On Wednesday, 1st September, after saving our pennies, Kevin McSweeney, Steven Doig and I embarked on a trip from Euston Fire Station to College Station, Texas to present a commemorative Fire-fighter's axe each to Billy Parker and Stephen Wright.

The trip was a complete success, the highlight of which was a lavish barbecue at the home of Bob Koenig and his lovely wife Patsy. Bob had invited several guests to make the occasion even more special and we enjoyed Bob's fine hospitality with Mr and Mrs Jim Yeager, Mr and Mrs Stephen Wright, Mr and Mrs Johnny Mendez and son, Matthew, Billy Parker, Scott Hill, Jeff Jackson, Joe Otineru, (the new Hawaiian instructor at TEEX who trained on one of the London courses) and last but not least, Kyra Gunn and Meagan Goddard, both from our home away from home, the Courtyard by Marriott.

The evening’s weather was hot with smoke provided courtesy of Bob's culinary skills at the Barbecue. We arranged flowers and a small gift for Patsy for making the evening so special, and a cook’s hat for Bob which, unfortunately, he wore all night. Following our meal, we called the guests together to formally present the axes to Billy and Stephen on behalf of all in the London Fire Brigade Urban Search and Rescue Response Team. A few words were said on behalf of Denis O’Driscoll and both Billy and Stephen appeared to be sincerely touched. They have asked us to relay their heartfelt thanks to you all and have promised to write an article for the next Newsletter.

Barbecue at Bob's

The remainder of the trip saw us helping out at the Texas Task Force 1 hangar preparing the cache of equipment ready for a possible deployment as Hurricane Frances and Hurricane Ivan approached Florida. The team remained un-deployed as a result of Hurricane damage in Florida, but were deployed last week to the southern US state of Alabama which was hit full-on by Hurricane Ivan, with winds of up to 135mph (217km/h) battering the coastline.

TX-TF1's response to Hurricane Ivan

As our trip neared its end, we bid our fond farewells and headed back to London via Houston with a stop over in Atlanta. As we arrived in Atlanta, the outskirts of Hurricane Frances hit town and grounded all flights. We were put up in a first class hotel, courtesy of Delta Airlines until our flight could continue some 24 hours later. On boarding the plane, we had a further surprise as the three of us were upgraded to First Class. We obviously objected but the flight crew insisted so we were forced to spend the trip back home in reclining leather seats, with individually chosen films, champagne and a three-course menu. What a bind!

Howdy From Texas

“ Wow! is the only way I can start out this article that I have been so graciously asked to write on behalf of us Texans. What an incredible journey we have been on during this past year. When we first heard that we were going to have British Firefighters stay with us for two weeks at a time, we really didn’t know what to expect or, most importantly, the impact all of you would have on us as a whole.

We patiently waited for the first group to arrive in September. We didn’t know what to expect as the first bus unloaded, then the second. What we encountered were rough and tough firefighters that we couldn’t really understand. ‘The Loo, where is the loo'? We pondered, looking at each other as if they had a third head, and then finally realising they were looking for the bathroom! The ‘loo’, the ‘lift’, and many other British words and phrases became a second language to us as the classes came and went throughout the year.

What took us by surprise was how the British could shop us out of house and home! We never saw so many shopping bags from Academy and Wal-Mart in our lives! And we saw it all! Clothes, jewellery for wives and girlfriends, toys for children and grandchildren and even a motor boat engine was bought! Who would have thought! Just to let you all know, both Academy and Wal-Mart have since laid off more than half of their store clerks because they don’t have the revenue coming in anymore (just kidding).

Most importantly, we didn’t expect the wonderful friendships we formed along the way. We will treasure all the stories that were shared with us. All the fun times everyone had, the football matches, the games of bowling, the crazy weekend trips, the shooting gallery, the nights of dancing at the Texas Hall of Fame, and even the hay-rides through the Christmas lights were fun. And let us not forget the many nights at any one of the local ‘pubs’.

To everyone who ventured here to Texas, you became our extended family. We can’t tell you enough that we miss all of you very much. Thank you for letting us into your lives. Thank you for becoming our friends across the ocean. We were so blessed to have met all of you. Just remember, you will always have friends in Texas.

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