Fauquier County Fi re , Rescue & Emergency Management

Spring is here! I am glad I didn’t say that last week. There is one word for this month: BUSY. The FY 2014 budget process is in full swing and by the end of the month, the County will have a tentative budget for next year (beginning July). On the tailcoat of the budg-et process, we held an all-day retreat with Fire and Rescue Company Chiefs and officers on Saturday March 9th at the Airlie Center. One of the most important, and unfortunately often unsuccessful, endeavors of planning for depart-ments is to ensure that County leadership is involved in the process from the start. I am grateful that we suc-ceeded in this endeavor.

Deputy County Admin-istrator Katie Heritage and Board of Supervi-sors Chester Stribling and Chris Granger all participated in the af-ternoon session of our retreat. Two important elements came as a re-sult of this all day meet-ing:

1. We have a better idea of the budget process and what we need to do to ensure that we con-

tribute to the process of outlining our needs.

2. We are ready to

move forward with our

planning process. The

work has just begun;

prepare to be involved!

Planning isn’t writing –

it is doing…

FROM THE DESK OF CHIEF B I L L I N G T O N

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :

Battalion 3 and 1 2

Emergency Management 3

Battalion 2, Preparedness 4

Birthdays, Marshall News 5

Open Air Burning 6

Recruit Graduation 7

Fight Fires. Save Lives. 8

THE FIRELINE NEWSLETTER

Great minds planning for the future of our organizations at the

Airlie Center

DFREM and VFRA Long Range Planning Retreat

on March 9th

March 2013 Issue

FAUQUIER COUNTY DEPARTMENT

OF FIRE RESCUE

& EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

Phone: 540-422-8800

www.fauquierfirerescue.org

Find us on Facebook!

Fauquier County Department of Fire, Rescue

and Emergency Management

Fire Rescue Chief Tom Billington

Battalion 3 has been exceptionally busy this month! Recent winter weather has increased our call vol-ume and challenged our crews on incident scenes. We have all had to work together to manage some ex-tremely challenging incidents. Many thanks go out to eve-

ryone for their hard work and dedication!

We have also been

busy continuing to get

our Technician II can-

didates through their

training. Congratula-

tions to Technician

Wood! He is the first

in the Northern

Battalion to complete

all of the required

training!

Happy birthday to Technician

York, and congratulations to

newly promoted Lieutenant's

McEvilly and Bates!

tion and deserves it. We have had a

lot of extra staffing lately because of

the precepting which has been great. With this extra staffing we have been

able to complete many hours of EMS, fire and drivers training. Along with

job training, we have also begun to

complete some PT. With little over a month until trans-

fers take effect; please take the time

to say hi and bye to

everyone. Most of Medic 1 is getting

transferred out and a new group of guys

The past month has brought a lot of

excitement to Battalion 1. First, I

would like to congratulate the latest graduates to the field. Keep

up the strong work and welcome to those who were assigned to the

Medic 1 and Station 10! I would also

like to congratulate Technician I Davis on the

completion of her Paramed-

ic. She has

worked hard over the last 6

months to gain this certifica-

and gals is getting their turn at the

busiest unit in the county. I am sure that newly promoted Lt. Bates will

do as good of a job as Lt. Kidwell did over the last few years. Station 10

will mostly remain the same, with

the addition of Technician II Chris-mer and Technician I Saunders.

Thanks to all that are getting trans-

ferred out; I’ll be seeing you soon.

Page 2

I N S I D E B AT T A L I O N 3

I N S I D E B A T T A L I O N 1

G O I N G T H E E X T R A M I L E , S E R V I N G A B O V E A N D B E Y O N D

Did you know? Fauquier County

Department of Fire,

Rescue & Emergency

Management and VFRA

sends out this monthly

newsletter (The FIRELINE)

to all its personnel and

fellow County workers,

every month? The

FIRELINE highlights

monthly activities,

response to calls,

accomplishments,

awards, honors,

happenings and other

news! This is put together

by Danica Low,

Administrative Assistant in

DFREM. If you would like

to contribute a brief

article, announcement, or

photo to the FIRELINE, we

welcome your

submissions! Just email

them to danica.low@fauquiercounty.gov

by the last day of each

month.

March 2013

PROMOTIONS

mailto:danica.low@fauquiercounty.gov

THE FIRELINE NEWSLETTER

Effective March 2, 2013,

these promotions took effect:

Tech II Fred McEvilly to Lieutenant

Tech II Jeff Bates to Lieutenant

Tech II Mike Gillam to Lieutenant

The Commonwealth’s 4 p.m. Burning Law goes into effect Feb. 15, 2013 – the start of

spring fire season in Virginia. This law prohibits burning before 4 p.m. each day (Feb.

15 – April 30) if the fire is in, or within 300 feet of, woodland, brushland or fields contain-

ing dry grass or other flammable materials. A violation of this law is a Class 3 misde-

meanor punishable by up to a $500 fine. In addition to the criminal violation, those who

allow a fire to escape are liable for the cost of suppressing the fire as well as any dam-

age caused to others’ property. Burning of leaves, yard waste or trash continues to be

the major cause of wildfires in Virginia. These "debris" fires can easily escape unless

proper precaution is taken. Take a look at the poster on the next page to be reminded of

our safety guidelines when burning debris.

Page 3

E M E R G E N C Y P R E PA R E D N E S S : T O R N A D O E S

CO N G RAT ULATI O N S , PRO MO TI O NS , A N D RE A S O N S T O C E L E B RATE !

I N S I D E S T O R Y H E A D L I N E

Statewide tornado drill this month. If you weren’t able to participate in this drill, please choose anoth-er time or date to do so – every home, business, (fire station!), organization and school can hold a tornado drill – and the most important thing is to prepare by practicing! Information on how to

hold a drill is available at www.ReadyVirginia.gov.

Put a drill on your calendar today!

During the past two years, 62 tornadoes hit Virginia, killing 10 people and injuring more than 200. Some 210 homes were destroyed, and more than 1,050 were damaged, and nearly every part of the state has been affected. It’s critically important to know what to do when a tornado warning is issued. Thanks to all who participated in the

Did You Know?

In 2011, Most tornadoes occurred during April, but

were also recorded in March, May,

August, September, October and November.

Congratulations to Lt Kidwell and

his wife on the birth of their baby

boy, Henry Fynn. BC Arft got the

chance to stop by the Kidwell

household and says all are doing

well!

Congratulations to Mary Hart in

her promotion to the position of

Lieutenant. She is now

overseeing all training processes.

http://www.ReadyVirginia.gov

The month of March is

quickly approaching and

warmer weather is just

around the corner. The

Southern Battalion con-

tinues to be busy and is

seeing an increase in

fires. We have seen eve-

rything from Tractor

Fires, to Commercial

Building Fires and so

much more. We wel-

comed our new Techni-

cians to the field this

month as well; Techni-

cian Twomey, Techni-

cian Burnthorn, Techni-

cian Graham, and Tech-

nician Willis as they

begin their precepting

and Driver release pack-

ets. Please take a mo-

ment when you see these

new Technicians to say

hello.

We end this month on a

slightly somber note,

thinking of February anni-

versaries – in 2012 when

Firefighter Joshua Weiss-

man from Alexandria Fire

and Rescue, and Zachary

Whitecre from Gore Vol-

unteer Fire and Rescue,

lost their lives in the line

of duty.

Photos of Battalion 2 in

action are below.

(FEMA) and the National Oceanic and

Atmosphere Administration (NOAA) emphasize the need for

individuals, families, businesses, organiza-tions and nonprofits to

prepare emergency plans, and to know

National Severe Weather

Preparedness Week is March 3-9, 2013.

During National Severe Weather

Preparedness Week, the Federal Emergency

Management Agency

what to do before severe weather strikes.

More information on tornadoes and severe

thunderstorms is available at

www.weather.gov and www.ready.gov/severe-

weather.

Page 4

I N S I D E B AT T A L I O N 2

S E V E R E W E A T H E R P R E PA R E D N E S S W E E K

March 2013

Tractor Trailer Roll-Over

Incident

“It's hard to beat a

person who never gives

up.” - Babe Ruth

http://www.weather.govhttp://www.ready.gov/severe-weatherhttp://www.ready.gov/severe-weatherhttp://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3916262.Babe_Ruth

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

Lynne Clegg 3/3 Stephanie York 3/8

Jeffrey Bates 3/9 Charles Myers 3/11 George Keefer 3/23

Ward Ponn 3/31

I just want to express gratitude. What a great team of career and volunteer members of Fau-quier County's fire and rescue system, emergency manage-ment our law enforcement and dispatch partners, general ser-vices and other county employ-ees that were here with us working together on our spring snow storm. Great job all!

Sincerely,

Thomas M. Billington, MBA

Fire Rescue Chief

Accredited Chief Fire Officer Designee

Recently, volunteers from Marshall Volunteer Rescue Squad and Marshall Volunteer Fire Depart-ment gathered at MVRS for a training on the new-est addition to the department, a Lucas 2 de-vice. Becky Michaelangelo, from Physio Control, came by to teach us how to deploy the device quickly and efficiently. Working together, every-one had the chance

to practice getting the device in place and per-forming compressions. In the few weeks that the Lucas 2 has been on the ambulance, it has already been used twice during emergency calls. Feel free to stop by Marshall Rescue to take a look at the Lucas 2! If you have any questions or would like the chance to train, contact AC Martin at

emschick9@gmail.com.

Page 5 March 2013

mailto:emschick9@gmail.com

Page 6 March 2013

SECOND TO NONE!

Jeffrey Burgess

Kelly Burnthorn

Elliott Foster

Terry Graham

Clifton Krieg, Jr.

Jeremiah Leonard

Brendan Miller

Charles Myers

Jessica Saunders

Thomas Shiflett

Christopher Twomey

Robert Willis

James Wyne

Stephanie York

Thank you, Lt. Baker for your

stellar leadership to our recruits!

Page 7 March 2013

Page 8 March 2013