Chena Goldstream Fire and Rescue

Here's a quick and dirty time-lapsed movie showing the progress made on the Station 3 Training Prop this last weekend. Talk to Jason if you'd like to be involved in the next construction phase. There are two more floors to be added and some walls.

The Firefighter I class has been working hard three days a week. Last Sunday they practiced throwing ladders and cutting ventilation holes all day. This is the most amazing firefighter class I've ever had the pleasure to teach. Thanks for all your hard work! Click here to see the fun we had.

If you could not make it to Tuesday night training you missed out. We had a small cookout before training and Doug Loshbaugh was promoted to Captain. So next time you see him make sure and congratulate him on a job well done.

We will again be providing First Aid and EMS coverage at the fair. The dates are AUGUST 3rd – AUGUST 11th. We will be covering the fair from 10am-midnight.

Free passes and meal coupons will be available for those persons pulling shift at the fair as have been provided in the past. I will distribute them as fairly as possible to those people covering the fair. Regular shifts 11am-6pm and 6pm-midnight.

As a general rule, for each shift pulled you get 2 day passes and 2 meal coupons worth $5.00 each. This may change depending on how many people sign up.

I would like to have at least (2) two people on duty at the fair at all times. EMT I’s and above are preferred, but CPR people are also eligible to sign-up. Those of you looking for patient contacts could get numerous pulling shifts at the fair.

Tearful 'See ya Later'...
Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 05/18/2007 - 12:13pm.

I don't do good byes well... so I say 'See you later'! I can't even begin to explain what Chena Goldstream Fire and Rescue has meant to me over the past couple of years. I really wanted to get back up to the station after my return from Iraq..... but one thing after another led to my absence. I've missed you all MORE THAN you know! I bought a house in TX, sold my house here, am almost ready for the movers (they show up first thing Monday morning...) and slowly but surley getting all the youngens ready for the teadious trip by RV and van across the great U.S.!!! There will be a 'see ya later' trip for anyone that would like to come... it's at the Ski Lodge out at Eielson on the 26th of May... starting at 5PM and lasting til... well... let's just say I have the lodge overnight!! you can call my cell 978-2691 for directions!! I will do my absolute best to get up to the station one last time... but... the way things have been going... I can't promise... you have all touched my life in a tremendous way and I will never forget any of you... especially the extremely memorable day I got off that plane after a 4 and a half months absence to all your wonderful smiling welcoming faces!! WOW!!! YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL!!!! Take care and keep in touch!!!

The new pagers are in and can be picked up at sta-2. You will need to sign next to your name and pick up the one that matches the C-number on the line with your name. Dispatch is working on loading then into there console at this time I will do a general page letting everyone know when they are working.

Lt Voorhis & Firefighter Berne completing the primer coat on Station 3's bay.
The job of painting Station 3 is nearly complete. More than 20 department members pitched in during the past 2 weeks to tackle the monumetal job of applying more than 100 gallons of paint to the more than 15,000 square feet of walls and ceilings. They did a great job in getting it done so quickly and so well! Lt Voorhis went beyond the call of duty, spending the better part of 5 days or nights a week to get the job done. The list of all the others who worked so hard is too long to list here, but Earl deserves special recognition for putting in over 60 hours on the job. Thanks Earl! And thank you to all the others.

Thanks to everyone who has been helping out with painting at Station 3. The paint job looks great so far! I don't know exactly who's been out there but do have a few names to throw around. Earl, if I'm not mistaken, was out there painting every weeknight last week, except Tuesday, when he was at Station 2 for training. Jim spent a couple of nights helping Earl paint and rolling one of the bedrooms. Quite a few of the Support group members and a few responders showed up on Sunday for a painting frenzy. I stopped by the station around 6:30 that evening to pick up a few more of my tools (to use on my own bathroom remodeling project that's been put on hold for the last year and a half while I worked on Station 3) and looked around. The paint was still wet, so I'd obviously just missed people. Two of the bedrooms looked finished as were their walk-in closets. The kitchen has one coat, but needs a another. The middle bedroom has been primed, but doesn't have a first paint coat yet. Everything on the first floor looks fantastic with a complete coat of sharp white paint.

Hey everyone,

As some of you may already know, in about a month I will be leaving the department. I have taken a promotion at work that has me moving to Anchorage. My start date for my new job is April 2nd, and I plan on staying with CGFR until the very end. I am currently scheduled to pull shift on March 28th as Battalion 4, and that will be my last night on duty (with my original shift I might point out). I had the chance to sit down with Chief Willard yesterday to let him know my plans.

The other night Paul and I sat down over the last of our keg of beer and tried to remember "the good 'ole days".

Painting is in progress at Station 3. Earl, Phil and Guy primed and painted much of the living quarters, but there's still a lot of paint to roll out. We're hoping to have the painting done by the end of the upcoming weekend, but that will only happen with help from you! I know everyone's busy, but please, everyone, squeeze some time into your schedules to come out to Station 3 and run a paint roller for a a wall or two. If everyone helps out just a little, Earl won't have to spend the rest of his life painting 8-)

There's a signup sheet at station 2, but you don't need to sign up if you don't want ... just come on out! All the supplies are there. Full instructions are in place. Earl will (probably) be there every night except for Tuesday training. Can't come out in the evening? Come out during the day or at 3:00am when you're fighting a bout of insomnia. Paint a single wall or an entire room! Bring a friend! Every little bit helps.

Working on Station 3 and bringing it to the point where equipment and people can be housed is not only important, it's a long lasting contribution to the health, well-being and safety of everyone who lives on Goldstream Road today, tomorrow, and next year. While it's extremely important that CGFR have you responding to fire and EMS calls (because if you don't do it, who will?), once you move on from CGFR your contribution effectively ends. That's not the case with building the fire station ... in fifteen years, when the engine rolls out of Station 3 to a 10 story hi-rise condo fire on Willow Run, it will be, in part, because you came out and helped paint the bedrooms. That's the closest most of us will come to being immortal!

~Paul