Station 3 made another incremental move towards being closed in today. Phile and I installed the man-doors. As soon as the bay doors are installed, we'll be able to lock the station up tight, leaving tools and materials safe and secure. As nice as David's trailer is for hauling "stuff" around, it will be nice to simply be able to close the doors and walk away after a day or evening of working out there! Continue on for pictures of our progress to date.

Phil and I spent some time at tidying up the bay doors at Station 3 this week. They should be about ready for Overhead Door Co. to come in and install the actual doors. Hopefully, they can schedule our doors soon.

All the sheet metal appears to be in place on the building, so it actually looks like a building instead of an Erector Set! Nice! There's some trim work still to do on the siding, but the bulk of the work is done and looks good. We should have taken some pictures today for posting on our spiffy new web site, but neither of us had a camera.

Hey all!

Well, for those who don't know, Benjamin and I have been away on FEMA assignment for about a week now. After a long night of flying we landed in Atlanta, Georgia, in time for our first day of classes. We ended up spending 3 days in Atlanta and then moved onto Orlando, Florida, for more training. Upon arriving in Florida, they told us the class was full and we were off until about noon on Monday. We ended up spending the weekend in a resort in Orlando, as well as some getting out. Monday we started the last part of training, and found out our assignments today.

Our little task force of four teams is going to go work in Cocoa. We will most likely be heading toward Broward County on Thursday. Of course, plans may change and we have to be "FEMA Flexible." The training was pretty slow, but otherwise Florida hasn't been too bad. We have been downtown, hanging out around the hot tub and pools at the resort, and even briefly visited Orlando Fire Department station 1 (http://www.cityoforlando.net/fire/fire_dept/). We have been enjoying what we could since life further south might not be as "cushy." I've met up with Earl a few times which is handy because between the two of us we have GPSs and the stuff to update the maps on them. Our assignments shouldn't be too bad since we are on a great task force of firefighters from Utah, Missouri, and Ohio. Well, I better hit the sack since we need to get an early start tomorrow morning. Will send more news when we figure out what is going on.

We have a new Content Management System (CMS) for the CGFR web site. The old one worked OK, but was getting a bit long in the tooth and had some serious security problems that couldn't be fixed. The new CMS has several nice new features, including the ability to easily include graphics in the news items! The new event calendar isn't quite as spiffy as the old one, but it works OK.

If you notice problems, drop me an email or talk to me. This new system is pretty well set up, but does have a few wrinkles still in need of some ironing.

There are some other fun new features coming up, so keep an eye out!

The unthinkable happened this morning for University Fire Department. Engine 15 left the road while responding to a motor vehicle accident, skidding to a stop on its right side off the road on Thompson Drive. Thankfully, none of the firefighters suffered major injuries. Thankfully they were all belted in. Their injuries resulted from the minor bouncing around that their shoulder belts allowed, and from being hit by some loose items in their passenger compartment.

I can't imagine the memories that Battalion Chief Mead will carry with him for some time to come, having witnessed the event. The mind plays terrible tricks on us, and as the engine rolled off the road, the stokes basket and hose launching from the top of the truck conspired to give him the impression that a firefighter was being ejected from the vehicle. Imagine the relief to find everyone accounted for.

I can't tell you how great it is to see how many people have been coming out to work on Station 3, even if it is for only a few hours here and there. Not only have the volunteers and staff been turning out, but several of their spouses and several Board members have showed up, and even the Chief of Steese pitched in this weekend!

[img_assist|fid=313|thumb=1|alt=Framing party|caption=Afternoon Framing Crew]

There has been a TREMENDOUS amount of progress getting the wood framing hung, but unfortunately there is still a day's or more worth of work to do before it is entirely done. So please mark your calendars if you have time to come help out one more weekend. Things won't be starting till 8:30 or 9 this coming weekend as the daylight is obviously coming a little later in the morning. The tools and materials will be laid out by that time, and the coffee will be on, so come on out as early as you want... But if you want to sleep in an extra half hour or so, that'll work too. Another thing that I am extremely impressed with are how well everyone is working together as we mix and match the crews to get this and that done. I hope that those of you who are scurrying around bringing tools, screws and wood to those monkeys hanging off the roof and walls understand just how important that contribution is to the steady achievement of getting this project done.

Our internet server was malicously attacked and compromised Monday, August 22 around 9:30pm. Rather than try to repair all the damage, I decided to reinstall the server from scratch. As a result, it has taken several days to restore all the services we enjoy that the server provides. The rebuild process was stalled on Tuesday -- my dad and stepmother were in town for the first time since I moved to Alaska thirty years ago. We drove to the Arctic Circle and had a lovely dinner at the Turtle Club upon our return.

Chena Goldstream Fire and Rescue in conjunction with Ester Volunteer Fire Department will be participating in the 2005 Muscular Dystrophy Association "Fill the Boot" fundraiser Saturday, August 27 from 10:00am till 4:00pm. Most of the fire departments around the Fairbanks area are involved with this event. With a little more lead time than last year, we are hoping to get more participation from our volunteers and raise more money for Alaskans with various forms of degenerative muscle disorders. This is a great way to have CGFR visible in our community. Last year it was a rewarding experience, and our very generous residents seemed to appreciate having a convenient way to contribute. The MDA office in Anchorage will be alerting the media to our plans, so there may be some TV news coverage before, during and after, leading up to a presentation during the Labor Day Telethon.Please call or e-mail to fill a two hour time slot o

The sign up sheets for this year's fair are posted at station #2. Please sign up for FAIR EMS shifts. Free passes and meal coupons will be provided for those covering the fair........We will be covering the fair Thursday August 4th (early for vendor set-up) through Saturday August 13th. We will be covering from 0800-midnight each day. The shifts run 0800-1300, 1300-1800, and 1800-0000. We would like to have a minimum of two people on duty each shift, but have room for 4.

Please attempt to fill all the shifts with two people before adding additional people to the already covered shift.

CGFR is implementing a new accountability system to replace the old one that just consisted of round metal tags. The new one is called the PASSPORT system and is also used by most of the other area departments which will allow our joint operations to run a little more organized.