November 2020
IN THIS ISSUE:
  • A message from our Board Chair
  • Introducing the San Diego Bucket Brigade
  • SDFD Station of the Month
A few weeks ago, I shared an update about the impact your donations have played in helping keep our fire-rescue personnel healthy, safe, and ready to respond for our community. For that, I cannot thank you enough. (Click here to see your donations in action)
 
As we have learned the art of physical distancing and maintained health and safety guidelines these past months, one thing has become abundantly clear to me: We need connection. We are interdependent. We collaborate and work together, even while we stand apart. We need one another because we are stronger together. 

With this in mind, I am excited to announce the launch of the San Diego Bucket Brigade. The San Diego Bucket Brigade will bring together a community of donors who believe our San Diego Fire-Rescue Department (SDFD) personnel should be equipped with the tools and equipment they need to save lives and protect property. Your partnership in the Bucket Brigade includes exclusive benefits and unique experiences that will educate and engage you with SDFD.
Ben Franklin formed the original "Bucket Brigade" in 1736 when he founded the Union Fire Company. The Bucket Brigade was a group of organized citizens who worked hand-to-hand, coming together as a community to overcome tragedy through teamwork and determination.
 
Through the San Diego Bucket Brigade, your tax-deductible gift of $50, $100, or perhaps even $1,000 or more will directly empower the Foundation to help meet critical needs. Our current funding initiatives include vehicle extrication tools, chainsaws and protective chaps, and multi-gas detectors for each SDFD fire engine. Click here to learn more.
 
From the first day they start on the job, firefighters and lifeguards know what they must do: confront an emergency and resolve it. Now, on top of the public safety calls of everyday life, San Diego Fire-Rescue Department personnel address a pandemic and another record-setting wildfire season together — and have continued to keep our community safe through all of it.

As we near the end of a year unlike any other, I urge you to consider an unrestricted, tax-deductible gift to the San Diego Fire Rescue Foundation. Your donation will provide our fire-rescue personnel with the necessary items they need to remain protected and prepared.
 
I invite you to join us as a community partner in making San Diego and the surrounding region safer for our fire-rescue personnel and our residents.
 
On behalf of the Fire Rescue Foundation, thank you for being a hero to our heroes.
 
In gratitude,

Rachel Laing
Board Chair/President
San Diego Fire Rescue Foundation

P.S. Please click on the Donate Today button below or visit www.sdfirerescue.org to make a donation and join us as a community partner coming together to prepare and protect our fire-rescue personnel.
NOVEMBER STATION OF THE MONTH
Station 28
Geographically, Fire Station 28’s Kearny Mesa location puts it close to the center of San Diego. Much of the district is commercial and industrial and includes busy Montgomery Field. Most of the residential area is apartments and condos. The fire crews who work here, like that about the area.

“I like the variety,” Captain Marcus Alfaro says. “We have residential and commercial, we get some vegetation fires, there’s the airport and the freeways.”

We sat down with Alfaro and Captain Bill Anders, the C Division captains. They have each been captains at Station 28 for 4 years, the longest of any of the current captains there. 

There are two fire companies at Station 28, making it a “double house,” with both an engine and a ladder truck. Last year, Engine 28 ran 3,350 calls, almost ten a day. Truck 28 responded to 1,200. “The district has a heartbeat,” Anders says.

The station also has three more apparatus. There is a water tender that carries 3,000 gallons of water, and is primarily used to supply water to brush rigs and engines at grass fires. There’s also a foam tender. Initially the foam tender was put at Station 28 to provide protection for the tanker farm in Mission Valley. But it is also used for industrial and commercial fires. The fifth apparatus is a “crash rig” for emergency calls at Montgomery Field. All the crews at Station 28 are cross-trained to operate any of the apparatus, any time they are needed.

This month's Station of the Month was sponsored by Maral Poochigian Agency.
San Diego Fire Rescue Foundation