Recap of the William St. George Drill

by Dan Laverty

What a great day weather-wise for the 5^th Annual William St. George Drill this past Saturday June 30th. The Joe Hunter Memorial Scoreboard was up and running and the Drill Team Radio Crew was in attendance. The "From On Top of the Arch" radio show was co-anchored by Twan Simone of the Hempstead Yellow Hornets and Pat Jeffares of the Hempstead Flukes and the North Lindenhurst Piston Knockers. I am sure Pat will correct me on this whole blog post just as he corrected Twan and I on the radio all day (we would not have it any other way.) We all love when Pat is up in New York and can spend some time with us on the broadcast. The day started with a 6 piece drum and brass ensemble at the bottom of the arch playing our national anthem. There was also the thank you for coming speech from the Baldwin Fire Department.

The Baldwin Tomcats were first on the line to kick off this drill and ran an 8.11 in 3-Man Ladder. The Termites were next with a time of 6.86 with Phil Athenis running first man. Brentwood ran a 7.41 which the Lakeview Sparks tied at the end of the event. Oyster Bay’s young legs put up a time of 7.13 for their first points of the day. Islip Terrace received a No Time for touching the top rung out of sequence. I noticed that the first man after reaching the top of the arch stood between the ladder and the officials and that made it very hard for them to see the other climbers. First men in 3-Man need to either sit on the arch or stand to the side when they reach the top so the officials have an unobstructed view and can stop the clock for your team. The only other 6 second run that day was ran by the North Bellmore Rinky Dinks who ran a 6.75 and took 1st place in the event.

B-Ladder began with the Tomcats running a 7.39 which took 5th place and gave them their first points of the day. The Termites ran next with a time of 6.25 adding four more points to the four they got in 3-Man Ladder. The Tigers ran a 6.99 and took 4th place. The Greenhorns did not take any points in 3-Man and seemed determined to make up for that in B-Ladder running a 1st place run of 6.12. The Bucks, who recently purchased the Inwood Mud Duck’s B-Truck, put it to good use and ran a 6.30 for 3rd place. The Rinky Dinks received a No Time when the top of their ladder reached the arch outside the safety zone. One of the diggers (Dan Forth) was not able to hold on and that made the ladder go askew. The big news in the racing world was the inaugural run of The Lakeview Sparks who have not participated in a motorized drill in over 60 years and back then they were called The Lakeview Lumberjacks. With a new team name, new team shirts and a B-Truck that was purchased from The Sayville Blue Jays, the Sparks came to the line. Driver and Ex-Chief Matt Gritman, Diggers Lt. Patrick McNeill (cousin of the writer of this article), Cody Marra (Nassau’s Marra), Thrower Lt. Freddy Senti (whose grandfather was a member of the Lakeview Lumberjacks) and Climber L. Pete Sherkel came down the course and ran a 7.43. The crowd of fellow racers, friends and fans in the stands gave them a rousing ovation for their first motorized run.

C-Ladder only saw seven of the twelve teams in attendance come to the line. The Termites were the first to put up a time for points with a 9.92 and that gave them the 1st place trophy and brought their point total for the day to 13. The Tigers ran an 11.46 for 4th place. The Greenhorns ran a 10.37 and brought their point total to 9 for the day so far. The Frogs took their first points of the day with a run of 14.99 and the Rinky Dinks ran an 11.54 for 5th place.

The points heading into the hose events were as follows: Termites – 13, Greenhorns – 9, Rinky Dinks – 6, Tigers 5.5 and the Frogs, Bucks and Teddy’s Boys each with 3 points.

While the Water Test was being conducted, the crowd got a nice chance to enjoy some music courtesy of the Scoreboard Crew of Stephen McCarroll and Tom Scott of the C.I. Hoboes. These two guys are out there week after week sitting in the sun making sure the correct information is put up on the Joe Hunter Memorial Scoreboard for all to see. I myself took a crack at running the scoreboard for B-Hose and it was a little nerve wracking at first because of the crowd in the stands and the fact that my Consulting Editor of The Drill Team Blog (among other things) Chris Murphy of the C.I. Hoboes was watching from on top of the Arch. But I got the hang of it and hope to give Stephen and Thomas a break at future drills so they can enjoy themselves and be with their team. There is an open invitation for anyone willing to run the scoreboard and help out. Just click on this link and respond to the post over on Digger 74.

As mentioned on the radio broadcast The Drill Team Blog will be partnering with Long Island FD Rant News (new sponsor for Drill Team Radio in 2012) for a digital publication that will solely focus on the Firematic Drills and Parades that occur on Long Island every summer.

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The highly anticipated Drill and Parade first edition of this publication is slated for July 15th. This edition will chronicle the drills and parades that have occurred so far this summer and continue to report on them as the summer goes on. Just go to Long Island FD Rant News and follow the instructions so you can receive the publication to your email account.

The Drill Team Radio crew was putting on the "From On Top of the Arch" show as I said earlier and during the water test they had a "Name that B-Truck" contest going on. Twan Simone played the sound of four B-Trucks over the radio and gave the listeners a chance to name that B-Truck. I do not know the results of this contest but they will be given again at the next drill as I am sure this contest will be talked about as it was a welcome addition to the broadcast.

The C-Hose contest saw only one 12 run and that was a 12.57 run by The Termites giving them five more points. The Raiders took their first points of the day with a run of 13.13 and took 2nd place. 3rd place was won by the Rinky Dinks with a run of 14.03. In 4th place were the Frogs with a time of 14.99. The Greenhorns wanted to add to their point total and did just that by running a 15.55 taking another point and 5th place.

With the C-Truck events concluded it was time for a long line of B-Trucks to take to the track again. Not to be outdone by any other team, the Termites ran an 8.28 for another 5 points and 1st place. The Rebels from Levittown ran an 11.69 for their only points of the day for 2nd place. 3rd place was taken by the Islip Terrace Schlagers for 3 points and this was also their only points for the day. The Raiders took 2 points with their run of 13.60 and the Greenhorns rounded out the top five with a run of 14.82.

Going into the Efficiency contest the points total looked like this: Termites – 23, Greenhorns – 11, Rinky Dinks – 9, Raiders – 6, Tigers – 5.5 and the Frogs – 5.

The Tomcats took their first point of the day with a run of 10.21. The Tigers came down the course and put up a time of 9.57, their time stood up for 1st place until the Greenhorns ran a 9.37 to beat them. The Rinky Dinks ran a 9.45 to give them 4 more points and 2nd place in the event. The Raiders ran a 10.16 for 2 points and 4th place in Efficiency. “On the bubble” were the Termites who place in every event so far with a run of 10.90.

The Motor Pump contest started with the Tomcats running an 8.45 which they would not know till the end of the contest would tie them with the Frogs for 1st place. This gave each team 4.5 points. New Hyde Park unfortunately received an Over Time when their hose uncoupled at the "Wild Mouse" (discharge on the driver’s side of the truck). The Teddy’s Boys ran an 8.78 giving them 3 more points for the day. The Greenhorns and the Raiders rounded out the top five with times of 8.94 and 9.00 respectively. Almost taking points in their first Motor Pump run were The Lakeview Sparks with a time of 9.17, their second 6th place run on the day.

Mathematically, the Termites did not have this drill won just yet. The Termites with 23 points were being trailed by The Greenhorns with 18 points. The best the Greenhorns could do at this point is hope for a tie for 1st place. This made Buckets pretty fun to watch and see what was going to happen. The Termites ran a 27.23 and had to wait for nine other teams to run before they knew their fate. A sigh of relief overcame the Termites when The Teddy’s Boys’ time of 28.61 was announced. The Greenhorns ran a 30.60 which guaranteed the Termites would be champs for the day. The Frogs and Bucks rounded out the top five with runs of 29.85 and 32.27 respectively.

This Drill ended with the top 5 teams driving onto the course the wrong way so to speak and lined up at an angle towards the arch. The rest of the teams who participated came down the course also. When the Lakeview Sparks made their way past the 1st place Termites and 2nd Place Greenhorns they were welcomed with a shower of liquids. Everyone christened the Sparks and clapped for them on a job well done at their first motorized drill in 2012. The hosts of this drill had a bandstand set up on the course past the hydrant where the top 5 trophies and the William St. George trophy; which is in a beautiful case, was presented to the New Hyde Park Termites. Everyone got together after a day of competing against each other to swap stories, give advice to each other and listen to the band play.

Full results of this drill can be found over at the www.NYSDrillTeams.com.

I try to keep my blog entries neutral but I have to touch on something. Watching the Sparks come out and run with the motorized teams made me very proud of a group of guys/gals that worked really hard. It also made me very proud of our sport as everyone welcomed them and even stopped by their camp with congrats and advice. It just goes to show that if you put in the practice, overcome the bumps in the road, you can fulfill your dreams and do what you grew up watching others do.

Up in the Western area of New York State a drill was held on June 30th, 2012 by the North Greece Fire Department. Here are the top five in points for that drill. (With the disadvantage of not attending this drill I cannot give your more than the below. We are always looking for writers so if you want your area represented more in depth please feel free to submit something via email to DrillTeamBlog@gmail.com.

Full results of this drill can also be found at www.NYSDrillTeams.com.