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Tag: firemen

  • Metro Fire to offer free CPR training at Sunrise Mall

    Sac Metro Fire truck, fireman. Photo credit: Luke Otterstad
    Sac Metro fire truck, stock photo. Citrus Heights Sentinel

    Would you know what to do in a life-threatening emergency? According to the American Heart Association, 70 percent of Americans would likely feel helpless if faced with a cardiac emergency — because they don’t know how to administer CPR.

    On April 25, Sacramento Metropolitan Fire Department is offering to help change this statistic with a free CPR training at the Sunrise Mall.

    “Learn how to save a life in just five minutes!” reads a flier for the “Sidewalk CPR” event. “Don’t skip a beat, learn hands-only CPR.”

    A flier for a prior CPR training held at the Mall in December also referenced statistics showing nearly 383,000 cardiac arrests occur suddenly outside of hospitals, demonstrating a need for the average person to learn CPR’s life-saving methods.

    Alarmed at the number of Americans with inadequate CPR knowledge, the heart association says consequences could likely hit close to home, “because home is exactly where 88 percent of cardiac arrests occur.”

    “Put very simply: The life you save with CPR is mostly likely to be someone you love,” the Association says on its CPR Fact Sheet.

    The free Sidewalk CPR training is hosted by the Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights and will be offered from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 25, 2015, in the Mall’s JCPenny court.

  • Firefighters hit streets for local burn fundraiser, safety fair

    In an effort to raise funds for burn survivors, hundreds of firefighters from across the state will be out seeking to fill boots with donations at the intersection of Sunrise Boulevard and Greenback Lane this weekend during the 21st annual “Fill the Boot for Burns” fundraiser in Citrus Heights.

    Fire fighters in street, sign. Charity event in Citrus Heights. Photo by Luke Otterstad
    A sign on Sunrise Boulevard alerts drivers to be on the lookout for fire “fighters in street” for the upcoming boot drive.

    Reporting donations totaling over $100,000 last year, the local four-day fundraiser is one of several dozen “boot drives” across the state that together raised over half-a-million dollars last year for the Firefighters Burn Institute — a Sacramento-based nonprofit which helps provide treatment and recovery programs for burn survivors, as well as host burn-related training and kids camps.

    Weather permitting, the weekend fundraiser will also have a safety fair from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, featuring a “Jaws of Life” car-cutting demonstration by Metro Fire, a live helicopter landing, fire truck and ambulance displays, clowns, face painting, vendor booths and more, according to an event flier.

    The Citrus Heights Police Department will also be supporting the firefighters’ effort, according to CHPD Sergeant Mike Wells, who said officers will have a patrol vehicle and one of their new three-wheeled Trikkes on display during the safety fair — along with “a K-9 officer and his partner (dog) on site for the community to meet.”

    Tyler Craft, a firefighter-paramedic with Metro Fire Station 21 in Citrus Heights, said he’ll be one of two firemen helping “raise” attention to the fundraiser by serving as a “basket-sitter” atop an extended ladder truck at the intersection for “72 straight hours.” He called the endurance test “nothing close” to the grueling pain burn patients endure.
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    Craft said all “boot” funds collected will go directly to the burn institute, which was founded by firefighters in 1973 after a Sacramento plane crash killed 22 people and burned many others. The Institute has continued in its mission to support research and benefit burn survivors through the years, notably giving $2 million toward the new UC Davis Firefighters Burn Institute Regional Burn Center, named in recognition of the Institute’s contributions.

    “The Firefighters Burn Institute here in Sacramento has seriously put Sacramento on the map for burn care,” said Craft, commenting that burn survivors fly in from all over northern California for care. “It truly is a premier burn center.”

    —
    “Fill the Boot for Burns” charity event
    When: Thurs. – Sun., Feb. 12-15, 2015
    9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
    Where: Sunrise Boulevard and Greenback Lane, intersection

    Safety Fair:
    When: Saturday Feb. 14
    11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
    Where: Sunrise Mall parking lot (Sunrise/Greenback)

    Safety Fair Flier: Safety-Flyer-2015.pdf

  • Attic fire ravages home across from Citrus Heights fire station

    Attic fire, Citrus Heights. Photo by Luke Otterstad
    Sac Metro firemen look towards a charred hole in the roof of an Oak Avenue home that caught fire Saturday morning.

    An attic fire caused extensive damage to a Citrus Heights home early Saturday morning, occurring just feet away from the Oak Avenue fire station.

    Although aided by crews as far as Folsom, firefighters from Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District’s Station 28 — located across the street from the blaze — didn’t have to travel far to put out the 5:30 a.m. fire.

    Responding with at least five fire trucks, as well as several police vehicles, emergency crews temporarily blocked off most of Oak Avenue while battling the blaze.

    [Also on The Sentinel: Fire damages Citrus Heights home; two dogs rescued]

    Sac Metro’s public information officer tweeted there were no injuries from the fire, but that “extensive salvage” was required to save belongings.

    Damage appeared to be primarily internal, although a charred hole could be seen in the roof from outside the home.

    The cause of the fire is under investigation.

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  • Giving Thanks: Local biz offers free coffee to all in uniform

    Hot Java Cafe in Citrus Heights says it’s giving thanks by “giving back” this year, with free coffee for nurses, firefighters, police and any other uniformed profession, through Thanksgiving.

    Hot Java Cafe in Citrus Heights.
    Hot Java Cafe in Citrus Heights.

    Located near the corner of Auburn Boulevard and Greenback Lane for the past 17 years, owner Katie Almendariz says the family-owned drive-thru has always sought to give special thanks to those who serve in public safety – but decided to open the offer this year to security guards, nurses and other uniformed professions as well.

    Almendariz says the free coffee offer works on trust, without any rigid rules for proving a customer works in a qualifying uniformed profession, and free coffee-seekers don’t have to show up in work clothes.

    Other local coffee drive-thru’s have also sought to show support for those in public safety, like Dutch Bros., whose Sacramento-area locations gave a day’s worth of proceeds to families of two slain law enforcement officers last month.

    Not without strings, Hot Java’s free coffee is only offered from 4-6 p.m. through November 28, although those seeking a free boost this Saturday and Sunday can get a free coffee all day, as well as on Thanksgiving Day from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., according to Almendariz. The offer also doesn’t apply for specialty drinks, and she recommends bringing a cup to fill –though not required.

  • Local Labor Day Weekend Fair Highlights Safety, Fun

    Local Labor Day Weekend Fair Highlights Safety, Fun

    With giveaways, local vendors, fire truck photo-shoots and free safety checks, the Citrus Town Center hosted a Safety Fair on Saturday — drawing kids, families and shoppers to the annual Citrus Heights event.

    Safety Fair_Police_cropped
    Strollers, balloons, moms and more, were out and about at the Citrus Town Center’s Safety Fair over the weekend.

    Odds of winning an 11 a.m. raffle by the fire department for free home safety equipment were high, due to only a handful of entries — but things had picked up by the second noon-hour raffle, according to the Department’s booth manager.

    Area resident Kristin Pickett waited in a line of cars to get a free child seat safety check performed by the Citrus Heights Police Department.

    “It was wonderful,” said the young mother, after Officer Dave Jones took several minutes to verify her child’s car seat base was securely fit and the straps tight. “It was great of them to be giving up their Saturday on this extremely hot day.”

    Free bike safety checks were also offered by police, with officers available to provide brake checks and chain adjustments, as well as helmet and seat adjustments.

    “There’s still too many kids that ride their bikes without their helmets,” said Sergeant David Gutierrez with the CHPD Traffic Unit, adding that half-way through the event they had been able to provide a few free helmets and fittings.

    Handing out free Quick Quack car wash vouchers, Chaplain Frank Russell with Law Enforcement Chaplaincy Sacramento manned a table hoping to recruit new volunteers for his organization which offers “compassionate crisis care” and counseling for law enforcement workers and community victims of trauma or crime.

    In addition, Sunrise Marketplace, Sprout’s and several other local businesses took part in the event, along with a cartoonist who offered free caricature drawings to a constant line of excited attendees.

    Saturday’s Fair was one of many activities the Citrus Town Center sponsors throughout the year, as part of its goal to foster a “community feel” for the neighborhood shopping center. In 2012, the former “Sunrise Festival Shopping Center” finalized its nearly $4 million remodel, featuring new landscaping, store frontages, outdoor seating areas, and a prominently displayed new name at the corner of Greenback Lane and Sunrise Avenue.