Take it off and keep it off

X-treme Fitness has joined the Biggest Looser challenge by offering a 6 month membership to the winner of the challenge! They'll help you maintain your hard earned achievements. More info on the challenge available at Monday's meeting.

Up For a New Years Challenge?

San Juan EMS is challenging other emergency service organizations to field a team for our own version of the Biggest Looser. Now's the chance to really build crew integrity. Remember, the department supports your fitness by including up to three hours per week of training pay. Thanks to Elite Fitness's generosity, this will pay for your gym membership, (if you choose to go that way). The training officer will be attending a planning meeting on Wednesday so talk it over with your crew members and let him know if you are interested.

Snow in Your Future?

Tire cables have been distributed to each station for use on the front wheels of the apparatus. You will still use the chains on the drive wheels. For now, they will be installed at the same time as the chains, (snow covering the roadway). The same driving cautions remain. These are to provide an added measure of safety, they won't make you invincible. (Sorry) WATCH FOR DETAILED INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS IN SMOKE SIGNALS.

Hold That Thought

The Region 3 Fire Training Council has moved their web site to a new server and appear to be having the attendant challenges. A soon as a viable link is available I'll post it here. Two classes to consider: New Car Technology and Basic Firemanship (sic).

WA State Fire Traing & Safety Officers' Conference

The annul WSFTSO conference is scheduled for Feb. 20 - 24. Courses include
officer development, company level rescue techniques, and several mayday,
search and other hands on classes. Speak with your station officer and the training officer if you are interested in attending.

Region 3 Conference

Region 3 Fire Training has scheduled the 2010 Conference for the weekend of January 30Th. (Unfortunately, this does conflict with the banquet). That said, the classes include: Pump Ops with Paul Spencer, a NFA Incident Safety Officer class, New Car Technology, Rope Rescue Operations, Air Management and Tricks of the trade with NW FOOLS. The full listing is available at www.region3fire.org If you are interested in attending please speak with your station officer and the training officer.

Who Looks Out for You?

Not only does Paige, our newest dispatcher, look out for us on scene, she takes care of us at the station too. Yes, there's one missing from the box of cupcakes she dropped off at Sta. 31, (had to do quality control). Thanks Paige

How's that for Efficiency

FH Water has repaired the hydrant on Turn Point Road at Sutherland. Thank you Mike and Jason.

Out of Service

The Friday Harbor Water Dept. reports that the hydrant located on Turn Point Road at Sutherland Road is out of service. It will have a black bag over it until further notice.

The next closest hydrants are at Turn Point and Carter Beach, Turn Point and Pinedrona, or Walling and Cormorant, depending on the Sutherland Rd address.

Testing Update

Our firefighter 1 candidates are burning through the skill tests so fast that the assistants are just standing around drinking coffee! Thanks to Paul Wagner and his associates for comming to the island to test our new members, plus one firefighter from Orcas.

Road Update

Tender Operator Smith has been searching for new roads. Please update your map pages D 05 and H 07. Details may be found at http://www.sjifire.org/new_roads.htm

New Firefighters

Look for these new faces on the fire ground. Jenny Benedict, Donald Burpee, Jesse Kjoslo, Jeremiah Lord, and Noah Waldron completed their live fire training at North Bend. They will run the practice test this weekend, and the IFSAC certification test next weekend. Recruit Michael Griffin has completed the basic training course, and will certify at a later date.

Boat Fire @ Roche Harbor

Crews did a great job of containing the recent fire at Roche Harbor. While awaiting the arrival of the first engines defensive operations were initiated which saved a third boat from becoming fully involved. Once additional crews and equipment were available to shift the attack to the involved vessels. Thanks are due to the Resort staff, FHFD's FB Confidence, SJSO's Guardian, Vessel Assist, USCG, WA Dept. of Ecology, and others for providing an important part of the overall response.

Singing Frogs?

A new road has been named. Frog Song Trail is on page H 06 of your map book. It was the road indicated at the top of the map page, just south of address 2124. That address is now on Frog Song.

Safety Fair

Thanks to everyone that helped with the Safety Fair. We had a great turn out from the community, and everyone, young and old, had fun and learned about the island's emergency services.

Thursday Night Drills

Extra drills will be available at Sta. 31 in Thursday. They are scheduled for 10/22, 11/5, 11/19 and 12/03. Make up missed Monday nights or polish you skills. Thursdays at 19:00

Open Burning Opens

Permits are currently available for natural vegetation fires up to 10 feet in diameter. Burning will be allowed beginning October 1st.

Thanks to everyone that responded to the page for yesterday's big wildland event, (rekindle of the July 27 unattended camp fire).

Schedule Change

FireCo has been updated to reflect a schedule change. Stations 31, 32 & 33 will be doing the confidence maze and Mayday training at Station 34 on October 12th. The hose operations with the tenders drill has been moved to November 9th.

Hydrants Still Out of Service

Water supply on Turn Point Rd. should still be considered out of service. The town is continuing to locate and repair a significant leak.

Water Line Break

The town of Friday Harbor has reported a waterline break in the area of the Turn & Pear Pt Roads intersection. Water is being fed back out Pear Point but the service interruption area may extend all the way back in to Warbass. If we have a fire call on Turn Point Rd. we'll be counting on the tender guys.

Firefighter 1 Candidates

Firefighter 1 candidates Jenny Benedict, Donald Burpee, Michael Griffin, Jesse Kjolso, Jeremiah Lord, and Noah Waldron learn just how much air is in an SCBA bottle. That mastered they will move on to ICS!

IFSAC Instructor 1

Region 3 is offering an IFSAC Instructor 1 class and certification test in Mount Vernon. The class is scheduled for October 23, 24 & 25. Contact the training office if you are ready to assume this responsibility.

Afterglow Fire

Thanks for the great turnout for the fire on Afterglow last evening. The neighbors really appreciated your showing the flag. Special thanks go to those that provided logistical support.

Demobe?

E312, E352 & C3 expect to be demobed today from the fires near Omak. Lt.s Henderson, M., Lean, Monin and Wood and FF Sesby have been working on the Oden Road fire.

Traffic Hazards

The North Roche Harbor Road Assoc. plans to seal coat their roads on Sept. 10, 11, & 12. Expect delays anywhere north of the Roche Harbor Airport, on Davison Head or Neil Bay Dr.

Mobilization

Lt. Monin in C3 and Lts. Henderson, M and Wood left on the 08:00 boat this morning for the Grant County Complex in Ephrata. The Northwest Strike Team includes a tender on this mobilization.

No word yet on the details of the fires or fire conditions. They may show up soon at http://www.inciweb.org/state/49/

NW Weather Guru

Professor Cliff Mass, northwest weather guru will be lecturing, and signing his new book at the Grange Hall on Friday August 28th @ 19:00. This may be a great opportunity to learn more about fire weather and extreme weather events that may require emergency response.

Free Pass to the County Fair

Its time for the fair! And it is time for you to call Carolyn to get your free fair pass. All you have to do is sign up to cover a shift at the Childrens' Fire Safety House. Call soon, they're going fast.

Road Closed

The north end of Marguerite Street, from Park to Guard, will be closed today until 16:00

Union Valley Update

B312 will be at the Union Valley fire for, at least, one more shift. Although the fire is reported to be only 20% contained fire behavior is reported as smoldering and some resources have been demobilized. The quote below is from the IMT's PIO.

"Excellent progress is being made toward containment of the Union Valley fire. Little smoke is coming from the fire area as crews continue to complete fire lines and begin mop up along the eastern flanks and around homes. Local residents have been allowed to return to their homes. The roads in the fire area remain closed to the public for their safety as well as fire fighters."

312 on Mobilization

Lt.s Lean and Henderson, M have joined the Northwest Strike Team on state mobe for the Union Valley fire near Chelan.

The fire is threatening a small resort community two miles north of town on the shore of Lake Chelan.

Pre-Hydrate

The relative humidity has been holding above 40% the past few days,
keeping the potential fire behavior under control. But if the heat continues we may get busy. Don't forget to drink plenty of water.
When your pager goes off it's too late to start.

No Outdoor Burning

The County Chiefs agreed to use the 1000 fuel moisture levels as an indicator of fire danger. When the levels drop below 20% then consideration is given to shutting down all open burning. They are now below 19%. Campfires are prohibited until further notice. To follow the fuel moistures go to www.dnr.wa.gov and look for Interior Western Washington 1000 hour Fuel Moisture

Exciting Weather?

The weekend weather forecast calls for potential thunderstorms through out western WA. http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/

Better get that pack test done early (09:00 on Saturday)

Pack Test?

Still need to complete the pack test? There are a number of people planning to walk on Saturday (7/11) morning. Email or go to www.firecotraining.com to sign up.

EVAP Recertification

If you have completed the EVAP refresher on the FireCoTraining site then all you need to do to re certify is schedule a check ride with an evaluator. Howitt is available on Mondays, Swanson on Tuesdays, Davies on Wednesday morning and Saturday afternoon, See on Wednesday afternoon, and Creesy on Fridays. Remember, you need to complete re-certification by July 31.

Red Flag Warning

There is a red flag warning in effect for western WA through
Sunday evening. Warmer and drier weather is expected.

"A Red Flag Warning is a forecast warning issued by the United States National Weather Service to inform area firefighting and land management agencies that conditions are ideal for wildland fire ignition and propagation."
Wikipedia.org

EVAP Certification

A number of drivers have completed the EVAP refresher on the FireCoTraining web site but have not yet scheduled an on road evaluation. If you have not completed both re-certification steps by July 31 you will not be allowed to drive department apparatus code red. Please contact your company office if you are unsure of your status.

New Firefighters Join San Juan Island Fire

New San Juan Island Fire Dept. members completed the practical portion of wildland training on Sunday. Pictured above, along with other department members, are new wildland firefighters Adam Aley, Elizabeth Arno, Adam Ayers, Jenny Benedict, Herb Mason, Chris Ross, Dave Smith and Noah Waldron. Not pictured are Donald Burpee, Rebekah Dietz, and Assistant Chief Mike Simmerling of Shaw Island Fire. The live fire training was the latest event in a busy wildland fire training schedule.

An off road driving course was delivered earlier in the month. Firefighters Adam Ayers, David Billstrom, Michael Henderson, Brien Sesby, and Jason Wood took part in classroom, on road and off-road instruction.
Neither of these important events would have been possible without the support of the community. Thanks are due to Mike Ahreneius for sharing access to challenging off road driving, and to Will Hamilton and Roche Harbor Highlands for the extra work they put into making their network of roads available. Roche Harbor Water and Roche Harbor Village generously made their equipment and property available for both the driving class and the live fire training. A special thank you goes to the neighbors and disc golf players that endured the smoke and disruption during the live fire training

Welcome FF2 candidates

New and returning wildland fighters include: Adam Aley, Elizabeth Arno, Adam Ayers, Jenny Benedict, Donald Burpee, Rebekah Dietz, Herb Mason, Chris Ross, and Dave Smith. Live fire training is currently scheduled for Sunday 6/28. Sign up at FireCo if you can join in.

They received the large envelope!

Congratulations to Capt. Monin, Lt. Merlino, and Firefighters Billstrom, Holzer, Sesby and Waldron on their recent IFSAC Firefighter 2 certification. They were joined by FF Chesley of FHFD.

Book Your Spot Now

Did yesterday's Entiat fire sound interesting? We're planning one of our own. We will run our annual live fire exercise on Sunday June 28th. The larger the number of crews, the (potentially) bigger the fire we can run. Be sure to sign up at http://www.firecotraining.com/

Another Pack Test Opportunity

There will be another pack test opportunity this evening. FF. Clark be at the high school track with water and defibrillator at 18:30.

At one minute to three early Sunday morning, the department, along with SJI EMS, was paged for this impressive 2-alarm commercial structure fire at Pelindaba Lavender Farm. Pictured is the company's Hawthorne Lane processing facility shortly after first-in units arrived. In all, 1 sheriff's deputy, 24 District firefighters, 6 FHFD firefighters, 6 EMS responders, 5 logistics members, and the Fire Marshal were utilized to protect and save 2 exposures, cool the fire, and limit extension to the interface. Operations were defensive and challenged by the distance to adequate and accessible water supplies. Fortunately, there was no public life safety issue and no injuries were reported. At least one gallon container of precious essential lavender oil was salvaged. The last fire units cleared just before noon on Sunday, but it may be days before a cause is determined. Thanks to everyone for their committments of time, for a safe operation, and for their responses after a long dry spell. Our thoughts are with the employees and owners of Pelindaba. Although they are not "scratch and sniff", thanks to Susan Risser and Ron Garner for providing these photos.

PACK TEST UPDATE

Please come to the Monday June 1 drill with your wildland PPE and a pack. We are going to practice shelter deployment and then run the pack test. You won't have to give up a Saturday morning and you'll still qualify as a wildland firefighter! There are limited weights avaialable so, if possible, please load you pack ahead of time. Remember 3 miles, 45 lbs, 45 minutes.

More dagger like struts

On Tuesday, May 26, 2009, the Butler Township FD (Montgomery County, OH) responded to a pick up truck fire on I-70. The first engine company arrived to find a fully involved 2007 Chevy Pick Up. Crews extinguished the fire and afterwards, while taking pictures, it was noticed that one of bed tool boxes gas struts had released, separated and it went completely through the rear tailgate. The other strut was never located. It is easy for Firefighters to forget about the dangers of these struts in toolboxes during fires.

From the web

WORKING CAR FIRE...HOOT STRUT EXPLODES...Firefighter IMAPLED!


Sunday, May 17, 2009
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Friendship Fire Company of Bressler/Swatara Township, PA. E41 arrived at a routine engine compartment fire which quickly changed. A line was stretched and crews worked to open the hood. A hood shock exploded and impaled FF M. Ofak in the right knee. EMS treated and transported him to Hershey Med. Trauma room where he was treated and spent the night. He luckily escaped without major injuries from the May 8, 2009 incident and is expected to make a full recovery. We all wish you a quick recovery.

EVAP Rrefersher

Remember to schedule your EVAP refresher driving skills evaluation. If you have been assigned, and successfully completed the online refresher you should call to set up a road test. Check the training section at FireCo for your refresher status.

http://www.firecotraining.com/ We would like to have every one checked off by July 1st.

Wildlalnd Walk

Pack test time again! Please be sure to complete the pack test before Monday June 22. We will run a test at 08:30 on Sunday June 21, as part of the Wildland Firefighter class.
You must complete the pack test before responding to any wildland calls.

Firefighter burned in three car pile up

Firefighter Smith suffered third degree burns when she was involved in a three car accident on Mullis St. early Monday evening. The car in which Ms. Smith was riding was struck broadside by a vehicle operated by an allegedly intoxicated driver. Her vehicle was shoved across the road into proximity of another vehicle fully involved in fire. The driver of the burning car was not identified.

San Juan Island Fire pried the door from the vehicle in which Firefighter Smith was trapped and then assisted San Juan EMS in removing her from the vehicle She was treated at the scene and provided further care was in the ambulance while they awaited the arrival of the Airlift Northwest helicopter. Everyone involved agreed that this was a great drill.

National Fire Academy

The registration period for National Fire Academy classes scheduled between 10/01/09 and 03/31/10 is now open. You have until June 15 to apply. For course listings go to: http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/nfa/

Driver Re-certification

If you have successfully completed the online driving refresher you next should schedule an on-road evaluation to complete you re certification. Evaluators are available Mon, Tues, Weds, Fri, and Sat AM. Call the training office to schedule your test.