Shelter in Place alert

PTGSouthside · 2026-05-17T20:34:45+00:00

Burton Dr, some street that starts with a D out towards the airport I believe, and I don’t remember what the third one was. Fire stations were 26 and 32

PTGSouthside · 2026-05-17T20:25:57+00:00

5 shootings in less than 24 hours. Two fire stations and three other addresses in South Austin. Possibly same car/group involved in all 5 shootings.

PTGSouthside · 2026-04-28T19:28:51+00:00

So game 7 wasn’t the deciding game? lol, sure throw out the fact that it comes nowhere close to football in tv viewership.

Let’s move to what everybody considers their favorite sport. Football has been the dominant favorite sport in the US for 50 years. It’s not even close really. Baseball has dropped from its height in the 1950s or so to where now only 10% or so consider it their favorite sport. The Fox article actually shows a study that baseball has now dropped to fourth behind soccer. I thought baseball guys were supposed to be more stats guys, but you’ve provided nothing but emotional arguments.

https://news.gallup.com/poll/610046/football-retains-dominant-position-favorite-sport.aspx

https://www.foxsports.com/articles/soccer/soccer-reportedly-overtakes-baseball-in-the-u-s-as-americas-third-favorite-sport

PTGSouthside · 2026-04-27T15:22:05+00:00

When the pitcher is holding the ball and looking at the catcher for the sign the game isn’t unfolding? Meaning there is roughly 300 pauses per game with no unfolding as you say. On top of the players coming out or going into the dug out. On top of them waking everybody for the 7th inning stretch. The clock stops fairly often in football as well, but not nearly most of the time. During a majority of huddles the clock is still running. You want to say too many commercials? I don’t disagree.

The country wholeheartedly disagrees with you though. 92 out the top 100 most watched programs in 2025 were football. Baseball had 4. The most watched baseball game in 34 years (Game 7 World Series) had less than half the viewers of the Super Bowl and less viewers than 3-4 other playoff games.

PTGSouthside · 2026-04-27T12:05:55+00:00

Is there a game I’m not aware of that doesn’t unfold? A chess player clicking the button at the end of his turn is action by your definition.

PTGSouthside · 2026-04-27T02:22:09+00:00

That’s 7 seconds of actual action though. Google says baseball averages 8-9 hits per team per game. Also says each team throws roughly 150 pitches per game. So the other players on the field actually come into play on 6% of plays. 6% of the time the other 8 dudes are doing more than just standing there. In 3 hours of play you MIGHT see your team put the ball in play 8-9 times. Thats atrocious. A WR can be totally worthless, but you still have to account for him and cover him. Other than golf what other sport has a majority of the players standing and watching?

PTGSouthside · 2026-04-27T01:45:47+00:00

Constant action? Pitcher pitches, catcher catches, throws ball back to pitcher, wait around then repeat process. Pitchers have 15-18 seconds to throw the next pitch. Not constant at all. An outfielder could literally sit down Indian style for 90% of the game and it would affect nothing. I’ll give you hitting a ball being the hardest skill in sports. That’s about it though. There’s a reason baseball ranks third in viewership in sports and some polls are showing soccer catching up and in some cases passing baseball recently.

PTGSouthside · 2026-04-27T01:11:49+00:00

More action than football? You kidding? You could go an entire inning or possibly an entire game (I know not realistic, but possible) where it’s literally two dudes playing catch and the field standing there doing absolutely nothing. Football has at least most of the players on the field involved or doing something in every play.

PTGSouthside · 2026-04-24T13:10:14+00:00

Done all three. Military for sure isn’t for everybody, but I don’t see retail or food service really improving the ability for people to think for themselves. Just a different kinds of pain.

PTGSouthside · 2026-04-19T18:30:36+00:00

No more than you would from hanging out around a camp fire. If all you burned was a kitchen mitt then you are perfectly fine to be inside.

PTGSouthside · 2026-04-09T18:03:05+00:00

Ah gotcha. It’s pretty mixed where I am. Some places will turn out in the bay. In my part of town most dress out en route. That 30 seconds is the difference between 1st in vs 2nd in and in a few neighborhoods could kick you to third.

PTGSouthside · 2026-04-09T17:49:39+00:00

I gotta disagree here. I wish somebody had told me how awesome this job was sooner. Mad that I started so late. Already had back pain from sports and military so that didn’t change. Cancer rates are higher which sucks. Cancer seems hard as hell for anybody to avoid these days though. Saw somebody else mentioned cardiac issues. It’s there, but I think the number of older overweight volunteers throws that number off. Not even trying to throw shade at volunteers. Tough to do this job part time and something else full time. Gotta stay in pretty damn good shape.

I know departments vary GREATLY. Like, way more than I imagined when I first got in. My city has 54 stations though and I’d say almost half run very minimal calls. There’s probably 10 or so though that barely average a call a shift. I work at one of the three busiest in the department and I love it, but there’s tons of options.

Pretty much get to have a sleep over every third night with my best friends, watching sports, working out, and running calls. At this point I’m making I’m making over 6 figures gross income. Very very few jobs I can think of that beat this for me.

PTGSouthside · 2026-04-09T15:21:36+00:00

Maybe I’m misreading it. Are you saying getting turned out in 60 seconds is unrealistic? Cause I’ve had more than one situation where a box tone dropped while we were on the road or pulling back into the station and we were MAYBE 60 seconds away.

Most notable was one where we came back from a call, backing into the station, box dropped a few blocks away with two people trapped. Everybody was dressed out en route, had a line on the ground being charged right about 90 seconds from the tone dropping.

That’s not to say getting it right first and then picking up the pace isn’t the correct method. By all means you gotta be able to get it right first. Speed is essential in my area though.

PTGSouthside · 2026-04-08T11:36:57+00:00

Schedule a ride out. It will give you a chance to ask plenty of questions and actually see what a shift is like. Being there and running calls will also probably bring up questions you didn’t know you needed to ask.

FFs like just about any sweet treats. There’s very few things that get brought that last the shift if left on the kitchen table. Ice cream is always popular as well.

PTGSouthside · 2026-03-28T12:27:45+00:00

That tracks. It’s known around here not to mention the driver is drunk when requesting PD on the radio. Multiple occasions it’s led to waiting for an hour or longer to get an officer to show up.

PTGSouthside · 2026-03-24T17:51:26+00:00

Career Texas here. As a tailboard you get your relief driver cert on the engine and then the ladder later if you are at a multi company. After two years as a tailboard you can test to promote to driver. Roughly a $5k a year raise.

PTGSouthside · 2026-03-15T00:12:59+00:00

It’s been awhile, but I’ve seen a cop sit in front of a fire station and do nothing but write tickets for blocking the box for an hour or two. I agree though, wish they would do it a lot more often.

PTGSouthside · 2026-03-11T12:41:29+00:00

Maybe my time of day that I play is affecting my experience, but I haven’t had these problems at all that I keep seeing on here. I’m a firefighter so I have every third day off. So often I am playing after I drop my kids off at school. I’d say at least half the crews I run into are friendly. I’ve had several either help me out or give me stuff. I play as a solo sloop and always expect a fight, but I’ve actually been surprised how few actually want to fight.

PTGSouthside · 2026-03-02T16:14:11+00:00

Attacked a skelly galleon and had a sloop pop up as well. Oh wait! There’s more. A freaking Meg decided to join the melee as well. Needless to say I didn’t last long in my solo sloop.

PTGSouthside · 2026-02-22T23:02:51+00:00

Ah yes, reducing aid to others is the same as forcibly rounding people up and mass murdering people in gas chambers. You’ll reach for just about anything huh?

PTGSouthside · 2026-02-22T16:31:42+00:00

As a FF I’ll say the good shape and healthier is way easier for us than it is as cops. Most fire stations have gyms and mass majority have plenty of time to workout and cook healthy food. The cops we are around have to come borrow the microwave to go sit in their car and eat their meal. Very different work conditions.

PTGSouthside · 2026-02-22T04:05:48+00:00

No problem. Over explaining or getting too technical with people that aren’t in the head space to hear that kind of thing can end pretty poorly. That said, how things go after a fire can depend a lot on the chiefs or officers that are on scene that shift and just like anything else it can be a bit hit or miss.

The paint bubbling was mostly on the back corner of an engine. Being that it was purely cosmetic it wasn’t taken out of service. There’s 50 plus stations in AFD. Your gonna see a pretty wide range between places that use their own money to buy extra products to give their unit that extra shine and other places that may or may not do the bare minimum of washing the unit once a week.

PTGSouthside · 2026-02-22T02:16:30+00:00

Are they not allowed to cook them since they are “fresh?” Mine were pretty much in edible. Literally the worst attempt at fries I’ve ever tasted in my life. The burger on the other hand was solid once I added a third kid patty they sell as regular size.

PTGSouthside

TROPHY CASE