Portland Fire Department – Portland, OR

Serving tea to the Portland Fire Department

My buddy Owen is a fresh-to-the-team firefighter here in Portland. I guess he’d been talking the bus up around the station quite a bit, so they invited me to come by and have dinner with them. It was great to get to see the inner workings of the station – how they interact, what cool tools the trucks and engines have, etc. We all ate dinner together (I was pleasantly surprised at what great food the guys cook in the firehouse), and afterward I made a bunch of hot water in Edna. They were in a fierce ping pong match (I must’ve caught them during the only time they didn’t have a call, although I was hoping for the alarm to sound), but the team who was waiting to play the winner would come out to have tea on the bus.

Some of the guys from the station.

I liked making specialty cups of tea for each person since it was so mellow. Some wanted caffeine, but most wanted caffeine-free like Fairytale, Happy Man, Mint, and others. I shared a bunch of my systems with them (solar, water, coolant, WVO, etc) and Owen showed me their rigs (a little bit of vehicle envy here – sorry Edna). In the end, the boys gave Edna and I a sweet Portland Fire Training and Safety mug. I was honored to add it to the collection. It was nice to serve back the men who serve the community.

The mug they gave us!

Fiery ping pong tournament – in between calls!