December 2004
Another national
election is over and it’s time for our country to once again
evaluate our differences, identify our similarities and come
together to address the very real issues and challenges that are
before us. One of several main issues that developed during this
election year was that of values. As a nation with such diversity,
I think that there are still many values that we can all share.
In the past year we’ve had Carl Poggi come to the Summit Fire Department and not only help develop our Fuels Management Program but take on a leadership role in supervising our crew. Carl is working for us due to the wonderful Americorps Program that provides young people with money to live on as well as funding towards tuition to further their education. Americorps is the kind of organization that I think all of us as Americans can be proud of. It promotes the values of compassion, understanding, volunteerism, and giving back to the community. Every community in our nation can benefit from these values promoted by this program. It not only provides assistance to the Summit FD but to many other outstanding organizations. It provides support to the Literacy Volunteers of Coconino County as well as the Arboretum, Citizens Against Substance Abuse, Camp Colton, Killip Dual Language Charter School, the Youth Volunteer Corps and the list goes on.
This program is set up for young people who are at least 18 years of age and want to pursue an education. If you have a child looking for direction, Americorps could be a great place to start. It provides money for college, mentoring and a terrific experience that could truly change their life.
The Americorps is one of the many things that’s good about our country. Contact information is provided in this newsletter. I hope many of you will look at the various opportunities there are for you to give back to our wonderful community. Perhaps your interest is in coaching, or involvement with your church; helping out at the Flagstaff Family Food Center or any of the many organizations that rely to a great extent on volunteers. You might even like to help us as a volunteer firefighter or with our Auxiliary. In our society, one of the most valuable things each of us can do is give back to our community and our nation that have provided us with so much. We are grateful our many blessings and mindful of those who are less fortunate. At the end of this newsletter is a partial list of community organizations that would welcome your help this Holiday Season.
All of us at the Summit Fire Department hope that this Holiday Season finds you and yours in good health and spirits and in a position to value all those things we hold dear.
August 2002
The Summit Fire Department has just finished its first year of existence. We completed an evaluation process with all our staff to see how we are doing. In the evaluation process we identified what are some of our strengths and weaknesses, both individually and organizationally. In our efforts to develop a values driven organization that supports our mission statement we have developed a list of expectations that our staff observes to direct their day to day efforts and develop a culture we can all be proud of. Our first year was very busy assimilating together two departments. It wasn't always easy and we have had some bumps in the road but I strongly believe that we are a better department today than when we started due directly to the efforts of our staff.
Our main goals are to provide for the needs of our community first and foremost. We try to provide the highest level of service possible with state of the art equipment. Those of you who have needed our services have found out the high quality of service we are able to provide. We are continuing to push forward with our goal to provide Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) to all areas of our district. We currently have six paramedics and one I-EMT. All of our other personnel meet at least the EMT/ defibrillator standard. We also currently have 2 personnel in a paramedic class that will finish in November, 2002. Our goal is to have a paramedic assigned to each of our three stations each shift.
In the coming year we also have some of the following goals we have set for ourselves. We will initiate a fuels management program that will assist homeowners with needs on their property. At the same time we are working with the US Forest Service and Arizona State Land Department to reduce some fuels in the areas around our subdivisions. We're going to complete the development of all administrative policies and operational guidelines. We're going to continue to develop our Public Education Program. We will finish our mapping project creating maps of much greater detail in conjunction with Coconino County. Statewide we're working to help create an Arizona Wildfire Academy that will not only benefit our area specifically but the State of Arizona as a whole. We are also working on a statewide Mutual Aid Plan. We will also work towards having more fun in what we do. Our staff is a very committed group in providing the highest level of service to you, our community. we hope that you feel you are getting the best possible service from us and we're looking forward to growing into an even better department in our second year.
November 2002
As I sit in my office and enjoy the 60-degree day on November 20th I have to share with you that I am somewhat anxious about what next Spring will bring. Daily we see the significant impact drought and beetle infestation has had on our community. The long-range forecast for our area is that we will remain in an extended period of drought. We at the Summit Fire Department are greatly concerned about the amount of dead fuel in our area and the potential for a major interface moving into neighborhoods. It is with this in mind we are providing a Fuels Reduction Program in conjunction with Coconino County, Arizona State Land Department and the Americorps. You may not be aware of it but we have a National Fire Plan that helps to provide direction for "Communities at Risk". We are one of those communities. The threat of wildfire moving into our area is the number one threat to maintaining the health and sustainability of our community. All of us have a responsibility to address the fuel loads that currently exist on our property and the Summit FD would like to provide the guidance needed to make this program effective. I hope that this past summer was a wake up call for all of us. We feel we were very lucky in the Greater Flagstaff area to avoid loss from a Wildfire incident. We fought fires all over the West last year and saw many homes and properties destroyed. If in many of those areas the fuels had been reduced, the loss would have been much less substantial. All of you are aware of the winds we have in this area. If a wildfire starts in a 40 mile per hour wind it is very difficult to control We can take measures however that can help us to reduce the amount of loss we may have. The time to act is now. We are offering a program to assist property owners in making their property and that of their neighborhoods more fire safe. If you'd like to see first hand some of our work you can look at the northwest corner of Koch Field and Townsend-Winona Roads. There is no possible way we can address all of our concerns in a few months time, but we can start. Over the past month we've given evaluations to approximately 40 property owners on how to make their properties more fire safe. As more people request evaluations and sign up to be a part of the fuels reduction program, Summit Fire personnel, in part through the support of the groups mentioned above, will come to your property and help in removing fuels. We are not there to help you landscape your property but we will help you to make your home more fire safe. Nothing will be done until you first approve it. We are developing this program to assist our neighbors in protecting our community from what we see as it's Number One threat.
May 2003
As we enter into Spring and Summer I'd like to share with you some of the items we're involved with at the Summit Fire Department. This includes what we're trying to do to become the best we can be as well as some of the needs we have from you that can make our Community safer and our department more effective for everyone.
If you live in an Interface area, please spend some time on your property reducing some of the fuels. If you give us a call we will come to evaluate your property free of charge to help give you some direction. We have had over 80 requests for evaluations from homeowners and we hope any of you who would like some help will give us a call.
Related to our wildfire concerns is a breakdown of the beetle kill in Northern Arizona. We've had an 8-fold increase over the past three years. The beetle kill according to the State of Arizona has grown from 8,000 acres to 64,000 acres to over 500,000 acres in the past three years. The beetles are about to fly again so with only half of our normal snowfall this year we know they will once again have an impact, but no one knows clearly how much. We'll wait and see.
The Summit Fire Department was one of the leading agencies in starting the first annual Arizona Wildfire Academy. We have people working both as instructors and as a part of the Team that manages the event. All Summit Fire Department staff took vacation time to give back to the profession that we all love. Good work folks!
We have addressed on of our goals when we merged our departments in providing Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) out of each of our three stations. Due to vacations, sick leave and training we don't have 100% coverage from each station all of the time but we do always have ACLS coverage out of one station in the worst case scenario and have ACLS coverage the majority of the time from all three.
We're working with the Ponderosa Fire Advisory Council (PFAC) to bring a Fire Prevention Trailer to the greater Flagstaff area. We are hoping to receive some funding from the Fire Act Grant through a proposal we have submitted. The trailer would deal with aspects of fire prevention and safety in the home as well as fire prevention in the wildland. It's a walk through trailer that kids especially enjoy.
We continue to develop our use of Compressed Air Foam Systems (CAFS) and have found it to be a wonderful tool in our setting. A couple of our staff travel all over the world instructing use of CAFS and they have helped us to become quiet well versed in its use.
We are striving to become better each day. The "All Risk" environment that we work in pushed us to maintain our credentials in many different areas. While there are many areas we continue to learn and grow in, I feel our community can be proud of the level of service we are able to provide. Have a great Spring and Summer and please come by and see us. Thanks for your support.