At approximately 0430 hours on May 6th Company 4 was dispatched to a vehicle accident on Interstate 85 at the 63 mile marker. While en route an update changed the location to the 59 mm and the vehicle was on fire. Upon arrival Engine 4 discovered that some details of the call had not been made evident. The incident involved a tractor and trailer fully involved, 300 gallons of diesel fuel spilled over about 150 yards through both lanes of the interstate, fire extending to the tops of the trees above, and a load of burlap rolls that would smolder and burn for several hours to come. This was definitely not a typical dispatch to a vehicle accident. Immediately a call went for more water (Tanker 1) and Brush 4 to combat the fire now extending to the southbound lanes. To further complicate matters, getting to the seen was exceptionally difficult due to “creative” parking of vehicles caught in the several mile backup.

Saturday, May 15th proved to be anything but quiet. The day started with the Friday Night Crew cleaning around the station and repositioning a dump tank moved by the storms earlier in the week. From there the day led to a steady stream of dispatches that included:

A two vehicle mva (caused by unusual circumstances) that left one perched atop a guardrail on Hofheimer Way

Flying an unfortunate young man to the hospital after a crash a Virginia Motorsports Park

A several hour search and rescue along the river after reports of a victim in the water

A multi-car mva inside of Green Acres trailer park

As well as the usual alarm activations and medical responder calls

Locally heavy rains reaching up to 3 inches wreaked havoc for a spell on Sunday, May 23rd. An alarm activation began a series of runs that included a vehicle partially submerged in a roadway, flooded homes and basements, and like any good storm- a vehicle accident. All in all, nobody was seriously injured and, aside from some motorists who could not understand why firefighters would stand in the rain to intentionally keep them from driving down the roadway (see picture from Ferndale Road), most runs went smoothly.