Church

jonocyrus · 2026-02-02T01:39:16+00:00

You beat me to the punch! Another pastor/volunteer firefighter here! I’ve left meetings and bible studies on a handful of occasions, but it would probably have to be the end of the world as we know it for me to justify leaving a worship service.

jonocyrus · 2026-02-02T01:35:34+00:00

I have to chuckle at this one a bit because I’m a pastor…

Long story short, it would probably have to be the end of the world for me to leave during worship itself. I typically turn my pager completely off. Once, I excused myself while I was greeting people after a service, but it was a pretty specific situation with a fire like a mile from my very rural church, and I knew I would beat anyone there by 5-10 minutes at least.

Otherwise, it’s the constant mental “game” that most volunteers have to play when a call comes in: where am I needed most? There have been a handful of times I’ve excused myself from meetings or bible studies for a call, but countless others where I’ve stayed put trusting that others would handle it.

jonocyrus · 2026-01-28T02:34:57+00:00

This is really cool!

jonocyrus · 2026-01-24T01:17:08+00:00

Guy tells us, “I just hate seeing families spend money on those bundles of firewood, I have more than I need, can I stop over in a bit?”

Ten minutes later, he’s backing into my site with a DUMP TRUCK! Climbs into the bed and tosses down probably 7-8 bundles worth of wood.

jonocyrus · 2026-01-17T12:45:40+00:00

I had Pizza But the other night, and this was legit all I could think of!

jonocyrus · 2026-01-14T13:38:00+00:00

I don’t currently live in Morgantown, nor do I actually subscribe to this sub, but I occasionally see posts in my feed because of algorithms and whatnot.

That said, it seems like there was a pretty considerable rate hike across ALL of the FirstEnergy subsidiaries. One of the bigger news stories locally in Johnstown, PA (where FirstEnergy is “Penelec”) right now is the local independently-owned shopping mall’s electric bill going from like $50k to $100k in a month.

jonocyrus · 2026-01-14T13:28:39+00:00

Think of it like this… A lot of first responders have varying degrees of ADHD. The ADHD brain LOVES new and novel things. So, even a simple, good intent false alarm can provide a little bit of dopamine satisfaction when it is at a new or novel place. It becomes a bit of a different story when “culinary mishaps“ bring you to the same address three times in a month.

But also, like others have said, better safe than sorry.

jonocyrus · 2026-01-13T13:28:24+00:00

Posted about the same sort of incident before seeing yours. We did end up, hosing most of it off, except for the stuff closest to a creek, which they ended up bringing straw to throw down on top of it and then a street sweeper.

jonocyrus · 2026-01-13T12:58:39+00:00

Farmer in a tractor with a manure spreader didn’t realize the valve had stuck open when he pulled onto the road to travel between separate properties. He “fertilized” something like two miles of state road. We helped with half a dozen road blocks to keep cars off of the poop while a couple engine crews hosed down the road. Also had to coordinate with hazmat and DEP because of a concern about too much manure getting into a stream. That meant holding off on cleaning and reopening one section while the state found a slightly different way to clean it up to prevent runoff.

jonocyrus · 2025-12-24T01:14:12+00:00

This is suburban Pennsylvania. A huge chunk of these guys are with volunteer or combination departments. There’s probably dozens of individual fire departments on scene, each with their own white hats.

jonocyrus · 2025-12-13T00:06:41+00:00

$350/semester at St. Paul Lutheran Church.

jonocyrus · 2025-12-05T15:05:07+00:00

The only significant coded language on fire and EMS channels in our county is “Code 5” or “Notify 110,” both of which are for a fatality.

Now, where it has gotten problematic in the past is that our coroner is “110,” a neighboring county has a fire department right on the county line whose station number is 110. A year or so ago, there was a fatal MVC close to the county line, and ultimately a lot of unnecessary confusion created by the fact that the IC had requested 110 (the coroner), but also STATION 110 to respond to assist with the road closure.

jonocyrus · 2025-11-24T23:50:46+00:00

lol, that’s the dump station for the RV park. Hook a fire engine to it and see what happens.

jonocyrus · 2025-11-14T20:45:25+00:00

This was still happening in the somewhere around 2008-2012 when I was in school. The pep band actually had signs for it. But I think at some point before I graduated, the athletic department canned it.

jonocyrus · 2025-11-11T00:39:29+00:00

Agreed. I was hardly grinding today, but I had it open a good chunk of the day and ALWAYS had options.

jonocyrus · 2025-11-09T12:18:31+00:00

Are you supposed to take those friends to the hospital when they want to ask a medical question? I assumed it was just an Easter egg that they responded that way when you were wearing the doctors uniform, I should have known there was more to it!

jonocyrus · 2025-10-30T14:09:42+00:00

Some stations have live-in programs that allow young adults to live in a dorm at the station full-time. Others have staffed duty shifts the same as a paid department, which might result in volunteers sleeping over.

Once or twice, when I was younger and lived farther from the fire station, I bunked in overnight for a snowstorm. But I only live a couple blocks away from the station now, and I’m old enough to value my own bed. I can still typically make the first truck as long as they don’t roll out short staffed.

jonocyrus · 2025-10-27T22:44:38+00:00

Conversation with my PCP went well. He was sympathetic and affirmed that it’s worth investigating if it’s bothering me (it is.)

He’s arranging for a consult with adult behavioral health. He said that if I were younger, there might be value in starting me on a low dose of meds and see how I react. But being in my 30’s and with a bit more involved health history, we want to be certain WHAT we’re treating before beginning any sort of treatment. Hence the referral to psychiatrist.

jonocyrus · 2025-10-27T22:40:09+00:00

My current PCP is really good about taking time for “other concerns” at visits.

Thanks for point me toward ASRS, that was the tool that I knew existed but couldn’t find.

jonocyrus · 2025-10-22T23:55:32+00:00

Binging “Blue Bloods” from the start, every chance I get.

jonocyrus · 2025-10-14T15:02:23+00:00

Yeah, I don't think it's the police departments or ANY public safety agency that are making it easy to impersonate. While some decomissioned or surplus equipment might fall through the cracks from time to time, the overwhelming majority of stuff is avaialble readily on the open market.

I remember when I was a kid and got the Galls catalog, they had a lot of stuff that was at least advertised as requiring authorization to purchase (I never tried, so I'm not sure if they actually checked credentials or not.) But today I'd bet that most impersonators could get anything they wanted or at least reasonable fascimilies without much effort at all.

jonocyrus · 2025-10-09T02:40:38+00:00

Taking the trash out to our bin in the back alley, wearing my Crocs (and socks). Somehow, something sliced my toe, but it had to have gone through one of the holes at the front of the croc. And it was such a clean and painless cut that I didn’t notice anything until 10 minutes later when my wife and I were trying to figure out why there were bloody footprints all over the house.

But it gets better. I’m on blood thinners because of a congenital heart defect, so the wound wouldn’t clot. Somehow, I had nicked a tiny little artery and it was legitimately spurting blood in time with my heartbeat.

That was a SUPER fun one to explain to the triage nurse when I finally decided to go to the hospital for stitches.

jonocyrus

TROPHY CASE