Today we read an article which was linked in our news on rehabsector.org, entitled Fire Station Design: Funding Considerations for New Stations.

Writer Dr. Harry R. Carter makes several several interesting points about justifying the station you need by doing a good assessment of your needs and of the challenges you face.

But, he also notes that not everyone can design a usable fire station. More about that, shortly.

First, why would the "waterboys" care about fire stations, anyway? We care because the fire service is one of our main "customers" and we are dedicated to the wellbeing of our first reponders -- even the ones we will never meet. So, if we can help you shape your vision for what your new station should have, we'd like to.

We did some searching for resources for Fire Departments displaced by Hurricane Ike. Do you know who has some nifty ideas about fire station design? Nah, you'll never guess this.

There has been much beating of heads against walls to get pictures on the site. And now, we have pictures.

Image by William Degnan

VMERU, On Scene with a borrowed 5th Wheel Trailer, loaded with food and toys for Christmas. VMERU volunteers spent the week with Galveston EMS to help brighten their post-Hurricane Ike Christmas.

Once we found the correct checkbox, which was hidden in an obscure menu, all was revealed. Now, we've been playing at adding pictures. At the end of this story, there is a link to the first story in which we've started inserting images. You will begin to see images in many of the new posts and we'll be going back into some older posts to freshen them up with relevant images.

And, yes. You may right click an image, then select View Image to see larger versions of the imbeded images.

We think that, if a picture is worth a thousand words, this should save us some typing. Seriously, some pictures will make this site more interesting and will help us tell the story better.

For an example of an older story that has now been illustrated, please see No Reindeer and Sleigh for Operation Sandy Claus Deployment to Galveston .

Now, how do we use them?

It seemed like every story was on our front page. So we've cut down the number of stories that are "up front". But, how do we get to the rest of them?

The search function, lets you look for keywords and categories.

We've added some menu items which will lead you to VMERU written content, by "terms".

Not all our content has been categorized, yet. We'll go back and update the older content. New content will be in categories. If you read a story with content terms at the top, you may also click on a term to see other stories in that category.

Read More for list of links.

On the upper right side, at the top of the page, you will find a search box. It will help you find some of site's content. The advanced search option is worth exploring.

Your webmaster, on observing an usafe act, has been known to point and say, "If you look up 'stupid' in the dictionary, you'll find a picture of that guy."

Well, the chickens have come home to roost.

If you look up "Fire Department Rehab" on Wikipedia.org, you'll find this web site.

No, we're not the leading authority on care for responders at emergency scenes. But we do try to stay on top of best practices and we're developing some of our own.

Volunteer Mobile Emergency Response Unit

Bottled Water and Nutritious Snack Donations Needed

Caldwell County residents are invited to help the Volunteer Mobile Emergency Response Unit provide care for responders in this area.

We need:

Cases of Bottled Water

Cases of Sports Drink
(Gator Aid, Power Aid)

Sports Drink Powder

Nutritious Snacks
(individually wrapped) such as:
Granola Bars, Raisins,
Fig bars, Oatmeal cookies, Animal crackers

First Aid Supplies (New)

Please bring items to the Caldwell County Annex at

All meetings are held on the 1st Monday of each month. Please do NOT bring your children to the meetings as we do not want to disturb the normal functions of the Bastrop County Sheriff's Office.Our Meetings begin promptly at 7:00 PM.and and run until 9:00 PM. The Bastrop County Sheriff's Office is located at 200 Jackson Street, Bastrop, TX 78602.

• Monday-April 5th 2010
• Monday May 3rd 2010
• Monday-June 7th 2010
• Monday-July 5th 2010
• Monday-August 2nd 2010
• Monday-September 6th 2010
• Monday-October 4th 2010