Another fire, another Cherrydale response

Last night at 9:19 p.m., ACFD and Fairfax County fire units were sent to 4514 North 41st Street for the House Fire. Cherrydale volunteer Lowry was aboard Engine 103, which arrived second due with a career crew of Captain Higgins and Firefighters Barb, Jaquays and Waterfall. Engine 103 advanced an attack line along with Engine 108's crew and was able to knock down the fire in short order.

Also on the call was Cherrydale's Light and Air unit, staffed with a crew from the Falls Church VFD. Firefighters Schomburg and Greear along with Recruits Deven Hessler and Addy Hessler, Frey and Weckstien assisted for seven hours packing hose, refilling air bottles, and assisting the fire marshal's office with their investigation.

Going to work

At 2118 on Monday, April 30, Arlington County's Emergency Communications Center put out a call for a house fire in Engine 103's second due area. The career crew of Captain Higgins, Firefighters Jaquays and Reeve, Fire Trainee Waterfall with Cherrydale Volunteer Firefighter Lowry responded to 1210 North Taylor Street. The engine crew stretched a hose line from Engine 102 and entered the basement on the Baker Side. With Waterfall on the nozzle, the fire was quickly contained to the area of origin. There was little extension and Engine 103 cleared within an hour.

Two members complete vehicle extrication course

Two members of the CVFD, Jack Baber and Joe Lowry, completed the Virginia Department of Fire Programs course in Vehicle Rescue this weekend, certified at the Operations Level. The course was put on by the Caroline County Emergency Units Organization and hosted by the Upper Caroline VFD. The course provided students information on new hazards associated with today’s vehicles. Time was spent on how the laws of physics affect the vehicle and it’s passengers and the outcome this has on tactical considerations. Emphasis was placed on the development of safe and proficient techniques for vehicle stabilization, extrication and lifting, and in the use of air bags and hydraulic systems.

Water and fire

The Cherrydale VFD has been busy with both fire and water. CVFD Recruit Firefighter Joe Lowry caught a job while on Engine 103 recently. A fire broke out at just past 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, February 17, 2007 at an apartment complex at 4385 Lee Highway. Engine 103 arrived to find smoke showing from the top floor of the three story complex. After taking in a line, they extinguished a kitchen fire which had extended into some duct work. With some roof work by the crews of Tower 104 and Truck 106, the fire was brought under control quickly. This was the first fire for ACFD Trainee Ned Waterfall, 103-C. Lowry worked with the career crew of Captain Steve McCoy, FF Jesse Reeve, FF/Medic Glenn Smith, and Fire Trainee Ned Waterfall.



The Light and Air unit has also been busy with winter storm activity, having been staffed several times in the last few weeks to run wires down and other public service calls. Members of the Cherrydale VFD and the Falls Church VFD have assisted in staffing the unit. Running public service calls is not exciting but it provides significant value to the County as it keeps an engine company in service for other work.

Two new members start Indoc

The Cherrydale VFD's newest members, Carter Cromartie and John (Mac) McIntire, are moving along great in the Indoc training program, the first step to being signed off as a recruit volunteer firefighter with Arlington County. Also in the program is CVFD member Dee Allen. CVFD firefighters Lowry, Sorenson and Baber have all been active in assisting in class instruction.

Storms bring slow nights

2/14/2007 - Just when you would have thought that snow and ice would have meant a busy night for the volunteer firefighters of Arlington County, the halo over the county saved us again. The County and City of Falls Church received a lot of sleet, ice and snow which many thought would create significant downed power lines and accidents on area roadways. It in fact didn't materialize but that didn't stop the Cherrydale VFD with our brothers and sisters at the Falls Church VFD from mobilizing resources in case something significant developed. Throughout the night, Ambulance 106 (Fortner, Schomburg, Turner) and Light and Air 103 (Evinger, Lowry) staffed Fire Station 6 in Falls Church. Utility 103 (Pardi, Azar) staffed Fire Station 1 and Utility 106 (Vilpors, Donahue) staffed Fire Station 5. This is in addition to the career staffed units at those houses. Those units were in service until 7 a.m. although the Light and Air unit remained in service throughout the day.

Lessons Learned: We did learn that putting chains on LA103 really stinks. We also learned someone took LA103's chains and put a bunch of chain parts in the bucket. Truck 106 had about 10 sets so we had a set generously donated to us.

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.

CVFD Ice cream Social was a huge success!

Thanks to all the folks who stopped by our September 10th Ice Cream Social. We had a great turnout for an event that wasn't widely publicized. The kids enjoyed the ice cream, school supplies and a chance to see the fire engine.

Don't forget about our Fire Prevention Week Open House to be held on Saturday, October 14 from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Again the fire station will be open for visitors. This is a great time to come out and say hello again. We will have several trucks there as well as food and games. I know both the volunteer and career firefighters would love for you to visit.

Here are some photos of the Ice Cream Social courtesy of CVFD Secretary Cate Drew and Chief Scott Pardi.

Riding 5th, Cherrydaler catches his first fire

On Tuesday, August 22, CVFD member Joe Lowry, riding as the fifth man with the career crew on Engine 103, worked on the interior for the first time during a working fire. Engine 103 was dispatched around 4:00 a.m. to 5436 North 22nd Street for a house fire and found a 1 1/2 story home with the rear well involved. Arriving third, Engine 103 took an attack line in the front door, knocking down the bulk of the fire inside the rear of the home. Lowry assisted on the attack line and with overhaul. E103 was on scene for just under two hours and after picking up our hose and refilling our air bottles, got back in quarters around 6:30 a.m.

Cherrydale VFD heads to Baltimore

On Friday, August 4, four members of the Cherrydale VFD headed up to the Firehouse Expo in Baltimore to see the latest tools of the trade. Chief Scott Pardi, Firefighter Eric Lekus, and Recruits Joe Lowry and Jack Baber played hookie with their real jobs to scout out some new apparatus, buy some tools, and see how many weirdos there are in the fire service. A good time was had by all.

CVFD to Fairfax County for flood relief

On Friday, June 30, 2006, four members of the Cherrydale VFD took time off of work in order to provide support to Fairfax County Fire and Rescue units by assisting with flood recovery in the Huntington section of the county. Scott Pardi, Joe Lowry, Dee Allen and Ben Sorenson took Light and Air 103 and Utility 103 to the scene. That section of Fairfax had been under several feet of water following torential rains during the previous week. Cameron Run, a stream behind the nieghborhood, overflowed its banks and created flash flood conditions on Sunday and Monday. Residents who noticed an inch of water in their basements within minutes found 10 feet of water.

Outside of a few volunteer command officers, Cherrydale VFD fielded the only "working" team at the disaster site. The four members on the team provided heavy lifting, being tasked with removing appliances from flooded basements. The tally for the long day included 11 washers and dryers, one large freezer, one door (for disposal), a kiln, a dozen cinder blocks and some small shelving not to mention removing at least four other doors to allow room for appliance removal, one 4-drawer lateral file cabinet, several loads of debris, and landscaping timbers. We also provided lighting to several basements so other debris removing volunteers could operate.

Thanks go out to the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department as well as the several volunteer fire departments we worked with during the day. They had a very well organized and professional operation going on. Also thanks to the Salvation Army for providing us with lunch.

Summer weather floods Arlington

A rash of summer storms have left numerous locations in Arlington without power and under several feet of water. Since Sunday morning at midnight, Arlington has received 9.4 inches of rain. On Sunday and Monday nights, volunteer crews put LA103 and UT106 in service to answer public service calls (wires down, flooded basements, etc.). LA103 was even put on a medical call, not its normal forte. The communications center didn't have a local engine, so the call came over the air, "Arlington to LA103. Do you have medical capability?" Sure enough we do, so the unit responded for the sick person with a County medic unit. All told, LA103 and UT106 ran around 30 calls during the two nights, most of them on Sunday. The crews for the two nights included Tony Schloss, Justin Kirby, Joe Lowry, Sam Azar, Jim Clarke, Steve Sissler, Scott Pardi, Sarah Greer, Rob McCarry, Bill Haley, and Paul Schomburg.

One dead at N. Edgewood Fire

With volunteer firefighters Eric Lekus and Joe Lowry aboard, ECC dispatched Engine 103 to the 2400 Block of North Edgewood Street for an outside fire. Upon arrival the crew found a bird nest on fire inside a street lamp 30 feet above the street level. Once Truck 104 pulled the nest down, the fire was extinguished with Lekus on the 'line'. Despite the efforts of all involved, a young nestling succumbed to injuries sustained in the fast moving nest fire. Units were out for 30 minutes.

Photo and story context by Captain Randy Higgins, 103-C