Wood County Firefighters Association Inc.

Wood County Firefighters Officers, board of directors and committee members meeting at the Auburndale Joint Fire and Rescue Department Wednesday July 20^th2005 at 7:30 p.m. anyone is welcome to attend. Food and Refreshments to follow 

Wood County Fire Chiefs Meeting

Thursday July 21^st 2005  7p.m.  at Hewitt Area Fire Department

Wood County Firefighters Association Meeting at Town of Lincoln Fire Department Thursday August 25^th 2005 at 7 p.m.

Wisconsin State Firefighter Memorial and silent night Parade Saturday October 1^st in Wisconsin Rapids. More information to come in the next few months.

Wood County Firefighters Association Meeting at the Pittsville Fire Department Thursday October 27^th 2005 at 7 p.m.

Wood County Firefighters Association training at Town of Lincoln Fire Department Thursday August 25^th  2005 at 7 p.m.

Topic will be: Dealing with L.P. gas emergencies

Wood County Firefighters Association training at Pittsville Fire Department Thursday October 27^th 2005 at 7 p.m.

Topic will be: Search and Rescue using thermal imagers

As decided at the January WCFFA meeting training will become the major focus of all WCFFA meetings the length of meetings will be kept to a minimum to accomplish this. Please plan to attend!

Rudolph Fire Department

12th Annual Street Dance

Friday, July 15^th

The event takes place at Rudolph Fire Station # 1 on Main Street in Downtown Rudolph from 4 p.m. to midnight. 

Live Music

 “Prime Time” (polka) from 4- 7 p.m.

“Blue Sky” (variety) from 7:30 -  11:30 p.m.

Plenty of food and beverages throughout the evening. 

The local Boy Scout Pack #114 will be providing games for the kids beginning at 4:00 p.m.  

Hope to see you there!!!!

*******************

Vesper Firemen's 57th Annual Picnic

SUNDAY, JULY 17, 2005

Vesper Fire Department / Fireman's Park

The members of the Vesper Fire Department hope you can come for good food, music, and family fun.

Parade - 1:00 p.m.

Waterfights - 3:00 p.m.

 MUSIC BY:

          Old Time Brass  2:00-6:00 P.M.

            Vic Ferrari      6:00-10:00 P.M.

FOOD- French fries, cheese curds,
Corn, little red potatoes, ice cream,
beer, and the best Hamburgers
in Central Wisconsin.

RIDES  BEER  POP   BINGO

Come join us for a fun filled day... Hope to see you there!!!

 ****************

    Arpin Volunteer Fire Department

Arpin Pull Weekend

Friday August 5^th

“ATV and Garden Tractor” pulls begin at 6 p.m.

Saturday August 6^th

“Truck pull” begins at 1 p.m.

Registration open from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. 

Sunday August 7^th

Kiddie parade begins at 11:30 a.m.

Large Parade begins at 12 noon

Parade entries are welcomed

Theme for the Parade is: “Heartbeat of America” Honoring Local soldiers that have or are currently served in Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom

“Tractor pull” begins following the parade

Food, Refreshments are available all weekend.

The Arpin Volunteer Fire Department in conjunction is sponsoring this event with assistance from the Arpin Advancement Association and residents of the Arpin Community.

For more information about pull contact Dennis at

(715) 652-2079

Greetings fellow firefighters, EMT’s, First Responders,

                Hopefully everyone is having a great summer thus far. By now many of the members of all the various agencies have become used to me being at various county firefighter and fire chief meetings, various committee meetings.

Through the years I have met many different firefighters, EMT’s and First Responders from all throughout the State of Wisconsin and even the nation. 

What I find amazing in each and every person that is in the emergencies services is the brother and sisterhood that we all show towards each other whether we are career firefighters or volunteer we all are professionals.

                I have been very fortunate to serve as the President of the Wood County Firefighters Association for almost nine years now. When I took the job I expected I would serve one term and someone else would step up and take over being the president of the organization.

                The organization has improved in some ways over the last few years. Our organization has been an active supporter of the Wisconsin State Fire Fighters Memorial Park project. Our organization has been very successful in obtaining funding for our county fire departments through state grants.

                Our county has been one of the leaders by taking advantage of federal grant programs such as the “Assistance to Firefighters” grant and other grants through the DNR.

                One of the reasons I think our county is very proactive is the fact that our members have an opportunity to get together every couple of months and learn from other fire departments in our county.

                By sharing ideas and lessons learned we all benefit and the real winners are those people that need our services when there is an emergency. 

                Some other positive things that our organization has going for it is the fire prevention and fire awareness trailer along with the smoke alarm program for newborns. These two projects alone have kept this organization in a positive limelight with the residents and visitors of this county.

                By now many of you are wondering where is Bob going with all this babbling, well I thought I would take some space in the newsletter to thank all of you for doing the outstanding jobs you do in your communities.

                I would also like to say thank you for all the help and education that all of you have provided to me and all the rest of the members of the association.

                With this said it is was very hard to figure out what to write for this newsletter as some of you know I am a member of the Wisconsin Army National Guard and on August 10,2005 I will be reporting for active duty which could last 18+ months in length.

                With these recent mobilizations I am sure that there are men and women in each and every community that will be affected. Some fire departments, ambulance services and first responder groups and law enforcement have been or will be affected as some of the men and women being called to duty also serve their local emergency services.

 I realize that the timing of this could have not been at a worse time at I was very active in many different committees and to find a person to fill my spot may be hard to find. I am sure that I will create a spot within my fire department and community that will be hard to fill the void for the next 18+ months.

                What I am asking that each and every fire department member look to the past and see how much this organization has done and look at ways to try and create some additional interest in the organization once again.

                My advice to those members that may have been in the fire service 10 or fewer years take some time and talk to your veteran seasoned members and find out what some of the training that they attended in the past was. You may discover that there are a lot of talented people in many different aspects located right here in Wood County area.

                It has been a pleasure to work with and served you for the many years, I look forward to becoming involved once again upon my return from active duty.

I will forward my APO address once I know where I will be stationed in the Middle East. For emails I will have access to the following email address: bob.bauer@us.army.mil I can not promise I will be able to answer emails daily or even weekly but I will keep in touch with all of you back here in Central Wisconsin.

                As far as my President position it will be up to the organizations membership to decide who will complete my term that expires at the April 2007 meeting as I will not be able to perform the duties of president for the next 18+ months due to my military duties.

For the time being Donna Siltala will assume all the duties and responsibilities of the President effective Monday August 1^st 2005.

                There is an informal meeting with all the officers, board of directors, committee members and others that may want to attend scheduled for Wednesday July 20^th 2005at the Auburndale Joint Fire and Rescue Department to review paperwork and the like. There will be food and refreshment to follow the meeting.

                With this my last day I will be working at my employer will be July 19^th. I ask that you use one of the following emails following this date: Theresa_n_bob@hotmail.com or wcffa@hotmail.com, bob.bauer@us.army.mil

Again thanks for all your support and understanding.

Bob Bauer

Hope your summer is going great!

Reminder that the invoices for the Annual membership dues and fire safety trailer upkeep dues have been sent out.

Please have these paid for by the August meeting.

Thanks,

Thanks to those fire departments that have paid their annual dues and upkeep fees already!

We are making progress on the communications system; hope to have more information at the next Wood County Fire Fighters Association meeting.

Brian M. Luebke
Forest Ranger
Nekoosa FRU
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
473 Griffith Avenue
Wisconsin Rapids, WI  54494
T: (715) 421-7823
F: (715) 421-7830
E-mail: Brian.Luebke@dnr.state.wi.us

The Wisconsin State Firefighters Memorial is hosting a raffle to complete the park at Ben Hanson Park in Wisconsin Rapids. The first stage of this project was completed this fall, but there is still that needs to be done.

In order to raise the 1.3 million dollars needed to finish the project the Memorial is having an awesome raffle with some great prizes to raise the needed funds. Some of the prizes include a H2 Hummer, 619 Ranger boat, Mustang GT Convertible, ATV’s, Snowmobiles, Ford Focus, Alaskan Cruise, Harley Davidson Ultra Classic, and many more prizes to be given away.

 All of the state’s 863 fire departments are being asked to help out by selling tickets for this raffle. If each fire department were to sell 116 tickets the memorial will have raised the needed funds to complete the park.

Also for each ticket sold your agency will receive $3.00 to be used for Fire safety or awareness.

 This park is for all firefighters that have served in the past present and future.

For additional information on this raffle please view the website at www.wsfmraffle.com or call the WSFM office at (715) 343-1385 to speak to one of the staff.

“GSK” / “Tums” is having a matching grant for fire departments to purchase much needed equipment.

 For more information go to the following website.  http://www.firstresponder.org/

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: Marc Short 202-282-8010
May 19, 2005

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security today announced the first round of awards under the new Commercial Equipment Direct Assistance Program (CEDAP). The awards provide equipment for communications interoperability, information sharing, chemical detection, sensor devices, and personal protective equipment to 214 jurisdictions throughout the nation. Equipment awarded totals $2,044,680.

The FY 2005 Appropriations Act directed DHS to assist selected smaller jurisdictions by providing antiterrorism equipment and technology. Awards are being made to law enforcement and emergency responder agencies not currently funded through the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI).

 “CEDAP provides equipment and training to jurisdictions across the country as part of a unified effort- from urban to rural areas—to build sustainable capabilities in the fight against terrorism,” said Matt A. Mayer, Acting Executive Director of the Office for State and Local Government Coordination and Preparedness.

National law enforcement associations including the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and the National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA) have heralded CEDAP for providing equipment directly to jurisdictions.

Note: The Auburndale Joint Fire and Rescue Fire Department of Auburndale, WI was awarded a brand new Bullard Thermal Imager Camera through this program.

This camera will aid their fire department and the local fire departments in search and rescue. This camera is available to any agency that is in need of this additional resource in the area.