Volume 3, number 4, April 2001 Firebreak Things have been fairly quiet down here at the fire station since the house fire that was reported in the February issue of The Ester Republic. We responded to three motor vehicle accidents on the Parks Highway, involving vehicles rolled over, off the road, or in the ditch, but the people in the accidents did not require emergency medical care. A gentleman involved in the vehicle rollover was still buckled in, wearing his seat belt, when the first Ester volunteer firefighter (who had witnessed the accident) arrived on the scene. Roads can be wet, slick, and icy during the repeated freezing and thawing of spring breakup. Please drive carefully and wear your seat belts. In cooperation with Chena-Goldstream Fire and Rescue, with whom we have a mutual aid agreement, we responded to some medical emergencies: an older gentleman who was having difficulty breathing, to whom we administered oxygen and who was transported to the hospital in the Chena-Goldstream ambulance; a young woman going in and out of consciousness and experiencing respiratory difficulties, who was also transported tot he hospital in the Chena-Goldstream ambulance; and most recently, an emergency involving a woman with seizures and a history of diabetes. She was unconscious upon the arrival of Ester and Chena-Goldstream personnel, who measured her glucose levels and administered glucose and another medication until she regained consciousness. The Ester Volunteer Fire Department recently responded to a chimney fire, which was confined to the chimney stack. We climbed the building on ladders and ran a chimney brush up and down the stack to clean it out. Once again, a warning to those with wood stoves: we’ve been building up creosote in the chimney stacks all winter. Let’s be sure and keep those chimneys cleaned out! The fire department has a chimney brush available that you can sign out and borrow to clean your chimney. Just stop by the fire station and ask for the chimney brush. Thank you to Chief Eric Mohrmann and Chena-Goldstream Fire and Rescue for the wonderful, friendly welcome they gave to the Ester Volunteer Fire Department last month at their Chena Ridge Station, where we held a joint exercise and training session. As part of a certification process that lowers fire insurance rates for area residents and businesses, we must periodically demonstrate to the insurance companies that, through the mutual aid agreements which link our local volunteer fire departments together, we can provide water tanker and manpower support for each other, allowing us to attain and hold a constant, high rate of water flow for an extended period of time at a major fire anywhere in the area. This is what we practiced doing at this joint session. The Ester Volunteer Fire Department extends its most sincere condolences to the family, friends, and fellow firefighters of Christopher Donald Kobierowski, assistant chief of the Delta Junction Volunteer Fire Department, who died in the line of duty while responding to a fire on March 6, 2001. We thank the Fairbanks Racing Lions for their recent and very generous donation of $2,500 to the Ester Volunteer Fire Department. Thanks as well to fire captains Cameron Wohlford and Kyle Carrington for the enormous amount of time and effort which they have invested this winter in providing the department with an excellent and rigorous training program, maintaining the fire department trucks and emergency equipment, and keeping the station in good working order. Thanks again to Chief Richard Hagen, Assistant Chief Jody Brady, and Deputy Chief John Debbaut for holding the department on a steady course and getting all the paperwork done for things like grant applications for new equipment. Thanks for a job well done to Ester Volunteer Firefighter Engineer Dan Weatherly, who took Rescue Vehicle 51 tot he University of Alaska fire science program class on rescue practices. The class instructor called the station specifically to say what a great help Dan had been to the class. Because of Ester’s strategic position on the Parks Highway, it has one of the best-equipped rescue vehicles in the state. Our "Jaws of Life" Hurst equipment, used to spread the crushed metal of damaged vehicles apart so that accident victims can be gotten out, is jointly owned by the University of Alaska Fire Science Program and the Ester Volunteer Fire Department, under the terms of the grant through which it was purchased. Our department has twice received the "Jaws of Life" award for life-saving rescues involving difficult extractions of victims from the wreckage of motor vehicle accidents. Our annual Ester Volunteer Fire Department Garage Sale (also known as the Recycle Sale) is coming up soon. The date has not yet been set but will be announced. The sale is organized by Ray Hadley. On the day of the garage sale, bring all that old stuff you don’t want down to the fire station and sell it. It will help out the fire department, which will get 10% of the proceeds. On Saturday, April 28, the folks from the borough land fill will be here at the Ester station from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. for hazardous materials collection. Instead of pitching old paint, oils, thinners, etc., out into the environment, you can bring them down here so that they can be properly disposed of by the borough people. There are some limits (no truckloads, please), but this is the perfect way to get rid of all that nasty old household stuff you turn up during spring cleaning. We thank most of all the new volunteers who have joined our department this past winter: Daniel "Gunner" Becker, Trae Bower, Sarah Hilton, Clayton O’Conner, Kim Ognisty, Sundown Stauffer, and Joseph Yurchak. We ask everyone in the community to think about volunteering for the fire department. Help us strengthen our ties to the community and serve our community better.
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