to Read the February 2015 Smoke Signals Newsletter
Transcription
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 February 2015 Pg.2 s s e n t i F r o f p U d e r i F 5 1 0 2 Smoke Signals February 2015 Pg.3 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