My Busy Weekend!

It was a very busy weekend and I got very little rest.

It all started Friday afternoon. Severe storms started developing in SW Oklahoma and moved to the north, north east. The first storm was due in the metro at around 3:15 pm and it was packing high winds, golf-ball sized hail, bright lightning and heavy rain. Because of that, I alerted all the field personnel on the radio that the storm was coming into the metro, so they could take cover somewhere. The storm moved in, but the worst part of the storm was west and north of us. We escaped the hail and the high winds, but we got the vivid lightning and heavy rain.

While that storm moved through OKC, another severe storm was moving through Norman. Moments after the storm entered Norman, a storm chaser and a storm tracker from KFOR TV reported a tornado on the ground. It touched just east of I-35 and SH 9 and moved north east, skipping across the city. The storm chasers were able to video it, even though it was hard to see because it was wrapped in rain. Three of our REACT team members were in Norman chasing the storm, while I waited to get off work at 4 pm. Once I got off work, word came out there was lots of damage in Norman from the tornado, so I jumped on the interstate and drove to Norman.

Once I entered into town, traffic was a nightmare. People don’t know how to react, or what to do when an emergency happens. First responders were already on the scene trying to take care of downed power lines and downed trees. The tornado even blew down some power poles that were the very heavy duty metal. OG&E was on the scene, trying to shut the power off to the downed lines. I drove near downtown and went through a neighborhood that had been hit. No homes were destroyed, but there were plenty of trees uprooted, storage buildings destroyed and houses damaged. I drove through, took some pictures and then headed back to OKC because the storms were all east of us.

I was up early Saturday because the National Weather Service had fore casted a severe weather day and we were in the high risk area. Our team had decided to set up an Emergency Operations Center and my church agreed to allow us to use the conference room of the church. I got all my storm chasing supplies together and was ready to meet at the church at 11 am with other REACT members so we could get our assignments for the day. Before I went to the meeting, one of my co-workers called and informed me of a big main break in the 7700 block of SW 34. I grabbed my stuff and headed out the door. This is what I saw when I arrived on the scene.

Afterwards, I headed over to my office to pick up a few things, went by McDonalds for breakfast and headed home. I eventually headed over to the church and, with the help of another REACT member, we set up the conference room for our EOC. We did not have that many people at the meeting because some had to work. We met, discussed what the NWS had fore casted for our area and then headed out to western Oklahoma to wait for the storms to develop.

During the day, we watched and monitored the weather situation, but saw nothing. North of us, in Woodward, they were getting slammed by tornadoes. According to the NWS, storms were suppose to develop along the western part of the state, all the way down to the SW corner of the state…and then move eastward. That’s what we were watching. We were going to watch the storms develop and then follow them into OKC. After waiting all day long, we got word from the NWS that a CAP was over the western and south western part of the state, meaning that storms were not going to develop. Plus, the dry-line and cold front that was suppose to move east out of Texas during the early afternoon, was still stationary in Texas. Without the dry-line, no storms were going to form.

Our information told us there would be no storms forming until the cold front caught up with the dry-line. Once that happens, a squall line would be developing and move east across the state. With this squall line, large hail, high winds and tornadoes were possible. With that in mind, we decided to head back to the city, especially since our chances for severe weather would come early on Sunday morning. We all headed back and waited for the squall line. I didn’t sleep very well, knowing I would be up very early on Sunday, watching the storms. Sure enough, at around 2 am, my weather radio alert went off and woke me up. I stayed up to watch the weather and found out the squall line just had winds up to 40 mph and small hail….no tornado threat. Once I heard that, I went back to sleep.

I was up at 7:30 Sunday morning and got ready for church. I was having to leave church early because our REACT team had an event that we were going to provide traffic control for. The event, the Red Bud Classic, is always held in Nichols Hills and our team always helps out with traffic during the run. I was so tired and so sleepy from not getting much sleep the night before, I struggled to stay coherent. I made it through the event and then went home. I was almost too tired to eat. I hung around the house the rest of the evening and went to bed early.

One thing I will say is Oklahoma weather is very unpredictable. Woodward, Oklahoma and Salina Kansas got hit hard with tornadoes. The OKC metro area was very fortunate this time around. All the ingredients were in place for a while...and if the dry-line had moved eastward like the weather models had predicted, the OKC metro area would be cleaning up lots of damage. With the dry-line out in east Texas, the front behind it and the CAP that was over SW Oklahoma (When the CAP is in place, it keeps severe weather from developing), that kept the majority of Oklahoma from having a major tornado outbreak.

I would much rather have the fore casters tell me to be weather aware and nothing happen, then to not know ahead of time and have major storms move into the metro with little to no warning.


http://www.centralokreact.org/

Friday's Weather

Friday Severe Weather Update:::

Current model analysis, along with SPC data confirms my current thinking. SVR WX will occur in a corridor from Altus-Watonga-Enid-Wichita. This should occur from 2-4pm on into the evening, possible overnight...

IMPACTS: Large hail to Baseballs, heavy rain, strong straight line winds, tornadoes (some strong).

Timing: 2-4 pm till 2AM

Once storms initiate, they will go severe and rotate very quickly. Any storm that forms has the potential to be a tornado producer. Storms that form to the SW can and may move into the OKC Metro area.

REACT Action Statement:::React members should plan for SVR WX operations and level alert status this afternoon, with spotter operations this evening into late evening. At this time, President Chris Toner and Chairman Keith Sossamon have been apprised of the situation. If you plan to spot or be available for spotting...Please send email to the team and for times available for today and Saturday...

11AM WX Briefing at EOC (Keith’s Church) on Saturday Morning.

Also Multi-County Fire Corps Members will be placed on ALERT for this activity today, and we may be asked to assist with their operations.

At this time, the models aren’t real clear for Saturday. Even though we do expect a severe weather outbreak, it still is not clear where exactly the moderate risk and high risk area will be….too early to tell. Even the meteorologists aren’t for sure. We will know more with the weather models in the morning.

Mike Weiss/Central OK REACT Weather Specialist

http://www.centralokreact.org/

Weather Information

It has been a very uneventful week once again. I have been training a new employee at work for the last two weeks and the training continues. It’s ok, but we train at my desk, which limits what I can do at my desk. I can really only check my emails on my lunch, or break. I can occasionally open one up while she is at my desk, just so I can send a quick answer. She is a quick learner and she seems to know what to do. Her biggest obstacle is routing calls to the right field rep. She is geographically challenged, so she is not good with routing calls yet. She still has some problems in that area. Tomorrow, we will be short-handed, so we have to work a radio. It will be a good day for me to watch and see how she does.

This week has been very boring. I have been home every evening (except for last night), so I have just stayed around the house and did chores and other things. The next several days appear to be severe weather days. Last night, many members of our REACT team had a conference call to discuss the weather for the weekend. Here is what we discussed….

Thursday: Severe storms are forecast for the western OK area from 3pm through late evening. Main impacts with these storms are large hail to tennis ball size, winds to 65 mph, heavy rains, and isolated tornadoes. I fully expect the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) to issue a Moderate risk (MDRK) for Thursday for all of Western OK, just West of OKC. Storms that can stay together and discrete are the main concern for tornado production. If storms congeal into a line, they will race to the east, possible into the OKC Metro area during the night. Hail, rain, and winds would be the concern for these storms.

Friday: Severe chances will be centered over the Western OK/Central OK area on Friday. Fully expect Friday to also be a MDRK from the SPC. Large destructive hail to baseballs or larger, winds to 70 mph, heavy rain, and tornadoes are all possible on Friday. Expect main time frame for storms to form near 2-4pm. Due to upper air energies, any storms that form and stay discrete have the best potential to produce tornadoes. These storms could be tornado producers after dark.

Saturday: Again SVR chances centered over Central OK. MDRK or High risk may be posted for Saturday. Too early to tell by models at this point. Saturday has the appearance of being a dangerous and destructive day.

Daily WX briefings will be posted on Central Oklahoma React  FB page, Multi-county Fire Corps and by email. In discussions with the chain of command, alerts may be needed for each day, especially Friday and Saturday. It is in that regard, that we ask all team members who can be available to spot, and/or help with an EOC be prepared for activation. This is to include a "go-bag" with first aid kit, search/Rescue items, Reflective vest, whistle, flashlights, Team LTR radio charged and ready to go.

All available members are asked to meet at Keith’s church at 11AM on Saturday to discuss operations for that day, as Saturday has the appearance of being a TORNADO OUTBREAK day.

So, it looks like the metro will get hit with possible severe weather after dark on Thursday and early evening on Friday. Saturday will be the big severe weather day. As a matter of fact, I will be riding with a more experienced storm spotter on Saturday. I would go by myself, but they are predicting numerous tornadoes and flooding on Saturday, so it is safer to travel with someone who knows what they are doing. This guy has live radar and all equipment he needs to chase….I don’t. I guess we will see what happens.

http://www.centralokreact.org/

What A Week!

It was an extremely busy week at work this past week. It wasn't busy in the sense that we had lots of work to do....it was busy in the sense that I was training a new employee. Anytime I train someone, it really drains me emotionally and mentally. By the time I get off work each day, I am so tired of training for the day, I don't want to do anything the rest of the evening. That's one main reason I have not posted to my blog all week. Plus, this has not been a very eventful week.

I spent both Monday and Tuesday evening at home, just doing stuff around the house. Wednesday evening, we had our normal evening youth service and I went home.

Thursday, after work, I went by and mowed one of my customer's lawns, then went home and mowed my front yard. After that, I met with two other REACT board members and a grant writer, at Wendy's, to discuss possible grants for our REACT team. Friday, after work, I went by a mowed another lawn, then went home and mowed my back yard. The rest of the evening was spent cleaning the house (since we have family coming over Easter Sunday for dinner).

I could not hardly sleep last night for some reason. I went to bed around 11:45 pm and tossed and turned. I finally got up at 7:15 am and started working on the house again. Karla went to choir rehearsal and I spent the morning running errands. Around noon, I was sitting at the stop light at SW 104th and Western, waiting for it to turn green. All of a sudden, I heard a loud screech and a crash. Two cars collided in the middle of the intersection. I pulled ahead, stopped in the middle of the intersection and activated my emergency lights. The following is the report I filed with my REACT team:

On April 7, 2012 @ 11:45 am, I was sitting at the stop light at SW 104th and Western, northbound. I was the second vehicle in line at the light. All of a sudden, I hear a screech of tires and a loud crash. Two vehicles collided together in the middle of the intersection. I tried to call someone on the REACT radio, but nobody was monitoring. I pulled around the vehicles in front, activated my emergency lights, grabbed my vest, ID and hand-held REACT radio and got out of my truck. Fortunately, several other motorists stopped to help as well. I asked if someone had already called 911 and they said they did. I went to each car to check on injuries. Both drivers were banged up pretty good, but nothing serious. Two other people with me said they had medical experience, so I focused on the very heavy traffic and let them assist the injured. Once I made sure first responders were on the way, I called Mike Weiss on my cell phone, but did not get an answer. So, I called Chris Toner....advised him of my location and what I was doing. I directed traffic, waiting for first responders to get there. Within minutes, a fire engine and rescue ladder arrived on the scene. The horn on one of the cars was stuck, so I assisted the firefighters in getting the hood up and disconnecting the battery. EMSA arrived on the scene and took charge of the injured, while myself and the firefighters continued to direct traffic. EMSA took the injured to the hospital and PD still had not arrived. The traffic flow was doing fine, except for a few idiots. Because of the position of the vehicles, we had to block off several lanes, so I set my four safety cones up to block off some of the lanes. Since many people were gawking at the accident and not paying attention to the signal lights, I had to grab my whistle out of my truck and continuously blow it to keep traffic flowing. During this time, unit 728 (Mike Weiss) went 10-8 on the radio, so I called him and told him where I was at, what I was doing and gave him continuous updates. The police finally arrived, but it was only one officer......actually it was an officer I graduated from high school with, Sgt. Phillip Paz. Since he had to work the accident, myself and the firefighters continued to direct traffic. They were able to move one vehicle, but the other had to be towed. Then, we had to wait for an additional 20 minutes or so for a wrecker. When the wrecked arrived, I blocked all lanes of traffic, so he could get to the wrecked car. While he loaded up the car, I spoke with Sgt. Paz and told him who I was. He was very happy and gracious that I had stopped and assisted with traffic. Even though he knew who I was, I still gave him a REACT business card. As the road became clear, Sgt. Paz helped me gather my safety cones and we all left the scene at 12:40 pm. As I drove off, I tried to contact someone on the REACT radio, but got no response, I called Chris Toner and left him a message on his voice mail and then called Mike Weiss and informed him I had cleared off the accident. Time out was 55 minutes.

www.centralokreact.org

Monday Again.....No Problem!

I had a wonderful weekend, even though I was extremely busy.

I was able to take off at 1:00 pm on Friday, which allowed me to help some of my fellow REACT members move garage sale items from our church gym to the huge garage sale at the State Fairgrounds. This garage sale was for non-profit organizations only and it gave us a chance to sell a bunch of stuff and make a little money for our team. Most all of our garage sale items had been stored in the church gym, so we spent Friday afternoon moving it to the fairgrounds. It was lots of work and very tiring, but we had to get it done because the sale started early Saturday morning and we weren’t allowed to bring any more sale items on Saturday morning. Everything had to be there by Friday evening.

That Friday evening, after moving all the stuff to the fairgrounds, my immediate family met together at Dan’s Old Fashion Diner and had Gayla’s birthday dinner. Gayla and Karla were both an hour late to the dinner because Gayla was getting a tattoo and it took them longer than they thought it would. After we ate, I took my mower down to a friend’s house in Moore so he could mow his lawn. Afterwards, it was back home to get ready for the garage sale the next day.

I was up at 5:45 Saturday morning. I got on my computer, checked email, FaceBook and then got my truck loaded up with stuff we would need for the garage sale. As I was leaving to go to the fairgrounds, one of our newer members called me on my phone. He was already on his way to the fairgrounds to help us, but he had a blow-out on his tire. Since it was real foggy, he wanted me to come by and assist him by keeping traffic off of him. Since I have emergency lights, I told him I would help. Once I arrived, another REACT member arrived, so I headed on to the State Fairgrounds.

It was a very long day, but we did a great job. We had just enough items to sell to make the day worthwhile. We also got many chances to talk with patrons about joining our team. Some just wanted to know who we were and what we did. The sale was from 8 am – 4 pm, so we had all day to sell whatever we could. By the end of the day, we had three deliveries to make, but we also made $381.00 from the sale, so we were satisfied and knew the garage sale was a huge success.

That evening, after I left the sale, I delivered a ping pong table to the person who bought it from us at the garage sale and then headed to mom and dad’s house in Edmond to celebrate Gayla’s birthday with them. My niece, Rachel, turned 20 yesterday, so we celebrated her birthday as well. We enjoyed chicken strips, potato casserole, salad, tea and chocolate cake. Afterwards, my back was so tired, I laid down on the living room floor and stretched my back out. It felt so good.

I was up early Sunday morning, ready to begin a long day. I had church in the morning, lunch with our youth minister, a REACT Board meeting at 2 pm and a REACT team meeting at 3 pm. Then, there was choir rehearsal and the Lord’s Supper, during the evening worship service. By the time church let out, I was so ready to be home. I stopped by Johnnie’s Charcoal Broiler on the way home, got something to eat and went home. I was so tired from everything that happened over the weekend, I was in bed by 9 pm.

Today, we have a slight risk for severe weather in the metro. The main threat will be large hail and strong winds. Some of the ingredients will be in place for possibly a few tornadoes, but they will be few and far between. The meteorologists don’t see much of a tornado threat. After reading data and more information from the National Weather Service, I feel OKC will not get anything until late tonight.

http://www.centralokreact.org/

It's FRIDAY!!!!!!!

It has been a long and trying week at work. It hasn’t been real busy, but the morale in our office is at an all-time low. I can’t go into detail, or it will come back to bite me, but there are many unhappy employees in our office.

There really has not been that much going on this week. I have had a few meetings, but no barn-burners. The treasurer for our REACT team resigned a couple of weeks ago and his last official day is tomorrow. It doesn’t really matter though, because his job sent him to Portugal, so he is basically gone. I have all the treasurer stuff, since I am Chairman of the Board. The good thing is, one of our other Board members has stepped up and agreed to be treasurer. He told me as long as I would help him, he would do it….so I agreed to help him. We have a Board meeting this Sunday, so 30 minutes before our meeting, I will meet with him and hand all the treasurer stuff over to him.

Our REACT team is getting into the season where we will be doing more storm spotting and working more events. During the Spring and Summer, we always stay busy. Not only do we still work events, we do motorist assists and continue with different types of training other things.

For the past three months or so, some of our team members have been doing “courtesy patrols” on Friday and Saturday nights. What we do is patrol the interstates and watch for stranded motorists. When we see them, we stop and see if we can assist them. We don’t charge them anything, but they are required to sign a release of liability form if we have to do change a flat tire, jump start their vehicle, or do some work on their vehicle. We have been successful and made many contacts via courtesy patrol, but nobody has gone out the last two weekends. We have been busy doing other things, plus, gas is so expensive now, nobody can afford to go out.

Tomorrow, our REACT team will be having a “garage sale” at the State Fairgrounds. This is a city-wide garage sale and it is only for non-profit organizations. It’s a great fund-raising activity for us, so we hope we can sell quite a bit of stuff. My biggest complaint is how so few of our members are involved in this. Out of 20 members, we have had only around 4 members donate items for the sale and there has only been a few of us that have been picking these items up. To top it off, we will have very few members helping us with the garage sale. I am glad we are doing this sale because we do need the money, but I wish more of our members would get involved.

Today is March 30. Today is also my daughter’s 19th birthday. It is hard to believe my little girl is growing up so fast. For the most part, she is making some very good decisions. She still lives at home and is going to college. She is doing great in college and has great studying habits. She is also working a part-time job to help pay for her car. She does chores around the house and has a multitude of friends. I am so proud of her and her accomplishments.

www.centralokreact.org

Hello Monday!!

I can safely say I had a pretty decent weekend, even though I was a little busier than I wanted to be.

Karla and I attended the Third Day concert at Crossroads Church on Friday night and had a great time. The music was just right…not to soft and not too loud. Our seats were in the balcony, but we still got a good view. The concert started at 7 pm and ended around 10 pm. It was a concert that Karla had wanted to go to for a long time because Third Day is her favorite band. Since we haven’t had a “real” date in so long, this was our chance. We ate at Perry’s restaurant and then went to the concert.

I was up early Saturday morning because I had to check my email had to be at one of our REACT members’ apartment at 9 am to switch out light bars. For the last year or so, I have had a light bar on my truck that had blue and amber lenses……and they were strobes. Our REACT team is trying to get away from strobes and go strictly with LED’s, so I have been looking for an opportunity to change out light bars. One of our other members had a light bar on his truck that had LED lights only, so he decided to take that light bar off his truck and trade me. So, a couple of us spent around 2 hours Saturday morning changing out the light bars. Now all I have to do is get the other light bar to the other member and let him sell it on E-bay, if he wants to sell it.

The only problem with the new light bar is the mounting bracket. It fits my truck, but the bracket sticks out some, so my doors will not shut easily. I am either going to need a new bracket, or do some welding to make the current bracket fit better. Right now, I have to be gentle when I close my doors because my doors get stuck on the bracket.

I spent the rest of my Saturday running errands and picking up stuff for our REACT garage sale coming up this weekend. I was so tired Saturday evening, I went to bed rather early.

I got up Sunday morning and enjoyed a good Sunday School lesson and good worship service at church. I had picked up an extra shift at work, so I had to leave early from church, in order to get lunch and be at work from noon – 4 pm. Fortunately, it was a slow afternoon, so I did not have that much to do.

http://www.centralokreact.org/

I Made it to Thursday....Now What?

What a week it has been. I have been extremely busy at work, still learning all the ins and outs of our new phone system. Plus, having to answer lots of phone calls. Some of my friends wonder why I don’t like to talk when they call me on my cell phone……well, after talking to people all day long on the phone, I am tired of talking, so I text. There is one thing I would like to point out when it comes to texting. If I text someone about something, it is usually because I can’t talk. Things are getting much stricter in my office, so it is getting harder to have a personal phone conversation with someone. Because of that, I text during the day while I am working. Unfortunately, sometimes when I have sent a text to somebody, they feel they have to answer my text by calling me. The whole reason I am texting is because I can’t talk. If I can’t talk, I will just reject the call.

I hate talking to voice mails. My Facebook question of the day yesterday was……if you call someone and they don’t answer, do you leave a voice mail, or just hang up? The majority of those that answered said they would just hang up. Many people, including myself, do not like leaving messages. If someone calls me and I miss the call, I usually call them back….eventually. If they do leave a voice mail, it may be awhile before I even get to listen to it. It seems that most people do not like leaving voice mails and would rather hang up. Interesting.

I had a good time last evening in the youth service. Our youth minister was on vacation, so I was in charge of the service. I did a few things differently and the students seemed to really enjoy it. We played a game, watched a video, listened to a student give a brief devotional and had a Bible drill. I didn’t get a chance to plan very much because I have been so busy at work and have so much going on.

Last Tuesday evening was our monthly meeting with the Multi-County Fire Corps. We have our meetings at a Baptist church in Hinton, Okla. There were three of us that rode together to the meeting. We stopped in Mustang on the way out and ate some BBQ. It’s a nice drive out to Hinton….lots of country to see and the windmill farm. We had a good meeting and got a chance to see their Command Post (canteen), which is an ambulance that got donated to them. It’s really nice and has plenty of room in it. I was really impressed. I wish we could have something like this for our REACT team, but the funds are just not there. The meeting lasted until around 9 pm, so I did not get home until almost 10 pm.

This evening is a free evening for me. No meetings and no plans. Tomorrow evening, Karla and I will be going to the Third Day concert at Crossroads Church. We are both looking forward to the concert.

http://www.centralokreact.org/

Vacation is OVER...

Well, after enjoying a full week of vacation, I am back in the saddle again.

I did have a great vacation and enjoyed every minute of it. The fact is, I really did not do much while I was off. I had a few errands to run and a few jobs to complete, but I made sure I made time to play. Twice during last week, I had the wonderful opportunity to go to Lake Hefner and ride my bike around the lake. The first day was great and very refreshing. The next day was challenging because the wind was blowing so hard. The wind blowing against you tends to drain all the fun out of a bike ride. Since I was in no hurry, I took my sweet time and stopped several times along the bike route. The times I stopped, I either stretched my muscles, or I took pictures. My main goal for the week was to do what I wanted to do and relax at the same time. I did do house chores, but I got those done early in the mornings, so I could enjoy the rest of my day.

This last week, while on vacation, I went through the CERT course. CERT stands for Community Emergency Response Team. This is a 16-hour course that teaches you what to do in case of disaster. The course was Thursday evening from 6-10 pm, Friday evening, 5:30 – 10 pm and Saturday, from 8 am – 5 pm. There was lots of classroom work and some field training. We were trained on what to do when disaster strikes our neighborhood and how to take control of the situation and work at saving peoples’ lives and rescuing people. Our main goal was safety for ourselves. If we don’t do things safely, then we are no good to others. Myself and another REACT member took the course. The course was something I had been wanting to take for the last couple of years, but just did not have the time. It is not required to be a part of REACT, but it is a big help and a great learning experience. By Saturday evening, when the class concluded, I was mentally exhausted from all the learning we did. There was lots of information to take in for 16 hours.

                              

                           



 

Yesterday was my lazy day. The musical trio, “The New Plainsmen,” came to our church yesterday and put on a performance for us during our worship service. They were with us last year about this time and did an outstanding job. Well, once again, they did a super job and really got the audience involved. I sat on the front row and took pictures.

 

That afternoon, I took a long nap and then went back to the church for choir rehearsal. Many of the REACT team members were in western Oklahoma chasing storms. I would have joined them, but our youth minister was on vacation and I had to fill in for him, so I could not leave the city. Several of the team members got good pictures of tornadoes on the ground. Hopefully, I will get to make it to the next chase.



 

Today has been a rainy. It has rained all day long so far, with some lightning and thunder. There was suppose to be a slight risk for severe weather for today, but with cloud cover and all the rain we are getting, I don’t see it happening. I did have a meeting with my boss this morning and received my yearly performance evaluation. In the past 21 years, since I have been with the city, this has been the best evaluation I have received. I was given very high marks in all areas. It really made me feel good. My supervisor told me how much she appreciated me and all the extras I do in the office for my co-workers and for others. It made my day. It also makes me want to strive harder to be the best employee I can be.

http://www.centralokreact.org/

Not All Traffic Accidents are cut-and -dry

On March 11, 2012, at around 12:55 pm, I was westbound on I-240 just passing S Western Ave (in the middle lane), when I saw a white Saturn swerve to the left hand lane, slam into the center median wall, do a complete 180 (almost flipped) and then came to a rest on the concrete median. With very little time to react, I turned on all my emergency lights, moved over to the left lane, grabbed my cell phone, grabbed my reflective vest and ID and exited my truck. As I ran to the vehicle, I could not get my vest on, so I held it to my side. The occupant, a male driver was dazed from his airbag deploying and there was a toddler (maybe a 2 year-old) in the back seat. There were no apparent injuries, but the car was smoking on the inside, so I advised him to turn off the engine. I checked the little boy to make sure he was ok and then went back to my truck...still trying to get my vest on.

During this time, I am still on the phone with OHP, giving them my location, type of car, etc......I was standing by my truck, when another passerby stopped to help. As the other driver spoke to the victim, I could hear the driver trying to release himself off the concrete barrier. I was still on the phone with OHP and told the driver to stop. Instead, he took off and darted across three lanes of traffic, trying to get away, almost causing a multiple-car pile-up. I was still on the phone with OHP, still sitting in the left-hand lane, giving direction of travel and explaining that he was trying to leave the scene. As he got across to the inside shoulder, his hood popped up, blocking his view. He got out and tried to secure it. Myself and the other passerby carefully manuevered behind him, urging him to stop, but he got back in his vehicle and took off again. 

Then, he turned off onto the shoulder into the grassy area between the interstate and service road and tried to make his getaway. Still on the phone with OHP, I gave his tag number and location to the OHP dispatcher. For a moment, he was stuck and I figured he could not go any further. To my surprise, he maneuvered enough to get his car off the muddy and wet grass and across the street to an apartment complex. When he entered the complex, his hood popped up again, so he got out to shut it. I safely followed him as he pulled into a parking place at the complex. The passerby behind me, went around me and pulled up next to the car. The accident victim got out, waved me on...but he looked like he wasn't altogether. I parked my truck at a good distance (not knowing what he would do next), stood at the apartment entrance and then flagged down an OHP Trooper as he arrived on the scene.

As the Trooper pulled up, three more troopers and an OCPD officer pulled up. As I walked over to the accident victim, the other passerby that stopped to assist, advised the officers he was a U.S. Marshall and found a gun on the male driver. The driver was also carrying a knife. He explained he had taken an Oxycontin pill about two hours earlier, but didn't say for what reason. The Marshall advised the trooper that when he approached the vehicle after the accident (and I was back at my truck), he saw the male driver put something in his mouth. Also found out the guy had no papers for his car, his license was suspended and he did not have a CCW permit for his weapon (he had a shoulder holster on)

While I was there, the wife of the U.S. Marshall comforted the little boy that had been in the car. He was crying, but safe. While Troopers took mine and the Marshall's information, I contacted Mr. Weiss by cell phone to tell him where I was at. This all happened so fast, I had no time to get on my radio and call anyone. While I spoke with Mike on the phone, another Trooper was giving a field sobriety test to the male driver. Once the troopers got my information, I gave them and the U.S. Marshall our REACT business cards and they all thanked me for stopping. The Marshall was especially thankful that I had turned on my emergency lights so quickly as to alert the drivers behind me.

As I turned off my emergency lights and started to drive off, the Troopers thanks me and I watched as they handcuffed the male driver and put him in the back seat of their cruiser. I cleared off at 13:25 via radio to unit 728.

Question...would I have done anything differently?

Answer....I doubt it.....I did what I thought was the best to do in that emergency situation. The wind was blowing, so I could not get my vest on, but it was by my side and I could be seen. My main goal was to contact OHP and check on injuries. Since nobody else stopped initially, I had to do call OHP, check for a safe scene, check on the driver and passenger and make sure OHP had the proper information they needed. I assumed once the scene was safe and the driver was stopped on the interstate, I could call in on my REACT radio, get my vest on and stand by the accident victim. Unfortunately, this was not a cut-and-dry situation. It could have turned deadly for other drivers as well as for the little toddler in the back seat. When he cut across three lanes of the interstate, in front of all that traffic, I just knew there would be a pile-up. We were blessed nothing bad happened. Since he was driving erratically and trying to leave the scene, I knew something was not right, so I kept my distance. I stayed on the phone with OHP the whole time because their troopers needed to get there fast and take control of the situation. When he pulled into the complex, I stayed a very safe distance. If I had pulled up behind him, he could have pulled the gun out and shot me. If the Marshall had not shown up, I would have held my position and waited for OHP. I would have not approached this male for any reason.

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Miserable Week coming to and End!

I ain’t got nothing today.

It has been a very fruitless week….I have gotten nothing accomplished. I did work Monday, but I felt miserable doing it. I was off work Tuesday through Thursday and did absolutely nothing but eat, sleep and take medicine. I have been fighting this stupid ear infection and bronchitis for a week now. The bronchitis has just about gone away, but my right ear is still causing me problems. It is still popping quite a bit and my energy level is low.

Even though I was off three days this week, due to being sick, I am on vacation all next week. It may take me a week just to get totally back on my feet. No office politics to listen to and no listening to loud voices in the office and the laughing hyena that works the sewer radio. A week of peace and quiet.

I am suppose to go mow a lawn after work today and it really needs to be done, so I may have to bite the bullet and go ahead and mow it today. Tomorrow afternoon, we are due for some more rain and it is suppose to rain all afternoon Saturday and all day Sunday. This will be a great time for me to catch up on some of my favorite shows. The last couple of weeks, I have been going to YouTube and watching episodes of Walker, Texas Ranger. It has been great and I enjoy the episodes. Looks to be another weekend of staying indoors, watching movies and playing on the Internet.

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Hump Day!!

I finally made it to hump day. Since I have not been feeling very well, this week seems to drag on. Since last Thursday, I have not felt very good. My head is congested, I have had a dry cough, nose is running and I have been sneezing a lot. On Sunday evening, I took a sinus pill, not knowing whether I was treating a sinus problem, or a cold. The pill did not help. I wound up going and getting some Nyquil and have been taking it every day since Monday. I have the Dayquil for the daytime and Nyquil for the night. It seems to be working. I keep coughing up lots of junk and have been blowing my nose a lot. So far, there has been no signs of infection. I am not a good patient when I get sick. I am a very healthy person, so when I get sick, I turn into a blubbering baby. Fortunately, I have not experienced any soreness in my throat, or any headaches…although, my ears have been popping like crazy. I just continue to go to work and then come home and rest.

Because of this illness, I have not gotten out much. Once I have gotten, home, I have stayed home. Last night, it was time for me to shave my head and trim up my goatee and mustache. Everything went well until it came time to trim around my facial hair. I am always very careful because I do shake a lot. Unfortunately, I got in too big of a hurry and cut a big gap out of my mustache and goatee. It was so bad, there was nothing I could do to make it look right. The only other option was to cut it all off and start all over again. It has been over 25 years since I have shaved any facial hair off. It was depressing, to say the least. I look so much different. I am hoping it grows back quickly. After shaving it all off, I did not realize I had such small lips. The only hair I have left are the nasty ear hairs that grow out of control. Ear and nose hairs are part of the Sossamon curse. So far, I have freaked out a few people at work, but the big test will be tonight when I see the students at church. They will freak out, kind of like they did when I got my ears pierced.

Well, yesterday we were being told all day long, by forecasters, we were in for a slight risk for severe weather and once again, our REACT team was getting prepared to do some storm spotting. By 6 pm, there was nothing happening in the state of Oklahoma, so I knew our chances for severe weather were slim to none. On the 6 pm weather, it showed the severe weather risk to be in eastern Oklahoma, away from us. When I went to bed last night, there were storms in northern Oklahoma, but they were moving north into Kansas. When I got up this morning, I found out that a few storms did develop in OKC, but it was after 10 pm and they moved quickly to the east of us. Then, I found out that a tornado had struck Branson, Missouri early this morning. It looks as if the storm system bypassed most of Oklahoma and hit the states east of us. I hate that these other states had to face the devastation that we normally have to face. It will be a long, clean-up process.

http://www.centralokreact.org/

Feeling Bad Today....Physically

Well, it looks like it has been a week since I have blogged. It’s either writer’s block, or I am just being lazy. I am not really sure how many people, if any, follow my blog, but it at least gives me a chance to vent and express my feelings.

I met last Monday evening with the Chairman of Deacons and the Pastor, in reference to their decision on why they would not allow my REACT team to use the empty office space in the church as our Emergency Operations Center. They gave me their reasons and in my opinion, the reasons were acceptable, however, it was still hard to swallow. It would have been the perfect place for us to have our EOC, but there were some concerns they had…..concerns that were beyond my control. So, our team will just keep looking for a place to serve as our EOC.

Last Saturday, our REACT team worked the 5K Run in Del City. We assisted Del City Police Department with traffic control during the run. We started at around 7:30 am and finished around 10:30 am. There were 7 of us assisting with the run. It was a beautiful, crisp, cool, morning….a great day for a run. After the run, I went by the church to get a Sunday bulletin so I could work on the power point for Sunday morning. I had forgotten the Pinewood Derby state races were being held in the gym. I stopped in long enough to get a sound system set up for them and to watch for about an hour.

I left at around 12:30 pm, went to Sonic to eat lunch and then headed over to Southern Hills Baptist Church, to attend the funeral of the daughter of a close friend that works for the City. There were hundreds and hundreds of people at the funeral. The entire service lasted 2 hours. It was the longest funeral I have ever attended. It was a beautiful service, with lots of family sharing stories.

That evening, I was able to set up a REACT radio in my house, which enabled me to act as the EOC for three of our units that went out on courtesy patrol. It was an extremely busy evening….we started at 7:50 pm and ended at midnight. I was so tired.

For the last week or so, I have not been feeling very well. My head is stopped up and I have a dry cough. I feel like I may be catching a cold. This blog today may not make sense because I don’t feel good and I had to be at work at 4 am this morning. Needless to say, I am still congested and very sleepy. 4 pm can’t get here fast enough today.

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Monday...Monday...Can't Trust That Day.

Well, once again it has been a week since I posted anything. I don’t know if I just really haven’t taken the time, whether I have been too busy, or I just have not been in the mood to. There really has not been that much going on with my life in the last week. I had a Multi-County Fire Corps meeting in Hinton on Thursday evening and had a Valentine Banquet at the church on Friday evening. The entertainment was pretty much geared towards the folks in their 60’s and 70’s. I have to admit that it was a decent program, but I wish there had been some other type of entertainment for the younger couples. One thing we have very little of in our church is young couples. It seems like everything we do is geared towards the older folks. If we expect to make any progress, we need younger couples.

Last Saturday, I assisted with the R.A. Pinewood Derby Races in our church gym. I was the announcer , so I had the task of calling the names of the people that were racing their cars. It was kind of fun and the kids had a great time racing their cars. Even a few of the adults raced their cars. That lasted until around noon. I went home, took a short nap and then headed back to the church at 2 pm to get ready to take the students to the Winter Jam 2012 concert. We left the church at 3 pm and waited in a crowded line for almost 2 hours. Last year, when we went to this concert, we got stuck behind the stage. This year was not much better. We were in front of the stage, but we were all the way to the top of the arena. We pretty much had to watch the concert by watching the huge screen that hung from the ceiling.

I was so tired Saturday, I did not get a chance to do a power point for the church, so when I got to church Sunday morning, I had no announcements to show. I didn’t really care because I was too tired to care. The only reason I have been doing it is because most of our members do not look at their bulletins, so this is an easy way to let them know what is going on in the church for the rest of the week.

During the afternoon, I had a REACT training session and then a REACT Executive Board meeting. Both of those events took my whole afternoon. I was so mentally drained, I went home and stayed there the rest of the evening. That same evening, the deacons were meeting to decide whether our REACT team would be able to use the extra office space for an Emergency Operations Center. I gave a verbal and written proposal to the deacon body three weeks ago and had several deacons that assured me they were voting in favor of it.

Well, around 8:45 pm, I received a call from the Chairman of Deacons, informing me he and the pastor wanted to meet with me to give their reasoning. In other words, it got voted down and they want to give me the reason why. So, we were scheduled to meet tonight at 6 pm.

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Snowy days and Mondays......

Our big 'ol Winter Storm turned out to be nothing much. All day yesterday, all the meteorologists did was talk about the OKC area getting 3-6" of snow and some ice. It moved in as flurries around 8:30 pm last night. I went to bed at 10 pm and there was a slight dusting in our yard. Since I had parked my truck in the garage, I wasn't too concerned. When I stepped out at 6 am this morning, this is what I saw..



 

Yep, Karla's car was completely covered and my mower got covered as well. What was really strange is it was not really that cold this morning. It was just below freezing, so it felt pretty good. Once I got my truck started and headed out, the side streets were the only thing that caused me any real problems. The interstates were pretty clear, although, all the on-ramps and off-ramps were very slick. I left the house at 6:15 am and made it to work by 6:35 am. It really was not that bad, but many of the idiot drivers were already out, so I was glad I was already at work.

This week, I am training a new dispatcher. I know it's a honor for me to be chosen to be the trainer, but it does kind of cramp my style because I have to train at my desk and don't get time to do my own work. The lady I am training has turned out to be a quick learner, which is good for me. Unfortunately, slow days are not good days to train....it's better to do it on busy days. It did start out slow this morning, but it picked up around 10 am and just kept getting busier. That was good because it really gave her some good hands-on training.

Well, our REACT team is still waiting on the word from my church. Two weeks ago, I gave a proposal to the deacon body....this proposal would allow my REACT team to use one of the vacant office spaces in the church as our emergency operations center. We would pay them a monthly fee and use the office anytimke we do courtesy patrols, or when we have severe weather. I really did not think it would take this long to get a decision. The deacons would have normally met yesterday, but decided to meet next Sunday. So, one more week and we should have an answer. If they deny us, it will kind of be a kick in the face to me.

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Come on Wednesday!!

It seems as if the weather can’t make up its mind what it wants to do. Yesterday was cool and sunny with very little wind. Today started out cloudy and forecasters said we would get light rain with some snow mixed in. Well…….so far, we have not seen anything, so it looks like they were wrong again. I would hate to be a meteorologist in Oklahoma because you really never know what the weather is going to do. The ingredients have to be just right to experience snow, thunderstorms and tornadoes, but if even one ingredient is missing, nothing happens. So far, we have had a very mild Winter (knock on wood), but things can really change fast.

This last weekend was fairly quiet, weather-wise and really a relaxing weekend, except for Sunday. I spent most of the day at home Saturday. I did drive out to Spencer to spend a couple of hours with my buddy, but then came home and took a nap. I rested the rest of the evening.

My busy day was Sunday. After church on Sunday morning, I decided to hang around the church because I had lunch plans with some fellow REACT members at 12:30…..a REACT Board meeting at 2:00 pm….a team meeting at 3 pm…….and a Super Bowl Watch party at the church at 5 pm. Yes, I was slammed with two meetings, but got the chance to relax and watch the Super Bowl and eat chili. As a matter of fact, we had a chili and dessert cook-off and I was one of the judges. I think I was a judge for last year as well. The food was great and everyone had a great time. The New England Patriots played the New York Giants. It was a good, close game and I was actually rooting for the Patriots, but the Giants won in the last minute of the game. No big deal. I was home by around 9 pm.

Well, in other news….once again, a toddler has died due to child abuse. It really sickens me to hear news of the police doing a welfare check on a child, just to find out they have head trauma and broken ribs. Head trauma and broken ribs on a toddler? That is IN-excusable. The parents, or guardian that is responsible for this abuse needs to be punished to the full extent of the law. Actually, someone just needs to take them in a back alley, bash their head in and break their ribs. These babies and toddlers are so defenseless, yet adults feel they have to beat them. What cowards! It just makes me so mad when I hear another child is abused. Another thing they need to do is put these child abusers in lock-up with the general population of inmates. There is a certain code of conduct in prison between inmates. One thing inmates can’t stand are child molesters and rapists, especially rapists that prey on children. The survival rate for a rapist or child abuser in prison is very low. The inmates usually “take care of them.” I say, let the inmates at them!

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TGIF........Finally!

I am so glad it is Friday and so glad the weekend is almost here.

It has been a very interesting week to say the least. I have really focused this week on getting things done around the house. Our vacuum cleaner bit the dust months ago, so we have been using a push broom (that does not do well on the carpet) and trying to clean the house that way. Tuesday evening, I finally went to Wal-Mart and bought an upright, bag-less, vacuum cleaner. There was no way I was going to buy another vacuum cleaner that required bags. Our main problem in the house is hair, namely dog hair. Our dogs shed really bad. I needed a vacuum cleaner that could vacuum the hair up and one with attachments for hard-to-reach corners. I have not had the chance to put the vacuum cleaner together yet, but I hope to use it tonight.

Last evening, Gayla and I were both home, so we went to Boomerangs for dinner and then came home to work on the house. She had an online form she needed to complete in order to see about getting more scholarship monies for school, so I helped her fill it out. I also did some major cleaning in my office and put more stuff in storage. I disconnected our old desktop computer and put it in the garage for storage. It was real slow anyway and not serving a purpose, so I just replaced it with our old laptop that has the broken lid. So now, the laptop is sitting on the desk and I am going to try to hook up an external keyboard to it tonight. I sent a text to Stephen to see if he could find us a good price on a new printer at Target. We need a new printer badly, so I am hoping to get one tonight, or tomorrow. I am just happy I got the office in good shape now.

Today has been a slow day and I am enjoying it. The rain has kept our phone calls down, allowing me to get stuff done at my desk. We have two dispatchers off today, but it isn’t even noticeable because it is so slow. I have a meeting this afternoon with our superintendent. For the past 15 years, the employees in my office have been allowed to wear nice shorts to work. During the Spring and Summer, it gets very warm in our office and no matter how much we adjust the air-conditioning, it stays hot. Because of that, many of us have worn shorts and there has never been a problem. Just recently, we were told we could no longer wear shorts in our office. Many of us are not happy with this, so I have become the spokesman for our office and will be discussing this issue with our superintendent this afternoon. Where we are, nobody comes back to our office, so we have little to no visibility to the public. I have a feeling they have made their final decision, but I am going to try to reason with him anyway.

Well, it looks as if our City Council members are making some enemies. You see, about a week ago, one of the councilmen was arrested for the second time for driving under the influence. The first time he was arrested, it was back in 2009 and it was just a misdemeanor. Since this is his second offense, it will be a felony now. According to the City Charter, any council member convicted of a felony, must vacate their seat. Here is the worst part. The other council members are supporting this other councilman and feel that he should continue to be a councilman. I think the man has made a fool out of himself and has embarrassed not only himself, but the citizens of Oklahoma City. He is a disgrace and should not be in any kind of leadership position. He needs to resign, but he refuses to. So, we have a bunch of bleeding heart council members on our council and a drunken councilman who is still in office.

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Good Week So Far!

It has been a good week so far. The highlight of my week was on Monday afternoon. I left the office at 10 am and picked up our CFAAA President….and we both headed out to Choctaw, Okla. to participate in the Oklahoma City Fire Department Recruit Live-Burn exercise. The live-burn exercise is something new fire recruits go through, while they are training to be firefighters. In the live-burn exercise, these recruits are required to have their bunker gear on and actually go through a smoke-filled, fiery building, to do search and rescue and to put the fire out. Also, during this exercise, they are required to go through the “flashover” simulator. What is a flash over?


              Recruits coming out of the flash over simulator

A flash over is the near-simultaneous ignition of most of the directly exposed combustible material in an enclosed area. When certain organic materials are heated they undergo thermal decomposition and release flammable gases. Flash over occurs when the majority of the exposed surfaces in a space are heated to their autoignition temperature and emit flammable gases. Flash over normally occurs at 930 °F, or 1,100 °F, for ordinary combustibles, and an incident heat flux at floor level of 1.8 Btu/ft²*s (20 kW/m²).

Flash overs are not only very dangerous, but they can be deadly to a firefighter. The simulator is controlled by professionals and the heat inside varies. Close to the ceiling, it can be as hot as 2,000 degrees, whereas, in the middle of the room it is around 600 degrees and 300 degrees at floor level. That’s one reason firefighters enter a building on their knees, or crouched down. That way, they escape some of the very intense heat.

The recruits on Monday experienced what it was like to be in a flash over, as all of them were required to go through the simulator. They also experienced what it was like to have to make forced entry into a house with solid doors and how to make entry into a house, or business, with burglar bars on them. Another part of their exercise was practicing on how to ventilate a roof. They have to probe to find the right spot…and then use an axe to cut into the roof. Once they make a cut in the roof, they use a chainsaw to cut out a piece of the roof so smoke can escape and less chance of a flash over.


                                 Recruits ventilating roof


It was very, very, interesting to watch these recruits in action. They have to be in excellent physical shape to perform these tasks. As the recruits were getting ready for their last scenario of the day (going into a burning building), I was given the opportunity to participate, which I did. I was outfitted with the proper bunker gear and had one of the fire chiefs as my instructor. I entered the burning building and could not see a thing. They had me sit on a bale of hay in the corner, which allowed me to observe the recruits come in and put the fire out. I was in there for about 10 minutes and it was very, very, hot. When I came out, I was sweating profusely. I can’t imagine how the other recruits were handling it, since they were the ones in action. I was just sitting and got very hot.


                That's me coming out of the burning building


       That's me going into the burning building


That was basically the end of my exciting day. As I left, I could tell my clothes and jacket smelled of stale smoke and even my truck smelled like smoke. I had a great time and look forward to doing it again.

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Another Week....

I am going to try to do better this week at blogging. It’s been a week since I blogged last and, even though there has not been much going on this last week, I still need to post my thoughts.

Last Thursday evening, I had the pleasure of attending the concert of the Singing Churchmen of Oklahoma. This choir is made up of music ministers from Baptist churches all across Oklahoma . Their music is pretty much old-southern gospel…..with a beat. The concert was held at the Village Baptist Church in north OKC. I had a great time and enjoyed some exceptional music…these guys are great!

After a long day at the office on Friday, I took my wife and daughter out for dinner and then we all crashed at the house and watched TV…..exciting huh?

I was up early Saturday morning to get prepared for a meeting in Hinton, Okla. The State Executive Director of Fire Corps was going to meet with us and his team and go over some areas our team could assist in with their team. We met for around 4 hours on Saturday and went over some information with them. All in all, it was a great meeting and it looks like we have a great opportunity to work with them in the coming weeks.

Yesterday was the exciting day….yes, my day of rest turned into a day full of excited and some anxiety. I was up early Sunday morning, working on the power point for the morning worship service. I woke Karla up at around 7 am, so she could get around and get ready for church. I heard her get into the shower as I still worked, but when I was finished my power point, I decided to check on her to make sure she was getting ready. I went into the bedroom to check on her and she had gone back to bed.
I tried to wake her, but she was not responding. I immediately woke up Gayla and had her come and help wake Karla up. When she did barely wake up, she was barely coherent. Her breathing was normal, but she complained of a severe headache and pain in her side. When I asked her what was wrong, she just replied she was tired and needed rest. Then, she started calling for her mom (who passed away three years ago). I knew then that she was exhausted and needed rest. Since she was breathing ok, I had Gayla stay with her, while I went on to church.

Once I got to church, I still had her on my mind. Our former pastor from many years ago, George Brock III, was going to be preaching during the morning and evening service, so I needed to be there. When I arrived and started to get the sound set up for the service, I ran into a major problem. It seems as if our fan, that keeps the sound system cooled, was not working properly, so the sound system would not stay on. We had to go to plan B.

I only had about 20 minutes to get things working, so I got several men together and we started piecing together a portable sound system to use for the service. We used the mixer from the choir room, the speakers and stands from the fellowship hall…and various cords, etc, from other parts of the church. By the time service started, I had everything all set up and plugged in. As I operated the portable system during the service, I sent Gayla a text, telling her to text me when Karla woke up. About 15 minutes into the service, she called me, in tears, informing me that Karla would not respond. I immediately grabbed my stuff and another church member took me home.

Upon arrival, I checked on Karla. Gayla was able to get her dressed, but she still wasn’t very coherent and still did not know where she was. I called 911 and they sent OCFD and EMSA out. I was not sure what was wrong, but I did notice symptoms of a stroke, so I was very concerned. As the paramedics worked on her, they were able to talk to her and get more information from her. Her blood pressure was elevated and she still had a very severe headache. They transported her to St. Anthony Hospital to get checked out. When she arrived by EMSA, she was more coherent and able to talk. They took her back to a room, gave her morphine for her headache and blood pressure medicine to bring her pressure back down and then took her to have a CT scan done. The CT scan was normal. Her blood pressure finally dropped down and her headache started going away, so they decided it was safe to release her.

The church member that brought me home, brought my truck to the hospital so I would have a way home. Karla and Gayla rode with mom and dad (I had called them and they came to the house) and they took her home. I went by Arby’s and got us something to eat. When I got home, Karla had realized that she forgot to take her blood pressure medicine on Saturday, so that’s why she woke up so sick Sunday morning. We both ate, she took her medicine and went to bed. I took about an hour nap before I headed back to the church. Gayla stayed with Karla while I was gone and our neighbor across the street fixed us dinner. Because of the church service and a meeting I had after church, I did not get home until after 9 pm.

Today, I am working until 10 am. The new fire recruits with the Oklahoma City Fire Dept. will be participating in a live-burn training today. I participated in this several years ago and it was a blast. They actually allowed me to put on bunker gear and go into a burning building. It was so much fun and a great learning experience. Myself and our CFAAA President will be attending this exercise. I am really looking forward to it.

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Boring Week last week

Sorry, peeps, but I have have a very uneventful week last week. It was a four-day work week and all I did was work and go home.....nothing exciting. We had our regular Wednesday night youth service at church and I had my monthly CFAAA meeting on Thursday night. The CFAAA meeting was really weird because it was the first meeting in two years that I have attended where I was not in charge. The last two years, I have been president, so I was always in charge of the meetings. Since I was term limited and not eligible for re-election, I now just serve as the webmaster for our website.

What's really interesting is our first meeting was downtown at fire station #1....and when I got there, I was informed that there was a major commercial fire in NW OKC and many firefighters were fighting it, including some of the firefighters from station #1. By the time we started to eat dinner, the rest of the firefighters got an emergency call, so they left, leaving us there by ourselves. By the time most of the firefighters got back to the station, our meeting was concluded and everyone was leaving. It was an interesting evening.

I had no plans for the weekend. For the first time in a long time, I had nothing planned. I spent my Saturday doing odds and ends and watching TV. Nothing exciting. Not much happened Sunday either, except for some REACT training in the afternoon. Since our team is now doing courtesy patrols on weekends, we decided it was time to have some extra training on what to do when we stop on a motorist assist. We spent about an hour and a half training.

Today, I took an extra day off from work. I just wanted to be away from the office, even though I had nothing planned today. I bought groceries, did laundry, did dishes, played on my computer and watched TV. I probably would have been better off going to work. Oh well.

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Interesting!!

I have enjoyed my three-day weekend, even though I did not do much.

I spent all day Saturday at a CPR/AED/First Aid course I am required to take in order to continue with the Central OK REACT team. We are required to keep our certifications up-to-date and, since I was available to take the course, I went ahead and took it. The certification is good for two years. One of our REACT team members is a certified instructor, so several of us just attended a class he had scheduled for workers at a day-care center. That evening, Karla and Gayla went to a Thunder basketball game, so I had an open evening. I just relaxed and watched football.

I spent most of my Sunday at church. I did spend two hours at home after church, but I had to be back to church for a meeting at 3 pm....and instead of driving all the way back home after the meeting, I just stayed at the church. I also had a Sunday School teacher's meeting after the evening service, so I did not get away from the church until 7:30 pm.

Since Monday was going to be a holiday and I was going to be off work, I decided to go ahead and ride with one of my REACT team members after church and do some courtesy patrolling. It's something new our REACT team is doing. We spend 3-4 hours on certain nights, travelling the interstates, looking for motorists sitting on the side of the interstate with their emergency flashers on. We always travel in pairs for safety. We went out Sunday evening for around 4 hours, but only stopped 4 or 5 times. I made it home by 11:30 pm.

Today was Martin Luther King Jr's. birthday. For the first time ever, I went downtown and watched the parade. I was highly disappointed. If anyone ever wondered if there were still racial issues in today's society, all they had to do was attend this parade and they would have their answers. While I assumed the parade would be all about Martin Luther King Jr and all he had done for civil rights, it was more of a parade for those to publicize their political beliefs.

There were Obama supporters in several vehicles chanting, "four more years...four more years," the NAACP had several floats, the democratic party had several floats, the gay and Lesbian pride group had two floats, a church promoting gay Christians had a float and the ACLU had two floats. This wasn't a parade promoting unity, it was a parade discriminating against Christians and promoting liberal politics. I don't think MLK would have been proud of what was done today. In his name, hate, politics and racial tension were spewed throughout the parade.

I really enjoyed the bands and all the children that participated in the bands and flag corps. There were many aspects of the parade I liked, but I was highly disappointed in the racial connotations that were displayed in the parade. I did feel somewhat out of place, since there were very few whites attending the parade. Most of the people I came in contact with were nice, but several just snubbed their noses at me. So yes, the racial tensions are still very high, but the fault does not lie with the Caucasian people. That was proven today.

www.centralokreact.org

It's COLD!!

It hasn’t been too bad at all this week. I enjoyed being home on Monday and Tuesday evening, just chilling and doing stuff on the computer.
I ordered some new lenses for the light-bar on top of my truck last week. Right now, my strobes are all blue and my flashers are mostly blue. The blue is not as bright and does not show up as well, so I ordered some amber lenses. I was informed by the guy who ordered them for me, that the lenses came in Tuesday. I am suppose to go by his apartment this evening and have him put them in. I am planning on taking all the blue flasher lenses off the front and replacing them with amber lenses…then, I will probably make the four flashers on the back of my light-bar half blue and half amber. I am still not sure yet. It all depends on how many amber lenses I actually have now. I am not sure how many were ordered.

Well, last night, we received our first snow of the year. The flakes were very big, but they just melted when they hit the street. There was a little dusting on the grass, but it was very short-lived. Forecasters originally said we would not get anything because the Arctic cold front was dry….but, once again, they were wrong. It lasted until around midnight, but it did not cause any problems. Speaking of last night, one of our adult youth leaders (along with three of our students from church), stopped in the street to assist a wounded dog. The youth leader left her truck running and was just feet away, when two black males jumped in the truck and took off. They did not drive very far, but when they bailed, they took my friend’s purse, keys and ID (along with a few other personal belongings in the truck). She was able to keep her phone, but they took everything else. I checked with her this morning and there has been no news on her stolen property.

This weekend (Monday) is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It’s another holiday for us, so I will get a three-day weekend. I was going to go ahead and work for one of my co-workers, but decided to just enjoy the day off. This coming Saturday, I am driving to Bethany to attend a CPR/First Aid Certification class. I have to attend it for REACT, so I can keep my certification up to date. I guess that will probably take care of most of my Saturday.

Other than that, it is very cold outside and it’s slow at work.

By the way, I am finally listed on the REACT International website as the Public Information Officer…..take a look.

http://reactintl.org/HQStaff

www.centralokreact.org

Here We Go....Another Work Week...

It was another rather busy weekend of cleaning and meetings.
I slept in until around 7 am on Saturday morning. Karla and I had planned on meeting at the church at 9 am to assist in taking down the Christmas decorations in the auditorium. On my way to the church, I had my REACT two-way radio on and heard a call from one of my REACT team members, asking for assistance at a traffic accident. I was heading towards the church and was entering SE OKC and the accident was at NE 10 & I-35. Since I was only 10 minutes away, I responded to his call for assistance and arrived on the scene to help with traffic control. The left-hand lane was completely blocked by a car that had hit some debris in the roadway, lost control and slammed into the concrete median barriers. Her car was not badly damaged, but it would not start…..fortunately, she was not injured.

Myself and the other REACT member had our emergency lights on and blocked the left-hand lane. We also set up some safety traffic cones to alert motorists to slow down. I think we waited for over 45 minutes before two OHP units and one Oklahoma County Sheriff’s unit arrived on the scene. Right after they all arrived, the wrecker we had called, also arrived. Since everything was covered and I was no longer needed, I cleared off the scene and headed to the church. By the time I got to the church, the decorations were all taken down and the vacuuming had started. Since I was there, I decided it would be a good time to work on the announcements for the power point Sunday morning. So, I spent about an hour working on the power point.

Afterwards, I really had no plans, so I headed home and just relaxed for the afternoon. At around 4 pm, I decided to do a circle around the city, on the interstate system and look for any stranded motorists. Some of our REACT units are now acting as “courtesy patrols” and are now patrolling the interstates during different times of the day or night. During the day, we work by ourselves but after dark, we either have a two-man unit, or we have two units follow each other. It’s way too dangerous to have one person out after dark. So, after driving around for about an hour, I did not see anyone stranded, so I headed home and watched football for the evening.

My big day was Sunday. Other than church, I had a REACT Board meeting and a REACT team meeting I had to attend that afternoon. During the Board meeting, I was elected as Chairman of the Board. It was an honor and it will keep me busy, but I am up to the challenge. After our board meeting, we had our team meeting. I was highly disappointed because we only had one member attend the team meeting. We did have a good team meeting, but I was sure tired afterwards. Attending meetings can be mentally draining.

At around 8 pm Sunday night, I joined a telephone conference with the Board of Directors from REACT International. The phone conference had people on it from all over the United States….and Canada. I joined the Board meeting because I was up for nomination to fill a newly-created staff position, the Public Information Officer. Since I am doing this already for my REACT team, I was asked by one of the REACT International Board members if I would be interested in serving in this capacity with REACT International. It is volunteer, of course and it will require a couple of hours a month, but I believe I can do it. After listening in on the Board meeting for over an hour, the time finally came for the REACT Board to vote on my nomination. I had a few of the Board members ask me questions, but in the end, I was elected to serve as their new PIO. They were still having their meeting at 10 pm, but I was ready to go to bed, so I dropped out of the meeting.

http://www.centralokreact.org/

Just another Day of my Life...

Well, the last few days have been very interesting. At the end of last week, I was informed by my wife that my daughter and her boyfriend broke up. They had been together for 6 months and seemed to be getting real serious. As a matter of fact, about a month ago, my daughter informed me her boyfriend wanted to talk to me. It was assumed he was going to ask me if he could marry her. The conversation never happened and I am glad it didn’t. I found out they had actually been having some problems before Christmas. It makes me wonder why they didn’t break up before Christmas and save their money, instead of buying each other gifts. Either way, it is over with and she is trying to get over it. I know it’s hard for her. At her age, breaking up is very hard to do because it’s not puppy love anymore at that age…it is real love.

Karla had been having headaches for about a month, so her doctor sent her to a chiropractor. We found out today that she had a bad case of whiplash. Gee, it couldn’t be because of the three accidents she had at the end of 2010, two of which she totaled her car…could it? I am not trying to make light of her pain, but it doesn’t surprise me she has whiplash. The accidents she was involved in really tossed her head and neck around. The doctor did make some adjustments on her neck and head today and she told me she was feeling quite a bit of relief already. I am personally trying to better myself this year. I know I snore, so I am starting to use Breathe Right strips at night to see if that will help. I am also going to start using a humidifier, so the air in the house will not be so dry. I have been sleeping decent, but I still wake up two or three times during the night all stopped up. We will see if the Breather Right strips help or not.

Yesterday, I left the office at 4 pm and got on east bound I-40, heading to Best Buy to pay on a bill. As I got on the interstate, I noticed traffic was at a crawl. I assumed there was either an accident, or a stalled vehicle. On that segment of I-40, there is really no shoulder to pull off on if you have a flat, or car trouble. I turned on my CB radio, but got no information. As I got closer, traffic in the right-hand lane moved to the middle lane. Once traffic was clear, I saw a full-sized pick-up truck stalled in the right-hand lane. There was a lady standing beside the truck, on her cell phone. I was surprised that nobody had stopped to assist her. I turned on all my emergency lights and pulled in behind her truck (about two car lengths). As I got on my REACT radio and called for help, she walked up to my truck. She informed me she was out of gas and needed someone to give her a ride to a gas station.

The only problem was, we could not leave her truck on the interstate blocking the lane of traffic. I called OHP on my cell phone and they advised me someone had already called in about the stalled truck. I had the lady sit in her truck and I sat in my truck as we waited for OHP to arrive. Once he arrived, he decided to push her further down the interstate to a shoulder, just to get her off the interstate. Once on the shoulder, we sat and waited. One of my REACT team members was bringing gas to us. The OHP Trooper then advised me the lady’s license was suspended, so he did not want her to drive. He had another call to go to, otherwise, he would have arrested her. She contacted her grandmother to come get her, so the trooper left and myself and the other REACT unit stayed on the scene to wait on the grandmother. Eventually, grandma showed up and the two were on their way.

When you are on the interstate, you never know what you are going to run into. I try to stay prepared and have what I need to assist a motorist. Sometimes, all I can do is sit on the side of the road with my emergency lights on to warn other motorists, while other times I can actually help change a flat or be more useful.

http://www.centralokreact.org/