WTF is wrong with people

[mackman1965]

Sorry to hear of your loss. The most important thing is your family is safe. Let us know if there is anything we can do for you.

BTW, where are you located?

THANKS FOR YOUR SENTIMENTS . IM LOCATED ON THE SOUTH SHORE OF LONG ISLAND IN OCEANSIDE. NOT SURE IF YOU ARE FAMILIAR WITH THE AREA

[mackman1965]

thanks to everyone on here for your unbelivable kind words and support. its really a great feeling to read these posts when everything else is bad. i have a temp place to stay where i have internet access to start the process of calling insurance FEMA red cross etc. scrolling thru some of these threads looking at the old trucks reminds me of better times. THANK YOU AGAIN FOR ALL YOUR KIND WORDS AND OFFERS. It is very much appreciated. Let me see how things play out in the next few days. Although i am new hear you have welcomed me as if i was an old friend which is more then i could ask for

[farmer52]

Although i am new hear you have welcomed me as if i was an old friend which is more then i could ask for

We are all in this together!

[JumperAndSon]

thanks to everyone on here for your unbelivable kind words and support. its really a great feeling to read these posts when everything else is bad. i have a temp place to stay where i have internet access to start the process of calling insurance FEMA red cross etc. scrolling thru some of these threads looking at the old trucks reminds me of better times. THANK YOU AGAIN FOR ALL YOUR KIND WORDS AND OFFERS. It is very much appreciated. Let me see how things play out in the next few days. Although i am new hear you have welcomed me as if i was an old friend which is more then i could ask for

We are all in this together!

Yep. If you're on this website, you're our friend, and we'll all be glad to help out in any way we can. I wish you a quick recovery and tell you're family that we're thinking about them.

Ben

[umodelnut]

Vinnie, did you have time to park the truck with the drivers side into the wind?

The wind was coming from behind her where she is.

[JTFormula]

I agree with Hancock but instead of giving to some blind charity who only use 20% of the money for the actual cause lets see if we can help out Mackman directly.

Mackman - if you are in need of clothing toys food etc, let us know and we will make sure it gets out to you. I am in Brick nj and 45 minutes from the outercrossing. If we can get some stuff together I can run it out to you or meet you somewhere as well. BMT is a great community and help out each other. Let us know what you need. Stay strong brother.

[1958 F.W.D.]

Mackman private messaged me and humbly declined offers of help at this time, that he and his family are with relatives and that they were ok for the moment. He also said if the need arises for anything, he understood he could approach his "new family." I gave him my name and email and told him to reach out to me. Although I am not exactly next door, it wouldnt be difficult for me to get to him, either.

[JTFormula]

We believe in people helping people who are truly in need. My offer still stands if he needs anything delivered out to him on Island.

[JTFormula]

Today I finally got power, internet phones and cable back at around 3pm. Light never looked so good!

[staxx]

Awsome

[farmer52]

JT - good to hear you have electricity.

Today I finally got power, internet phones and cable back at around 3pm. Light never looked so good!

Good news!

[39 Baby Mack]

That's great!!

[mackman1965]

You guys and this BMT community are truly an amazing bunch. Your have offers to me and my family leave me without words. My family is in a good spot . We are fortunate enuff to have some temporary housing . I filed with FEMA, home owners and flood insurance almost a week ago and still waiting to hear from them. After seeing the devastation that was worse then mine in Long Beach i couldnt think of excepting anything . In fact Im gonna donate time and whatever else i can as a firemen in the community. It would be enuff for me to be thought of as part of this community. Thanks again and if it isnt too much to ask now that i have internet i would love to see more new york construction trucks

[1958 F.W.D.]

Things have settled down for me. We only lost power for 24 hrs, about 2200 Monday night to 2200 Tuesday night, which was a blessing.

However, as I think I mentioned (if you are a facebook friend of mine perhaps you have been following the saga on there....) My Mother-In-Law's house on Staten Island got raped. She lives on Hull Avenue, 6 houses up from the Collanade Diner on Hylan Blvd, in one of the hardest-hit neighborhoods. The house is intact and structurally sound, however the finished basement completely filled with water at one point. Fortunately, MIL moved to Vegas back in June, so the house and the basement was empty of most of the contents. House was under contract to be sold with settlement scheduled for 11/26, however no one has heard from the Real Estate Agent or from the Buyer to see if he has backed out, which is the assumption.

I spent Weds/Thurs/Fri last week prepping for my "adventure." We got word from the neighbor (she was watching the house) that the basement was filled up. So I assumed the worst and prepared for the worst. I borrowed a 275GPM dewatering pump from a friend's VFD, and also rented another 175GPM one from a local tool rental place. (doing the rough math, a 30x50 basement at 8' high of water = 96,000 gallons (again worse case) I also borrowed a generator from work.

In the meantime, the wife wanted to help out FDNY families who lost everything, of which there are about 50 families that we know of that indeed lose everything, mostly on Staten Island and Queens. So she started gathering up stuff in the house, and she put the word out on her facebook. Which took off like a firestorm- her and her friends gathered up so much shit that I had to borrow a 8x14 trailer from a neighbor. And let me tell you, when I left home, that trailer was PACKED TIGHT with mens/womens/childrens/baby clothes, diapers, baby wipes, bottles, formula, toys, canned/dry foods, cleaning supplies, dog and cat food, and some toys too. She enlisted the help of a friend of ours who is a chiropractor who has a large patient base, and he had his secretary call patients who had appointments scheduled for Weds/Thurs/Friday to bring in goods and he would wave half of his co-pay for the office visit. He also allowed honey to use a large unused room in his office as her gathering and sorting point. Together they conned a local supermarket out of several boxes of baby supplies, and then some of the employees of the supermarket bought and donated stuff out of their pockets. And then Honey loaded up her minivan not once, not twice, but 5 times to get the stuff from his office to our garage.

Friday night was packing night. Remember the movie "RED DAWN"? In the beginning when the kids were in the father's sporting goods/camping store and they were grabbing anything and everything they could from the shelves? That was me in my garage and tossing into the pickup bed. I took anything I thought I could possibly use. If I remember right, I had the following: Big pump and 2 12' suction hoses/2 discharge hoses, small pump and 2 12' suction hoses and 2 discharge hoses, generator, 4 extension cords, 2 sets of craftsman 500W work lights/tripod, 2 shop vacs and hoses/attachments, 2 rolls of visqueen, 1 roll of heavy duty large trash bags, set of basic mechanics tools, WD40, 3 rolls of duct tape, battery powered drill, battery powered circ saw, charger, 3 LED flashlights, 2 flat shovels, one spade shovel, one snow shovel (great for scooping wet/crumbling drywall) and enough gas in cans to blow myself to mars and back- I am sure you are all familiar with the gas problems and the lines and let me tell you what, I saw one line that stretched for 5 city blocks with my own two eyes.

I let the house and got on I-78 E/B at 0630 on Saturday AM. As I crossed over Jersey I was met with a beautiful sunrise as I came over the mountains. I was hoping it was a sign of bright things to come. I got to Staten Island in short order, no traffic, no roadblocks, nothing. Smooth sailing the whole way. I arrived at the donations deliver point which was a business owned by the Staten Island Borough Trustee for the UFA (uniformed firefighters assoc- the union) and he called Engine Co. 151 who came right over and with their help, we had the trailer unloaded in 15 mins flat. He has a list of contact numbers for the families and is calling them to come to his business to pick through what was dropped off and take what they need.

Then I picked up little Bro In Law, who lives right near the Guinea Gangplank. We headed down to the house, and when we got there, the water had drained out and was only 1-2 feet deep. So first order was get the pumps running. Once we had both of them going, the bulk of the water was out in 45 minutes. Then we lit up the generator, and BIL put on mud boots and wend down and plugged in the 2 sump pumps which took care of the residual.

SIDE NOTE: I mentioned that MIL lives near the Collanade Diner, which is a famous diner on Staten Island. BIL's father, who MIL is diovorced from, is the head chef there. While we were waiting for the pumps to do their thing, we walked down to the diner to say hello to his father. The Diner was devistated- they were taking people out by boat at one point. The basement was filled completely. All they had were two pissant electric pumps. So I told BIL's father- "when we get her basement sucked out, we'll bring the pumps down here and light them off. Which is what we did. Had them sucked dry in about 6 hours (we went back to MIL's house, left the pumps in their care....) Me and BIL started removing what was left in the basement which was various junk and lots of fallen drywall and paneling. I also shut off all the utilities and drained the HWH and all the pipes (going to get cold) I guess the furnace, HWH, and the washer/dryer are garbage. Last thing we did was spray a fine mist spray of water/bleach all over the entire basement walls, ceiling, floor to limit growth of critters.

Spent Sat night on BIL's couch- will never do that again. Sunday we went back to the house and lit up the generator one more time to run the sump pumps once more and got about 20-30 more gallons of water. Left MIL (who is flying out today) a bunch of tools and supplies, and headed out. Dropped off BIL at his place, and my next stop was a friends house in Port Monmouth NJ- their house was fucked worse than MIL's- no basement, just a 4' crawlspace but they had water in their first floor all the way up to the doorknobs. I sucked about a foot of water from their crawlspace, and headed home Sunday night very exhausted. I was just glad to get home, see the wife and kids, and take a good hot shower and collpase into bed.

[RowdyRebel]

Whew....I'm wore out just READING about all that work!

[Vladislav]

That all was very well done.

Your friends and relatives must be happy about it.

And I red many other people also.

[hatcity]

Good on ya mate.

You were fortunate to have or know where to get stuff to get stuff done.

Whats wrong with BIL couch? or is it BIL?

[JumperAndSon]

That is awesome! Ben and I will still give you grief about Detroits and the like, but you are all right in my book. It's selfless acts like that that will get you a couple of seats closer to the big guy. I know that I'd be giving away the store if I lived closer, but I don't so that's up to guys like you. Kudos on a job well done, PM me if there's a specific charity that the money will ALL go to people that need it.

Tim

[1958 F.W.D.]

Whats wrong with BIL couch? or is it BIL?

His couch SUCKS!!!! LOL