Page 45 - Sonoma County Gazette April 2019

Emergency Preparedness Fair, 4/6 10am-2pm
R U Ready? Please join your West County fire departments and allied agencies learning how to be ready for the next disaster. This is our third annual fair and great opportunity to prep! Plan on meeting your local healthcare and emergency providers. There will be fire engines and jumpees for the kids... Free coffee from the Red Cross... Free gifts for those who visit the different booths! Last year, over 200 people took advantage of this great opportunity to get prepared. Graton Fire station, 3750 Gravenstein Hwy No.
NFPA and State Farm encourage communities to engage in safety activities during Wildfire Community Preparedness Day
Wildfires across the United States have taken more than 100 lives and cost more than $25 billion in property losses in the last two years. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and State Farm are helping communities take steps toward safety with their national Wildfire Community Preparedness Day (Preparedness Day) event on Saturday, May 4, 2019.
surrounding areas, esp. Supervisor Hopkins, who managed to stay engaged while facing many challenges We hope to see you at the Annual Fisherman’s Festival in May (4th and 5th)
Like us on Facebook, and don’t forget to visit us online at www.bbfpd.org Stay safe...
Forestville Fire: Easter Egg Hunt! The Forestville Firefighters Association will hold its annual Easter egg hunt on April 13th at 10am at the Forestville Youth Park. For more information call the fire station at (707) 887- 2212.
Pancake Breakfast! Don’t forget to join us on May 5th from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Forestville Fire station for pancakes, eggs, sausage, coffee, orange juice and milk. The price for adults is $7 and $5 for kids and seniors. We’ll have t-shirts and sweat shirts for sale, the Fire Safety Trailer for the kids and a spectacular raffle with great prizes. We look forward to seeing you there!
From our partners at NFPA
Graton Fire:
Firefighter Awards
Firefighter of the Year
Most Improved Firefighter
Board Secretary Mario Cesaretti – 23 years Deputy Chief Scott Fisher – 32 years Board President Bob Maddocks – 35 years Engineer Lee Walker – 39 years
Plan a project and participate on May 4, 2019
Most Improved Trainee
Jason Gray
Shane Spelman
Jacob Mual
Preparedness Day serves as an opportunity for residents to participate in wildfire safety activities. Thanks to the generous support from State Farm, 150 communities across 27 states will receive project funding awards of $500 each to support activities on Preparedness Day aimed at reducing potential loss of life, property, and natural resources to wildfire.
Russian River Fire: Over the last several weeks, there have been several significant changes for our department.
“Since NFPA and State Farm first partnered together on Preparedness Day, the number of projects has grown tremendously. We are pleased to provide 150 communities with a grant to fund their wildfire risk reduction activities on May 4,” said Vickie Hodges, P&C underwriting analyst, State Farm. “For State Farm, the largest home insurer in the U.S., it is important to us to take
Our long-time Firefighter/Paramedic Glenn Rampone retired after almost 38 years serving the Russian River communities. Thank you Glenn for your dedication, knowledge and experience which has influenced everyone you have worked with. Best wishes for a long and happy retirement!
a leadership role in helping homeowners stay safe and better protect their property.”
We would like to welcome our two newest Firefighter/Paramedics Zach Bandfield and Bryan Rose. Zach comes from the South Bay where he worked for American Medical Response (AMR) in San Mateo. Bryan comes to us from the East Bay where he worked for AMR in Napa County. Both Zach and Bryan have hit the ground running with fires and floods within the first few weeks with us. Over the next 18 months, they will be working hard to learn the area and hone the necessary skills to valued members of our department.
Recent wildfire events make the need for Preparedness Day more important than ever before. Last year, California wildfires burned nearly one million acres, the largest amount of burned acreage recorded in a fire season. Several other states that experienced large fires in 2018 including Nevada, Utah, and Oklahoma, are putting the U.S. on pace to exceed the average acreage burned annually over the past 10 years.
Lastly, we have taken delivery of a new ambulance! Built by Demers Ambulance in Quebec, Canada, it features a heavy-duty truck chassis with four-wheel drive and numerous upgraded safety features to safely handle our unique response area. Over the next few weeks, we will
We also recognized all firefighters and board directors for their years of service—Those with over 20 years include:
Fire Chief Bill Bullard – 20 years
Assistant Chief Robert Sabrowsky – 21 years
“NFPA and State Farm are pleased to be working together on the Preparedness Day campaign,” said Lorraine Carli, NFPA vice president
of Outreach and Advocacy. “Since our initial launch of Prep Day in 2013, participation has continued to grow. We are inspired by the number of residents who feel empowered to take the necessary steps to keep their homes and neighborhoods safer from wildfire.”
There is still time to take action and NFPA and State Farm encourage people to get involved by planning a project and participating on May 4. Download a free Getting Started: Wildfire Community Preparedness Day Toolkit.
be mounting equipment and outfitting it with the necessary equipment.
For more information about national Wildfire Community Preparedness Day including resources, videos, and tip sheets, and to see the list of winning projects and their locations, visit www.wildfireprepday.org.
The next regular meeting of the Board of Directors will be on April 10th at 6pm at the fire station. We hope you’ll consider attending.
For this release and other announcements about NFPA initiatives, research and resources, please visit the NFPA press room.
Visit our new website at russianriverfire.org.
Bodega Bay Fire:
As you might have read in the Press Democrat or maybe you attended the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors meeting on March 19, the Bodega
Bay Fire Protection District and many other fire agencies received funding
for service level enhancements. Beginning in April, Bodega Bay Fire will
add one more Firefighter/Paramedic to daily staffing. This will allow us to keep one firefighter/paramedic in the fire district while the ambulance is transporting to hospitals in Santa Rosa or Petaluma. We are thankful for the efforts of so many for this increase in safety and service to Bodega Bay and the
Sebastopol Fire: Sebastopol FD will host an Open House on Saturday March 30th from 10 til 2pm. We hope to see you!
ALL SoCo Fire Departments are WELCOME to JOIN this Column. EM: vesta@sonic.net
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