A Little Bit of Route 2 Westbound

 I found some time this past week to do a little bit of Route 2 west of Greenfield, and headed out on a wonderful early afternoon. There wasn't a lot of humidity today as compared to earlier in the week so it was a perfect time to visit some more firehouses. The first stop was in the town of Shelburne and the village of Shelburne Falls at the firehouse on State Street. 

     Of course we had to make a stop to view the glacial potholes in Shelburne Falls. This was a popular swimming spot up until just a few years ago-but the area has since been fenced in so that you can't climb down to them. Too much liability for the town for swimmers to be there now as the water "whirlpools" in the potholes and you can drown if you aren't careful. The water was low during our visit, so you can really see some of the rock formations well. One of the largest glacial potholes in the world is at this location. 

Also in the village is the famous "Bridge of Flowers", which originally was a trolley bridge for the town. At 400 feet in length, visitors can walk along the bridge and enjoy over 500 varieties of plants and flowers. I hadn't been here in about a decade, so it was nice to take a stroll across before the next firehouse.

After leaving the village, the next stop was to the Shelburne's second firehouse, on Little Mohawk Road.

Slightly above Shelburne and to the east is the town of Colrain, so we backtracked on Route 2 a little bit to get to this one on Main Road.

Apparatus on the side of the firehouse  

After the town of Colrain, it was westbound to the town of Heath, where the firehouse shares space with other town departments on Branch Hill Road, including the police station and highway department.

First truck of the day was outside at the time of our visit!

Passing through the countryside, we were off to the town of Rowe. Along the way, we made a stop by Pelham Lake, which is located just north of the firehouse and has some great hiking trails around the area. One interesting fact which I personally know of, the lake's parking area houses "Clive" restrooms. If you have never heard of these types of  composting toilets before, you need to read up on them at this link-pretty cool stuff. ( What are Clive toilets? ) I was singing a  "tiny little organisms" song on the rest of the way to the firehouse and driving Bill nuts. <grin>

Pelham Lake

Rowe firehouse

                                           

The firehouse in Rowe is located on Sibley Road. Across the street in front of the town hall offices, there is a cool old style phone booth. No working phone inside, but there is a note that if you need to make a call, you can go inside to the town hall to do so. 

The next stop was supposed to be the town of Monroe, but after going down the side of a very large hill in low gear to get there, we discovered unfortunately that the bridge we needed to cross to get there was under construction. The firehouse in Monroe was just a mile (so close!) after the bridge, so after backtracking a couple of miles trying to get around the detour unfortunately my GPS gave me the warning that the battery was almost dead. We belatedly realized that the cord had decided to disassemble itself in the car's battery charger a couple of hours prior, and faced with no GPS capability and lack of cell service to use our phone's GPS functions we were pretty much screwed. Since I didn't want to go down potentially narrow and hilly dirt roads to get over to the Monroe firehouse (yes I'm a little paranoid of them after sliding around the same in the state of New Hampshire) I decided to call it a day and head back down towards Route 2. Luckily, we came down the hills to Route 2 in the town of Charlemont, and passed right by the firehouse on the way back.

This firehouse gave me my mojo back, and we headed south on Route 112 to get to the town of Buckland, for one more firehouse of the day. 

Happily, the firehouse here on Hodgen Road also had a vehicle outside, so it was a good ending to the afternoon.

Until I can locate another cord for the GPS things are on hold for a little bit for more firehouse trips unfortunately. Of course we are going to have to take the car's console apart to get the rest of the plug out of the battery charger as well. Five weeks left of the summer for me before I have to return to work and real life, and we have about five more trips to make to complete the firehouse runs. The pressure is on.

Update- An additional run was done on 7/26, finishing the rest of the Route 2 corridor. The first stop was below Route 2, in the town of Hawley. This is a volunteer firehouse, and is located on Plainfield Road. Beautiful countryside around the firehouse by the way-lots of farmland all around.

  

Luckily for me, there were a couple of trucks
outside the firehouse in the adjoining field!

The next stop was in the town of Florida (not the Sunshine State version) where the firehouse is located right along Route 2, on the Mohawk Trail.

Pig roast in a week there to benefit the firehouse!

The last stop was to the town of Monroe, where we had been stuck on the wrong side of the river by the bridge closure last week. Since my GPS was now working again with a new cord, I was determined to get to the firehouse today. Unfortunately, this trip was not without peril. I had to travel down the side of the mountain to get to the firehouse on School Street. Along the way, I went by the town highway department-that had a couple of old fire engines for sale outside. I figured I would stop there on the way back, but it was not to be. Continuing down the steep hill, which was treacherous with potholes and dips, even in low gear my brakes were getting, well, lets say quite warm. By the time I reached the bottom and turned onto School Street, lets just say I had my left foot ready to hit the emergency brake as the brakes were so hot that I was putting the pedal to the floor just to slow down. I pulled into the firehouse, located next to the town offices, and had to give the car a rest before continuing on. On the bright side, my brakes aren't squealing any more as the rough spots have been now ground down completely.

Monroe Firehouse

 Now I was faced with a dilemma, do I go back up the hill to try to get "Station 2" of Monroe, which is just one bay within the town highway department? Since I had to go to North Adams for the evening, I wasn't too thrilled with the prospect of going up then back down the hairpin turn and down the steep grade of the Whitcomb Summit with brakes that had already been burning. I decided to seek an alternate route there, to find that my GPS refused to turn back on. Worse, I needed to pee (in the worst way) and lets just say the main drag of Monroe wasn't offering any possible options. Luckily, I had cell service, so I was able to google an alternate route that didn't involve steep grades to North Adams. Unfortunately, it involved going NORTH! over the border to the state of Vermont, and then west over to Route 8 to head south to North Adams. I didn't have much of a choice in the matter if I didn't want to kill myself going down the mountain so north it was. 

Twenty minutes later I arrived in North Adams, an hour after I had planned on arriving there, and shortly after felt much better <grin>. Of course when I returned home later tonight, I tested the GPS and the darned thing worked just fine. A good thing I didn't hurl it into the river on my way to Vermont.

Below is a photo of station 2 in Monroe-you can see here what helped me to decide not to make the trek back up the hill for just the one bay. 

Berkshires Part 1-Plainfield to Williamstown

   

 It was a wonderful day to head to the Berkshires, and I was doing this trip solo today, as I had plans to meet up with a friend in that area. Heading west on Route 9 to 116, the first stop was to the town of Plainfield. The firehouse here in town is located on North Central Street, and is part of the town's newer public safety complex. I loved the logo out front.

 

After the town of Plainfield, I continued west along Route 116 to the town of Savoy. The firehouse here is located on Center Road, and the side of the firehouse is visible from Route 116, but the front entrance is what I thought was pretty neat-you have to go over a small bridge and brook in the driveway, before you get to the firehouse itself.  

One of the bay doors was open during the time of my visit, so of course I had to get a close up of the first truck of the day.

After Savoy, the next stop was to the town of Cheshire, so I continued west along Route 116, where my GPS took me along an interesting side road shortcut to the "main drag" in town, on South Street where the firehouse is located. This is a busy road, so it was a bit challenging not only to shoot a photo of the firehouse, but also to try to make a left out of the street when I left as well. 

The Cheshire firehouse also has a pretty neat electronic sign out in front of the firehouse, so you can see how warm it was while I traveled that day. Those who say the Berkshires are always cooler I have to argue a bit with, it was definitely a beautiful and WARM! day when I visited.

Next stop was to the town of Adams, where the firehouse is located right along Route 8, and I have always thought this was a great looking firehouse every time I have traveled by it.

  To the right of the firehouse, there is a great old piece next to the flagpole, between the firehouse and the bank.

Continuing up Route 8 Northbound, the next stop was to the left of the town of North Adams, to Williamstown. The firehouse here is located on Water Street, just off Route 2.

For those wanting to check out the local scenery, between Williamstown and the town of North Adams, you can make a detour on Route 2 to the summit of the highest natural point in the state of Massachusetts, to Mount Greylock. I am still amazed that my car made it to the top of the mountain, and I don't mind telling you that I was white knuckled all the way up-not sure if my car would even make it halfway. Once I got to the halfway point of the incline, there was only one option-to keep going. 

View from the summit over Adams looking eastward

View along the climb up-looking to the west

Definitely was worth it for the views of the surrounding areas and towns.

 It was a beautiful day to be up there.

After coming back down from the summit-in low gear with my brakes squealing all the way, it was time to head back east on Route 2 to the town of Clarksburg. I thought I was done with hills until I began the climb up Eagle Street in North Adams. I can't imagine how wonderful this hill must be in the New England winters.

The firehouse is located in Clarksburg just a few minutes away from North Adams, on Cross Road.

Front view from Cross Road

Left side of firehouse from Cross Road

    The last stop of the day was in the town of North Adams, where I had planned grab a bite to eat and then to meet a friend for a walk around town and then join him to watch the SteepleCats baseball game, a collegiate team that is based there in town. Luckily for me, the firehouse got a call just as I arrived after our walk was completed, and I was able to watch the crew suit up and get ready to head out on the trucks. 

And they are off!

All quiet in the firehouse now

With that firehouse finished, it was almost game time. I think I'm bringing the team good luck as they have won at the games I have been at this summer so far. The SteepleCats won 7-6.

Slider-Team SteepleCat mascot
photo courtesy of Nick Mantello 

photo courtesy of Nick Mantello

An Afternoon at Westover

     This past Monday I was lucky enough to be granted permission to come for a visit and tour of the firehouse at Westover Air Reserve Base in the town of Chicopee. This was a golden ticket visit for me as my grandfather was stationed here at various points in time after World War II. (He was actually a hurricane hunter and radio operator throughout much of his career in the Air Force) My POC-thats Point of Contact for civilian translation- on base was Asst. Chief Wood, and he could not have been more welcoming and gracious to me during my visit to the firehouse. There was so much to see and talk about while I visited, and I am completely impressed with the operation there on the base. It comes as no surprise to me that the firehouse has won for the third year in a row the Air Force Reserve Command Fire Department of the Year award. By the way, Charles VanGorden, the Fire Chief on the base,  also won the award for Best Fire Department Chief in the AFRC this past year. On to some photos now, below is the view of the firehouse from the front-from the base side.

     Partial view of the firehouse from the back side-from the tarmac-pictured below 

I was generously given a tour of the firehouse, from the common living areas to the administrative offices as well, as you walk inside the entrance from the bays, you are greeted by the patch boards in the hallway.

The patches represent diffent fire departments and stations that the team has collected over the years from visiting or working in other firehouses, including patches worn during tours of duty in the Iraq and Gulf Wars. 

I have made a promise to Asst. Chief Wood  to bring back a patch from the base in Bermuda the next time I go for a visit there to add to the board for the crew. 
 (I won't forget!)

      The crew in the firehouse have a number of rooms at their disposal during their shifts in the firehouse, from common area rooms to watch television, catch up on email, a training classroom, and a kitchen area. The crew alternates in groups for cooking meals, those who can't cook well are designated to be on pots and pans-cleanup duty!  There is also a bunkhouse that I wasn't able to enter, but I was allowed in to look at an officer's sleeping quarters, similar to the quarters that crew would use on overnight shifts. There is also a gym on the base, that the crew has access to while off duty. All of the firehouse team are certified first responders as well, (actually NREMT-Nationally Registered Emergency Medical Techs, a level higher than first responders) so they are prepared for any situation that they are called to. A typical shift on base has a minimum of eighteen staff members, so the firehouse can respond to emergencies as needed.

The firehouse here on base also provides mutual aid to both Hampshire and Hampden counties, which includes of course the town of Chicopee. However, they will respond to other counties if requested. For those who live in Western Mass, you will be interested to know that they were called in to respond to the fire when a tanker truck with fuel overturned on I-291 in Chicopee in an accident in 2010, pictured below.

Photo from the Springfield Republican

More recently, when a fire on Route 9 in the town of Hadley consumed a large commercial building and a local landmark in town this past fall, the Westover crew was also called in to assist.

Photo from Daily Hampshire Gazette

The base firehouse is called in to assist at these types of events especially,  because they have the apparatus that is capable of helping to control these types of large fires, especially fires based from fuel or other acellerants. I was lucky enough to be able to climb into some of these vehicles, and get a close up look at their capability to battle these types of emergencies.

Their crash rescue vehicle is equipped with a special nozzle, and is called the "snozzle". The snozzle vehicle can spray out flame retardant foam to help battle the types of fuel fires such as the one on I-291

You can see here in the photo to the right a more close-up view of the snozzle on the front of the Crash Rescue vehicle which can rapidly spray out the foam required to fight these large fires. The snozzle is controlled from within the cab of the vehicle by both a video screen and a REALLY  large joystick in the console. There is also a plexiglass viewing area at the top of the cab so the operator can stand and watch through the top where the snozzle is aiming at. When the foam starts spraying, this angle can be accessed to better viewing of where the snozzle needs to be aimed.The operator can move the snozzle to spray out from from all angles and directions at a rapid pace, so that the foam can be concentrated on specific areas.

Front view of Crash Rescue

Asst. Chief Wood can be seen reflected in the windshield (here is your closeup sir! <grin>)

The Crash Rescue truck isn't the only great thing that the base has however, there are a few other interesting ones as well. The base also has an Air Trailer Unit, one of two in Western Mass, the other is located at the Russell firehouse.

This Air Trailer unit is used to refill the breathing apparatus equipment used by firefighters at the scenes of fires or at a fire station. Definitely an invaluable piece of equipment to have, and it is lent out to be used by other firehouses in the community as needed. 

The firehouse also has three of these vehicles, C2-C3-C4, also known as Red 2-4, which are capable of pretty much knocking down any obstacles in their way-observe the crash bars and high angles in the front of the vehicles.  The height of the tires alone was impressive-keep in mind I'm about 5'2" on a good day and I felt really tiny standing next to them. 

Even more impressive looking when you see them in the bays-you can really see the high angles on the front of the vehicles from this view.

This C1 truck is known as Crash 1-similar to the above vehicles-just as impressive. Love the American flag and eagle logo on the cab's side.

All these wonderful vehicles, but what about the rest? Well it is a firehouse- some of the crew members were happy to bring the vehicles out, but they certainly scattered quickly when I gave a 30 second countdown for them or they would be in a candid shot as a crew. 

I can see how their response times are so rapid during their alarms with how fast they were able to disappear from my sight.

Engine 7-one of the newer vehicles-arrived at the firehouse in 2012, there is also an Engine 8 inside the firehouse

Rescue 1 truck

Engine 7, 8 and Rescue 1 in the bays
(FF Bush someday you may get a Ladder 7 yet)

The firehouse on base also includes a Tanker, a Patrol, and a Hazmat vehicle, but this blog entry would be much longer than it already is if I included them. 

It wouldn't be a real visit to the base unless I included a photo of the other transport vehicles as well. I was given permission to take photos of the planes from the tarmac outside of the firehouse, so of course I jumped at the opportunity. It is always amazing to me how large these planes really are, to get a perspective on their actual size you can simply compare them to the backhoe in front of the first plane. You can visit the base during their air show in May of 2015-where the U.S. Navy Blue Angels will be showcased, as well as commemorating the 75th anniversary of the base. For a link to the upcoming show, you can visit the show's facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/greatnewenglandairshow 

I had a wonderful time at the air base, it was incredibly hard to contain my excitement when I spent part of an afternoon there this week. I think the highlight for me was being able to climb into some of the vehicles and see all of the inner workings and controls involved in their operation. Asst. Chief Wood deserves a tremendous thank you for his time and willingness to host me during my visit, and was a wonderful tour guide who patiently answered my questions about the firehouse as well as giving me a comprehensive history and explanation of the role that the crew plays both on base and off base with fire and emergency situations. I learned not only about the firehouse and the crew, but also about the types of calls they receive and their abilities to respond to any situation that arises, whether it be on base or off.  Thank you to the entire firehouse crew for making me feel welcome during my visit to your base!