to Read the February 2015 Smoke Signals Newsletter

February 2015 Pg.1
February Member of the Month - Dora Gunnoe
When you were a young child
you probably had many goals and
ideas on what you wanted to be
when you grew up. Hopefully a
lot of you even wanted to be a firefighter, just like Dora Gunnoe did.
But since Dora is a woman, her
family told her she needed to pick
a more realistic job for a woman.
So, she went on to other jobs but never really got over the
want she had to become a firefighter. Eight years ago Dora
decided to overcome the stereotype set on women and do
what she’s wanted to do for many years; she became a firefighter!
Dora not only works hard as a firefighter, she makes
sure that the community is well educated and well taken
care of. Dora has been involved with the EDITH house
and goes to the schools to educate young kids on fire
safety. She also helps the community by assisting families
who have had a fire or are just having a tough time. Dora
hand makes patchwork quilts for many of these families
and gives them to the family with a quote reminding them
that things will get better!
Since Dora started at Station 6, she has seen a lot of
changes in training. “We need all the changes though, we
need to be ready and know what to do when we’re on a
call” Dora explains, “the changes are good”. When asked
if she had any future aspirations for the department she
replied with, “We need to educate the community more
and be more involved with them.” She believes that the
community needs to be familiar with the firefighters so
they’re not afraid of firefighters.
When asked if she had any personal aspirations she answered “Last year I won the Wapato Firefighter of the year
and I was the first woman to win that award,” she beamed
with pride and added “I want to win that again!” Since
Dora is one of the few girls at station 6, she feels as if she
has to work harder to prove that she is just as good of a
firefighter as all of the boys are. “That means staying later
to help, putting stuff away, and helping the other volunteers with whatever they need help with” Dora explained.
Dora’s favorite memory that reaffirmed her passion for
serving as a volunteer firefighter happened when she and
the crew responded to a person that was hit by a car and
was successful at bringing the patient back to life. Helping
people in many ways is why she loves and continues to be
a firefighter.
Dora had some words of wisdom for new recruits as
well, “Get in there and don’t be afraid to ask questions!
The only stupid questions are the ones you don’t ask.” Dora’s only regret about joining the fire district is that she
didn’t doing it sooner.
Thank you for your service, help, and dedication to Yakima County Fire District 5, Dora!
-Written by Karina Lunning
YCFD5 Retirements
Zillah Station #10 Firefighter Ken Rathbun has served the fire
district for 30 years. During his time his peers knew him for being
very hard working and helping younger firefighters gain experience. Ken was also a very active member of the Dozer program.
Zillah Station #10 Firefighter Jim Purdy served the fire district for
27 years. Jim is dedicated to serving in the fire service and is considering re-hiring once he becomes eligible. In the mean time Jim
is looking forward to enjoying his time with friends and family.
Thank - you Ken and Jim for your years of dedicated service!
January 2015 Calls
Fires: 10
Rescue & EMS: 117
Hazardous Cond: 0
Service Call: 11
Good Intent: 32
False Alarm: 2
Special Incident: 0
Total: 172
Smoke Signals
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Working as a team greatly improves our ability to achieve our goals. This year
we would like to once again help our members become healthier and achieve
fitness goals. The first year we hosted a fired up for fitness challenge we had 15
people compete and were successful and releasing a total of 163.1lbs! This year
we are going to shatter that record by helping our members to achieve an even
higher level of fitness.
We do this by continually measuring success for twelve weeks, encouraging
each other, finding exercise that works with our schedules, eating healthy, and
getting active! To kick things off, everyone will need to complete a registration
form and at $20 entry fee. If there is at minimum 4 male participants and 4 female participants, there will also be separate divisions for both male and female
participants. Three awards in the male division and three in the female division
will be given to the people that loose the greatest percentage of body weight. At
the end of the challenge cash prizes will be awarded in the amount of:
1st place 50% of the cash pot
2nd place 30% of the cash pot
3rd place 20% of the cash pot
For all participants who achieve their personal fitness goals, they will also
receive a “Fired Up For Fitness” athletic shirt.
We’re excited to help you achieve goals and make 2015 the best year yet! To
register or please contact Andy at 509-901-0738 or [email protected].
Events Schedule:
February 16th 6pm - Required Assessment Day
February 23rd 6pm - Optional Assessment and Workout
March 2nd 6pm - Optional Assessment and Workout
March 9th 6pm - Optional Assessment and Workout
March 16th 6pm - Optional Assessment and Workout
March 23rd 6pm - Optional Assessment and Workout
March 30th 6pm - Required 6 Weeks Assessment Day
April 6th 6pm - Optional Assessment and Workout
April 13th 6pm - Optional Assessment and Workout
April 20th 6pm- Optional Assessment and Workout
April 27th 6pm - Optional Assessment and Workout
May 4th 6pm - Optional Assessment and Workout
May 11th 6pm - Required 12 Weeks Final Assessment Day
Smoke Signals
RISKY BUSINESS
Super Bowl Sunday we learned that the distance
between brilliance and stupidity is approximately 36
inches.
Bill Belichick risked his team’s chance of mounting a comeback by not calling a timeout which would
have left them at least 30 seconds after Seattle’s seemingly imminent go ahead score. Pete Carroll risked
putting the ball in the air when everyone, including
2,500 pounds of motivated Patriot defenders, expected Marshawn to go up the middle. Belichick’s
bluff succeeded in flustering the Hawks and prevented them from subbing in run package personnel.
Carroll’s call would have enshrined him in the hall
of fame if it wasn’t ruined by a no name rookie who
made the play of his life. Now he’s a zero & Belichick’s a hero.
Yet the fact that the Seahawks even had the chance
to win came because Pete Carroll knows how to successfully manage risk. They made it past the Packers
by risking a 180 pound punter throwing the ball to
a third string offensive lineman. Earlier in the Super Bowl they risked a sure three points right before
halftime by going for a touchdown and risked at least
three jump ball passes to a walk on receiver most of
us didn’t even know was on the team. Carroll’s risk
taking has won National Championships at USC and
dozens of NFL games. But this one glaring failure is
enough to make most of us want to avoid risk comSpring 2015 Clothing Order
Would you like to represent the fire district by
purchasing clothing. The Spring 2015 clothing site
is back online for a limited time. We once again arranged for Kimmel Athletic to host a clothing shop
for you to purchase apparel. All purchases will be
directly handled by Kimmell Athletic. The site will
remain online until 11:59PM on February 20th. To
purchase clothing visit https://kimmel.itemorder.
com/ and use the code PUFZ7. You should expect
to recieve your purchase from this order in 2-4
weeks after Feb. 20th. If you have any questions
please free to contact Andy Babcock at 509-9010738.
February 2015 Pg.4
pletely.
As firefighters our job is to manage risk, not shrink
from it. Every time we light the truck up and leave the
station we’re taking a risk. Should we take that aggressive line on a grass fire attack or play it safe by falling
back? Choose to try a quick maxi door removal or
slowly but surely pry one door at a time? Drain the
pumper tank on a rapidly spreading structure fire or
save the water till more personnel show up? Apply a
tourniquet or hope we can hold direct pressure tight
enough and long enough?
The sad thing is that Seahawks should have never
needed to take a risk to win the game. Costly penalties and mistakes blew a 10 point lead, causing Carroll the savvy risk manager to transform into a desperate gambler.
The best way we can reduce risk is to train hard and
then execute our evolutions crisply so that our options don’t become limited and dangerous. We can’t
completely avoid risk, and we’ve just been painfully
reminded risks don’t always work out in our favor.
There’s a fine line between bravely taking a risk and
stupidly playing a gamble.
We’re firefighters. When we can save much, we’ll
gladly risk much. Just remember, be a savvy manager, not a desperate gambler. We’re not just playing
a game.
Captain Chad Werkhoven
Sunnyside Station #13
February
16th - David Castillo
17th - Chris Munson
22nd - Jorge Campuzano-Lopez
23rd - Virginia Hurst
27th - Lee Theobald
27th - Angel Tovar
March
4th - Zachary Heeren
5th - Stan Buechler
9th - Shelley Alcala
10th - Jim Wabaunsee
15th - Chris Wertenberger