Monthly Archives: July 2020

Massive Storm and Gust Front, June 3rd, 2020

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I was off all day Wednesday, June 3rd, and right before sunset, a massive storm with a huge gust front, had made its way down to our area from central Illinois…the Weather Service had been tracking it all day…I drove over to the City Park behind Cracker Barrel to photograph it…this thing was HUGE…super high up into the sky and super wide as well…

T Storm 2020-0603 Coming In From NE to SW

cant hear me very well on the next video because the wind came up pretty good on it…

Thunderstorm 2020-0603 Huge Storm Approaching Sullivan From NE

…the storm rolled in and right in front of the setting sun, which was able to squeeze out a little bit of color at the base of the massive storm clouds…

I turned around and shot the other side of the storm as well, which is where most of the lightning was centered as well…

…I was able to capture one of the lightning bolts, seen above. 🙂

Abandoned House Fire, May 23rd, 2020

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On Saturday, May 23rd, 2020, around noon, Sullivan Fire Department was dispatched to a residential structure fire at 281 Hwy WW, about half a mile north of the Sullivan City Limits. I drove out and was on the scene pretty quickly, a good minute ahead of the Fire Department, heavy fire through the roof of a single story residence that had sat vacant for quite a while….

Fires 2020-0523 House Fire Hwy WW Acr From Joe Eye Residence AVI 91 Video 1

Chief Eric was first on the scene for Sullivan Fire Department, with Pumper 854 arriving a minute later, Captain Ray Enloe`s crew stretching hoselines and preparing for a good attack on this fire…

Fires 2020-0523 House Fire Hwy WW Acr From Joe Eye Residence AVI 98 Video 2

Drew Richards is on the nozzle of the line in front of the house and Trevor Woods stretched the red hoseline to the rear of the house in the above video….I walked around the house to the rear a few min later and shot some video of Trevor on the hoseline at the back door…between he and Drew, they did a good job banking that smoke down upon Kyle Robertson and me…

Fires 2020-0523 House Fire Hwy WW Near Joe Eye Residence AVI 110 Video 3

After a good knockdown from front and back sides, the fire came roaring back on the south side and firefighters had to attack through the window on that side…

Fires 2020-0523 House Fire Hwy WW Near Joe Eye Residence AVI 131 Video 5

…they ran out of water about that time and while waiting for another tanker to arrive and hook up to the pumper, Bourbon firefighters arrived on scene to help out in Dr Destructo mode….

…the Bourbon firefighter with the pike pole in his hands, walked over to Drew Richards and singlehandedly pulled the remains of the front porch down and out of Drew`s way….

…while Trevor worked on the south side fire through the window….

As I was leaving and got back out to the highway, all sorts of extra help were arriving, manpower, Pumper 814, Tanker 853, Crawford County Deputies, Crawford Electric crews…the deputy told me he was able to see the smoke from near Cuba…

…these guys are the background guys, the unsung heroes on every call, they stay in the background doing very important work…supplying the wet stuff to the guys on the front lines…alot of teamwork goes on at every call to make for a very successful effort by all involved….law enforcement officers are very vital to the success of a good firefighting team in terms of protection, traffic control, crowd control, etc. and other agencies like Crawford Electric and city crews can make things go much smoother and safer as well, shutting off electric or responding to make sure electric is shut off as in this case…making the job of fighting fire a much safer environment for all involved on the scene….

Ford Pick up Fire With Fireworks, May 22nd, 2020

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Friday night May 22nd, 2020, I was taking it easy at home, resting up from work, when Sullivan Fire Department was dispatched to a vehicle fire on westbound I-44 at the 224 mile marker. That isn`t far from my house and as I crossed the James K. Schatz Memorial Bridge on Elmont Road over 44, I could see wb traffic backing up and a glow ahead. I pulled up and turned my flashers on, Sullivan Pumper 854 had just arrived and firefighters were preparing to attack the fire, looked like a four door Ford pickup and it was fully involved, all the doors on it were open and heavy fire could be seen inside it….

Firefighters began their attack from a ways behind the truck on their approach to the front…Davey Sumpter had the nozzle on this fire…

Tim Leasor, with MO Bap Ambulance, a good friend of mine, was up in front of me about fifty feet shooting some photos with his phone camera of the front of the pick up view….I walked up and talked to him for a few minutes after I shot this video….

Fires 2020-0522 Ford Pickup on Fire WB 44 at 224 MM AVI 77

…turns out this pick up had magnesium components inside the cab and just behind the front bumper of the truck…magnesium, when on fire and hit with a stream of water, reacts violently with the water, creating what looks like fireworks and roman candles, going off in the photo and video…I have shot a lot of fires with this type of reaction…Tim was able to get some great video and photos as well from his angle.

Davey and Trevor were able to bring the fire under control shortly after I shot the video, I am sure the passing motorists in the passing lane were relieved as that reaction can be quite frightening to anyone who has never observed it up close like that…

 

 

Abandoned House Fire May, 9th, 2020

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Saturday evening, May 9th, 2020, Sullivan Fire Department was dispatched to a well involved first alarm residential structure fire around 9 pm, located on the North Service Road a quarter mile past the Sullivan Vetrinary Clinic. Call came in as flames showing at the rear of the house, called in by passing motorists on I-44…when I arrived, it was fully involved front to back and through the roof. Saint Clair and Bourbon Fire Districts were dispatched for the assist as well. 

Fires 2020-0509 Residential Structure Fire N Serv Rd E of Vet Hospital AVI 05

…there were live power lines down on the highway side at the back of the house, Crawford Electric had a crew on the way to disarm them and fire crews gave a wide berth while fighting the fire from both sides of the house…I told Chief Eric, that at one time, this had been quite a pretty home and sitting off the service road in a field, I am sure the residents saw a lot of wildlife there….it had been vacant for some time tho…

…crews deployed a larger handline to the south side of the house and Beau Kick operated the nozzle on it briefly from there…

Fires 2020=0509 2nd Video Residential Structure Fire N Serv Rd E of Vet Hosp AVI 16

…I believe the intent was to bounce the stream off the roof/ceiling down into the flames below, they were yelling at him that there was no roof in which to do that, so he shut the line down for a while, and then someone started spraying it again….

Fires 2020-0509 3rd Video Resid Structure Fire N Serv Rd E of Vet Hosp

I shot quite a few videos of this fire as it was tough to move around either side with high weeds and trees and live power line hazards as well…I always do my best to stay out of their way, as well…

Fires 2020-0509 4th Video Resid Structure Fire N Serv Rd E of Vet Hosp AVI 34

Firefighters were having a lot of trouble entering the structure from the front entryway due to the amount of roofing that fell in before their arrival…they decided to cut their way in…

Fires 2020-0509 Sixth Video Resid Structure Fire N Serv Rd E of Vet Hosp AVI 49

…the video above shows Bourbon firefighters arriving to help….and the next video shows how they decided to cut the main support beam above the front wall and then pull it down to get inside and fully extinguish the fire….

Fires 2020-0509 7th Video Resid Structure Fire N Serv Rd E of Vet Hosp AVI 50

…and after that it was a matter of wading in and mopping up…

..I am sure firefighters were on scene for some time after, making sure it was completely out before leaving the scene…Saint Clair responded a pumper with manpower and their Super Tanker as well. 

 

 

Ford Escape SUV Fire at Stanton Exit, April 24th, 2020

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I drove down to the Stanton westbound exit to photograph an suv on fire on Friday, April 24th around 3 pm…the call came in as an suv on fire and when I got close, it was so covered in smoke that I thought it was a Jeep suv, however later found out after posting photos on my FB page, friends said it was a Ford Escape. As I pulled down the Service Road, there was a pickup pulled over and the driver trying to console a young female who was quite upset about her suv catching fire…I drove past and turned around to capture Sullivan Fire Department Pumper 854 with Captain Ray Enloe and his crew arriving.

John Strothcamp was driving and pulled down the exit ramp to approach the suv…

Fires 2020-0424 SUV Jeep Stanton WB Off Ramp AVI 100

Firefighters started masking up and Drew Richards pulled a pre-connect hoseline…

..and once Drew had the line stretched, he put his air tank and mask on as well…

…and then began their attack….

Fires 2020-0424 SUV Jeep Fire Stanton WB Off Ramp AVI 113

Fires 2020-0424 SUV Jeep Fire Stanton WB Off Ramp AVI 114

Thanks to the Carla and Darla Dunne, as well as Brian Beckett for the correction regarding the make and model on the suv. Much appreciated. 🙂

 

Boy Onyx Re-Homed and New Miss Onyx With Me Now

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In the past year or so, I noticed Onyx the boy dog`s anxiety levels were ramping up through the roof on me…no amount of medication was taking care of it either, so I checked with my vets at Sullivan and all of them felt that since he was a near purebred Border Collie, he was in need of a work detail everyday and really needed to be on a farm where he could come and go as he pleased and had plenty of room to run and roam. So, I put out some feelers and ads in various websites, and while out in New Mexico, I received an email from a retired lady near Troy, Missouri, that was interested in driving down to meet him on my return. She had been raising troubled Dalmations all her life and wanted a Border Collie, she lives on a farm up there and has plenty of land and room for dogs, plus she goes horseback riding a lot. She sounded perfect for him and his situation, so I let her know when I would be back and she came down the very next day to meet us, bringing her only remaining Dalmation Lucy, with her.

Lucy didn`t take kindly to sharing her attention with Onyx, but Janee felt that would soon change, as she was very taken with Onyx after spending just a few minutes with him. I helped her load him up in her boxy suv and said good bye to him, gave him a hug and wished him well…she said she would provide me with updates and photos…she was true to her word and within a few weeks, they had bonded well. I had given her some meds that I had left over for him, but he was doing so well up there, she had not given him any yet, so I was relieved to hear that. Here he is at his new home up there in a very spacious backyard with Lucy…

…I do miss him, but know he is in a much better situation for him now, too…after about two weeks, I started searching for another Border Collie, hoping to find one as laid back and calmer like my first BC, Missy. I was searching a five state area around me and could not locate any Borders that were laid back or calmer for that matter, most listed had alot of problems, some even more than boy Onyx had, so then I broadened my search to female Labs and Lab mixes…the first one that kept popping up each day was a female Lab mix named…get this…Onyx, and she was located in the Joplin area. So I made contact with the gal that was her foster mom at the time, and Tamara and I started talking about ” Miss Onyx “…she thought it was funny as well that I had re-homed a boy dog named Onyx and was now considering adopting a rescued female dog named Onyx. Within two weeks, I was driving down to pick her up and bring her home…she was a true rescue, found in a basement half filled with water, with several other dogs..she is a bit timid and submissive but so pretty, and sooo calm and laid back and listens/responds well to commands. She also likes to just lay around the house alot, which is fine with me, and I found out soon after, she does enjoy traveling with me to go rockhounding, so I am pretty sure she is going to be just fine with me…and Mom likes her a lot too. Turns out she is a Lab and Pitt Terrier mix…I had concerns about that but did some research and found out this mix is a highly intelligent mix and very well received dogs…some look more like a Lab and some look more like a Pitt…she is the latter, with a beautiful brindle color…that is brown and black mixed together…her records say she weighs 38 lbs, but she looks much lighter than that to me….meet Miss Onyx….

Started New Job March 16th

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A few days after I returned from my early spring rockhounding trip to New Mexico, I started my new job at Wolf Hollow Golf Course on the turf crew. My Manager the last two years at Greenbriar Hills, Shawn Prengle, called me back in February to let me know he had taken the job of Superintendent there end of January, and asked me to come work for him there this year. I drove over one day to look it over, found a very hilly course with a lot of drainage and erosion problems, that he intended to fix, and was def going to need some help for, told him I would be interested in the job there working for him. He sent me a text while I was out in NM and let me know to be there the morning of the 16th.

There are two lakes there near the clubhouse and I found out they are perfectly positioned for great sunrise photos…was able to capture several in the mornings before I would start my first detail, here are a few for you to enjoy….

…as you can see, we get some nice sunrises there…also a good vantage point for some storms that have rolled in while we were working as well….sometimes you only get to see the aftermath of the storms, the floods, the lightning strikes…

…this storm hit last week with a lot of lightning bolts, one hit this walnut tree up on 12 fairway…Cameron and I were picking up the debris..mainly the shards of the beautiful wood, one hundred feet out into the fairway from the tree, took about 90 minutes to clear the fairway for the golfers that morning…only fatality was a black snake that was electrocuted by the lightning bolt, likely at the foot of the tree…

…we also have two families of Canadian geese there, both sets of parents had some babies born in April and they have been teaching them how to swim and fly lately…where to feed at and where to poop at…mainly on 6 and 18 greens it seems like…we have to extra careful on our approach to them when their young are with them, they set lookouts front and aft as well…

My main detail in the mornings now is cutting the flagpole cups, usually on the back nine, while Wayne takes care of the front nine…then I also pick up the trash and top off the ball washer fluid, before taking the trash to the dumpster near the clubhouse. One morning mid June, I pulled up to the dumpster and heard something rustling around in the trash as I opened the lid..whatever it was, it was hidden under the trash for a few minutes…then it finally popped up into view…cute little guy and I felt priviledged to be able to get this close and take a photo of the little guy….

I wasn`t sure how he was going to get out of there, so Mel, our Mechanic, and Jake, one of my co-workers, went down there after I returned to the shed and let them know, and placed half a pallet into the dumpster so he could climb out on his own, after he got his fill of beer and snacks. 🙂

Here lately in July, I have been seeing an adult raccoon up near 8 teebox, by the time I get up there to pick up the trash, he or she is wandering into the wooded area between there and 9 teebox….haven`t been able to get a photo yet of that one. 

We have been doing a lot of irrigation work combined with replacing some of the bermuda grass on greens, sodding erosion areas, and fixing alot of leaks in the piping all over the course. Back in April and May, Shawn rented a mini trackhoe to do some major digging up on 3 fairway near the green, main idea was to install a large plastic pipe for drainage, up there where three hills and valleys converge…while digging that trench, they discovered multiple leaks and problems with the sprinklers as well…

..that`s Wayne in the foreground working to replace existing irrigation lines, and Shawn operating the trackhoe…

..the new drainage piping above….

…going under the cart path here and will then drain down into a creek below…held down here by riprap rock from a local quarry…yes I checked the rock, no pretty stuff on it at all..I was sooo disappointed…like why could they not get the good stuff from the Washington County Quarry instead ??? 🙂 Once things get back to normal, we will be finishing up this project and a few others we started at the same time. At least the golfers are noticing the changes and they like what they are seeing. This course has been here for about 21 years and we are def making some changes to it. Stay Tuned for more…