THE NATURE OF OUR BUSINESS
The fire and rescue service is one of the most diverse and challenging professions known today. It is this diversity that inspires men and women to enter the service –either as volunteers or paid on call fire fighters. All Fire fighters are trained to cope with situations that range from structure fires to motor vehicle accidents to hazardous chemical spills and almost every other possible emergency situation in between. We willingly volunteer these skills any time of day, seven days a week, in any kind of weather, and very often under emotional and potentially stressful circumstances. These factors contribute to our profession being personally very rewarding.
Our primary goal is to protect the public. This is accomplished in two ways:
A) The first is to prevent fire emergencies from occurring. This is done through fire prevention, inspections and fire safety education.
B) Secondly, we are here to prepare ourselves to control fire emergencies and at times to assist at other emergencies. This is done through education, training, pre-incident planning, more training, state-of-the-art equipment and more training.
This paragraph would scare most people away, but we need this to encourage people to become a fire fighter. We have a job for everyone no matter what, everyone is important. As a fire fighter we will train you in first responders (medical assistance until the ambulance arrives), how to fight fires (forestry & Structural), motor vehicle accidents, and other rescues. We only ask that you do what you feel comfortable doing, whether that is going into a burning structure, support at a distance from a fire, CPR, extracting people from motor vehicle accidents or driving a truck. There are always tasks that you can help with. This business is not for everyone. You need more than just a desire to help people. You also need courage and dedication, assertiveness and a willingness to learn new skills and face new challenges. Our service is one of which calls on its members to perform hot sweaty, dirty, strenuous work often in uncertain and hazardous environments, but we guarantee you will enjoy a rewarding experience.
The personal rewards and satisfaction received from the fire service are often beyond description. There is a sense of accomplishment after controlling a building fire, joy and elation when a child is rescued and compassion for accident victims. The list is endless.
The bottom line in our business is measured by the best possible prevention and/or reduction of the loss of life, pain and suffering of people living in and driving through our community, and property damage we have prevented and reduced. We exist and are prepared for one reason only: to provide our service to the community. If you feel you have what it takes to meet the challenges of our business, we welcome you to join our fire department.
Bush Fire on Inland Isl. Hwy Summer of 2006
Motor Vehicle Accident December 2006
Profile:
The Dashwood Volunteer Fire Department Operates out of two fire halls, one in Dashwood on Hobbs Road and one under construction on Gavlin way in Meadowood. We have of a Management Staff of a Chief, Deputy Chief and an Assistant Chief, each fire hall as a set of company officers a Captain and 2 Lieutenants. We provide fire protection and mutual aid with seven other fire departments. We have at each hall an Engine, Tanker, and Rescue apparatus.
Organization:
The fire department operates under the direction of the Fire Chief who is responsible to the board of directors and the fire fighters.
In order to deliver the services needed to accomplish the above stated mission, the fire department is organized into several main divisions:
The Board of Directors
Who look after the future planning of new vehicles, finances, monthly directors meetings and to communicate with the Fire Chief and firefighters.
Fire prevention
Fire Fighters may also be responsible for pre-fire planning, investigations and education.
Training
Responsible for achieving and maintaining the skills and expertise to accomplish the departments stated mission.
Operations:
The Dashwood Fire Department responds to approximately 100 to 120 incidents a year, ranging from structure fires, motor vehicle accidents, First Responder Medical incidents, bush fires and on occasion mutual aid to other local fire services.
Firefighters Association
The Firefighters association is the membership of all the firefighters, they will do fundraising events, and other community minded events throughout the year.
Volunteer Fire Fighters:
Volunteer fire fighters directly participate in fire operations, including incident response after their recruit training. They will also be responsible for the operation of equipment and apparatus. We are interested in men and women over the ages of 16, who are in fairly good physical condition, must be clean-shaven (WCB standards), and have the desire to participate as team working towards a common goal ultimately resulting in a safer community. Medicals will be due with in 3 months of joining (paid by the department) as well as drivers abstract.
You have the choice of putting in as much time and effort as you want, the more you put into our fire department the more you will gain back. We let the individuals decide how much time they want to put into our department. All we expect is that you attend as many calls and practices as you can to maintain an acceptable level of skill. We will do our best to fit you in with whatever role you chose to pursue.
Training and Participation:
In order to ensure that all members of the Department are prepared to deliver the best level of services required, we have developed training standards to provide each member with the needed skills, knowledge and abilities to deliver fire and emergency service to our area. We strive to equip you with all the training you require to face almost all types of situations your community will ask of you.
Training Requirements - Recruits and New Fire Fighters:
All volunteers entering the department, regardless of prior training or experience, will complete the recruit training and orientation program taught by the fire department officers. The program can last up to three or four months, depending on how many new recruits we have. Over the course of the year, you may be sent on more courses all paid for by the fire department. Some Saturdays and some Sundays (or both) may be required of you for these courses. Our Thursday night practices start at 7:00 pm sharp and last till about 9:00 pm, keep in mind some practices may last longer depending on the topic.
As a Responding Member of the Fire Department:
After your recruit-training period you will be provided with a pager. You will be expected to respond to the hall when your pager sounds as often as you are able to. If you cannot make due to other commitments the call do not worry, we get our strength from having many volunteer firefighters. When you are responding, you are requested to follow all traffic laws and speed limits. When you arrive at the hall an officer/senior Fire Fighter will place you on one of the fire trucks.
As your career in our Volunteer Fire Department progresses you will be trained in all aspects of the services we offer. As you gain more experience and training you may want to become a frontline fire fighter or an Engineer (Apparatus Driver/Pump operator) or just be there to help out, we leave it up to you. If you don’t want to be a front line fire fighter that’s all right too, there are many other things for you to do. We are a very diverse fire department and understand that not everybody can do everything that is what makes our volunteer fire service so unique.
Extra Fire Department Functions and Fund Raising:
Every Christmas, the Fire Department holds a potluck style dinner accompanied with awards to the fire fighters. We all gather together and have dinner to discuss the year and thank our spouses for putting up with our pagers. We also will have campouts and summertime, movie nights at the fire station, weekend dinners and many other fun events. We encourage our fire fighters to have as much fun outside of the fire department as a group. It makes all of us a better team and we know each other better. We are all like one big family so we try to have as much fun as possible.
Our Fire Fighters hold fund raising events throughout the year for various charities. These range from the annual Cancer Head shave, springtime garage sale, car washes, to the biggest event that we do our annual Halloween Bash.
Annual Garage Sale held by Fire Department members and their families.
Closing
We look forward to seeing you in our department or family, as some call it. We are sure that once you are in you will be “hooked” and will look forward to helping your community in anyway you can. We are very proud of our Fire Department and the people who work to keep it running.
So thank you for your interest and we look forward to seeing you in the Fire Station soon.
Message from the Fire Chief
With out the dedication of our volunteers our fire service would have a very difficult time providing our citizens with a very modern and progressive emergency service. The dedication of our volunteers is inspiring to each one of us involved in our department. In the time of need our fire fighters are willing to give their today for someone else’s tomorrow. No matter the weather, the time of day, nor what the emergency is they are there. This says a lot for their dedication, training, events they hold, and emergencies they answer. I’m very proud of each and every volunteer we have and look forward to new recruits.
We do our best to ensure that each fire fighter is well looked after and throughout their time here we do our best make sure that they are having fun!
I look forward to you starting your career as a volunteer fire fighter and doing one the most rewarding things that you can do for your community.
Thank you,Nick Acciavatti
Nick Acciavatti
Fire Chief
Dashwood Volunteer
Fire Department
Mission Statement
“With compassion and respect to its citizens and visitors, The Dashwood Volunteer Fire Department will protect Life, Property and the Environment by Providing Fire Protection, Medical First Responder Services, Rescue and Public Education to everyone in our Community”
Vision Statement
“A Department that is recognized by our community and its members as a model of excellence in all we do. A department that is responsive to the needs and concerns of the community and its visitors. A department that is respected and valued by our community and others who may visit”
Our Core ValuesTo our Residents and Visitors…
We owe the residents and visitors of the Dashwood Fire Protection District the highest quality of service possible, characterized by integrity, prompt and professional service. We will continually strive for quality improvement.
To our Fire Department…
We owe all members of the Department our full commitment and dedication. We will forever recognize that our people are our most important asset and continually invest in them. We will always look beyond the traditional scope of our individual positions to encourage teamwork and organizational effectiveness.
To Each other ....
We owe each other a working environment that is synonymous with the term “teamwork”, an environment which encourages participation of everyone, open communications, trust and respect for the individual.
To ourselves ....
We owe ourselves personal and professional growth. We will seek new knowledge and greater challenges and strive to remain at the leading edge of our profession.
Page created by J. Edwards August 2007
