Page 45 - Sonoma County Gazette Juy 2019

Graton Fire District:
Many of our traffic crashes involve a car overcorrected after drifting off the right side of the road. The instinct is to immediately cut the wheel hard to the left in order to get back on to the road. Unfortunately, that causes the car to cross the roadway uncontrollably and crash into oncoming traffic or the other side of the road. This is much more dangerous than just staying on the right shoulder.
Defensive Driving - Overcorrecting
Bodega Bay Fire Protection District:
If you ever find your tires have drifted off the shoulder, do not crank the steering wheel hard left at speed. Instead, keep the tires pointing straight and apply the brakes until the car comes to a complete stop. Then, turn the steering wheel to the left, check for no vehicles, and slowly apply the gas pedal. Once the front tires are back on the road, the rear tires will follow. If the berm is too steep, it may require a tow truck to safely remove the vehicle—which is much better than injuring yourself, your passengers, other drivers, and totaling your car.
Bodega Fire Department BIG EVENT: is coming Sunday,
August 4th with the SHORTEST Parade in Sonoma County starting at 10:30 am. From 10 am on, the town will be a-buzz with craft booths, Live Music, and the Fire House BBQ fundraiser featuring Trip-Tip, Chicken, chili, salad and all the fixins. Adults $15, kids $10. All proceeds benefit this volunteer fire department so come have fun so we can continue fighting fires and saving lives! INFO: bodegafire.org.
New Graton Firefighters
Congratulations to our four newest firefighters!
• Firefighter Kyle Bartlett
• Firefighter Ryan Fernandez • Firefighter Jenna Dunbar
• Firefighter Amanda Roy
Nick was awarded Firefighter of the Year Award by his peers in the department in 1978, 2003, 2005, 2010 and 2015. He is a greatly respected firefighter, loving husband to his wife Rosie (of 40 years) and dependable father to his two daughters Kayla and Kelsey. Well done Nick, you truly are the most dedicated volunteer that this department has ever had!
Citizen of the Year—Max Broome
Co-Volunteer of the Year—Ame Nultemeier
Business of the Year—DW Enterprises Doug Wood
Hero Award to Sean Loundagin for receiving a special thank you from the Sheriff’s Department for his heroic actions!
We would like to congratulate our other Community Volunteers:
BBFPD (Bodega Bay Fire Protection District) is proud for many reasons— BBFPD is proud to welcome Jonathan Bauer as our most recent full-time FF/ Paramedic.
They dedicated over 100 hours to complete our academy. Huge thanks to Assistant Chief Robert Sabrowsky, and all our firefighters who volunteered their time to help with training. Watch for them as they respond to emergencies this summer!
Russian River Fire District:
On April 14th, crews responded to a structure fire on Hwy 116 near Tunstall Dr. We arrived within seven minutes to find a rear portion of an unoccupied house involved with heavy fire. We were able to limit the damage to the rear
Forestville Fire Protection District:
We would like to extend a huge congratulations to our very own Nick Alberigi for receiving Forestville’s Volunteer of the Year Award from our Chamber of Commerce. Nick is well deserving of this award and has been volunteering at Forestville Fire for over 43 years. During that time, he has responded to over 13,000 calls which equates to more than 542 full 24-hour days of serving his community. In addition, Nick has logged over 3100 hours of training, which is another 130 24-hour days of commitment.
ALL SoCo Fire Departments are WELCOME to JOIN this Column. EM: vesta@sonic.net
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