News & Events – San Rafael Firefighter’s Association

San Rafael hosts CPF District Meeting

Marin Professional Firefighters Local 1775 hosted the California Professional Firefighters 4th District meeting on Thursday, February 13th at Embassy Suites in San Rafael. The meeting was attended by the entire CPF leadership, including President Brian Rice, Secretary-Treasurer Mike Lopez and 4th District VP Vince Wells, as well as Local affiliate leaders and members from our region.
San Rafael Firefighters attended the meeting to hear first hand the various issues in our profession throughout the state and the great work performed by the CPF to protect our rights.
Members included SRFA President Alviso, Vice President Ainsworth, Secretary Endaya, Rob Winner, Cameron Mrsny, Graham Winkelman, Andy “Shifty” Schifando, Jason Schmitt, and Adam Lymath.

February 13, 2020/by Jeff Endaya

SRFD BiWeekly Report

News

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A Bimonthly Report from the San Rafael, Central Marin, & Marinwood Fire Departments

December 20, 2019

Meet San Rafael Fire Academy Class #20

Fire Chief Gray and the Chair of the San Rafael Fire Commission Dr. Stephen Mizroch welcome the students of Recruit Class 20 that include: Lindsey Williamson, Alex Mercer, Chad Jones, John Swartz, Eric Valencia, and Michael Corrola.

San Rafael’s New Fire Engine

San Rafael Fire staff members recently traveled to the Pierce Manufacturing facility in Appleton, Wisconsin for a final inspection of our newest fire engine. We expect the Type 1 engine to be brought into service in the next few weeks.

New Administrative Assistant

Please welcome San Rafael Fire’s newest administrative assistant, Kathryn Nelson! Kathryn is a mother of two awesome young adults. She comes to the Fire Department with almost 7 years of Civil Service experience and 15 years of legal office experience. A native San Franciscan who moved to Marin County 13 years ago, Kathryn is very happy to be a member of the San Rafael Fire Team.

Marinwood Santa Detail

A great Marinwood event just wrapped up: we had our annual Santa Detail Saturday and Sunday, December 14 and 15. The paid and volunteer firefighters escorted Santa around the neighborhood, hitting every street, handing out candy canes and taking down Christmas wish lists. The feedback is always positive and very thankful. It was a great weekend.

Holiday Tree Disposal

Each year, fires occurring during the holiday season injure 2,600 individuals and cause over $930 million in damage. This video demonstrates how fast a live, cut Christmas tree can become fully engulfed in flames. Please see these tips from the United States Fire Administration (USFA) to help ensure a safe and happy holiday.

Also, if you have a Christmas tree, there are multiple ways to recycle it. Please note that any trees over 6 feet in length must be cut in half to fit inside the collection trucks. Trees that are flocked, decorated, or still attached to the tree stand will not be collected. For all residents, the following free drop-off sites accept trees (January 2-15, 2020 unless otherwise noted):

– Fire Station 55 – 955 Pt. San Pedro Rd
– Marinwood Community Center (next to Fire Station 58) – 775 Miller Creek Rd
– Al Boro Community Center – 50 Canal St
– Scotty’s Market Parking Lot – Freitas Parkway at Del Ganado Rd
– Marin Resource & Recovery – 565 Jacoby St. (January 2-31, 2020; flocked trees will incur a charge)

If you live in a single-family dwelling, you also may bring it curbside for free on your Green Can day from December 30, 2019 to January 17, 2020. After January 17, trees collected curbside will incur a $5 charge.

Happy Holidays to all!

Overhang Collapse

Fortunately, there were no injuries associated with a partial overhang collapse in front of the businesses along the 900 block of Grand Avenue that occurred on December 11. It appears that dry rot caused the underside of the structure to break away and fall to the sidewalk below.

House Fire Silveira Ranch

December 13 at 3 P.M., firefighters responded to a fire in an abandoned dwelling on the Silveira Ranch property east of Highway 101. The interior of the structure sustained significant fire and smoke damage. The fire appears to have started in the kitchen area behind several appliances that were plugged in. Faulty, substandard wiring was located in this space. There were no injuries.

Farewell to AmeriCorps St Louis & AmeriCorps NCCC Teams

After 6 weeks in San Rafael, we bid farewell to 20 young adults who are spending their year serving various communities around the country. During their time in San Rafael, the teams worked together and apart to reduce wildfire risk by creating shaded fuel breaks, improving fire roads, and helping qualifying homeowners achieve defensible space. The teams also cleared vegetation from the San Rafael Community Center in preparation for it to become an example of “firescaping” or fire resistant landscaping. We hope for many more years of partnership and wish safe travels and Holidays to both teams! More information on the partnership and what the teams accomplished is at https://www.cityofsanrafael.org/wildfire-prevention-assistance/ .

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December 30, 2019/by Jeff Endaya

SRFA members help with Santa Cop

Charitable Events

San Rafael Firefighters continue our wonderful Christmas tradition of gathering toys for children and families who are not going to have Christmas due to circumstances beyond their control. In partnership with the San Rafael Police Officers and North Bay Footprinters this program has helped many families in need. Pictured, Capt. Clark, Engineer Reuter, and Firefighter/Paramedic Nietogomez spend their day wrapping the generous donations.

December 11, 2019/by Jeff Endaya

SRFD Hotshot News

News

A Bimonthly Report from the San Rafael, Central Marin, & Marinwood Fire Departments

December 6, 2019

Thank You, San Rafael

San Rafael and Marinwood Fire Chief Christopher Gray presided over a badge pinning and award ceremony held on December 2, 2019 at Fire Station 57. The following promotions, commendations, and recognitions were made:

Special Recognition
- Fire Axes presented to SRFD retirees Kevin Spiller and Steve Takemoto for 30+ years of outstanding fire and paramedic service to San Rafael
- Service Award to Pat Kendall of Kaiser Permanente for 40 years of a great working relationship with San Rafael
- Service Award to Joyce McCarthy for 7 years of outstanding service as San Rafael Fire’s Accountant
- Service Award to Edlyn Scafani for 4 years of outstanding service as Administrative Assistant II
- Special Significance of San Rafael, Marinwood, and Marin County Shared Services – we are grateful for these special relationships with our neighbors
- By working together we’re better: Recognition for Battalion Chief Matt Windrem and everyone involved in the HHS Direct Connect pilot community paramedicine program, a collaborative effort in conjunction with Marin HHS
Fire Chiefs Commendations
- Sylvia Gonzalez-Shelton, HR Coordinator
- Firefighter/Paramedic Angel Landaverde: An example for all of our firefighters, FF/PM Landaverde truly helps people locally and internationally
- The team from Alten Construction: Shannon Alten, Eric, Chris, Chad, Max, Trevor, Pete, and Richard. Building our new Fire Stations 52 and 57 and the Public Safety Center.
- The project and construction management team from Kitchell CEM, Inc.: Bill; John George, and Eric
- The San Rafael Department of Public Works: Director Bill Guerin and Essential Facilities Project Manager Faby Guillen
- Sayre Laflin, Designer, Mary McGrath Architects
- Patty Garbarino, Marin Sanitary Services: For more than 25 years, Patty has demonstrated exceptional environmental leadership. We are grateful for our partnership with Patty, Joe Garbarino, and the Marin HHW Facility.
- David Catalinotto, Environmental Management Coordinator since February 2017, also serving as Accountant for SRFD.
- Jim Schutz, City Manager
Promotion of Fire Engineer Esteban Cespedes
Promotion of Fire Captain Kyle Kleinschmidt

Vegetation Management Update

San Rafael’s Fire Prevention Bureau has had a busy last few weeks:

Two teams from AmeriCorps NCCC and St. Louis continue to chip away at a number of projects across the City. One notable project is at the Downtown San Rafael Community Center; we are in discussions with local experts on creating wonderful, fire safe example gardens to display around the community center. The teams also recently cleared vegetation along Broadview Drive in Dominican/Black Canyon. In addition, both teams have had the opportunity to work with several private property owners to increase their own defensible space!
We are working on an online map for the City’s website to show where past vegetation management projects have taken place so the public can view the progress pictures of these sites, and to highlight the hard work of these teams.
We continue to work on pre-planning for next year’s inspections and are off to a strong start with the new Short Term Rental Vegetation Management Standards. In the coming months we will look to increase our public education efforts as well as the City’s compliance rate.
The Prevention Bureau has applied for the California Climate Investments Fire Prevention Grant Program to provide our department with better mapping, modeling, and analytics for fire-related risk reduction around the City’s Wildland-Urban Interface.

Cal Park Tunnel SMART Exercise

On December 5, Central Marin and San Rafael firefighters took part in a comprehensive training exercise inside the Cal Park Tunnel. The drill simulated a disabled SMART train in the tunnel that caught fire trapping several occupants. The training exercise was scheduled to occur just prior to the service extension to the Larkspur station that begins on December 14.

Grateful Resident

On November 21, firefighters quickly extinguished a fire at a residence caused by improperly discarded rags that had been used for staining wood. Fortunately, damage was minor because the resident who was home at the time smelled smoke and quickly called 9-1-1. To our concern, improperly discarded oily rags continues to be a common cause for fires. It is critical that oil or stain soaked rags be immersed in water inside a metal container with a lid. Another option is to hang the rags outside to dry in a safe area or spread them out flat making sure they are weighted down outdoors until the fabric is completely dry.

Kerner Boulevard Structure Fire

On November 29 at approximately 8:30 P.M., firefighters responded to a report of a dwelling fire on the 3400 block of Kerner Boulevard. Upon arrival, firefighters determined that a two story townhouse was fully involved in fire and that several other units in the complex were immediately threatened. A second alarm was sounded due to the serious nature of the incident and the likelihood of the fire spreading to other portions of the complex. Fortunately, crews were able to contain the fire to the one dwelling. The fire was started by a candle burning in the living room while the home was unoccupied. There were no injuries, but unfortunately, two cats perished.

San Rafael Parade of Lights

E51 C Shift crew helped ring in the Christmas season by leading the annual San Rafael Parade of Lights festivities. Along with leading the parade, Santa Claus was delivered to to the tree lighting ceremony aboard Engine 51. The event was the culmination of the daylong Winter Wonderland festivities held along Fourth Street.