After over 30 years in the local Fire Service, I am hanging up my helmet!  It has been a very long career, and one that I will surely miss. I am more than fortunate enough to retire and still have my health! For the last 4 years I have been the Sacramento Fire Department’s “Public Information Officer”. I left the fire house back in 2006 for a lot of reasons, but the main reason is that being a Firefighter takes its toll and I needed a change. I considered doing other “desk jobs” in the fire department, but none of them appealed to me as much as being the PIO. People that know me know that I have a passion for talking! And I love to talk about things that are near and dear to me. That is w

Around 10:00 A.M. Monday July the 5th, four Sacramento Firefighters were injured while on the scene of a natural gas leak on 25th Avenue in Oak Park. Three of the Firefighters are still in the hospital. They all suffered burns when the home exploded. The cause of this fire and explosion is still under investigation. All of the Firefighters will make a full recovery, but their injuries were severe and they will have to go through months of treatment. We were very lucky that no one lost their life in this explosion. The Sacramento Fire Department has received many calls from the public expressing their well wishes to these Firefighters. Get Well cards and letters can be mailed to: Sacram

The Sacramento Fire Department recently started our “Open House” program. The public is invited to attend any of these events, and meet your Firefighters and see the equipment and tour the stations. The times are 2:00 – 5:00 P.M. The dates and locations are below and you can also visit our website at www.sacfire.org for more information..... • May 22 Station #13 1100 43rd Avenue • May 29 Station #15 1591 Newborough Dr • June 5 Station #11 785 Florin Road • June 12 Station #57 7927 East Parkway • June 19 Station #5 731 Broadway • June 26 Station #10 5642 66th Street • July 10 Station #6 3301 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. • July 17 Station #16 7363 24th Street • July 24 Station #17 1311 Bell

Recently careercast.com, a job search web site, did a study and listed what they found to be the most stressful jobs of 2010. Firefighter came out as the most stressful job in their study. Although some of you may or may not agree with this report, I thought that I would give you a little insiders view on some of the things that I believe make our profession stressful. Some may think the obvious; “Firefighting” is what makes our job the stressful one it is. While it is true, the actual act of fighting a fire can be and is many times very stressful. It is obviously very dangerous, and it is very difficult, if not impossible to control everything that goes on around you. The fire ground is

This past Sunday morning I went down to Tiscornia Beach at Discovery Park to do an interview with Univision about Water Safety. There was a recent drowning on the American River near Auburn and the local media was interested in doing a story and hopefully preventing future drownings. Typically this time of the year I will try and do some outreach to the public regarding the dangers of our waterways and what we can all do to prevent this unnecessary loss of life. While being interviewed by the Univision crew I noticed three very young girls, playing in the water. None of them had life jackets on. The new County and City Ordinance require that all children under the age of 12 to wear a life

This morning the Sacramento Fire Department welcomed the “Fire Chief for a Day”, Randy Brink. Randy, who is known to us as the “Honorary Fire Marshal of Old Sacramento” turned 50 last week. A huge birthday party was thrown for Randy at Cal Expo. About 300 people showed up to wish randy a “Happy Birthday”. Randy received many gifts at the party and one of those gifts was to be “Fire Chief for a Day” of the Sacramento Fire Department. This morning his first duty as Fire Chief was to do an interview with Mark S. Allen of Good Day Sacramento. Mark S. Allen interviewed Randy sitting behind the Fire Chief’s desk. He answered many questions and gave input into what he would do for the Sacramento

Members of the Sacramento Fire Department as well as community members are invited to join the Sacramento Fire Department’s “Walk n Rock for Kids” team. This event is scheduled for Sunday May 30th. Our Team is raising money for the City of Sacramento’s “Access Leisure” program. Below is information about Access Leisure and the link to our team page.... Access Leisure Youth Programs, through their River Cats Independence Field Leagues and Paralympics Sport Sacramento Club programs provide sports for youth with disabilities. They also offer outdoor education and residential camping, social and fitness programs. All are designed to "Optimize the experience of living" for youth with special n

A 5 Alarm Fire destroyed a Sacramento Landmark early Sunday morning. At 3:30 A.M. in the morning, the Sacramento Fire Department responded to a report of a vehicle fire endangering a building on Del Paso Blvd. Sacramento Firefighters arrived in about 3 ½ minutes and found heavy fire to the rear of the Iceland Ice Rink at 1430 Del Paso Blvd. Firefighters initially went inside the building and attempted an Offensive Attack, but quickly backed out when they determined the large volume of fire already burning overhead and the truss roof overhead which is a danger for collapse. The fire attack went to a Defensive one. The two adjacent buildings were spared due to the quick thinking and hard w

An explosion ripped through a vacant Oak Park home early Sunday morning, completely destroying the house. Fortunately there were no injuries and no lives lost. The fire, with explosion was reported shortly after 2:00 A.M. Sacramento Firefighters were on scene in about three minutes. The fire was contained to a small portion of the house and surrounding trees, but the house was destroyed. Firefighters were able to search the home and they did not find any victims inside. Crews from Pacific Gas and Electric were on scene and they were unable to find any signs of a natural gas leak. The cause of the fire and explosion is currently under investigation by Sacramento Fire Department Investigato

A Sacramento County garbage truck and a work van were involved in a fatal motor vehicle accident this morning along the 8500 block of Folsom Blvd. The accident seriously injured the driver of the garbage truck and killed the driver of the work van. According to the Sacramento Police, preliminary witness reports indicate that the garbage truck was traveling west bound on Folsom Blvd. The van, traveling east bound on Folsom Blvd. traveled into the path of the garbage truck, hitting the garbage truck head on. The garbage truck then hit the overhang of a Pre-School coming to rest near the playground of the school. Fortunately the children were inside the school and were not harmed. The van’s

A Level 2 Haz Mat incident occurred this morning at UC Davis Medical Center’s “Glassrock Building” on Stockton Blvd. Sacramento Firefighters responded to the reported chemical spill with possibly two persons complaining of inhalation symptoms at 9:47 A.M. Firefighters arrived on scene in about three and a half minutes.   A small amount of 10 percent formalin, which is a mixture of 90 percent water, formaldehyde and methyl alcohol, was spilled in one of the rooms on the fourth floor. Firefighters evacuated the building and called for additional resources. The two persons were transported to a local hospital with minor symptoms. A very small amount of the solution was spilled and Firefigh

The Regions Urban Search and Rescue Team, California Task Force 7, was activated late last night and they are now on their way to help out with the rescue efforts in Haiti. Firefighters from Fire Agencies in the Sacramento region and some civilians make up the 72 person team. These individuals are highly trained in search and rescue, specifically in building collapses. The team has rescue dogs, Doctors, Nurses, Rescue Specialists and many other highly trained individuals. This team, like every other USAR Team across the nation are able to be fully self sufficient for a minimum of 3 days. They left their storage facility at McClellan Air Park very early this morning and headed off to Trav

A garage fire in a Fruitridge neighborhood home burned a Sacramento Firefighter this morning. The fire was reported at 4416 Mello Court at 10:54 A.M. Sacramento Firefighters arrived within 5 minutes and found a garage from the one story home heavily involved in fire. While preparing to attack the fire, Captain Rick Hudson of Truck 6 suffered serious burns to his hand. He also had minor burns to his facial area. He was transported to the local Burn Unit and is reported to be in good condition. The cause of the fire is under investigation. The home had major damage to it. The occupants, a family of four, were receiving assistance from the American Red Cross for housing needs.  

A 4 Alarm Fire ripped through an apartment building in Downtown Sacramento early Sunday morning. The fire was reported at 2:20 A.M. at 10th and E Streets. Sacramento Firefighters arrived within a few minutes and found heavy fire from the two story apartment building. As they prepared to attack the fire, the entire second floor of the building collapsed. A total of 4 Alarms were requested and because of the extent of the fire involvement, Firefighters went to a Defensive Mode and protected exposures. A second building had significant fire damage. There were no reported injuries and the fire is currently under investigation. A young girl had awaken to the smell of smoke and she was able

Let me start off by apologizing. Our supposedly stolen dog was not stolen at all! Lucky the Ceramic Dalmatian was taken by the Firefighters of the A Shift over the weekend to a car race that the crew was in. The word never got passed on to the B or the C Shift Firefighters, and as you can guess, some of us (me included!) overreacted! So thanks for the calls and the comments, but Lucky is fine! In case any of you want to know about the race, the crew from Station 2 on the A Shift were involved in their first ever car race at the 24 Hours of Lemons car race in Willows California. Lucky is their teams mascot, and he attended the race with the crew. For more about this race please visit www.

The Sacramento Fire Department is requesting the public’s assistance in helping us find the Ceramic Dalmatian Dog that was stolen in front of Sacramento Fire Station #2. The dog has been missing for about three days. It is not possible that the dog left on its own! It had to have been stolen.   Anyone that knows the whereabouts of our Beloved Mascot are asked to bring the dog back to Fire Station #2. There will be no questions asked, and you will not be in trouble! The dog was a welcome site to the people who worked in the Downtown area and has been photographed by people from all over the world!  

Well, last night was another not so typical night for Sacramento Firefighters! It was typical in the fact that we were very busy with a few structure fires that we had to fight and the numerous medical aid calls that we respond to daily. The not so typical aspect was the call we received from Sacramento City Animal Control requesting our assistance to help them rescue a Goose that had become trapped on an island in one of the Duck Ponds at William Land Park. Firefighters from Engine 12 responded and were met by one of the Animal Control Officers. Across the pond, there he (or she) was! A large white Goose was stuck on the island, with one its foot entangled in some type of wire. The crew

This years "Firefighters Toy Brigade" is under way. Members of the public are encouraged to donate new, unwrapped toys to any Sacramento City, Sacramento Metro, West Sacramento or Roseville Fire Station or to locations at the Sacramento County Courts. These toys will be given to the children who are patients of the Shriners Hospital for Children here in Sacramento. This is the second year that local Firefighters have taken up this cause. Thousands of children are seen at Shriners every year, and for obvious reasons; toys are a big part of their rehabilitation. Local Firefighters have a natural relationship with these children, especially those who are being treated for burn injuries. Las

Recently I had the pleasure to work with Christina Selter. She is nationally known as the “Pet Safety Lady”. She works for Bark Buckle Up, a pet safety non profit organization. She was in Sacramento promoting a new campaign. This is a movement to equip every Fire Engine across this country with Pet Oxygen masks. Currently in the Sacramento Fire Department we do not carry this equipment. However we do rescue and try to revive many pets through out the year. Many pets are killed every year in house fires. If we have a dog or a cat that is not breathing, we typically do our best to save the animal by using human medical equipment, that rarely works or even doing “mouth to snout” rescue breat

This Sunday, October 11, 2009, the Sacramento Police and Fire Departments, along with Sacramento CERT, will be holding a public safety fair. The fair will be at the Public Safety Center located at 5770 Freeport Boulevard from 11:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. The event is sure to be fun and educational for the entire family and will include many activities including fingerprinting for kids, equipment displays, fire extinguisher demonstration, DUI simulation goggles, Sparky the fire dog, USAR Rescue Dog demo, Auto Extrication demo, CERT trailer, Police K-9 demonstrations, safety presentations, crime prevention information, first aid demonstration, blood pressure checks, a bounce house for the kid