Fire Fighter News - January 2018

There will be two community meetings addressing the evacuation needs during an emergency such as wildfire, earthquake, etc...

These meetings will be held 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.

Information presented will cover:

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.

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 theEvacuation Planning Committee.

Holiday Tree Disposal

Thirty seconds is all it takes for a dry Christmas tree to be consumed by fire. Many people will leave their trees up through the New Year — but fire 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 fires occur in January.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:

There are many locations, dates, & times throughout the County; please confirm before dropping off your tree. Residents may take up to two trees to any of the drop-off locations at no charge.

The longer Christmas trees are in the home, the more they dry out and increasingly become fire 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.

Blood Bucket Brigade

Winter and holiday season is always a challenging time for blood collections due to rainy weather, busy holiday schedules, vacation and flu season.

The recent wildfires that devastated multiple North Bay counties, along with the Gulf Coast hurricanes in September, serving as a reminder of the importance of keeping an adequate blood supply – both locally and nationally. Keeping shelves stocked by donating blood is one of many ways community members can come together to support one another. It’s the blood on the shelves today that saves lives tomorrow.

Since 2006, fire departments participating in the Bucket Brigade Challenge have recruited nearly 10,000 participants who donated thousands of units of blood for patients in Northern California hospitals. Last year, Windsor Fire Protection District took home the coveted Bucket Trophy with 86 participants.

The participating firefighters recognize the significance of their blood drives. Chief Bill Bullard of the Graton Fire Protection District is a frequent blood donor and encourages his two sons to donate. A Scout Master, Chief Bullard takes the scout slogan “Do a good turn daily” to heart stating, “As a Volunteer Fire Chief, I do my good turn through fire service and supporting my neighbors. As a Scout Master, I can instill the same level of community support to my boys and other young men.” Chief Bullard views blood donation as another way his sons and young scouts can be civic-minded and sacrifice just one hour of their time for the possibility of saving one life. That’s a great return.

Multiple fire departments are hosting blood drives throughout December and January. To find one near you, please see the list below. To make an appointment, visit bloodcenters.org/bucketbrigade or call 888.393.GIVE (4483). For your donation, please arrive well hydrated and nourished with photo identification. Donors will receive a special event T-shirt.

To make an appointment and for eligibility information, visit www.bloodcenters.org/bucketbrigade or call 888.393.GIVE (4483).

For your donation, please arrive well hydrated and nourished with photo identification. Donors will receive a special event T-shirt.

1/5 - Cloverdale Fire Protection District

2:00pm – 6:00pm Fire Station: 451 S. Cloverdale Boulevard, Cloverdale

1/6 - Rohnert Park Public Safety

9:00am – 2:00pm Truck Bay: 5200 Country Club Drive, Rohnert Park

1/9 - Sonoma Valley Fire & Rescue

2:00pm – 7:00pm, Bloodmobile: 630 Second Street West, Sonoma

1/10 - Santa Rosa Fire Department

10:30am - 2:30pm Bloodmobile: 2102 W. College Ave. Santa Rosa

1/12 - Geyserville Fire Protection District

2:00pm – 7:00pm Truck Bay: 20975 Geyserville Ave, Geyserville

1/16 - Petaluma Fire Department

8:00am - 1:00pm Truck Bay: 198 D Street, Petaluma

1/19 - Forestville Fire Department

2:00pm – 6:00pm, Bloodmobile: 6554 Mirabel Road, Forestville

1/20 -Windsor Fire Protection District

9:00am – 2:00pm Fire Station 2: 8600 Windsor Rd, Windsor

1/24 - Healdsburg Fire Department

2:00pm – 7:00pm Truck Bay: 601 Healdsburg Ave, Healdsburg

1/29 - Wilmar and CAL Fire

2:30pm - 7:30pm, Wilmar Truck Bay: 3825 Bodega Ave Petaluma

Russian River Fire Department

On December 5th, Russian River Fire provided a fire captain with a type 1 engine from Forestville Fire to the fires 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 fire agencies provided 16 engines and multiple overhead officers to Southern California for a total of just over 14 days. All resources have returned from their commitments.

As a reminder, the Russian River Fire Protection District Board of Directors will hold their next meeting on January 10th at 6pm at the fire station at 14100 Armstrong Woods Rd in Guerneville. We hope you’ll consider attending.

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 fires down south, where our crews put in a lot of work to assist with the fires.Assistant Chief John Franceschi has been awarded 2017’s Firefighter 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 EngineerMatthew Eggleston has been promoted to Fire Captain. We wish everyone a safe and happy holidays.

Visit us online at Forestville Fire Protection District.

Graton Fire Department

Southern California Fires ~ Graton and other fire departments sent fire 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 fighting fire. When this happens, the state pays for our engine and volunteers – we use this money to offer stipends to staff our fire station until the engine returns.

Christmas Tree Farm ~ Thank you to everyone who came to our fire station to get a Christmas tree and support our volunteer firefighters! 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 enjoyed searching the 5,000+ seedlings now planted throughout the farm to find their names from prior years. A big “Thank You” to our tree farm manager, Heather O’Dell, her team, and all the volunteer firefighters 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!

Toy Drive... Another 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 fire engine pulls up and delivers your presents... once again, thank you. A tremendous thank you also needs to go out to Andy’s Produce,Graton Community Club, Graton Post Office, andSebastopol Hardware for being toy collection points in addition to cash donations from a number of residents to our toy drive.

Visit us online at Graton Fire Protection District.