Volume 2, number 12, December 2000 Firebreak Things quieted down a bit for the fire department during the latter part of November. However, on November 17 at 2:48 a.m. we responded with a full engine crew to a request from Chena Goldstream Fire and Rescue for mutual aid on a structure fire on Goldstream Road across from Ivory Jack’s. Working with crews from Chena Goldstream who were already on the scene, we spent several hours hauling hoses and fire equipment over five-foot-high fences, into the building as well as up ladders to the roof. Only three days earlier, at our Tuesday night training, we had done ladder training and a full ladder drill outside the fire station; the week before that we had done a full training session with our Scott Air Packs (masks and tanks of air which we wear on our backs when entering a burning building). Both training sessions were very valuable to us: our engine crew "packed up" (put on air packs) for entry on the way to the fire and firefighters from each department climbed ladders with equipment and hoses while others raised and braced the ladders from below and still other firefighters entered the building on the ground floor. A number of dogs inside the house died in this fire, while others ran about outside, yowling and yelping in distress, but no people were injured. Once again, the fire department emphasizes to everyone who has a wood stove, as this building did, that it is very important to keep your chimney clean of creosote build up which can cause a stack fire. We have chimney brushes available for your use at the station and we strongly encourage you to use them. Now that it is getting colder, the fire department also urges everyone to be careful with car plug-ins and heat tape. Be sure that the extension cord you plug your vehicle in with is an appropriately rated outdoor cord—otherwise it can overheat and set your car or your house on fire. Try not to run the extension cord from the inside out a window, as there can be problems at the window where the cord goes from hot to cold. Be sure and uplug your vehicle before you start it or your heater may overheat and short out. Be especially careful with heat tape and follow the manufacturer’s instructions to the letter. Flammable foam over the heat tape can start to burn as far as thirty feet away from the house, burn back along the pipe, and burn your house down. Firebreak continues its fire department personal profiles in this issue with those of Fire Chief Richard Hagen, Deputy Fire Chief John Debbaut, and Assistant Fire Chief Jodi Brady. Richard Hagen was born in Fairbanks and has lived on Gold Hill Road, in the Ester Fire Service Area, for over twenty-five years, with his wife Debra and their four children, Michael, Lisa, Rachael, and Richard (who is an Explorer Firefighter with the department). Chief Hagen has been with the Ester Volunteer Fire Department for over fifteen years. He is a firefighter, emergency medical technician, and also a member of the Fairbanks North Star Borough Hazardous Materials Team. Richard recently retired from the University of Alaska in June 1999, after twenty-nine and a half years of service as a power plant instrument technician and as an electrician at the Poker Flat Research Range. He says that he got involved with the fire department in order to do his part in community service. Richard enjoys hunting, fishing, flying, and raising his quarter horse, ‘Lil Copy. Deputy Chief John Debbaut has lived in Cripple Creek, also in the Ester Fire Service Area, since 1986, with his wife Jacque, who is president of the Fire Board. They have two sons, Jeff, who is an Explorer Firefighter with the department, and Jacob. Originally from Minnesota, John first came to Alaska in 1982. He is a firefighter and an emergency medical technician (EMT) and he has worked at the Great Alaska Bowl Company for the past eight years. John enjoys hunting, fishing, and wood turning. He emphasizes how important it is to get more people from the community interested in and volunteering for the fire department. Assistant Chief Jodi Brady has been in Alaska since 1976 and graduated from Lathrop High School. She has been involved in fire services for over fourteen years, going from rookie firefighter to assistant chief, and serving with the Steese, North Star, and Ester fire departments. Jodi has been with the Ester department since 1995 and also has ten years of experience as a 911 emergency dispatcher with the University of Alaska Fire Department Dispatch Center and the North Pole Police Department. She is a state-certified Firefighter One and fire instructor trained as an EMT One and Two and a hazardous materials technician, with an associate degree in fire science. Jodi is currently working both as assistant chief of the Ester Fire Department and as a 911 dispatcher with the University of Alaska Dispatch Center. She lives in Fairbanks with her significant other, Mike, and her son Zachary, who is a star hockey player with the Lathrop Malamutes. Jodi loves riding her Sea-Do and playing softball in the summer, and bowling and snow machining in the winter. She is actively involved in the Lathrop Hockey Parents Booster Club, and in raising her son. January’s Firebreak will profile some of the other officers in the department and describe the excellent fire training program that fire captains Kyle Carrington and Cameron Wohlford have been organizing at the department. The training program is not only interesting, but a lot of fun. You can wait for the January issue to read about it, or you can come down to the fire station any Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m. if you think you might want to volunteer, and check it out for yourself. We’ll look forward to seeing you there.
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