Bruno and Leno
Alan Brunacini, chief of the Phoenix (AZ) Fire Department, gets on a plane and everyone is waving. It turns out, they are waving at the passenger sitting next to him. After everyone is seated, Bruno turns to the man next to him and says, “Everyone is waving at you. You must be famous. Who are you?”
“I am Jay Leno, from the Tonight Show,” he says.
Bruno says he does not watch much TV.
The next day, Bruno tells his secretary the story. He says, “I didn’t know him, but he was a very nice man and we had a good conversation.”
The next day Bruno comes into his office, and his secretary says, “You are now a nationally known big idiot! You were part of Jay Leno’s monologue last night. He said, ‘It is very humbling to sit next to an American on a plane who doesn’t know you. He just happens to be chief of the Phoenix Fire Department.’ “
A total loss
At a recent fire in New Jersey, the chief was interviewed on TV and stated, “The building was a total loss before we got here.” The question remains, why did you show up?
See the Yenta
The Fire Yenta will be making a personal appearance this weekend, Friday-Sunday, August 23-25, at Fire-Rescue International in Kansas City. Come to the Fire Engineering/FDIC booth if you would like to drop off a tidbit for the column, submit an article or photos for the magazine, or fill out a questionnaire to participate in our 125th anniversary issue (November). Bring your ideas. Who knows? You might get them published!
“Want your house washed down?”
Jim Conway of the Edinboro (PA) Volunteer Fire Department relates this story: “About 12 years ago, when I first joined our local volunteer fire department, I was told by one of the local citizens that I shouldn’t have joined because the fire department is just a ‘bunch of dummies.’ I asked why he thought that. He explained that there had been a house fire a few years back across the street from his house. Evidently, the fire had a good start, and by the time the engine pulled up, the structure was fully involved. But, according to this guy, the firefighters pulled their hose out and proceeded to put water on the wrong house–the one next to the burning structure. He and his friends pleaded with them, telling them that they had the wrong house–the one they were hosing down wasn’t even burning!”
“Even as a rookie, I knew the first-due engine covers the exposures, but still, I asked him why he thought they did this. His reply: ‘Well, my friends and I thought it over, and all we could think of was that the house they were hosing down must have called 9-1-1 first, so legally, they had to put the water on his house!’ ”
“So, my advice is: If you want your house hosed down to give it that fresh, clean look, wait until there is a fire nearby and quickly call 9-1-1 so they have to put the water on your house first.”
What is that orange glow?
An engine company stretches to the second floor of a taxpayer on a report of smoke in the hall. They force entry to the apartment door and find heat and smoke in the apartment. Through the smoke, they see an orange glow. They close the door and wait for water. With a charged line, they reenter. Two steps into the apartment, they discover the orange glow is a really a bright orange-painted wall. (Names withheld to protect the embarrassed.)
If you have a tidbit for the Fire Yenta, e-mail dianef@pennwell.com.
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