Issue: July 2009

Defensible Space is Sensible Space

By Chief John Schafer

Last November, while visiting the small town of Arnold located in the foothills of California’s Gold, I saw a giant sign that read, “Defensible Space is Sensible Space.”  This sign was a public reminder that state law mandates 100 feet of clearance from any structure and from any tree that measures 5-feet, 6 inches or more.  The law requires that grass, brush, and tree limbs be cleared away.  In the event of a wildland fire, this simple, but necessary, precaution could mean the difference between rebuilding your home or cleaning up the property.

Steep, brush-filled areas adjacent to a building will need a larger clearance to allow fire service a chance to save your home.  For safety reasons, it is recommended that you limit use of power tools to the early morning hours, and make sure a hose is handy in the event of a fire caused by overheated equipment.  Additionally, you can, for just a few hundred dollars, install a one-inch Rainbird on the highest point of your house to provide a 100-foot curtain of water to protect your home.  Your friendly neighborhood volunteer firefighter would be happy to advise you so you can continue to safely enjoy your home and surrounding environment.

Over the last three years, our department has successfully applied for grants to replace obsolete structural and wild land protective equipment for our volunteer fire department.  We have secured “Jaws of Life” and other rescue and communications equipment.  Unfortunately, we have had minimal success in obtaining the desired number of Automatic Emergency Defibrilators (AEDs).  With only one for our entire service area — Stevens Canyon and Montebello Ridge — we lack the capability to provide potentially life-saving service.  Each AED costs $2,700 and requires expensive, yearly maintenance, which is beyond our current budget.  Our goal is to secure a total of three AEDs, which would supply one for each of our fire trucks.  If anyone has any suggestions or wishes to help us reach this goal, please call me.  

Our team of dedicated volunteers continues to expend personal time and energy toward ongoing training and service to our neighbors.  We greatly appreciate all your support, and we look forward to seeing you all at the upcoming BBQ on September 13, 2009 at Camp Castanoan!

Equipment and Training Grants ,

By Bill Betchart and Orion Larson

Well, our first FEMA grant has finally been completed. The project was awarded in early 2007 by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program.  The Firefighter Safety Grant, written by Bill Betchart, involved $124,150 in project funds, of which 95% was covered by FEMA and the remaining 5% by local contributions from you.  With the project funds, we were able to complete training and certification of 16 volunteer fire fighters in conformance with California Fire Fighter 1 requirements, which is the basic California professional certification for all firefighters.  The grant also provided the funding necessary to equip those 16 fire fighters in conformance with applicable code requirements for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) used to fight both structural and wildland fires.

The way it works is this: we propose purchasing specific equipment and contracting for specific training to obtain a certain number of Firefighter I  and EMT Certifications.  FEMA pays for 95% of the cost, up to the amount of the grant, under the condition that actually purchase all of the proposed equipment and obtain all of the certifications.  Through this grant, we were able to outfit the entire department with new, OSHA-compliant structure gear and breathing apparatus needed for response to building fires and vehicle fires, as well as wildland gear needed for response to brush fires.  We also got safety gear for chainsaw operations and an Automatic Electronic Defibrillator (AED) for heart attacks.  We got our 16 Firefighter I Certifications and three EMTs and still came in sufficiently under budget to max out their discretionary allowance of 5% for “Other.”  With the leftover funds, we bought hose packs, hose clamps, and adapters for the various sizes and threads of fire hose.  A special thanks to Carl Bohley for handling all of the finances with FEMA and the equipment and training vendors.

With the success of our first grant, we plunged right back into the grant game.  We joined up with several of the other Volunteer Fire Departments surrounding the valley in applying for a regional grant for communication equipment.  We won that also, and we will be receiving new radios for the patrols, as well as handheld radios and pagers as soon as Mike Lyon receives the programming software to set them to our frequencies. 

Additionally, we were able to purchase key equipment for responding to medical emergencies.  Previously, we had no certified Fire Fighter 1 and essentially no code-compliant protective gear.  The equipment we had was old, worn, and had been retired from service by other departments.  This grant enabled us to significantly upgrade our equipment and help us achieve professional status as firefighters.

We especially want to thank you (our community) for your continuing financial support of our department.  Your generosity made it possible for us to apply for and execute this project.  We are now much better prepared to serve you.

Lest you get the impression from our two successes that your local volunteer fire department can run entirely on grants, we should point out that the grant budget shrinks year by year, and the grants themselves are very specific on what kinds of departments can apply and what kinds of equipment, training, and services are allowed.  Our next grant application may be for handkerchiefs for one-eyed paramedics between the ages of 52 and 57.  For the rest of what we need to operate, we’ll see you at the barbecue.