The end of another month already.  That means just 3 weeks or so of summer heat and humidity.  And only 15 days until the drugstore chains start putting up their Christmas displays.  When I was a youngster it was an unwritten agreement among the retailers to wait until Thanksgiving before setting up the Christmas decorations and pushing the commercial aspect of gift purchases.

And then somewhere around the 1960’s the seasonal starting bell began creeping back earlier and earlier.  As it approached Columbus Day in mid-October, some wag began an organization that he called the “Save Christmas From The 4th of July Committee.”  Recognizing that Labor Day would soon fall, he set up the defenses farther back in order to effectively dig in.  Apparently he has failed.

Now you can go to any tourist trap and find within its shopping district a “Christmas Shoppe” that sells the tree decorations and related stuff all year-round.  Just can’t get enough of those decorated balls.

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The advent of the internet shopping experience has encouraged sites such as THIS ONE to spring up.  And you know what?  They are successful.  It just reinforces what I’ve always said, you can find everything on the internet.

But you still have to step away from the keyboard long enough to get this equipment checked out.  And I need to get the coffee started.

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By now you have probably read the summary report from the Texas DPS (HERE) that exposes the systemic sloppiness that allowed the Governor’s Mansion arsonist to complete his attack.  It can be summed up in one word:  inexcusable.  From the director of the department down to the troopers who were assigned to the security detail, there was a complete disregard for regulations, maintenance and performance.

Personally, I cannot understand the willingness of everybody involved to just abandon their responsibilities and “go through the motions” of performing their assigned tasks without really taking them seriously.  And you see the results of that irresponsibility.

But before we throw stones at the troopers’ house, we’d better step out front and take a look at our own.

Immediately after the September 11 attacks by the barbarians within our own country, the Department of Homeland Security was created to set up a defense against internal threats to our established government and our civilization.  Along with other precautions we were advised to take measures ourselves to lessen or eliminate avenues of future attacks.  Key among these were a couple of simple directives, keep the engine bay doors closed when there are no station personnel in the area to monitor any intrusions, and to secure your ambulance when you are away from it.

And this lasted for how long?  A week doesn’t go by that we don’t report here on some lunkhead who simply slipped into an unattended ambulance and drove off.  And you can drive around anywhere and see fire stations left wide open while the crew is inside doing whatever.  How soon we forget.

Just because it has been nearly seven years since that terrible event doesn’t mean that the threat from these religious fanatics is over.  It’s not.  While their plans to destroy our country have been altered due to our counter-attack in the Mid-east, they have not given up.  They still have literally thousands of adherents salted throughout the U. S. standing by until the next order to attack comes in.

True, they are crazy, fanatical and irrational.  But they are also patient and disciplined.  They will gladly wait for years, if need be, to perform their weird acts of martyrdom and you can bet that choosing a time when our defenses have been left unmonitored will be part of it.

And don’t think that just because you aren’t near a major population center or government installation that you don’t have to be concerned.  The randomness of their actions is part of their arsenal.  And when the next attack occurs – and it will happen – they will not only be aiming to disable the fire and EMS protection for the major targets, but also outlying departments to prevent them from backfilling into the devastated areas.  Nobody is automatically exempt from being targeted.  Nobody.

Complacency is the barbarians’ best weapon and it is all of our responsibilities to not provide an opportunity for them.  Homeland Security is meant to be more than just a cash cow that allows us to buy fancier fireboats and trailer-loads of nifty tools to be parked out back and forgotten.

So let’s get started by properly checking this equipment out.  I see there is still a need for fresh coffee, so I’ll take care of it.

I think I’m finally recuperated from the “Expo experience.”  We had such a good time there that all of us, the Geezerguys and Dave Statter, are already making plans to return next year.  This was the first time any of us had been on the “booth side” of the exhibits and we were learning-as-we-go about how the system works.

The folks at Firehouse.com were a great help and very pleasant with us, considering how unruly we could get if left unsupervised.  And Chief Billy Goldfeder, publisher of the FirefighterCloseCalls website, was a terrific host for the podcast that was recorded on Friday.  Billy has obviously had at least a year and a half of training at the Columbia School of Broadcasting, because he was a real pro at moderating and guiding the roundtable talk.  It must have turned out ok because afterward several people made a point of coming by the booth just to tell us that they were in the audience and liked the show.  As I promised earlier, as soon as Firehouse gets the podcast posted, we’ll put the link up for you.

The good folks at Singer Associates allowed Dave Statter to climb the Pierce aerial and get a few overhead shots of the exhibit floor.  We’re hoping that Goldfeder didn’t see him going up the ladder without strapping on a pompier belt.

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I can’t emphasize enough how impressed I was with the variety of vendors (at least 500 of us) that were on the floor as well as the displays that were set up.  In Maryland the State Police operate the air ambulance service statewide and they had a complete helicopter in there on display.  And of course, every apparatus builder both large and small had their latest models on display.  I heard a lot of buzz over the amphibian mini-pumper that was not too far from us.

Yes, I’d recommend that you plan on visiting the Expo next year.  And expect to spend the whole day in there….. you’ll be glad you did.

But since today we’re going to spend the whole day in here, let’s get this equipment checked out.  I’ll start the coffee going.

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