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Current News & Events / Louise Decker's Pictures from the 1973 Tornado

« on: August 10, 2011, 06:58:39 PM »

Here are eight great pictures she sent of the aftermath of the June 10, 1973 Tornado.


The end of Huntville Road.


The home of Louise's parents, Myron(Mike) and Laura Hubbert, located across the street where St. Luke's Church is now.


Hillcrest Poultry Farm




Another picture of the Hubbert residence.


Sam Hudson's place.


In front of Sam Hudson's.


The farm in Brush's Woods on Rt. 104. This is the place that had debris in the tops of the trees across the road. Sheets of metal roofing were wrapped around the trees.

107

Current News & Events / Louise (Hubbert) Decker's Pictures of the 1970 Swanton Fire

« on: August 10, 2011, 06:40:51 PM »

Louise Decker was my 4th grade teacher back in the day. Later on she and her husband, David, moved to Colorado. Louise e-mailed me some pictures of the Merchant's Row Fire of January(?) 1970. She is in the process of scanning some slides.
The Fairfax Fire Department responded to the Merchant's Row Fire, and were stationed just down the hill from Merchant's Row next to the bridge and river.
I believe these pictures were taken in the next couple of days after the fire.

108

Current News & Events / Joint Training Tuesday Night- FXFD and Westford FD- Pictures

« on: August 09, 2011, 09:53:35 PM »

The Fairfax Fire Department and the Westford Fire Department held a joint training session in Westford Tuesday night. The scenario was a tanker shuttle between Westford's water supply on Huntley Road, and Fairfax's Engine 2 feeding the nozzle on top of the extended ladder on the ladder truck. Fairfax was set up south of the village green just past the little bridge. The plan was to see if we could keep feeding a steady stream of water to the ladder. For the most part, I think we did.


Fairfax set up with a pumper getting water out of two port-a-ponds and feeding the ladder.


Patrick Bessette on top of the ladder, changing the nozzle pattern to a straight stream.


Side by side port-a-ponds allowed for a siphon effect to make sure the pumper had plenty of water. More on this later.


On Huntley Road, Westford 711 was hooked to a dry hydrant, and filled tankers.


The Dry Hydrant. A pipe goes from the river to the shore, allowing pumpers to hook onto it and get water out without getting close to the water. The hydrant usually has a screen on the end in the brook/river to keep rocks and dirt from being sucked into the pump.


The black hard suction goes from the hydrant to the pump, the softer yellow hose feeds water to the tanker. It is called Hard Suction because the material is hard and does not collapse. You cannot use regular firehose to suck water because it is soft and would flatten out.


Fairfax Tanker one being filled. The square pipe is where the water comes out when filling a port-a-pond.


Trucks coming from the scene have time to turn around and get into position to be filled. Tankers being filled are pointed in the direction of the scene for a quick "getaway".


A nozzle is placed on the supply truck and is opened after the tanker is filled and there is a lull between tankers. This allows the pump to keep running at all times.


Carl Lashomb works the pump on the engine back at the scene under the watchful eyes of Steve Bessette. It was getting dark, and I wasn't using my flash yet. Sorry for the blurry picture.


The siphon effect between the two port-a-ponds. Both the hard suction and the plastic pipe are put in the ponds when both ponds are full. A hose is then inserted into each pipe and filled with water. Then, when the level in one pond starts dropping as water is being pulled into the pumper, water is pulled from the other pond. And vise versa. Here the water levels in both are down as we wait for a tanker to arrive.


Then, as the tanker fills the one pond, the siphon effect fills the second pond.

109

Uncle Mike's Thoughts Of The Day / Pictures from Granby Friday Night

« on: August 06, 2011, 10:12:41 PM »

Matt Tanner. Matt's done really well with ESS this year. Top 10 in points.


Our car didn't make it, but a couple of our shirts did.


Mike Stelter


Anthony talking with Matt, and Matt's mom, Eileen.


Parade lap.

110

Uncle Mike's Thoughts Of The Day / Pictures- McNall Road Corn

« on: August 06, 2011, 10:04:59 PM »

I really think it's not as tall as last year. This year, I'm guessing 9-10 feet. Last year was a good 12-15 feet.

111

Uncle Mike's Thoughts Of The Day / Pictures-Under the Covered Bridge

« on: August 06, 2011, 10:00:46 PM »

The timimg was just right. The angle of the sun off Mill Brook lit up the underside of the bridge.

112

Uncle Mike's Thoughts Of The Day / Picture-The Lamoille River

« on: August 06, 2011, 09:52:07 PM »

113

Uncle Mike's Thoughts Of The Day / A NON-RACING! Picture of the Day 8/4/11

« on: August 03, 2011, 09:32:32 PM »

Thursday August 4, 2011
Picture of the Day

Old friend and Class of 1978 mate John Morris is in town and we met at the fire station. John used to be on the department for a couple of years in the early '80s. He now lives with his family in Ipswich, Mass. John owns and runs a funeral home. He is also on the Ipswich Fire Department. Thank you to Steve Bessette for taking the picture.

114

Uncle Mike's Thoughts Of The Day / The Cars of The World of Outlaws

« on: August 02, 2011, 09:20:29 PM »

Defending series champ and Drummond race winner Jason Meyers


Old friend Jessica Zemken has been doing a lot of 410 racing this year.


The King-Steve Kinser


Brockville winner Paul McMahan


Donny Schatz


Cody Darrah


Brad Sweet, driving for the injured Joey Saldana


Chad Kemenah

115

Uncle Mike's Thoughts Of The Day / Outlaws at Drummond- A Top 15 Finish and Pictures

« on: July 31, 2011, 10:38:11 AM »

A great run last night at Autodrome Drummond with the World of Outlaws. 21 cars. Anthony timed 16th fastest in time trials. finished 6th in the heat race, and finished 15th in the A-Main. Race went flag-to-flag, no cautions. Anthony was racing really well with cars for position. Very happy and satisfied race team Saturday night.


The Maxim chassis with the 410. Ran this car with the 360 all year, and the J&J chassis had the 410 untill the wreck last week.


Flew the flags Saturday.


Huge crowd on hand roaming the pits.


Before the drivers meeting. Anthony chatting with Dick Spadaro, and Devon Caron.


Carl chatting with former ESS tech guy Mike Seaver. Mike was helping Dick Spadaro.


Huge crowd in the stands. Haven't seen the stands that full in a while.


Lonnie, Ellie, and Anthony before driver introductions.


World of Outlaws car #15c.

116

Reviews / Captain America: The First Avenger in Real3D

« on: July 28, 2011, 09:18:23 PM »

I went and saw Captain America tonight and I highly recommend it. Very much an old fashioned movie of good guys and bad guys. First time seeing a 3D movie. It is simply a different way to see the movie, but I'm sure it's also highly enjoyable in 2D.
Good story. Excellent cast. And a tie-in for the big Avengers movie next year. Thor, Robert Downy, Jr. as Iron Man, and now Captain America, among others. Looking forward to it.

117

Uncle Mike's Thoughts Of The Day / Photo Blog- Traveling Billboards and 15c Update

« on: July 27, 2011, 08:56:38 PM »

The J&J Chassis that took a tumble at Lebanon Valley has been stripped down, the 410 motor removed, and will be placed in the Maxim chassis that ran with ESS this year. Anthony will make his second attempt with the World of Outlaws Saturday at Autodrome Drummond. Kinda full circle for Anthony and Drummond. Anthony first raced the mini-sprint at Drummond in 1999. He won one feature, and finished second in points. He's raced with ESS there, and also finished 11th with the All-Stars earlier this month.


The #9 of Joey Saldana, except he broke his arm a couple weeks ago, so Brad Sweet stepped in. Kasey Kahne owns this team, and he works a deal where his Sprint Cup sponsor will sponsor his sprintcar team.


Another Kasey Kahne team, this one the #91 of Cody Darrah. Great Clips usually sponsor Kasey's Nationwide car.


The Tony Stewart-owned team of #11 Steve Kinser.


The other Stewart team, the #15 of Donny Schatz.

118

Current News & Events / More FXFD Training with the Ladder Truck Tuesday night- Photos

« on: July 26, 2011, 09:10:43 PM »

Two types of training Tuesday night at the school.


One group was practicing making a hydrant connection. When I took this picture, they seemed more interested in the goings-on with the ladder.


The other group practiced moving the ladder and positioning it near a building.


This gauge is free-swinging, and tells the operator the degree of angle of the ladder and more.


They did not set the ladder ON the building, but close enough for simulation. Note the new sign on the ladder.

119

Uncle Mike's Thoughts Of The Day / Photo Blog- Team 15c with the Outlaws at Lebanon Valley

« on: July 25, 2011, 09:11:20 PM »

The night didn't end as we wanted, but that's auto racing. Anthony qualified. That's the main thing. And when the crowd cheered when he was climbing out of his wrecked sprint car, Anthony said that was the loudest cheer he had ever gotten.
Here's some pictures from the day that was.


The beginning of the day.


Matt Tanner, Warren Alexson, and Anthony


The Outlaws pits were on the dragstrip behind the Speedway.


Anthony at the draw to determine order of hot laps and time trials.


It's official. Car is now an Outlaw.


Anthony at speed during hot laps.


Anthony in line awaiting time trials with Lonnie and Kaylee.


On track awaiting A-Main.


Four wide parade lap.


Lap 17.


Anthony walking away from the crash.


What a front axle should look like.


Front axle off the car.


Getting the car fixed up so we can get it into the hauler.


Some kids getting an autograph from a World of Outlaws driver. Anthony had to buy a WoO membership to race, so he is a WoO driver.

120

Uncle Mike's Thoughts Of The Day / Picture of the Day 7/24/11 and Blog- The Pinnacle

« on: July 23, 2011, 11:50:17 PM »

Sunday July 24, 2011
Picture of the Day

Anthony with Laura and Lonnie Lacaillade at Drummond before the All-Star A-Main.

THE PINNACLE

I hope I am using the right word for the situation.
This will be the day that Anthony reaches the top. The top rung. The top series. It doesn't get higher than this.
Anthony will attempt to qualify with the World of Outlaws Sunday at the Lebanon Valley Speedway.
This would be like Brian Hoar or Brent Dragon or Phil Scott taking their ACT late model to Loudon and trying to qualify for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race.
Most of the big names will be there. Steve Kinser. Donny Schatz. Maybe Sammy Swindell. Jason Meyers. Joey Saldana will not be there because he broke his arm in a crash a few days ago.

And the thing is, Anthony will not be going as a field filler with a 360 motor. He has the 410, and will be looking for a decent finish. Yes, he will be staying out of the way of the big guys, but he may be able to be racy with some of the back markers.

This would not have happened without Lonnie and Laura Lacaillade. As car owners since the end of the 2007 season and starting with 2008, they have been the ones footing the bills. To make an investment like this you have to believe in the person. Lonnie was driving a sprint in 2006, but stepped aside to help Anthony in 2007. When Anthony had the bad wreck at Granby, Lonnie was the one who stepped up and bought a chassis so they could keep racing.
This year Anthony found a reasonably priced 410 motor, and here we are. He raced with the All Stars and finished 11th all three times. But it was the seat time that will help him Sunday night.
This is the top of their careers, racing wise. There is no sprintcar division higher than the World of Outlaws.

Thank you Lonnie and Laura, for believing in my nephew. Thank you Anthony, for having a talent worth believing in.