ente r your home from b a r b e q u e s , generators, and automobiles in a t t a c h e d garages. Create and practice a home fire escape plan to make certain that your family knows what to do in the event that either alarm should go off.

Open Flames Do not use candles in conjunction with wreaths, swags, or trees. Use great care to ensure candles are secured in a solid base and are well away from combustibles. As an alternative, consider using flameless, battery-operated candles.

Do not burn wrapping paper in your fireplace. The combustibility and high surface-to-air ratio of wrapping paper can create a rapidly developing fire that can spread beyond the fire box. For the same reason, never attempt to burn your Christmas tree in the fireplace.

December 2012

Information Regarding Your Local Fire Authority

Volume 5, Issue 4

Special points of interest

• Celebrate the Holidays Safely • Disaster Preparedness • The Reality of the Fire Service

• Don’t Miss Santa in your Neighbor

Assistant Chief Rick Mack

T is the season for gathering family and friends in our homes to

celebrate and give thanks. During this special time of year, the Riverside Fire Authority asks you to consider the following holiday safety tips:

Entertaining The holidays are a time for entertaining guests and family members, but remember that unattended cooking remains the leading cause of home fires in the U.S. As visitors come through your home, make sure matches and lighters are securely locked away from a child’s access.

Christmas Lights Carefully inspect new and used light strings. Use only those that are listed by a tes t ing l abora tory such a s Underwriters Laboratories or Factory Mutual and discard any light strings that show signs of worn insulation. Follow

‘ the manufacturer’s recommendations as to how many strings may be connected in series and be sure to only use lights recommended for indoor use inside your home. Though more expensive, the Light Emitting Diode (LED) lights available now produce very minimal heat, use less energy and have a longer life than traditional incandescent bulbs. Where exposed to weather, plug light strings into a circuit with a ground fault circuit interrupter. Always remember to turn off your decoration lighting when leaving the home or going to bed.

Christmas Trees A live tree should be fresh. Just before placing it in the stand, trim an inch or so from the bottom and always ensure a couple of inches of water cover the trunk. Locate your live tree away from heat sources such as your fireplace. This will increase its longevity. A warm room will dry out your tree rapidly, creating a fire hazard.

Smoke & Carbon Monoxide Detectors Ensure your family has the earliest available notice of fire by installing and maintaining smoke alarms in all sleeping rooms and immediately outside of these rooms. Smoke alarms should be installed on every level of multi-story dwellings. A useful companion to the smoke alarm is the carbon monoxide detector. Even though you no longer use fossil fuel for heating your home, you can still be victimized by this invisible, colorless, odorless gas. Research has shown deadly concentrations of carbon monoxide can

from the Riverside Fire Authority

Community Newsletter Page 2

E mergency Preparedness is a national topic these days.

Superstorm Sandy has left hundreds dead, thousands without power and millions with disruptions to their daily lives. Here in our community most of us can relate, on a smaller scale, to how a disaster can cause lingering effects for years after an event. Often, some of the people hardest hit by disasters are those displaced from their rental homes. This trend is in keeping with statistics following Hurricanes Ivan and Katrina, where FEMA estimated that the majority of those seeking temporary housing were renters.

There are some important precautions for renters to take that can help during a disaster and recovery. 1. Evaluate your personal and household needs. Planning

begins with an assessment of your needs and resources. For example: do you live in a flood prone area, do you depend on public transportation or do you have special health requirements? Answering these important questions forms the basis of good disaster preparedness.

2. Before entering a lease inspect the potential home or apartment. Pay particular attention to doors, windows, and the presence of smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. It may also be wise to look into the condition of heating, cooling, hot water and plumbing. Damage or failure of any of those systems can result in a small scale disaster.

3. Buy renters insurance. Homeowners insurance will provide for repairs to building and property but not a renter’s belongings. (Allstate Insurance estimates a payment for renter’s insurance can be as low as $16/month.)

4. Know two ways out. Even in an apartment, knowing two ways out is important; discuss and practice your plan with everyone in your household.

5. Get to know your neighbors. If you live in an apartment or small community find out what the emergency plan will be. If there isn’t one, schedule a meeting and invite everyone. Identifying neighbors that are elderly, disabled or have small children will help everyone plan to get out safely in an emergency.

6. Take inventory. Making a list, taking pictures and saving

receipts from major purchases may help the insurance and recovery process. 7. Plan for security. Many people stay in their homes because they can’t secure their valuables. Plan ahead to save important documents and valuables. Many items can be stored in locked, water/fire proof safes. Make extra sets of keys for the disaster kit in order to speed evacuation. 8. Put together and maintain a disaster kit. General guidelines are:

one gallon of water per person per day for five days, portable radio, flashlight with extra batteries, basic first aid kit, five days worth of non-perishable food, can opener, moist towelettes, garbage bags, emergency contacts list (friends, relatives, physician, landlord, etc), and any special needs items (medications, spare eyeglasses, oxygen supplies, etc).

There are many helpful websites that offer excellent tips for Disaster Preparedness under a variety of circumstances. Visit ready.gov, disasterhelp.gov, cityofcentralia.com, and lewiscountywa.gov/em for more information.

By Jennifer Ternan, RFA Driver/Engineer

What Every Renter Should Know About Disaster Preparedness

Congratulations to Ford's Prairie Elementary first-grader, Dakota Lafferty! Dakota was selected as the 2012

Grand Champion in the Lewis County Fire Prevention Poster Contest 1st through 3rd grade division.

Pictured with Chief Mack and Dakota are his teacher Mrs. Rakes and Principal David Roberts.

I n the world of entertainment, reality shows and dramatizations have subtly blurred the line between what is real and what is produced for

better ratings. The question “how real is that?” is frequently asked of our personnel each time a new TV series or movie is released that involves firefighters and emergency medical service responders. Very rarely does Hollywood accurately and positively portray life in the fire service, as was the case with Jack Webb’s TV series Emergency, filmed in the 1970’s with the Los Angeles County Fire Department. This series

could be credited today for inspiring many fire and emergency medical responders of my generation to pursue the calling to service. The newest attempt at depicting the life of firefighters is Chicago Fire, a made for TV drama series. Please don’t mistake it for one of those popular reality TV shows. Real firefighters and emergency medical service responders pride themselves on having strong character, high integrity and an unwavering commitment to service. All of these are traits that appear to be absent in the characters played by actors in this distorted sensationalized TV version of life in a Chicago firehouse. Amongst the real emergency responder community we strongly believe that earning and keeping the trust of the people we serve is worth fighting for each and every day.

Reality television series on the fire service are normally short lived. After all, there are only so many ways to show a burning building and, if we do our job right, the fire goes out and no one gets hurt. Conducting courtesy fire safety inspections in businesses, teaching school children fire safety, standing by at a high school football game, testing fire hose and ladders, planning for disasters, servicing chain saws, washing vehicles, studying new CPR procedures and practicing searching for fire victims in rooms with no lights on is not the writers’ idea of topics that keep viewers glued to the TV screen. The real fire service strives to work as a team under tightly structured command and safety standards. We do not condone or tolerate the lone wolf hero types. In a real building fire it would be nearly impossible to make useable film footage due to the smoke, heat and water conditions and the inability to speak and be heard clearly. Also the fact is that the hard work is only just beginning when the fire is put down. A lot of unglamorous back breaking work is about to begin. Walls, floors and ceilings need to be checked for hidden fire and the personal property present must be protected and removed from the way of harm. This is not exciting work and the viewing audience would lose interest in these real and necessary activities very quickly. No, these examples would not be suitable for prime time TV, but the reality is we gladly go out time and time again seeking opportunities to serve. The less exciting and glamorous, but we feel personally rewarding, reality of the fire and emergency medical service is gratefully and eagerly accepted by the dedicated men and women that are waiting to serve you anytime, anywhere at a moment’s notice right here in your community.

Page 3 Volume 5, Issue 4

Riverside Fire Authority

Station 1

Downtown Centralia 512 N. Pearl 360-330-9854

Station 2 Headquarters Fords Prairie

1818 Harrison Ave. 360-736-3975

Station 3 161 Big Hanaford

Station 4 2378 Seminary Hill Rd.

Station 5 3715 Cooks Hill Rd.

Station 6 2237 Lincoln Ck. Rd.

Station 7 649 Independence Rd.

Station 8 1220 Garrard Ck. Rd.

Fire Chief Jim Walkowski

Assistant Fire Chief & Operations Chief

Mike Kytta

Assistant Fire Chief & Fire Marshal

Rick Mack

The Reality of the Fire Service

Assistant Chief Mike Kytta

The annual Santa Mobile, supported by the Riverside Firefighters’ Association, will be visiting local neighborhoods

December 10th - 13th from 6:00pm - 8:00pm. Santa will be handing out candy canes and helping collect food and toy donations for families in need in our area. Get into the spirit of giving by contributing non-perishable food and/or new toys for those less

fortunate this holiday season. Please watch The Chronicle for more information on route locations.

Cancellation is possible in the event of inclement weather.

“Combining Efficiencies & Response To Provide The Highest Level of Service Possible To Our Citizens”

PRSRT STD U.S. Postage

PAID Olympia, WA Permit # 604

Riverside Fire

Authority

Headquarters Station 1818 Harrison Avenue Centralia, WA 98531 Phone: 360-736-3975

Fax: 360-330-5573

Downtown Station 512 N. Pearl

Centralia, WA 98531 Phone: 360-330-9854

Fax: 360-330-9857

Visit us on the Web! www.riversidefire.net

ECRWSS Postal Customer