Page 45 - Sonoma County Gazette - January 2018

To All Residents in the Russian River Fire Protection District and Surrounding Neighborhoods:
There will be two community meetings addressing the evacuation needs during an emergency such as wild re, earthquake, etc.on January 13, 2018, and January 20, 2018, at 1 PM at at the Guerneville Elementary School gymnasium, 14630 Armstrong Woods Road, Guerneville, CA 95446.
1. Warning siren systems – county wide or local?
2. Emergency communication systems
3. Evacuation maps and shelter locations
4. Formation of neighborhood groups to inform and aid residents in our canyons and forests, as well as in towns, through phone trees, door to door meetings, etc. This will include the CERT program volunteers.
Russian River Fire Department On December 5th, Russian River Fire provided a re captain with a type 1 engine from Forestville Fire to the res in Southern California. Initially, the engine was sent to the Creek Fire in Pacoima to assist with structure protection and with repopulation needs. After completing their assignments, they were released to the Thomas Fire in Ventura where they provided structure protection in the areas of Santa Barbara, Montecito, and Carpinteria. In all, Sonoma County re agencies provided 16 engines and multiple overhead o cers to Southern California for a total of just over 14 days. All resources have returned from their commitments.
Information presented will cover:
Forestville Fire Department As for Forestville News, our Board of Directors have just recently approved the purchase of a new type-3 Wildland engine that should be arriving within 60 days. Our type-1, 5181 just recently came back from the res down south, where our crews put in a lot of work to assist with the res. Assistant Chief John Franceschi has been awarded 2017’s Fire ghter of the year, while at the same time receiving a gold resolution from the County Board of Supervisors, for 40 years of service to Forestville Fire. Assistant Chief Dave Franceschi will serve as Interim Fire Chief and Engineer Matthew Eggleston has been promoted to Fire Captain. We wish everyone a safe and happy holidays.
Graton Fire Department Southern California Fires Graton and other re departments sent re engines to the Thomas Fire in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties last month... it was our turn to give back. Our crew spent 11 days defending homes and ghting re. When this happens, the state pays for our engine and volunteers – we use this money to o er stipends to sta our re station until the engine returns.
The programs will entail +/- 45 minutes of information, followed by +/- 45 minutes of questions and answers. Questions raised in the 1st meeting that need more research will be answered more fully in the second meeting.
These meetings are being presented by the Russian River Fire Protection District, Monte Rio Fire Protection District and Cazadero Community Service District, CalFire, and the Evacuation Planning Committee.
Holiday Tree Disposal
Thirty seconds is all it takes for a dry Christmas tree to be consumed by re.
Christmas Tree Farm Thank you to everyone who came to our re station to get a Christmas tree and support our volunteer re ghters! For the seventh year, we also brought in Noble and Nordman Fir trees from a sustainable farm in Oregon... They were so popular, we sold out! In addition, hundreds of people cut down their own trees as well as sponsored seedlings to help us replant. Kids
Many people will leave their trees up through the New Year — but re doesn’t take a holiday. The Sonoma County Fire Prevention Officers Association urges everyone to dispose of their trees as soon as possible, once it begins to show signs of drying out. According to the National Fire Prevention Association (NFPA), one-third of all Christmas tree res occur in January.
enjoyed searching the 5,000+ seedlings now planted throughout the farm to nd their names from prior years. A big “Thank You” to our tree farm manager, Heather O’Dell, her team, and all the volunteer re ghters for helping the tree farm be such a successful fundraiser. Most importantly, we appreciate your support to keep our tree farm sustainable. We look forward to seeing you next season!
As a reminder, the Russian River Fire Protection District Board of Directors will hold their next meeting on January 10th at 6pm at the re station at 14100 Armstrong Woods Rd in Guerneville. We hope you’ll consider attending.
Visit us online at russianriver re.org.
The first rule of tree disposal: Never put the tree or branches in a fireplace or wood burning stove! Sonoma County Waste Management has made it easy to recycle with four options:
1. There is NO CHARGE for county residents to
put trees in your yard waste container at the
curb on your regular yard waste collection day.
The tree MUST BE CUT TO FIT inside the
container as trees sticking out of the container can interfere with the lifting arm on the truck. Cloverdale, Cotati, Healdsburg, Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Santa Rosa, Windsor and unincorporated Sonoma County have whole tree collection. Visit recyclenow.org/recycling/tree.asp or call 800-243-0291 to con rm the week of pick-up. Place your un- ocked tree beside your yard waste container on your regular collection day.
Toy Drive... Another
2. Call (707) 565-3333 for an appointment to have a non-pro t pickup your tree. Call ahead to schedule a pickup. The suggested donation for this service is $7 for trees less than 6 feet and $10 for larger trees.
Success The 2017 Toy Drive was a fantastic success, thank you! Graton Fire was able to deliver presents to over 50 children, brightening their holidays. We wish everyone could experience the joy we see when the re engine pulls up and delivers your presents... once again,
3. Special whole tree collection for Rohnert Park multifamily complexes. Managers of multifamily complexes in Rohnert Park can arrange to have their tenant’s trees picked up. Contact (707) 586-2283.
thank you. A tremendous thank you also needs to go out to Andy’s Produce, Graton Community Club, Graton Post O ce, and Sebastopol Hardware for being toy collection points in addition to cash donations from a number of residents to our toy drive.
4. Freedrop-offlocationsthroughouttheCounty.
There are many locations, dates, & times throughout the County; please con rm before dropping o your tree. Residents may take up to two trees to any of the drop-o locations at no charge.
The longer Christmas trees are in the home, the more they dry out and increasingly become re hazards. Removing the tree from your home and properly disposing of it as soon as possible will minimize the risk of a treasured holiday season becoming a tragic one.
1/18 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 45
ALL SoCo Fire Departments are WELCOME to JOIN this Column. EM: vesta@sonic.net