On Friday 17 December 2004, the staff pulled the wool over Chief Haraway's eyes, but this time in a GOOD way! Chief was so busy going about his daily business that he didn't notice the various strange activities going on around the station, like the mysterious BIG HUGE box wrapped in shiny paper with a big bow on it that had to get snuck out the back door when he returned from a call earlier than expected.

When Amy lured Chief into the training room on the pretense of discussing a sensitive issue, he was greeted by a roomful of his staff along with a birthday cake full of candles that was bordering on starting a structure fire.

But the biggest surprise of all was what came in the big gift-wrapped box. Several folks had chipped in and bought a hand-made wooden model aerial apparatus with moving parts and spectacular detail. Even for someone who probably has every imagineable fire-related trinket, gadget, collectible, etc. - Chief was momentarily speechless when he opened the box - a state that we RARELY see him in!

The proof is in the photos - click the thumbnails to view a larger picture.

Chief approached the big box gingerly, as if he was anticipating an explosion of sorts...	Just RIP it, already!	"It's not going to blow up, is it?"
Look, y'all, he's speechless!	Contemplating where in the museum this new toy is going to go	Chief had to put out a fire of a different kind this afternoon