• SCFPD 6 Commissioner’s meeting are held on the first Saturday of every month at 10:30am at the SCFPD6 fire station

Update: April 7, 2011

Please forward on to all District Personnel, include Charlie Sitton and John Andrews and the commissioners:

All

A new "Black Box" has been installed adjacent to the Generator switch in the Station. This box is a "Generator Exerciser" that is programmed to start the station Generator on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday and operate it for one hour between 8AM and 9AM. Because of the low usage of the facility in the winter months, the communications batteries and generator start batteries often fully discharge and fail to operate station equipment or start the generator. This unit will maintain all battery systems as well as exercise the generator itself. The Exerciser will operate autonomously so when you enter the station, use the Generator Switch (in the grey box) as you always have. I will hold training on its detailed operation during this summers drill. Please do not change the position of any switches on this unit

The District has purchased a Brush Engine from a private fire contractor in Bend Oregon. It will be designated Brush 262 and replace the current B262. Chassis is a 2004, Ford F550 (only 38K miles), diesel with full crew cab. It is outfitted as a full (federal and state) Type 6 Brush engine and in complete with 350 gal water, pump, foam, hoses, fittings, radios, chainsaw, fire shelters, drip torch, hand tools, etc. I have been cleaning and preparing the unit for service. The FF Association has agreed to support this effort with a grant of $3,500 toward emergency lighting, graphics, communication systems etc. The marking graphics are complete and the new LED light bar is installed. I am hiring Mike McCartor to install the radio communications, siren, and lighting controls. I expect to have it in service by June 1st.

If any of you have some extra time, I would appreciate a hand in polishing and waxing the unit. I have purchased an electric buffer for polishing and buffing. Please contact me if you can help and I will work with you.

I have installed new heater thermostats in the station to operate the wall heaters in the engine bays. These new thermostats adjust down to 35 deg and will allow for temperature settings below the existing 45 to 50 deg. I have them balanced to maintain a minimum of 35 to 38 degrees during extreme weather. This will keep our equipment from freezing but is not designed to be a "human comfortable" environment. With the old thermostats, our propane bill for 3 months was about $3000. I estimate that these new thermostats will drop this amount by at least half. Please do not change the thermostat settings in the engine bays.

As always, please secure a portable radio when entering the District and report in on Control 6 that you are in-service. Our call volume has been very low this winter, but as we all know, emergencies come any time and in any number. Our job is to be prepared and respond.

I look forward to seeing all of you at the "kickoff" this spring.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT,
Frank
Franklin L. Yela, Chief
Skamania County Fire Protection District 6
P.O. Box 98
Cougar, Washington 98616


Franklin L. Yela, Chief
Skamania County Fire Protection District 6

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The Skamania County Fire Protection District 6 Fire Department trains throughout the spring and summer months. We prepare for both Fire and Medical emergencies. Over 80% of the calls we receive in the district are related to Motor Vehicle Accidents (MVA) and involve duties as First Responders and basic EMT.

Follow this link for YouTube videos of a fire combat training exercise that was conducted May 2009 at the Pine Creek Information Station, a USFS installation on the south side of Mt. St. Helens. As part of the cleanup effort in preparation for last years reopening, SCFPD6 was offered the chance to facilitate removal of two free-standing storage sheds by burning them. Our training for this exercise involved deployment and setup of three apparatus (Engine 1, Water Tender 1 and Squad 1), as well as line placement, hose positioning and water flow.

The District 6 Commissioner meeting documentation is found here

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