One Cyclone which served our station well for over four years.

The old truck went out of service in style the night before, catching a small vehicle accident which resulted in a car fire. Volunteer Firefighter Lowry was also on the old unit's last structure fire which occured just one week before on December 7th. The career crew of Captain Randy Higgins and Firefighters Doug Barb, Jesse Reeves and Kris Aspen and Lowry caught the fire on Washington Blvd. See the story below.

For the new trucks first call, Volunteer Firefighter Eric Lekus was riding with the same career crew as above and went out for a malfunctioning appliance, the only call for their 24-hour shift.

The new Engine 103. Photo by Dee Allen.

With the new Engine 103 in the bay, Battalion 112 and Utility 103 sit out front on the apron. Photo by Dee Allen.

Happy Holidays!

On behalf of the Cherrydale VFD,

we wish everyone a very Merry Christmas

and a Happy New Year!

Santa! I know him! I know him!

This year's Cherrydale VFD ''Visit with Santa'' was the best yet, with over 270 children making a visit to the fire station, visiting with Santa, and receiving a present. Each year the members of the CVFD enjoy playing host as Santa arrives about Engine 103 with a cadre of other emergency vehicles. This year Engine 103, Utility 103 and several ACPD units let a parade from Station 8 down Lee Highway to Station 3. A large group of excited children were on hand to greet him as he climbed out of the officer's seat. Once upstairs in the social hall, a long line soon formed with children eager to meet Santa. The first in line was ACFD Firefighter Richard Slusher's new baby girl who was celebrating her first Christmas. The line lasted for approximately two and a half hours, not ending until shortly after 3:00 p.m.

The event even involved a last minute emergency trip to purchase additional gifts. With a long line, it was apparent that the older children were going to be stuck with building blocks and ABC games more suitable for preschool children. Santa dispatched Elf Joe (Lowry) and Elf Dee (Allen) in Utility 103 to CVS and Eckard Drug in about 20 minutes, we had an additional 40 gifts. At the end of the day, any gifts not given to the children in Arlington were boxed up and sent to our adopted VFD in West Virginia the same day. They were given out at a town celebration there the very next day.

Election Results and more

At last night's business meeting, the Cherrydale VFD held its annual election of officers and it pleased to announce the following:

President: Marvin Binns

Vice President: Scott Pardi

Treasurer: Charles Satterfield

Secretary: Cate Drew

Chief: Scott Pardi

Deputy Chief: Joe Lowry

Elected to the Board of Directors (3-year term):

Scott Pardi

Eric Lekus

Dee Allen

We would also like to welcome our newest member, Carter Comartie. He was approved for probationary membership and along with Mac MacIntyre, another new member, will begin the Indoc class in January.

Fighting fires... or clearing brush, it's all the same

On December 2, 2006, along with volunteers from the community, CVFD Chief Scott Pardi helped out clearing brush at the Cherry Valley Park. They cleared a section of brush along the bike trail down to the small lake. In the process, we discovered an old field stone chimney whose history is not known. Native plants and trees were planted in the clearing and in an effort to show we are always willing to show others our skills, Chief Pardi was able to show the county tree crew how to start a flooded chainsaw. Good job, Chief!

Cherrydale's Santa Event is around the corner

This year, Santa will be at the Cherrydale Fire Station on Sunday, December 17th from 1:00 - 3:00 p.m. All neighborhood children are invited and will receive a gift from Santa. Santa will arrive promptly aboard an Arlington fire engine. This is a great event. We hope you can make it!

CVFD's December 7th may live in infamy...

Thursday, December 7, 2006 was a good night for the Cherrydale VFD. At 7:00 p.m., members met at the Arlington Emergency Communications Center for a tour courtesy of Administrative Member and Arlington ECC Dispatcher Karen Thiverge. A nice tour and greater understanding of ECC were greatly appreciated. We went our seperate ways with Firefighter Recruit Joe Lowry heading to Station 3 to ride the engine for the night.

At 2118, Engine 103 was dispatched to 2814 Washington Blvd for the House Fire. We were dispatched and arrived 4th Due engine and assumed our duties as the Rapid Intervention Team (RIT). We arrived with heavy smoke showing, fire from the basement of Side Charlie, parked our unit out of the way, grabbed our tools, and proceeded to the house. Upon our arrival, several things needed to be done. First, the water supply had not yet been established. Lowry did this while our Captain did a walk around of the structure. As RIT, it is important to know the layout or perceived layout of the structure including entry and exit points as well as where the fire is located. Our next task included ventilation, and we were ordered to take the second floor windows. Truck 104 had taken care of laddering the building. We used those ladders to access the porch roof. While two firefighters went to the roof, Lowry secured the ladder. It isimportant that you not let go of that ladder until the firefigher reaches the roof and also be prepared for them to come back down.The fire was quickly knocked down. E103 did another walk around. We checked the exterior basement window seams for extension as fire had at one point blown out the windows so we pulled back some siding. Nothing found so we began to help pick up by rolling hose and putting away tools. We were onscene for about an hour.

Pictures from ACFD3.com.