ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, December 26, 1996 TAG: 9612260066
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
The hope of the nine men at Roanoke's fire station on Noble Avenue Northeast was that they wouldn't have to go out on too many runs on Christmas day.
"I hate to see fire and illness" on Christmas, said Capt. Billy Obenchain. "This is one day I'd like to say that we were absolutely worthless."
The firemen and emergency medics on duty Christmas day had been out on only a few medical calls shortly after noon. None of them, fortunately, was serious. During the afternoon, their only fire call was to a small blaze on Melrose Avenue.
This shift, among the three working at the fire house, has pulled either Christmas or Christmas Eve for several years.
Obenchain and his family got up at 5 a.m. to celebrate Christmas with his two teen-age sons before he reported to work at 7. He and the others would then be on duty for 24 hours.
A few of the men from the prior shift had stayed over an hour or two that morning to cover for those who have smaller children.
But there was no Christmas party nor an exchange of gifts among the crew members themselves.
"It's 'Merry Christmas' and a handshake," Obenchain said. "We're all grateful we made it through [the last year] safely." The men did take time out, however, to remember one of their number who was lost this year because of Lou Gehrig's Disease.
Christmas was observed to some extent at the Noble Avenue station.
Instead of eating lunch and dinner, the crew had a special holiday breakfast whipped up by Ronnie Campbell. He produced an egg and sausage casserole, fried potatoes and waffles about 10 a.m.
As a Christmas gift, the two captains, Obenchain and Charles Fochtman, gave the men a holiday dinner of ribeye steak, shrimp, tossed salad and baked potato.
It's the captains' way of thanking the crew "for everything we expect of them during the year," Obenchain said.
The crew's hope was to eat the meal without being called out on an alarm. When they go, they must leave the fire house doors open, which is guaranteed to ruin a hot meal, especially at Christmastime. But Wednesday they were lucky. They had just finished the meal when they got another medical emergency call.
Sometimes in the past, the men have invited their families to share the meal, but not Wednesday. Most of their wives and children, they said, would rather visit relatives on Christmas.
But the day consisted of much more than eating.
Christmas began, in fact, with housekeeping. The crew washed down the kitchen and bathrooms and swept out the other rooms. Work clothes then were put in the washing machines. That's the first order of business every morning when a crew reports for work - weekdays, Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.
The trucks have to be washed as well on every shift, whether or not they have been in use.
Obenchain said the firemen on duty throughout the city on Wednesday tended to have one thing in common: most of them have worked for the department for 20 or fewer years. Vacation is assigned on the basis of seniority, he said, and those with the longest service are quick to grab Christmas week.
For those who were working, however, the fire station wasn't a bad place to be.
"We work well together," Obenchain said. "This is a mighty good group of men here."
"We spend one-third of our life together," he pointed out. They come together to man the fire station for 24 straight hours every third day.
The crew at the fire house, he said, is "our family away from family. If I can't be home with my family, this is second best."
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ERIC BRADY/Staff. Oscar Smith (left) and Chris Trusslerby CNBclean the fire trucks at Station No.2 as part of the daily chores,
even on Christmas.