Firefighter News - April 2019
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 North
Sebastopol
Saturday, 4/6, 10am-2pm
From our partners at NFPA
NFPA and State Farm encourage communities to engage in safety activities during Wildfire Community Preparedness Day
Plan a project and participate on May 4, 2019
March 20, 2019 – 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.
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.
"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 a leadership role in helping homeowners stay safe and better protect their property."
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.
"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.
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.
For this release and other announcements about NFPA initiatives, research and resources, please visit the NFPA press room.
And now the Local News:
Bodega Bay FPD
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 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 FPD
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!
