Page 34 - Sonoma County Gazette February 2017

County battered by nature, but Nostalgia’s alive and RP Kut-Ups have special plans
I was telling a joke about a house that burned down to a re ghter the other day. He had to be there.
But no joking, what’s not to love about our district re ghters? If you can sleep easy at night, get through July 4th without soaking your roof, if you have ever had an urgent care need in your family, you like re ghters. In fact, you may even want to send them a valentine or thank you note. Even at a job well loved, appreciation, respect and acknowledgement helps keep great people at challenging jobs like re ghters at Rancho Adobe Fire Protection District.
I can guess there are many Sonoma County residents wondering if the
soil under their feet will ever dry out before the start of summer. All rivers, creeks, ponds and reservoirs were already at their peak levels when last mid- month’s torrents found no place to go except already saturated soil. The main rivers, Russian and Napa, over owed as a consequence. Those of us pursuing newscasts on TV and radio saw or heard it all.
Sonoma County took an opposite beating this past summer when wild res tore through woods and homes up near Clear Lake. Horrifying scenes dominated the visages and sounds. Why must we su er after or during every drought the tragedies of aming forests going up in smoke?
Rancho Adobe Fire Protection District there for the asking Have you ever run toward a burning building? Me neither. According to
These twin catastrophes kind of makes you wonder why our usual benign Sonoma County (along with Marin and Napa) have been afflicted. Can we ever get used to one set of horrifying visages followed by another one?
Rancho Adobe Fire District Battalion Chief Mike Weismann “the New Year’s Eve Hot Spot re was burning for sometime before being called in because there are no alarms or sprinkler systems in the building.” This was not an easy feat, but they extinguished it within twenty minutes, saving the adjoining businesses. No was injured. The structure sustained 100,000 dollars in damages. The re remains under investigation and no cause has yet to be determined. It was a popular late nightspot for customers who wanted comfort food.
It’s di cult to write about Downtown Rohnert Park, Prop 64’s marijuana asco and SMART commute trains these days for they tend to diminish in the light of natural events like woodland res and ooded lands everywhere.
Maybe a wee slice of nostalgia can provide some relief and the mention of trains reminds me of Sonoma County atmosphere about 45 years ago, say 1972, I’m visualizing a small locomotive towing a pair of freight cars carrying boxes of small, identical sticks about the size of pencils, hundreds of sticks in two freight cars slowly rolling through the hills of Hessel west of new city Rohnert Park that once was Rohnert’s Seed Farm. The slowly moving train returns a few weeks later and picks two freight cars of nished pencils to bring up to Santa Rosa. Yes, we had a pencil factory in Hessel in an ordinary warehouse behind the old Hessel School.
Lions, firemen and storms—Oh my!
Speaking of nostalgia, we have word about the Kut-Ups, a long time RP talent group and this year’s performance coming up in July this year. According latest word from Larry Broderick, pianist and music director, and director and choreographer Ariel Weymouth-Payne, this could be the nal Kut-Ups show ever.
The rough storm of January 9th kept the phones ringing at all three R.A.F.P.D. Fire Stations. One of these calls came from Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue on. Several trees came down in forty mile plus winds. “...a forty-foot tree crashed on a foot path, narrowly missing a large predator enclosure, with a bobcat in residence.”
It’s quite obvious the bloom is o the rose for these talented all-senior women and men, for when Betty Ferra, a former vaudeville star, started the Kitchen Kut-Ups as they were called back then, it was table silverware they rattled, wooden spoons, keys and whatever they could nd. For percussion they banged pots and pans of all sizes. And Larry Broderick was playing piano trying to bring a sense of musical reality to Ferra’s eager crew. It drew crowds with many buses from senior centers in California and Nevada parked at the Spreckels Theater parking lot. It’s only two or three buses now.
S.C.W.R. Doris Duncan, Executive Director, was very scared that the branches could have damaged the enclosure and put the pair of young mountain lions in harms way. The team arrived in ten minutes. “They were amazing!” said Duncan.
What Broderick would like to do now is to y Betty Ferra from her daughter’s home in Alaska, where she’s living in retirement. She’d be featured guest at the perhaps, nal Kut-Ups show, Ferra’s in her 90s now and who knows, maybe she could do a short turn on stage. That would be a genuine nostalgic kick.
debris. They found that the wire-linked enclosure was unbroken. The cubs, Oliver and Nicole, were safe. The team received high praise for both this rescue of the animal rescue and past help in natural disasters. To see photos if the cubs visit Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue on Facebook or visit their Web site scwildliferescue.org.
All this planning is still not nal by a long shot. But if we hear any developments we’ll keep you posted.
Quick interview with acting R.A.F.P.D. Chief, Andy Taylor
We dropped by during the week and luckily found Acting Chief, Andy Taylor, at the Penngrove Station. Not only did we get to shake his hand, Taylor agreed to help us do some fact checking. He works as a Battalion Chief, his fulltime job, plus is standing in as district chief. I liked his get to business manner. After leading us to a desk in the general o ce with several workstations for paperwork, Taylor stood near a wall of information near a desk. His athletic 6’3” commands a respect for his person tness, wise judgment and cool strength. Working two jobs can be unsettling. But nothing of the sort showed. Firm and friendly he answered detailed questions with exactness. Currently, the district runs 16 full-time on re suppression, 20 part-time, a few support sta volunteers plus one part-time non- re ghting sta . With Taylor’s replies we were happily on our way to understanding how and where the district resources are used. Give your re ghters valentines, but skip the candy. Did you know they have a donate page? Visit rancho-adobe- re.org/online_donation.aspx. Consider also a donation to their annual fundraisers for good causes. They gotta’ love that.
Fire ghters Battalion Chief Herb Wandel, Engineer Robert Nappi and Fire ghter Brian Sweet, after surveying the situation, scaled the structure and removed
34 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 2/17
Friday (Aug. 5) however, remen from the Rancho Adobe Fire Protection District had the opportunity to see the impact their e orts from the Fill the Boot campaign had on children stricken with muscular dystrophy.
Hey 2016 R.A.F.P.D. raised $5,000 to help kids with Muscular Dystrophy
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