Animal rights organization says this was a repeat performance
“What elephant? I don’t see no elephant.” That was a line from Jimmy Durante (ask your parents, grandparents or Firegeezer). Luckily Bill Carpenter did see the elephant and swerved while driving with his wife on a road in Enid, Oklahoma.
Carpenter believes if it had been a direct hit they would have been a goner with 4500 pounds of elephant coming through the windshield. Instead it was a glancing blow that cracked the animal’s tusk as it ripped through the side of the SUV.
Imagine you are on the receiving end of the 911 call and hear that someone has just hit an elephant with their vehicle on U.S. 81.
The elephant is Kamba, who escaped from a traveling circus that had come to town. Since the Carpenters are okay, the serious side of all this comes from In Defense of Animals which believes the circus life has not been good to Kamba and cites a previous escape during a tornado in Kansas.
Also on STATter911 …
- Fire chief and wife who responded to daughter’s fatal wreck are under investigation. Cashion, Oklahoma suspends Danny & Stephanie Clark as town’s finances are investigated. – November 7, 2009
- Quick Takes – February 1, 2010
- Quick Takes – January 21, 2010
- What and give up show business? Suzie has another intimate moment with firefighters but doesn’t create the scandal she did in New York. – December 24, 2009
I read, “Couple Hits Elephant In Enid” and didn’t know what part of the elephant the Enid was.
And you call yourself a chief officer?
I believe in our area elephant anatomy 101 is taught at MFRI. It is a very important course. The man from the circus who cleans up after these fine creatures provides crucial insight for the modern fire chief and the challenges he or she faces.
As a reporter I have interviewed many of these chiefs and watched up close some of the issues they deal with. I can tell you first hand that there is really little difference in cleaning up after an elephant and its Enid (depending, of course, if it’s male or female) or getting your hands dirty with some of the problems you may have read about on the pages of STATer911.com that some of these northern chiefs have to deal with.
I have heard that soon the requirements for Chief Fire Officer Designation will be an apprenticeship with Barnum and Bailey.
Personally I don’t think it could hurt.
As you can imagine I have asked some of these chiefs why they stay with this line of work and the response is very much the same as I have heard from that lower level circus worker I previously mentioned. I assume, while your familiarity with the Enid may be lacking, you know the answer I am referring to. If you don’t we can sign you up for that MFRI course.
Hope all is well in Zen land.
Statter
I was kinda thinking that might be the general vicinity of the Enid, but your answer was much more illuminating. As far as chief officership goes, I certainly agree that someone is required to clean up the mess, be that the hard-working lower-level circus worker or the chief officer, and it seems that there’s also plenty of that to go around inside the Beltway as well as outside of it.
Have a great evening.
Mick