WITH THE CONTINUED CHANGING GROWTH AND JOB patterns, many rural volunteer fire departments are having more difficulty covering calls.  Increased activity levels combined with members being out of the district during daytime is putting pressure on the departments to start hiring paid firefighters.

Actually, this is a trend that started 40 years ago.  But it is now reaching into the more remote rural areas.  People are much more likely to travel several miles to their jobs now, leaving their home areas unpopulated - and thus uncovered - during the daytime.

This issue is coming to a head next month in San Diego County where there has been a 4-year study and current proposals to consolidate most of their outlier volunteer departments into a county paid system.

AN AUSTRALIAN FIREFIGHTER VACATIONING IN THAILAND was aboard a ferry boat when it erupted in a fast-moving fire.  Nathan Berry, Adelaide firefighter, calmed a panicky crowd and arranged for non-swimmers to be paired with swimmers as they abandoned ship.

IN THE WELLINGTON AREA OF NEW ZEALAND a fire truck had two wheels fall off while it was traveling.  Fortunately there were no injuries, but several cars were damaged.

HERE ARE 15 TIPS TO CONSIDER before you make your choice of which laptop to buy.  Click on one of the little numbers on the exploded view to activate the info-boxes.

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA HAS HAD a hiring freeze for 18 months and the 50 vacancies are being filled with overtime staffing.  One firefighter, who apparently never goes home, earned $232,000 last year.

THE STRONGEST EARTHQUAKE IN 5 YEARS struck S.E. England this morning, generating 100 quick emergency calls for the Kent Fire and Rescue Service.

IN AN ATTEMPT TO INJECT MORE “EXCITEMENT” into the final races of the year, 3 seasons back NASCAR introduced a playoff-type format where the top 10 teams (expanded to 12 this year) started from scratch for the final 10 races in a points-dash to the end.

But what that has done, in effect, is shorten the season by ten races for most of the other teams, making it almost impossible to make a run for the points title if you get off to a slow start.

As a result, many of the top drivers such as Ricky Rudd, Dale Jarrett and Sterling Marlin are already out of contention for the shoot-out.  Steve Ballard and Curt Cavin of the Indianapolis Star have a good article here pointing out the near-impossibility for most of the teams to have any chance at the championship this year.

Now just how exciting is the end of the season going to be when you’ve got most of the top teams just filling out the field?

THE CLEVELAND FIREFIGHTERS Memorial Pipes and Drums band will be performing Sunday at the City’s “Rally for the Troops” celebration.  It will be held at the Public Square in downtown Cleveland and the band plays at 11 am.

LIGHTNING STRUCK AN OIL REFINERY IN WYNNEWOOD, OKLAHOMA yesterday morning, igniting a storage tank.  Last night, after believing that the fire was under control, the burning tank exploded and spread the fire to several other tanks.  KOTV channel 6 has video here.

THREE USED FIRE ENGINES HAVE BEEN PURCHASED and are being fully refurbished to be donated to Serbia.  The existing fire coverage is almost non-existant with response times as high as 4 hours.

WHILE YOU’RE RELAXING SATURDAY AFTERNOON, read up on the history of the beer can.  They’re even older than the Firegeezer.

WHY NOT DROP BY THE FLORA-BAMA INTERSTATE MULLET TOSS?  Basically, you pay your entry fee and then fling a dead fish across the state line into Florida.  They don’t say anything about somebody else throwing them back.  I guess they’re all “keepers.”