Station 51, Move-Up to Athens Greece Station #1 - Part IV

by

Dino B.

The men of station 51 shook hands with the crew that met them on their arrival at their new station, after arriving from the airport. "It's great to be here guys. Thanks. Now we have to go meet the Director. Which way is his office??" Capt Stanley asked.

"Right this way. On the second floor." Their driver and guide told them.

The 6 men followed the Lieutenant up the stairs to the second floor, where he stopped and announced to the Director, "They're here Sir, the men from Los Angeles in the United States."

"Send them in and thanks Tom for helping them here." The Director said. The Lieutenant left them and went back downstairs, leaving the 6 visitors to meet the smiling chief.

"Well, well. So happy to have you boys here. How was your flight & did everything go OK???"

"It was great sir, this is the furthest east any of us have been before, and we're glad for the opportunity to be here." Capt Stanley said. "We've been anxious to get to know what we will be doing while here."

"Well men, you will spend about 1-2 weeks here in Athens & the port area, getting to know the feel of things here, then we'll send you North to Thessaloniki, the next major city north to observe them for a week. Then, you'll go south to the Peloponesian area, to get to observe things down there, especially when our brush/forest fire season starts. From what I understood by talking to your chief, you men are experts out there in fighting these types of fires, so you should be right at home. Then, you'll visit a few of the islands and see their operations and return here, before heading home. Your chief said that all this is fine, but he would recall you back if they really needed you for something big."

The men looked at each other with interest as they heard what was planned.

"Any questions??" He asked.

"I do. When will we be able to do any sightseeing while here, and what kind of shifts will we work??" Chet asked.

"You can do some sightseeing today, if you feel up to it, but I'd recommend getting some rest in the bunkroom, being you just got offf a long flight and trip here. There is a McDonalds right down the street, near the square by the Presidential Palace front that you passed, and a few other restaurants also. I'd recommend drinking either bottled water, or metallic, which is filtered here and during your stay, otherwise you may have a few problems afterwards."

"I have one final question here sir," pipped up Roy, "what kind of phones do you have here for us to call our families back home, and while we're out in other areas???"

"I was able to get a few phone cards for you to get you started. They should give you five minutes each at our card phone downstairs. In other places you'll have to buy them yourself. They're about $3 or more ur money." He answered. "Is that all?? Ok lets get you to your bunks and take it from there." He calls outside, "Lieutenant Panagiotopoulos, can you please come here a moment??"

"Yes sir??" Tom said

"Take these men to the sleeping area and show them where they can sleep. After that, you can arrange where they'll be on the trucks to go out if they feel up to it. Here's a map of the area. I circled where we're at on it, should you need it."

"Yes sir. Let's go guys." And with that, they headed back downstairs and got their bags and headed to the bunkroom to get them ready.



Meanwhile, Back in Los Angeles



The wives and 6 family members of Station 51 were at the station, discussing what their husbands and stationmates were doing, and awaiting their call to say they arrived all right.

"I wonder why it's taking them so long to call." Joanne said. "They should have gotten there by now."

"Hank told me they had to check in with their chief after they got there, they probably haven't had the chance to find a phone yet." Hank's wife said

"I'm sure they're fine. Nothing's been on the news that would scare us." Beth Stoker said.

Just then, Capt Hookraider came in and said, I just got off the phone woth the airlien, the plane did land safely, so it shouldn't be too mcuh longer."

The family members cheered as the phone rang.

"Station 51, Capt Hookraider speaking, may I help you??"

"Yeah Jim, this is Hank, we arrived safely and just are getting a chance to call. Let me speak to my wife would you??"

"Sure thing Hank, here she is." the Capt said handing her the phone.

"Hi honey, we're here in one piece and it's better than we expected."

"Oh sweetie, i'm so happy for you. Be safe and try and enjoy yourselved." Hank's wife said.

"I will. Now pass the phone to Joanne and the kids who are probably driving her crazy with the nagging to talk to their daddy and uncle Johnny."

In the next few minutes, the remaining 5 members of station 51 spoke with their families and let them know everything was ok and that they were safe.



A few miles away at Rampart Hospital



The phone rang and Carol answered, "Rampart Emergency, Carol speaking."

"Carol, it's Dixie. Kell & I arrived safely here and ran into a surprise on the plane."

"Oh really??"

"Yeah the boys of Station 51's A shift were going the same way on some sort of exchange program. We ran into them on the plane."

"Wow that's great. Joe's right here and so is Mike, if Kell want's to talk to them."

"Put Joe on, while I pass Kell the phone." Dixie said, passing Dr. Brackett the phone.

"Hi Kell, glad to hear you guys made it. I also heard you ran into our favorite LA Fire crew also." Joe said.

"Yes we did, and they looked like they were ready for what they were gonna do. Hope they learn something good and interesting, it should be a good experience for all of them." Kell said.

"I agree, here's Mike now." Dr. Early said handing the phone to Dr. Morton.

"Hi Kell, glad to hear you guys made it in one piece."

"Thanks Mike, glad to hear you also. Listen, I hate to be rude, but Dix and I are feeling sleepy, so we're gonna let you guys go. Tell Joe to keep things under control for me and keep Brice out of trouble."

Will do Kell" Dr Morton said as he hung up. "Guess the jet lag got to them. THey should be feeling better in the morning." Mike said, as Dr. early agreed and went back to work.



Back In Athens



The 6 men finished their calls and decided they were going to the McDonalds for a bite to eat before hitting the sack for a few hours.

As they walked down the street the admired the scenery and the architecture of the old buildings, marveling as to how well built they are, and thinking about how they would fight a fire in them as they approached the McDonalds.

As they approached the counter, each man looked over the choices and ordered their food. Paying the cost, they saw that it totaled about what it would cost back in LA, minus the sales tax. As they headed to the seating area, they saw a few open spaces near the window overlooking the street where all the single guys could check out the women.

"Man, look at the variety out there, Germany, Sweden, places like that." Johnny commented.

"Yeah, and I heard they can be pretty wild too." Chet added.

Marco Roy and Mike shook their heads at how their two LA romeos were sizing up the competition like they did back home.

"Just remember guys, the laws here are a bit stricter in some ways than back home, so be careful and don't do anything that could be embarassing, or illegal." Hank said.

"Right Cap" John and Chet said

As they enjoyed their food, a man gasped and started turning blue a few tables away from them. Immediately, Roy & Johnny ran over to him.

"Sir, are you chocking?? Can you breath??" Roy asked as Johnny got behind the man and prepared to do the heimlich maneuver on him.

The man nodded that he was chocking & that he couldn't breath, so Johnny began administering the forceful abdominal thrusts to expel the food, while Hank sent chet to have the manager call for a ambulance for them.

Within a few moments, the piece came out of his mouth and he started to breath again, as the ambulance pulled up outside. Hank sent Mike & Marco out to get the crew as Roy and johnny calmed the man and his companion down, now being extremely thankful.

"Thank you, thank you. You saved his life. How can we ever repay you???" The man's wife said repeatedly with her German accent.

"It is no problem at all. We do this every day at work. We work for a fire department back in the United States, and the 2 men who saved your husband save people every day they work as paramedics." Hank said as the ambulance crew got to their patient.

"Nice job guys, this is my partner and that's our nurse. If you'd like, we'll take you along to the hospital and show you what our casualty room, er emergency room looks like and how our ambulances work." The senior of the 2 ambulance crew members said.

the 6 men looked at Hank to see what he said. "Well guys, we did just fly in today, but if you feel up to it, go ahead." Then he said to the ambulance crew, we're staying at station #1 behind the palace for most of our time here. I'm sure you will get my guys there afterwards, right??" Hank asked.

"Sure thing. Let's get going. Sir, we're gonna get you checked out by the doctor at the hos[ital and you can go from there. Ma'am, you can ride in front."

"OK." She said and got in the front of the ambulance as they 4 men and nurse loaded the patient into the back of the ambulance. Once the driver got in front, they left for the hospital, with lights flashing and sirens blaring.

On arriving at the hospital, the patient was quickly wheeled in and checked out by the doctors there, leaving Roy & Johnny outside to wait. As they waited for the 2 ambulance cre members to exit, they looked aroud and examined the ER.

"Man, look at all this stufff. Looks like locl version of Rampart, but bigger." Johnny said.

"Yes it does, I see the nurses station, but no radio to use. Guess they aren't that far along here, as back home." Roy added, as he surveyed the ER.

One of the doctor's that was in the room came out and spoke to them.

"Hi, i'm Dr. Nick Karagiannini. You guys saved his life. I found out from his wife and the 2 men from the ambulance that you do this every day back home as paramedics. Well, from what I've heard, you do a good job back home, and apparantly when you travel. What brings you to Greece??"

So at this point, Johnny and Roy start filling in the doctor on what their role will be and what the local fire department had planned for them, even telling him some of the duties.

"I admire your bravery and courage to do this here and your work back home. I know that your job can be very dangerous at times, because i've treated many a firefighter here from injuries. I have also pronounced many of them dead also. A lot of people here don't appreciate what you do while working, but I do."

As he finished, the 2 ambulance members came out and offered to take them back to the station to get some rest after their trip.

As they headed to the station in the ambulance, Johnny commented "Man Roy, I wasn't feeling tired at all until the driver mentioned it. I'll be glad to get some more rest."

"Me too Junior." Rpy said as they pulled up short of the station and they got out of the ambulance.

Back at the station, the men hat worked there were surprised to see the men getting out of the ambulance, and ran over to see what happened.

As the walked in together, Hank filled the men in on what happened when they went to eat and what had been done. The firefighters shook their hands and clasped their shoulders to show their approval.

"Guys, I know you want us to continue, but we need some rest. It's been a long day and we're tired. We'll tell you more later or tomorrow. I believe there should be a shift change soon. Let the know about us and we'll be down later, to meet them."

The men agreed as the visitors headed up to bed to get some rest.

"Man, this is gonna be strange. We'll be working, but will get some decent sleep on a shift, without having to worry about getting called out." Chet said.

"Well Chet, we will need to get up later, so take care and sleep well. Lights out guys, and oh, 1 long ring means that it's a structure fire response on the bell system." Hank said as he set his alarm clock to wake them up in 8 hours.


To Be Continued In Part 5