West Cross fire makes KCRA news
From the KCRA article "Fire Rips Through Woodland House, "Blaze Occurs On West Cross Street:"
A two-alarm house fire broke out early Friday in Woodland. The blaze occurred in the 700 block of West Cross Street.
A woman who lives in the home was taken to a local hospital, but the nature of her injuries was not immediately known.
See the rest at KCRAnews.com.
Note: Members of the UC Davis Fire Department were seen in the video. Why were they there?
Posts
29 comments:
Sent: Fri, March 26, 2010 6:11:12 AM
Subject: Fire Dept Recent Actions
Following information submitted to:
woodlandrecord.com
Message: Was it really necessary to call in W.Sac Fire to cover when City Hall was smoking Tuesday? Was it really necessary to call in W Sac Fire for the 73 Cross Fire today? (maybe) Both times cost the City General Fund Money for the coverage and support. Or could it be an attempt to show the City Mgr & Council what will happen if they cut Engine #4 and 9 firefighters, in the upcoming budget crisis. Is it a repeat performance of the 'Red Flu' that hit the Fire dept during the December furloughs and cost the city $500,000 in overtime?
First off, yes it was necessary to call in West Sac. With the City of Woodland fire engines on the structure fire, and if someone else in the city calls 911, who is able to respond to their emergency??? That is why other departments are called in to assist. And it does not cost Woodland money to call in OTHER city fire departments. It is a thing called mutual aid.
And the 'Red Flu', really? Wow.
your an idiot thats why we have volunteers fire dept. in a local area. Its my understanding its call mutual aid???
My sister lives in a rural area where the only fire department is a volunteer department. When her neighbor's house caught on fire, it took 27 minutes (after the 911 call was made) for the fire engines and volunteer firefighters to show up and start putting out the fire. That slow response time nearly took my sister's home out, as well as several other homes. The house that had the fire was burned to the ground.
That's why volunteer fire departments are NOT what we want in Woodland! We want fully trained professional firefighters to show up, within 4 minutes of our placing the 911 call, to be at our homes, PUTTING OUT THE FIRE!!!
I think 41 fire fighters was overkill.
10:26 pm:
I think you're a moron!
I think you guys are all wanta be fire fighters and everytime you hear about them you get your panties alll in a wad because you knnow you don't have what it takes.
I think the Woodland fire department does a pretty good job. Any City Department is going to have fat...some areas to cut etc... but the fire dept also has areas of need. They just had to use a private grant to get better steel cutting equipment to get to car crash victims faster as their stuff is too antiquated with the modern steel blends on autos.
The fire department in Woodland ALWAYS takes the hit come budget time yet they seem to manage to do their jobs while being one of the lowest paid departments in the state. These guys sent crews to help save houses in San Diego etc... Woodland always shows up and never shys away from the work.
Now if we could get their off duty guys to stop making fools of themselves in the all the local bars while wearing their Woodland Fire shirts,.....that might help their image.....
Dino,
I understand that the purpose for a blog is that people can voice their ideas...no matter how absurd they are. When a "story" starts with "information" that is 100% false...and then people leave their misguided comments following it...what is the purpose?
It does make for some interesting reading, however, a blog can be just as exhilarating when it starts with actual facts.
12:39
What part of the KCRA report excerpt is not factual?
The KCRA report is accurate. The "information submitted to:woodlandrecord.com" under "Dino said" is anything but information. There is no cost to the general fund for mutual aid, there was no "red flu" and there was no "December Furloughs" in the Fire Dept.
I can see where the word "information" has stumped you - although the message does appear in the comments section under the story. I copied and pasted the "information" exactly has it was sent to the Woodland Record (without the email address). That is the wording of the submission software that sends emails posted at WoodlandRecord.com.
Savvy readers know how to discern accurate information from false information. To me the question about the outside coverage ("W. Sac Fire") raised a legitimate point... although I only saw UC Davis fire fighters in the KCRA video.
What point is raised about outside coverage coming to town? I can't tell if you like it or not.
9:48
The first posted comment included: "Was it really necessary to call in W.Sac Fire to cover when City Hall was smoking Tuesday? Was it really necessary to call in W Sac Fire for the 73 Cross Fire today?"
That was the point raised.
Personally, I think an agency should always err on the side of safety, but for these events I don't know why outside coverage was needed. Is it common for UC Davis, Davis, or WesSac to be called in? If so, why? Does that mean WFD is short-staffed? I don't know what the threshold is for outside coverage. It's not a matter of liking outside coverage or not, it's a matter of why WFD needs outside coverage so often. It's not up to average citizens to automatically know how a fire department operates, it's up to the city to educate and explain.
It seems more questions are raised in this thread than answers.
Dino,
Outside coverage is very common. As you noted it is to err on the side of safety. Typically the departments are brought in to assist with Station coverage be available for other 911 calls as the local resources are "tied up". In the example of the W. Cross Fire those resources were brought to the incidnet for personnel due to the labor intesive nature of that fire. West Sacramento relys on Sac City for assistance more often than Davis or Woodland based on proximity. Davis utilized West Sac, Woodland, and Dixon. Woodland relys on Davis, West Sac and Willow Oak. Mutual aid is an awsome system providing help to your neighbors when needed. Shared resources is an efficient and effective way for local governments to operate.
Dino, it is NOT the Fire Department's job to "educate and explain" to us what it is that they do, exactly, on every call, to protect and serve us. It is OUR job to ASK, to INFORM ourselves if we are interested in how our tax dollars are being spent on the Fire services being provided to us. And cutting their budget, year after year, so that there is now NO money left to educate the public about what the department does means that OUR job of learning how it all works (mutual aid, ISO ratings, and so forth) becomes even more important. Educating US is OUR job, not the Fire Department's!
Perhaps the less intelligent comments in this thread come from Woodlanders who receive their educations from others, with no real effort on their own part...education is not a passive activity ... folks must engage their own brains in order to "come up the learning curve." Sitting in our recliners, waiting for "the city to educate and explain" is a passive behavior, and not one that lends itself to the allegedly desired goal, a clear understanding of "how it works and why that's important."
Any significant event in the city of Woodland empties all 3 fire stations. At this point help from other agencies is brought in to either assist with that incident or respond to subsequent calls. The fire at city hall turned out to be a minor incident. We all have the luxury of knowing that now. While en route to that incident the 911 dispatcher advised that there were multiple callers saying that smoke was visible from the roof. A second alarm was requested which brings in other agencies. Once the situation was under control, these other agencies were released. That's how the system works. If City Hall had burned to the ground people would be on here screaming that enough help was not requested.
7:50
I see you are one of those who go to extremes in your interpretations of comments.
I believe it is TOTALLY the responsibility of ANY public agency to educate, inform and explain how taxpayer money is used. I also believe that ALL public agencies must be able to justify their existence to those who are supporting their existence.
However, I do agree that citizens need to take an active role in seeking answers to their questions and they shouldn't expect to be individually tutored on every move a public official makes.
The fact that most people probably don't know how mutual aid works is a symptom of a public agency (fire department or city administration) not communicating effectively. Because most people might not know about how mutual aid works isn't because they're just sitting on the couch waiting to be spoon-fed information.
Government must certainly provide reasonable and accessible explanations for everything paid by taxes. That is why there's mandated reporting and a public records act... obviously lawmakers already recognize the need to educate citizens.
10:13
You said: "Any significant event in the city of Woodland empties all 3 fire stations."
That is good to know. Obviously, when emergency calls come in, the department needs to react quickly to a possibly unknown circumstance. To know that all stations are deployed is a perfect explanation of why outside help is at least alerted.
Dino Interesting to know that on a second alarm, WFD realizes on Wiilow Oak Fire Department a volunteer department but Woodland eliminated its (free labor) Volunteer Fire Fighter group a couple of years ago. Good planning or did the Fire Union have some influence in that decision. Maybe a WFD firefighter can give us the answer??
Dino, by definition the "public records act" and "mandated reporting" means that the information is available, if a person wants to see it. I wanted information about the number of calls the Fire Dept responded to in 2008, so I called the Fire Dept and had the answer within 10 minutes. But I did have to completely exhaust myself by actually picking up the phone and dialing it ... the information was there for the asking. But I did have to ask. Again, not a passive behavior, waiting for someone to tell me where and how my tax dollars got spent.
All the information about where the City Council and Staff have spent our tax dollars over the past 50 years is available. But you do have to ask. You could also stay on top of things by (1) reading staff reports on issues in front of the City Council (available with the council agendas on the city's website), (2) reading the minutes of the city council meetings, (3) watching the city council meetings on WAVE 21, or (4) actually attending city council meetings so you can see the reports, the body language of staff and council participants, and the input of city residents who are taking an active role in the democratic process in Woodland. I admit that it's a whole lot more work than sitting in front of a computer screen and writing in or reading a blog, but it is truly the best way to stay informed about where and how our tax dollars are being spent.
3:55pm
You are mistaken, The Woodland Fire Department eliminated its Reserve (payed) program, and replaced it with a volunteer (non-payed) program last year.
Dino, I encourage everyone to attend the budget workshop tomorrow night at 6pm at the Community Center, should be a great meeting.
5:49
You've already played your hand at trying to demonstrate that this thread represents the extreme of public apathy. But even with your inflated, wise-ass attitude, your examples do nothing to downplay the importance of government providing essential information.
If you're using my moderation of this blog as an example of my passive of behavior toward government, you're ignorant. Is that why I spent hundreds of hours prying into the idiotic downtown garage project? Yeah... information was really there for the asking. The fact is, government officials consistently withheld information. I helped save taxpayers millions of dollars by publicizing government idiocy and tax dollar waste. If it was up to the city council and the Daily Democrat, only a few distorted facts about the garage would have been revealed.
And you are naive to think that 50 years of council actions are readily available. Hey... where are all the minutes of 2008 ? Or how about the entire 2009? They haven't even been approved by council yet. So 50 years is the magical number, huh? Is that when you started to become a wannabe politician?
Your suggestion that people must attend council meetings to know what is going on is absurd. I've heard this squeaking from you before, and it's ridiculous.
Go back to your hole, Troll.
Dino,
Troll, really?? Are you down to name calling now?
10:14 Troll,
Are you out of your hole already?
Troll is, what troll does... and in typical troll fashion you cry about name-calling after you say I'm lazy. Nice.
I wouldn't expect you to address topic.
Here is a video of you.
It appears that this blog as usual, has degraded to name calling, posting false information and BS accusations. This is why blogs, especially small ones such as this will never gain an honest reputation.
You might want to try referencing facts and pointing to where they can be found instead of telling personal, biased stories which can not be proven.
It's also BS that the person that runs this and appears in most of the arguments gets to decide whether to post a response or not. Nothing like a little censorship to promote free speech eh Dino?
1:35, 1:37 Troll
Now it's censorship and free speech, huh?
Where are your facts?
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