Information Regarding Your Local Fire Authority
Volume 4, Issue 2
June 2011
R
ecently, I had a discussion with measures in every American airport. We will never travel
a group of fire officials the same way we did before September 11, 2001.
regarding the challenges and changes I refer to these events to illustrate the fact that recessions
that the current recession has brought never really end. Each is a continuation of the one before
to the industry of providing efficient but in a different form. The markets go up and they go
and effective emergency services to down. You can almost chart them in five to seven year
our communities.
Through the cycles. Market leaders know this and are prepared in
course of the discussion it occurred to advance. They also know that recessions change things
me that, while our current economic permanently. Acknowledging what is changing and reacting
Chief Jim Walkowski
climate is different, it is not appropriately is how success is measured in times like these.
necessarily down.
The recession of 2008-2009 has forever changed
In an effort to clarify, here is what I gained “...now is the time to seek the way that Americans buy on credit. It has
from the discussion. The Great Depression opportunities to improve changed the way that houses are purchased and
fiscal efficiencies and
occurred in 1929. During this time a great
loans are obtained. Even more notably, it has
collaboration
among the
draught hit the mid section of the country and
changed the way that cars are purchased with
the farming industry lost all that they had. fire and emergency medical some product lines no longer in existence. Gas
Many people who lived in this area of the services community within guzzling cars are becoming a thing of the past in
Lewis County.”
country moved to cities, predominantly in
favor of more fuel efficient transportation.
Florida and California. By the end of the Great
Depression, the U.S. had become an urban country. Most Recognizing that the economic climate is different but not
people had migrated to cities for jobs and convenience. The necessarily down, there are many of us that believe that now
Great Depression changed where our country lived forever. is the time to seek opportunities to improve fiscal efficiencies
and collaboration among the fire and emergency medical
World War II actually helped bring the Great Depression to services community within
an end. It motivated American society and industrialized the Lewis County. As this effort
average citizen like never before. With most of the eligible begins to gain momentum, we
labor (men) off fighting the war, women were asked to work will update you with identified
in the factories to help bring about a victory. When the war o b j e c t i v e s
a n d
ended, the composition of the workforce continued to accomplishments that are
Special points
change.
of interest:
achieved throughout the area
More recently, the world market suffered a recession in serviced by the Riverside Fire
• Providing Emergency
2000-2001, known as the “dot-com recession,” that changed Authority and throughout
Services During Times
of Change
the investment system in the U.S. forever. As it was coming Lewis County.
In the
to a close, the events of 9/11 took place. For several days, meantime, know that your
• Protect Your Home
from Wildfire
commercial airports were shut down, leaving thousands of emergency service providers
people stranded. Travel came to a standstill almost are doing their best to stay
• Why do They do
worldwide. When travel resumed, there were new security ahead of the curve of change.
That?
Page 2
Community Newsletter
PROTECT YOUR HOME FROM WILDFIRE
A
s I am writing this article, another Midwest
community (this time a densely populated
one) is digging out from yet another deadly tornado.
I can’t recall a time when the states comprising
“Tornado Alley” have experienced such a violent
thunderstorm season. So widespread are the
atmospheric conditions responsible for these killer
Assistant Chief Rick Mack storms, I’ve even learned a new term.
Meteorologists refer to the conditions as “tornadic,”
a term first used in 1984 and brought back in an attempt to describe the
chaos. Combine this with never-before-seen flooding along the Mississippi
River and you have the effective coup de grâce for the spring of 2011. La
Niña, the name given to the climatic phenomenon that brings cooler and
wetter conditions to the Pacific Northwest, is considered to blame. Colder
water temperatures in the sub- equatorial Eastern Pacific bring this climatic
trend. While the tornadic devastation and flooding experienced in the
Midwest states is unprecedented, according to the National Weather Service,
La Niña—its source— is on its way out.
In the Pacific Northwest, La Niña makes us grumpy and it’s often difficult to
get a little league game in, but it doesn’t necessarily cause the destruction seen in Tornado Alley. According to the National
Weather Service the welcome transition away from La Niña will bring below normal precipitation locally through the summer
months. If forecasts are correct, we should expect what is now lush green vegetation to inevitably become excessive dry fuels,
particularly in the urban-interface, serving as our potential recipe for disaster. Each year about this time, RFA Operations Chief
Kytta and I have a discussion about the prospects of the wildfire season; what we may anticipate and our operational readiness.
When you are outside your home, examine areas where your home could be exposed to possible wildfire. Following are some tips
for you to consider that can reduce your risk from this external threat.
•
When it comes time to replace your roof, consider noncombustible materials like composition
shingles, tile, or metal.
•
Make sure tree limbs and branches don’t touch the house or roof. Limbs should reach no closer
than ten feet from the house.
•
Plant low, less flammable landscaping materials near the house. Lawns work nicely for this
purpose. Taller trees and shrubs should be kept at a distance.
•
Don’t stack firewood against your home. Keep decks and patios free of flammable doormats,
baskets and combustible materials.
•
Remove woody yard debris on a regular basis. A buildup of fallen limbs, branches and dry leaves
serve as “ladder fuel” to spread flames up into a tree’s canopy.
•
Wildfires travel fastest uphill. If you live on a slope, make sure you have a 100-foot buffer around
your property. Cut tall grass early and regularly. Tall green grass turns quickly to dry standing fuel
which allows fire to travel rapidly.
•
Rural homeowners may be the first to respond to a wildfire. Keep fire tools accessible, which
include a long-handled round-point shovel, rake, ax, and a water bucket.
We want you to have a safe and enjoyable summer. After this long winter and disappointing spring, you’ve earned it. A little
preplanning will ensure that you can.
Volume 4, Issue 2
Page 3
A CONTINUING SERIES ANSWERING COMMONLY ASKED
QUESTIONS ABOUT EMERGENCY SERVICES.
Why does the RFA respond to non-emergency 9-1-1 requests?
To answer this question, let’s begin with a brief description of what
happens when a call is received at the 9-1-1 Center. When the call
comes in, trained 9-1-1 operators will question the caller about the type
Assistant Chief Mike Kytta of problem. “What is the patient’s age? Is there any trouble breathing or
chest pain? Is the patient awake and talking?” The operator will likely
inquire further regarding the patient’s medical history. These questions are intended to determine
what type of medical assistance is needed and whether the response will be an urgent request with
lights and sirens or a non life-threatening response. Following the call, you might believe that a
determination can easily be made to refuse service. The choice to refuse service, however, is not
as simple as it may initially appear. A healthy, highly functioning person can handle many
situations that come their way without help from anyone, while an elderly person or a medically
fragile person suffering the effects of a disease will have a much lower threshold for declaring a
similar situation an emergency. This can be compounded by limited finances and the absence of
friends or family to help. In other words, an emergency can truly be in the eyes of the beholder.
Another concern is legal liabilities. We regularly hear stories about public safety agencies making a
mistake by not responding quickly enough to a 9-1-1 call and the patient has a bad outcome. The
9-1-1 operators do an exceptional job screening calls but sometimes accurate information is not
known by the caller and it is not unusual for them to be so upset that they cannot answer all of the
operator’s questions. If there is any doubt about the situation, the response system must, in the
best interest of the public, be designed to provide a service instead of withhold a service.
Most fire and emergency medical service agencies, including the Riverside Fire Authority, are very
concerned about assigning the limited number of on-duty personnel, with their sophisticated
equipment, to 9-1-1 responses when they are not truly needed. The greatest fear is that a genuine
emergency response will be delayed because we are tied up on a non emergency call. The best way
to reduce the number of unnecessary 9-1-1 responses is to educate the public about making the
right call to 9-1-1. Most people can and do recognize a life threatening emergency when they
encounter one. The table to the right lists examples of emergency situations that should prompt a
call to 9-1-1 and some non-emergency situations that would not warrant a 9-1-1 call. It is
inappropriate and ineffective to call 9-1-1
Making the right call to 9-1-1
to get quicker attention in the hospital
Emergency
Non-Emergency
emergency department. Emergency room
patients are treated in order of the
severity of their illness or injury. Arriving
by ambulance will not afford you faster
medical treatment.
• Fainting
• Transportation to a
doctor’s appointment
The Riverside Fire Authority will do its • Collapse
• Seeking treatment
part to find ways to control the cost of • Chest pain or
for very minor cuts
emergency services and improve response
difficulty breathing
or abrasions
times to genuine emergencies. The public
• A person appearing
we serve is asked to take a few minutes to
• Simple cold or flu
to be badly injured
think about when and how to make the
symptoms
and moving them
right call to 9-1-1. Working together we
• Chronic, ongoing
could cause further
can use our emergency response resources
injury
aches and pains
more efficiently.
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
Riverside
Fire
Authority
Headquarters Station
1818 Harrison Avenue
Centralia, WA 98531
Phone: 360-736-3975
Fax: 360-330-5573
PRSRT STD
U.S. Postage
PAID
Olympia, WA
Permit #
ECRWSS Postal Customer
Downtown Station
512 N. Pearl
Centralia, WA 98531
Phone: 360-330-9854
Fax: 360-330-9857
Visit us on the Web!
www.riversidefire.net
“Combining Efficiencies & Response
To Provide The Highest Level of Service Possible To Our Citizens”