VAFireNews.com has continued to grow this year. The site continues to feed off of content sent in by the readers and firefighters of the great State of Virginia. Please continue sending in your photos, videos, press releases, news, and information. VAFireNews.com has been built by those people who send information in to be shared.

Whether you have a news story, link, video, photo, or other information to share, we have created a site that is contingent upon sharing information.

Be sure to connect with us on Facebook and on Twitter @VAFireNews

We will offer more in the future as needed! Keep sending in information. Our email address is editor@vafirenews.com. Put us on your list!

Here is our year in review:

• Facebook Fans : 2792
• Twitter Followers: 817

Most popular read stories:

1. King George County Fire and EMS Respond to Fatal Virginia Trooper Crash
2. Virginia Fire Chief Finds Fame on Discover Channel’s New Show Moonshiners
3. LODD – Fairfax County Firefighter Horace C. Chris Pendergrass
4. Photos: Roanoke Firefighters Battle Multi-Alarm Fire at Days Inn
5. New Early Video: Watch Flashover Occur at Two Alarm Fire in Fairfax County. 4 Firefighters Injured
6. Going Back in time – Roanoke, Virginia
7. 5.9 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Mineral, Virginia North of Richmond
8. Virginia Burns During Rare Red Flag Warning
9. Volunteer Firefighter Arrested for DUI During Joyride in Fire Engine
10. Virginia’s Longest Aerial Ladder?
11. New Delivery: Portsmouth Receives 11 New Pieces of Apparatus
12. New Delivery: Arlington County Bomb Squad
13. LODD  Arrangements for Fairfax County Firefighter Horace Pendergrass
14. Virginia’s Unusual Apparatus, or Going Back in Time: Greater Manassas Volunteer Rescue Squad
15. Remembrance – Robert W. Bobby King

Our friend Captain Willie Wines Jr. is the firefighter behind the popular blog "IronFiremen.com". He is a Captain in Roanoke, VA.

Top Referring Web Sites:

1. IronFiremen.com
2. FireCritic.com
3. FireGeezer.com
4. FireTruckBlog.com
5. FalmouthFire.com
6. IndianaFireTrucks.com
7. RoanokeFirefighters.com
8. STATter911.com
9. RoanokeFire.com
10. ODHFS.com

Your VAFireNews.com Editor Rhett Fleitz will by broadcasting live from FDIC. Rhett is the co-host of Firefighter Netcast with John Mitchell. Firefighter Netcast is “Live radio and podcasts for firefighters”.

Our show schedule can be found here.

We will be taping discussions with some fire service personalities as well as streaming live radio from the floor at FDIC.

Tonight (Wednesday April 21) offers our regularly scheduled live netcast as well (link). On Thursday morning we will begin our show schedule from the floor at FDIC.

Planned show guests are Billy Goldfeder, Ray Gayk, Fred Simon, Tom Merrill, Tiger Schmittendorf, Christopher Naum, Ron Siarnicki, Justin Schorr, Chris Kaiser, and many more.

Check us out live on the floor at FDIC as well. We will be at booth #3755 home of Fire Rescue Magazine, Firefighter Nation, and FireEMSBlogs.com.

First Due Blog Carnival Episode 1 “I Am A Firefighter Because…” – The Fire Critic

Check out the first ever Blog Carnival for Fire Blogs. The First Due Blog Carnival was thought up by many fire bloggers and the 1st episode went live today! Follow this link for the entire post.

You get to find out how and why some great fire bloggers became firefighters!

Excerpt: Joe Schmoe’s take on “I Am A Firefighter Because…” offers his introduction to the fire service following a very exciting career as a juvenile delinquent (jk). A great read! If you don’t read his blog “Report on Conditions” regularly you are missing out on a great fire blog! Who doesn’t like this guy? He writes an anonymous blog yet offers great posts from his job as well as funny stuff everywhere. This guy is hilarious! Tune in for his posts regularly.

Continue reading… First Due Blog Carnival Episode 1 “I Am A Firefighter Because…” – The Fire Critic.

Editors Note: For those of you who do not know it, I am also The Fire Critic. I run the blog along with VAFireNews.com and some other sites. I felt compelled to share this story from FireCritic.com and give everyone an account of why I became a firefighter. I hope you enjoy! Below is just an excerpt of the story. Follow the link at the bottom for the complete story.

I Am A Firefighter Because… – The Fire Critic

This post is about why I am a firefighter. This is also my submission to the first episode of the First Due Blog Carnival. I have put off this post as long as possible because I am worried that I will not give proper credence to a topic which really envelopes a large part of my life. So here goes…

First off I would like to say that I am one of those “Run to the Curb” kids. As far back as I can remember, I always turned my neck to watch fire trucks when we drove by. I also ran to the curb to see the fire trucks when they drove by. The trucks and the firemen were larger than life. My childhood was very innocent and I only hope that my children are growing up in a similar World even if us adults know very different.

Testing

There I was at the ripe old age of 17. My testing with the high school counselor said that I should be a cop…ugh. The thought of being a cop was intriguing, but much like some people cannot fathom the idea of running into a burning building, I cannot fathom being shot at or worst of all the potential of taking another life in self defense.

I needed to find something different.

Continue reading… I Am A Firefighter Because… – The Fire Critic.

The entire webteam here at VAFireNews.com has been hard at work to bring you the best in Fire and EMS news coverage here in Virginia. We have added a new feature to our homepage….VIDEOS!

Currently we will run all Youtube videos on the right hand sidebar just below some of the advertisements.——>

Be sure to check out our advertisers and support them because they support us!

If you have a youtube video to share, just email us the embed code or the link and we will put it up on the site!

You can still see all of our videos, not just the youtube ones here: http://www.vafirenews.com/category/videos/

If there is something you want to see on our site just let us know. We don’t have time to scour each individual website to see what is going on, who is running the fires, and who is running the wrecks…but if you let us know we will post it!!!

Stay Safe

VAFireNews.com Editor Rhett Fleitz

This past year has been a huge year for VAFireNews.com. At the beginning of the year we polished off the reformatting of the site to the wordpress interface. This move created many new benefits for the readers as well as me the editor. Last month, I put the finishing touches on what I will call VAFireNews.com version 3.0 going to the design you are currently looking at. In the past two months there have been some huge changes that you may have noticed and others you might not have.

I have connected with many new PIO’s this year and hope to connect with more. PIO’s offer press releases that I otherwise could not get my hands on. If you would like, please add my email editor@vafirenews.com to your list or email me and let me know what I need to do.

There are plenty of other changes to come your way. If you would like to toss an idea my way feel free.

The numbers don’t lie. The stories below are the most read for the past year. They are in order from 10 – 1, 1 being the most read story of the year. Special thanks to Mike Sanders, Nate Camfiord, Barry Slagle, Scott Fritz, Karl Stoltzfus Jr. (pictures), Thomas T. “Tommy” Warshaw III, and me (Rhett Fleitz) for the most read stories of the year.

Maybe YOUR story will be the most read next year! Anyone can contribute!

The top articles for the year are as follows:

10. Apparatus Profile – Farmville Fire Department – Submitted by Thomas T. “Tommy” Warshaw III While on leave from SC visiting my parents in Keysville, I decided to drive up to Farmville and pay their fire department a visit.The Farmville FD provides services to the Town of Farmville, Virginia and to the surrounding areas in portions of Prince Edward, Cumberland, and Buckingham Counties. Farmville is home to Longwood University, Green Front Furniture, Southside Community Hospital and the Farmville Regional Airport. The Department’s 45 volunteer members provide fire suppression, education, and prevention services to the nearly 10,000 people in their first due area from the station located in downtown Farmville.

9. House Fire Destroys Farmhouse in Roanoke County – Firefighter Injured - January 11, 2009 (ROANOKE COUNTY) — Roanoke County Fire & Rescue is currently on the scene of a house fire in the 4800 block of Glade Creek Road. The department was dispatched just before 4:30 p.m. today to the house for a reported structure fire. When firefighters first arrived they found a two-story wood framed farmhouse with heavy smoke and flames coming from it. The house is estimated to be about 3500 square feet and about 100 years old. Crews originally tried to fight this fire from within the home, but soon had to retreat because it was too dangerous. Career and Volunteer crews from the Read Mountain, Vinton, Hollins, and Mount Pleasant stations now have to battle this fire from outside the home. Additional fire crews from Botetourt are assisting with fire suppression efforts.

8. Apparatus Profile – Elkton Volunteer Fire Company - by Mike Sanders

Organized in 1927, the Elkton Volunteer Fire Company is located in the northeastern corner of Rockingham County. Harrisonburg is the closest city, and you can get to Elkton by taking Route 33 from Harrisonburg – just under 20 miles. Elkton is located near a part of Skyline Drive and is a primarily rural and mountainous area. It is also near the Page County line. Elkton has an interesting apparatus roster with some nice trucks. Engine company operations are handled by two Seagrave engines. Engine 35 is a 1992 Seagrave TB model equipped with a 1500 gallon per minute pump and carries 1000 gallons of water. It is the departments first out piece for calls outside of Elkton. Engine 36 is a 2001 Seagrave TB, equipped with a 2000 gallon per minute pump and also carrying 1000 gallons of water. Engine 36 is first out for calls in Elkton, Massanutten Mountain, and Skyline Drive. It also carries extrication equipment.

7. 4 Alarm Fire In Fairfax County 18 Box - On Monday January 19th at 22:45hrs Fairfax County PSCC dispatched a commercial structure fire assignment in Box area 18 (Jefferson), consisting of Engine Companies 418, 430, 413 & 408, Tower Ladders 430 & 408, Rescue Company 418, Medic 418, Battalion Chiefs 404 & 402, EMS Captains 404 & 402. Units arrived to find heavy fire and smoke conditions throughout a large grocery store. A partial collapse of the roof occurred, and Command officers ordered a defensive operation. The fire would eventually go to 4 Alarms, summoning over 120 Firefighters to the scene. The building, located at 8100 Arlington Boulevard, sustained heavy fire, smoke and water damage throughout the structure. Damage was estimated at approximately $4.5 Million.

6. New Delivery – Weyers Cave Rescue Pumper – Photo by Karl Stoltzfus Jr. Information from Weyers Cave VFD Submitted by Barry Slagle The Weyers Cave Vol. Fire Company of Augusta County Virginia recently received their new KME Predator rescue pumper that features the department’s unique dark green paint color, genuine 22 carat gold leaf lettering and striping scheme, as well as high intensity Chevron striping on the full height rear surfaces of the outer side compartments. The cab and body features the Class-1 multiplexed electrical system with remote diagnostics capability for enhanced electrical. The power train is a Cummins ISL 425 hp engine with an Allison EVS3000 series automatic transmission with Jacobs engine brake.

5. Dale City Opens New Firehouse - By Nate Camfiord

The Dale City Volunteer Fire Department recently celebrated the grand opening of their new firehouse, located on Dale Boulevard in eastern Prince William County. Station 10 (Edgar B. Van Horn station) replaces the departments aging firehouse, and is situated approximately 1/4 of a mile west of the original facility. The station is equipped with many distinct features, including “DC style” folding bay doors, a fire pole, a slide, along with a separate bay exclusively dedicated to showcasing the departments rich history and housing the departments historic Hahn engine.

4. Fairfax County and Prince William County Firefighters Battle House Fire - By Nate Camfiord Mutual Box Media On Tuesday morning units from Fairfax County, Fairfax City and Prince William County responded to a house fire at 13135 Compton Road in Clifton. Units arrived to find a 2 story, single family dwelling, with heavy fire showing. Due to the ruralness of the dispatched address a Tanker Task Force was requested, summoning resources from throughout the county, with additional assistance from Prince William County Station 16. The fire took approximately 45 minutes to control. There were no injuries reported.

3. Apparatus Profile – Natural Bridge Volunteer Fire Department - by Mike Sanders

The Natural Bridge Volunteer Fire Department is Station 11 in Rockbridge County and is located just off of Interstate 81 and very close to the “Natural Bridge”. The Natural Bridge is 215 feet tall and 90 feet wide and has been designated a National and Virginia historical landmark. It was surveyed by George Washington and once owned by Thomas Jefferson.

2. Virginia’s “Unusual” fire apparatus – Bland 24 Oshkosh - by Mike Sanders mnsand@comcast.net

Welcome to a new feature of www.vafirenews.com. Everyone has their own definition of what “unusual” might be. Virginia has had some unusual fire and rescue trucks in its history. In addition, through my travels, I have come across some interesting fire and rescue trucks. These are trucks that have been built for a specific purpose and ones you just don’t find in many stations across the commonwealth.

1. New Delivery – Bluefield Tower 78 – Submitted by Scott Fritz Regional Sales Manager Singer Associates Town of Bluefield, VA Pierce Velocity 100’ Sky Arm Articulating Aerial Platform TAK-4 Independent Front Suspension Side Roll Protection Frontal Air Bags 6-Man cab 5 Hands-Free SCBA Brackets Cummins ISM 500 hp engine Waterous S100 2000 gpm pump Husky 12 Foam System to 6 discharges Hercules 200 cfm CAFS system to 6 discharges 300 gallon water tank/30 gallon foam tank Safety Vision Backup Camera System 20 kW Harrison hydraulic generator Havis Shields 120V lights Whelen LED lighting package Akron 3578 electric platform monitor with 2.5” discharge Pierce paint and graphics

Thanks again for everything

Your VAFireNews.com editor
Rhett Fleitz

A message from the Editor:

I would like to welcome all of you to the brand new VAFireNews.com. I have spent the better part of the past two months searching for the new look of the site and have spent the last two weeks implementing it.

There is still some work to be done, but the basic look and feel of the site is complete.

I still have some new areas to implement. Those will come with time.

Please feel free to let me know what you think via comments, email, or the contact form. I have a  list of known issues I am working on one at a time. I love to hear from my readers and would love to hear what you think about the new site! Hell email me and I will give you my phone number if you want to bend my ear!

There are some things you should know about using the new site that are different from the last. First of all, not everything will be showing up in the News section. On the old site, all new articles were tagged News and you could follow them in that area. Now it is different.

The Featured section is still at the top. Under that is the News stories which are submitted and have photos. The Apparatus are below in two sections. All other news that is pulled from local sites are placed in the “Breaking News” area.

I certainly hope you enjoy the new site.

Some of the new areas are going to be:

• A detailed webpage for each City and County detailing apparatus, links, photos, and news.
• A secure submission page that will allow photos and information to be submitted through the site.

If you have apparatus for sale please contact me immediately for an opportunity to advertise for free through the end of the month! Check it out at USAFireTrucks.com.

Thanks for following along!!!

Rhett Fleitz
Editor
VAFireNews.com

Readers,

It has now been just over a year since I moved VAFireNews.com to wordpress. I am ecstatic over the the progress made with the site and the submissions I have received over the past year. The site continues to grow in readership as well.

The look I picked in the beginning (what you are looking at now – version 2.0) has really worked. However, I have spent a lot of time trying to figure out the look for VAFireNews.com version 3.0.

What you can expect with the future version 3.0 is basically the same content with a new look. I might move some stuff around, but it will all be here. It was unfortunate that I had to leave behind all the old stuff when I moved to version 2.0, but it was not cost efficient to have it all moved to the new site.

Version 3.0 will offer a complete new look to the homepage and the pages within. The look will offer a little better use of the homepage and make it easier to find the latest news.

I hope to bring back some of the other areas of the site which have not gotten many submissions this past year like the Recruit School’s, Around the Station, and others.

One big change which I have been working on with some colleagues is an independent site for selling apparatus. If you have apparatus to sell please email me (editor@vafirenews.com) or use the contact form. I have some great news on our new venture which will be a huge benefit for selling your apparatus.

Most of all, I want to thank all the contributors who have kept with me along the way. You guys have been the best.

I will be revamping the submission information to help others get in on the action and promote your calls, training, departments, etc.

Feel free to let me know if you have something you would like to add to the site. I am always open to suggestions!

I will be letting you know when I begin the rebuild of the site. More than likely, the site will be offline for a day or so while I switch it over. I will try to give as much warning as possible!

Thanks for everything

Editor
Rhett Fleitz

I have been busy working hard here at VAFireNews.com headquarters. I have been updating the site with some of the features that everyone enjoyed before we went to this new template. Take a look at what I have accomplished.

First of all, let me say that if you have anything to share, or anything to add to the new areas or old areas please get it to me via email.

Secondly, don’t forget about VirginiaFireEMSJobs.com and VAEMSNews.com.

VirginiaFireEMSJobs.com has a lot of great job postings in the Virginia area. Be sure to check them out. Also be sure to forward the link to your HR and let us know when your department is hiring.

VAEMSNews.com is still struggling. The companion site to VAFireNews.com was created because some in the Virginia EMS system felt as though VAFireNews.com turned its nose up to EMS. That is not the case, although I created the site. We are looking for submissions, news, incidents, and writers. Please let us know if you are interested.

Today, I put the finishing touches on the following additions to VAFireNews.com

• Patch Gallery – Offered in alphabetical order. Check out A-D, E-L, M-P, R-Z. If your department’s patch isn’t there send it to us. Be sure to look under department name and/or County, City name.
• Virginia Fire/EMS Books – Check it out, let us know if you have any to add. If you want, we provided the link to purchase a book if you like.
• License Plate Gallery – Unfortunately, I could not find all the old file images I had for these so we started over. Send in your plates if you would like to share.
• Virginia Fire News Magazine – While we are not affiliated with the magazine, we do like giving free publicity occasionally. I have added information on the mag, contact info, and an image for your liking.

Thanks for enjoying our websites. Please let us know what you think. We love to hear from our readers!

Take care…Rhett Fleitz

Thank you all for bearing with me. I have finally figured out why the site has been loading so very slow at times. Some of you all probably didn’t notice it at all, others of you it probably pissed you off a lot!

Either way, the site will load a lot quicker for you all now.

I have also added many videos to the site. The videos are not always  posted on the front page, however you can always check in to see what has been added by clicking here or on the “video” button on the navigation bar.

Thanks for tuning in. As always, if there is anything you need please contact me using the contact form on the navigation bar!!!

Stay Safe.

Here is an incomplete list of Twitter users from across the Fire and EMS World. These are must reads for many in the Fire and EMS Service. The information posted on Twitter by these guys/gals is a great tool for keeping up with what is going on in our service.  As always, if you would like to be added just leave a comment. I might update if there is a lot of additions. Feel free to utilize this list and link to it.

First up is our (Prinston Media Sites) twitter page:
@FireFleitz – VAFireNews.com, VAEMSNews.com, VirginiaFireEMSJobs.com. You might ask why we picked “FireFleitz” well that is because it is the username of the editor. In order to simplify things we just stayed with it instead of creating different names for different sites.

I added some of the links to the actual websites on the right. The Twitter page links are on the left. These are in no particular order.

• @STATter911 -  STATter 911
• @FossilMedic – FireGeezer
• @Bill Schumm – FireGeezer
• @SteveWhitehead - The EMT Spot
• @FireBlogger – The Firefighter Blog
• @EMSUnited – EMS United
• @firelinkcom – FireLink.com
• @dcfireems – DC Fire/EMS Department
• @firenation – Firefighter Nation
• @ffhourly – FirefighterHourly.com
• @firefighterspot
• @EMS1
• @JEMSConnect
• @PGFDPIO
• @wsdarley
• @Firehouse.comTraining - Firehouse.com Training
• @FirehouseLODD – Firehouse.com LODD
• @FirehouseNews - Firehouse.com News
• @FireGames – United States Firefighter Games
• @firechatter
• @GAFirefighters
• @fla_firefighter
• @campusfirewatch
• @FireRescue1
• @LA Times Fire News
• @LAFDtalk
• @LAFD
• @firejobs
• @Firetrainingresources
• @FireLineEquip
• @thehappymedic
• @FireNews.net
• @petelamb
• @Fireground News
• @rakeman
• @Chiefsupply
• @firepics1075
• @TheFirehouseGirls – The Firehouse Girls
• @FirehouseSubs – Firehouse Subs
• @FirehouseBrew – Firehouse Brew
• @FiredUpForKids – FiredUpForKids.org
• @FirefighterExam – Firefighterexam.com
• @firetactics
• @firephotos
• @FFBehavior
• @firecompanies
• @virginiaems
• @EMSNews
• @VirginiaBeachEMS
• @PhillyFireNews
• @WildFireToday

Get your news via Twitter.

We here (ok me) at Prinston Media are always seeking new ways to make your lives easier. We have recently made the necessary adjustments on Twitter so that you can follow along on Twitter for all of the news from this site, VAEMSNews.com, and VirginiaFireEMSJobs.com. Every hour, the servers at twitter update with any updated news from our sites and incorporate them into our Twitter Feed.

Check it out for yourself here: @FireFleitz

As always, let us know if you have other ideas for us because we love to work especially when it means making your life easier!

After all, these are our readers websites. We want to make sure we are doing our jobs and getting the news to you ASAP. We are merely the grease on the wheel!

By Rhett Fleitz

The Remington Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department is located in Fauquier County and is made up of Engine Company 2 and Rescue Company 14. Visit the Remington VFR online here.

This past weekend I had the enjoyment of spending some time with the Brothers and Sisters of Remington Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department as well as some neighbors from Catlett VFR. I had a blast. I was in town for the Annual Awards Banquet. I was asked to be the guest speaker and could not see letting them down. While public speaking is not my best attribute, I did not mind polishing my skills and talking to them for just a short while.

I got up to Remington around 1pm and met the guys at the fire station. The Station is still under construction, which began in October 2007. Needless to say, they cannot wait to get it completed. Sargeant Rob Elam met me at the station and gave me the grand tour of the new station and renovation to the old station. Basically, the multi-million dollar renovation included a bay with 9 doors and room for over a dozen pieces of equipment; a fully functional training room which can be divided into two; and generator to power the station if needed; and a radio room. The renovation also included turning the old station including the bays and turning them into the offices, day room, and bunk rooms. The station should be complete soon and I know the firefighters and EMT’s are waiting for it.

The firefighters were more than willing to help me as they moved the trucks around for me to do various photos.

Special thanks to Renee Ledrew who invited me, Rob Elam, Billy Ledrew, Ian Brill, Joe Williams, and all the others who welcomed me with open arms. I appreciate everything.

To view the EMS side of the Remington VFR please visit the story with pictures on VAEMSNews.com.

Here is a rundown of the apparatus:

Engine 2 – 1994 Pierce Dash, 8 Person Cab, 1500 GPM 2 Stage Pump, 1000 Gallons of Water, (2) 1-3/4″ 200′ Crosslay, 1600′ 3″ Supply Line

Wagon 2 – 1988 Pierce Arrow 6v Detroit Diesel, 6 person cab, 1500 GPM 2 stage pump, 750 gallons of water, (2) 1-3/4″ 200′ Crosslay, 1600′ 3″ Supply Line

Rescue 2 – 1996 Freightliner / LSI, 5 Person Cab, TNT Rescue Tools, Rescue 42 Struts, Onboard Cascade System, Paratec Air Bag System

Command 2 – 2007 GMC Yukon XL, Fully contoured front console with a Toughbook Laptop on a swivel mount, Rear cabinet with a binder drawer, open storage, and rear cabinet control center, Command drawer packet with a remote LCD screen for the Laptop with touch pad and keyboard, and an Acrylight ICS Command System.

Gator 2 – 2008 John Deere 620i 4×4, Slide-In Med Bed, Slide-In Pump with 50 gallon tank

Brush 2 – 1996 Ford F-Superduty, 7.4 L Diesel, 2 Person Cab, 350 GPM Pump, 320 Gallons of Water, 300′ 3″ Supply Line, 200′ 1″ Booster Reel

Salvage 2 – 1989 Dodge 250 Power Ram

Prinston Media (the parent company to this website) is currently offering a special on advertising. Receive the first month free with a 3 month advertising contract. Did you know that you can currently advertise on VAFireNews.com, VAEMSNews.com, or VirginiaFireEMSJobs.com for as low as $50 a month?

With this promotion, you can now advertise on our websites for as little as $100 for 3 months depending on the size of banner you would like to appear on our pages. We know the economy is bad, but that doesn’t mean you have to stop advertising, start advertising with us and get the most bang for your buck!

Advertising on our sites will put you in front of the Fire and EMS Service men and women everyday. Our sites are thousands of times each day by firefighters, EMT’s, Paramedics, Fire Chiefs, Industry leaders, civilians, and others.

Increase your sales and YOUR website traffic by advertising with Virginia’s Fire and EMS Industry Leader on the Internet. Have your banner do the work for you. The inclusion of your banner with a link to your site will help with your sites ratings and increase your search engine traffic as well!

We can even create your banner for you!

Contact us today for more information via email at rfleitz@prinstonmedia.com or utilize any of our contact pages on VAFireNews.com, VAEMSNews.com, or VirginiaFireEMSJobs.com.

Offer ends April 30, 2009

While this milestone may seem small for some, it is much appreciated at the VAFireNews.com headquarters. Ever since our big redesign going live back in November, we have been rebuilding our audience. Our traffic decreased last year during the redesign which took a little longer than usually becuase I decided to “try” to take the road less traveled. In the end, I opted for an easier (in my mind) and more supported path. Since then, we have been rebuilding our readership and our content. Years of content were lost in the redesign due to the lack of interface to bring the content to the new site. The content is still saved, just not published on the internet.

We still enjoy all of the direct traffic to the website and those numbers have increased to the point we were at prior to the redesign.

The milestone we achieved was breaking the ceiling on RSS readers. That ceiling once held at 100 has been broken. In case you want to follow along, there is a counter at the bottom of each page which shows the number of readers. This includes RSS readers and email subscribers through feedburner (although it is now google feedburner). You can subscribe too. Click here to sign up. You will have your choice of receiving the feed via email and/or RSS reader.

VAFireNews.com has been actively networking in order to keep up with its readers around the internet. Most recently, we created a group on Linkedin for VAFireNews.com. We also have created a Facebook Group, Facebook Page, and Firefighter Nation Group. We have had a profile on MySpace for sometime, but we do not actively update the page due to certain issues we have had with MySpace in the past. Follow the links below to join up with us on the various sites. We have also created groups for VAEMSNews.com and VirginiaFireEMSJobs.com and added those links as well. I have also added my own personal profiles on the various sites for your reference. Feel free to stop in and friend request me. I love to hear from the readers and network with them.

Please let us know if you have other networking opportunities we should utilize.

VAFireNews.com:

• Facebook Group
• Facebook Page
• Linkedin Group
• Firefighter Nation Profile
• FirefighterNation Group
• Myspace profile

VAEMSNews.com

• Facebook Group
• JEMS Connect Profile
• JEMS Connect Group
• Linkedin Group

VirginiaFireEMSJobs.com

• Linkedin Group

Editor Rhett Fleitz’s Profiles

• Facebook
• Linkedin
• Twitter

Prinston Media, the company which brings you VAFireNews.com, has announced the addition of two new websites focusing on Fire and EMS. VAEMSNews.com is the companion site of VAFireNews.com and was designed to give the EMS field a more defined website. The second is VirginiaFireEMSJobs.com which focuses on employment opportunities for firefighters, EMT’s, dispatchers, and other related fields.

VAEMSNews.com will focus on Emergency Medical Services in the Commonwealth. The slate is virtually clean and many possibilities will be explored. Much like VAFireNews.com, it will have new deliveries, apparatus profiles, around the station pictures, news, articles, incidents, videos, etc. We welcome any and all ideas for the new site and the site offers a contact page to get a hold of us. You may also sign up via RSS Reader or email subscription to be notified of updates.

VirginiaFireEMSJobs.com was created as a shortcut instead of posting fire and EMS jobs on both sites. Instead of having employment positions on VAFireNews.com and VAEMSNews.com, all employment posts will be on the new site. The website offers a streamlined approach to employment opportunities for Firefighters, EMT’s, Dispatchers, and others. The job posts will offer the basic information, a closing date if specified, and the link to more information and where to apply. You may also sign up via RSS Reader or email subscription to be notified of updates. If you have a job to post, be sure to let us know via email or the contact page on the site.

Check out the new websites and let us know what you think.

Once again, the diligent work of Kristopher Bageant is online here at VAFireNews.com. The Apparatus Roster is a continuously updated roster of apparatus across Virginia. Be sure to check in and see who is driving what. While you are there, make sure that your department’s information is correct and up to date. If you see anything that needs changing be sure to contact Kris by email at shenvalleyfire@gmail.com.

By now, many of you loyal readers have had a chance to look around the new site. I hope you all are as excited about the new site as I am. I have enjoyed the features and the ability to update the site quickly. The efficiency of the new layout has enabled me to refocus on the vision of VAFireNews.com.

I would like to give you a couple of pointers.

1. Sign up for the email updates located on the right hand side of the homepage.
2. The first navigational bar is for pages located within the website
3. The second navigational bar is for categories. When you click on one of these you will get all of the related posts.
4. The Latest News area on the homepage will give you all of the newest news related updates.
5. On the right hand side of the pages you will find Recent posts. These are ALL of the most recent posts in any category.
6. There are some areas of the old site that will be migrated to the new site in the future. This includes the patch gallery. If there is an area you miss please let me know.
7. The calendar is back and located on the right hand side. This feed is actually from a google calendar. If you would like to sync up with the google calendar let me know and I will hook you up.
8. The Apparatus Roster will be updated and added shortly. Kris is currently working really hard to get it online.
9. VAFireNews.com is now updated more than ever. The site is updated throughout the day so check back often.

That is the basic rundown. I will have more in the future. Be sure to check out the entire site.

I have good news and bad news. The good news is that the website is new and improved. The bad news is that the old site is gone. I decided to just start over from scratch and not carry over anything from the old site.

I will have more posts in the future, but for now I would like to go over a couple of things.

First of all, you the readers have the capability to comment now. This is something some of you all have been looking for.

Secondly, the information on the website is now managed a lot better.

Thirdly, ALL of the information on the site will be available as an RSS feed and can be received in a Feed Reader or by email.

Most of all though, MY attention is back on the website. The process of switching over to the new site took a lot of time and actually went through two processes. The first being a complete failure.

Lastly, I assure you that some of the stuff you saw on the old site will be back. If you think it should be here but isn’t then let me know. Now you can email me, use the contact form, or even leave a comment. I plan on moving a couple of things around in the future as well as continuing to grow.

Look to the Editor’s Blog for more information in the future.

Thanks

VAFireNews.com Editor Rhett Fleitz