10-4 Over and Out

Hallelujah!!! 10-4, Good Buddy! How long has it been--18 years I think--that Wolfskin VFD has been crusading to use Plain Text....and still, my latest push for Plain Text got cut off at the knees just a couple months back. Got to say, there is one 10-signal l will miss: 10-22. Phyllis

WVFD Asst Chief Jim Kitchens forwarded the article below. Read on and Rejoice!


That's a 10-4 on Plain Language for Cops
From Associated Press, Sept. 25, 2005

The days of hearing "10-4" and other law enforcement jargon on the police radio are coming to an end.
Emergency responders around the country must switch to using plain language by October 2006, as part of the National Incident Management System, which was developed to help different agencies work together in response to emergency situations.
"It makes so much sense," said Daviess County Sheriff Keith Cain, whose department is planning on using plain language starting next month. "Common language is common language."
Signal and "10 codes" were originally implemented by law enforcement agencies and emergency responders primarily to keep talk on the radio brief. Although many of the codes are the same for different departments, there are no standardized definitions, which could lead to confusion when different departments work together.
In September 2004, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security notified governors of the development of the National Incident Management System, and that complying with that system would be required to secure federal emergency preparedness funding.
In August, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is overseeing compliance, issued a directive requiring the use of plain language, or at least a good-faith effort to implement plain language, by October 2006 to be eligible for homeland security grant money.
Owensboro Police Chief John Kazlauskas said his department has been taking the necessary steps to meet the requirements, which include having each member of the department complete a test on the system.
"It seems very simple, but getting everyone to use the same specific word for an incident can be complicated," Kazlauskas said. "It's going to be a learning process for people who have been using 10 codes for their whole careers."

Wayne and Jon - Hurricane Relief Effort 

Update from Jon and Wayne

Well, yesterday's potential rain didn't happen, so we're still dry as a bone with no rain in September and less than half an inch since mid-August.

WVFD Chief Jackson provided me with news from Jon Huff and Wayne Wallace, who volunteered for relief work in Louisiana following Katrina and Rita. They're our guys!

Firefighters Jon Huff of Wolfskin VFD and Wayne Wallace, Chief of Vesta VFD (formerly Training Officer for Wolfskin) report they remain in good spirits and feel appreciated for their efforts--and are usually tired by day’s end. They were transferred from Baton Rouge to Shreveport for Hurricane Rita. Their group of 8 volunteers is stationed at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, along with about 30 from FEMA, and some social workers. Their mission was to set up the disaster shelter at the AFB to receive people displaced from TX and LA by Rita. Many of these folks had fled from LA to TX for Hurricane Katrina, and now they pulled up short-lived roots to evacuate once again from the path of Rita. The shelter was set up to receive 3000 evacuees, but thanks to Rita weakening, they got 300.

FEMA contracted the meals from a private catering company that bought in kitchens on wheels (trailers). Jon said the people in the shelters are “not as bad” as news reports have made them out to be. Of the 2000-3000 people they processed in Baton Rouge and Shreveport, only one was unpleasant to them.

Jon and Wayne volunteered to FEMA immediately after Hurricane Katrina. Their first assignment was to Atlanta for immunizations and training, including four Incident Command classes (all with exams, of course). Fellow volunteers came all over the U.S., even Hawaii and Alaska. They were the only two from GA. When I spoke with the FEMA reps who processed their paperwork, FEMA said the response from volunteers had been overwhelming, but FEMA would be calling volunteers again for replacement crews. The first evolution is for 45 days. Jon plans to renew until December 12, perhaps longer. They say “Hello!” to all back home, and welcome phone calls after they finish work about 7 pm Central Time, but don’t call real late. Morning comes early.

Phyllis

-Wayne (not the same Wayne!)

Fire Hazard Update

Although it appears we're getting a few sprinkles even now as we speak, and that the September crisis is alleviated somewhat, let me draw your attention to the Georgia Forestry Commission links on the right sidebar.

Even better is this GFC map, updated daily, which is very easy to read. Basically, don't burn if it's not green, not unless you know exactly what you're doing. And in all cases contact GFC for a day-only burning permit AND call 911 to advise them so they know what to say to your neighbors when they call reporting smoke.

-Wayne

The Genie-weenie Super Tanker

Response to this post:

Friday, September 23, 2005
A Question:

"Our favorite cat is named Gene. We call him Genie-weenie. If we contribute $8000 to WVFD, can we name the supertanker Genie-weenie? "

As far as the Fire Chief is concerned, that supertanker is “The Genie-weenie!” (Ranking somewhere above The Queen Mary.) Geenie-weenie can have his own life-size bust riding up on the dash, along side the wolf skull with the blinking red eye sockets. He can pose for Photos by Wingate with his favorite dead prey, big antlers, whatever, in his rhinestone suit by Nudie, feathers and golden boots more resplendent than Puss ‘N’ Boots’; and post his likeness as he so likes on the polished stainless steel tank. First Cat of Wolfskin! Can he handle the overnight fame?

Geenie–weenie’s legend and spirit will live on, riding on every tanker run, safeguarding the good people of Wolfskin, Oglethorpe County, and the entire Southeast across FEMA Region IV, long after he has passed on over the rainbow to the great fireground in the sky.

Mary and I, being not quite the high rolling contributors as Genie-weenie’s Godfathers, request the toilets named for us (Mary’s idea): The Mary N. and Phyllis J. Memorial Crappers. Frankie will be SO envious… Gosh, people can memorialize their old friends from all over the US!!! Unique Christmas present! Just pick an item to name for them, for a contribution: truck bays, the pumper truck, showers, training room, the new fire station/disaster shelter itself—where we can provide neighbors in need with a roof over their head and a hot meal, and lighten their load with some humor. No doubt there will be heavy demand for toilet plaques. Love it!!! We’ll send out Official Certificates, and then photos of their items and commemorative plaques! They’ll make pilgrimages to Wolfskin to visit their shrine. You go, Geenie-weenie-kitty-boy! You inspire us all!

Wayne, thanks so much for setting up our Wolfskin VFD website. Wow, I had no idea I’d get so excited about it until I just now logged on! Way cool. (And thanks for the nice compliment.)

Phyllis

Fire Weather

Urbanites might not notice, but those of us who live in rural communities are pretty aware of how dry it is right now. We haven't had rain since the outer remnants of Katrina blew through Aug 29, with a grand total here of 0.1", and precious little rain in the previous three weeks either. My rain gauge is wilting.

With the dryness and unusual heat, the tulip poplars, birches, and some oaks are turning brown prematurely and dropping their leaves. There's a lot of combustible litter on the ground. So be careful about fire! If you're a hunter making your way into the woods for a little before-season practice, be very careful.

It's possible we'll get some rain on Monday (50% chance) and there's a slight chance for the rest of the week, but in the meantime, keep an eye out especially if on Monday we get lightning strikes without rain.

I'm not sure what level of officialdom declares fire hazard weather. It seems to me that I recall they measure soil moisture at some depth, perhaps someone knows?

-Wayne

A Question

Our favorite cat is named Gene. We call him Genie-weenie.

If we contribute $8000 to WVFD, can we name the supertanker Genie-weenie?

Just curious,
-Wayne

Grants Are Not Free

No, they are not free. They usually require some kind of matching fund from the community, even from rural communities like ours.

Tonight was a special meeting to discuss fundraising for meeting matching requirements for the grant we've received to purchase the tanker that we expect to help reduce insurance rates for Wolfskin and Oglethorpe County residents. We've got the tanker grant; all we need are the matching funds.

We came up with a number of ideas, and I or someone else will write about them periodically, but the bottom line is this. We have to raise $8000 in the next few weeks to match the purchase of this $160,000 incredible tanker.

I urge you to contribute if you can - you can email wolfskinvfd@yahoo.com or add a comment here to inquire. We need any contributions that you can make. If you consider that your homeowner's premium could be reduced by about 28% EVERY YEAR going from ISO Class 9 to Class 8, you can afford a large contribution. For instance, if you contribute 10% of your yearly premium for each of the next 3 years, and we earn Class 8 for year 4, your savings during year 4, and during year 5, and during year 6, etc., will each year reimburse you for your three donations. And you will have helped to get better fire protection!

Here's what Ed Frey has to say:

Wanted to let you know about our fundraising discussions if you didn't make the meeting last night. We are in need of $8000 right away to pay for our share of the new tanker. It was decided that we would begin by sending out a letter to all households in our fire district totellthem of our financial need. If you have any thoughts about what this letter should say, please email them to me at freyinsurance@yahoo.com. Thanks!

- Wayne

Meeting Thu Sep 22 7pm

I realize it's late notice but I just found out myself.

Wolfskin VFD is having a meeting at 7pm Thursday (tonight!) Sep 22 to discuss fundraising for meeting our 5% contribution for the super tanker. Please be there if you can.

Wolfskin VFD is on Wolfskin Road about 4.5 miles south of HWY 78, and on the right as you're coming from 78. Coming from the other direction it's about 2 miles from the intersection of Wolfskin/Bob Godfrey with Belmont, and on the left.

-Wayne

Tuesday Night Oglethorpe County Development Meeting

There is a meeting tonight concerning the economic future of Oglethorpe County and its citizens. It's tonight Tuesday Sep 20 at 7 pm at the Depot.

Hopefully the Agenda will include Wolfskin Fire Chief Phyllis Jackson detailing the reduction in fire insurance rates for the Wolfskin and other County communities.

Phyllis and other WolfskinVFD members have landed a couple of grants that have enabled the purchase of equipment and improvements. Glenn Galau has talked around and found that that help to reduce insurance levels from Level 9 to Level 8, with a VERY significant reduction (maybe as much as 28%) in homeowners insurance premiums. Phyllis would like to give a few details on this, as well as get an idea of the tangible enthusiasm of the communities for the possibility of further reduction to Level 7 in the future. Please give Chief Jackson as much support as you can.

If you're a homeowner you should probably be at this meeting for this narrower reason and for the broader reason of where Oglethorpe County should be going in its economic development.

Contact Cary Fordyce (foxtrote at sprynet.com replace "at" with @) for further info.

Update

I hear from a forum member at Oglethorpe County Forum that Jon and Wayne have been training in Atlanta and getting their immunizations and will be off to Baton Rouge on Sunday.

A little clarification

Rather than email everyone again, here's a little clarification:

If you just want to read and comment, go to http://wolfskinvfd.blogspot.com .

If you want to make a post, go to http://www.blogger.com and log in with the username and password I gave you.

And - if anyone has heard from Jon Huff or Wayne Wallace on their adventures in the Gulfcoast area, do make a post!

Wayne

Wolfskin Volunteer Fire Department - Welcome

This is our first post on our new blog. Wolfskin VFD is a volunteer fire department located in the Wolfskin District of Oglethorpe County, Georgia.

If you're not familiar with Oglethorpe County, it's in Northeast Georgia; the Piedmont region of Georgia, east of Athens-Clarke County and about 100 miles northeast of Atlanta. We're not in the mountains, but are in the rolling hills.

Among our colleagues are Beaverdam VFD, Vesta VFD, Arnoldsville VFD, and quite a few others in Oglethorpe County. Although Wolfskin has gone through a lot of changes in the last ten or twenty years, we like to pay our special appeciation to neighboring Oconee County Volunteer Fire Department, which has contributed a lot of materiel to us and has basically taken care of and covered for us during lean years, as have several other VFDs mentioned above.

The news this week is that Jon Huff of our own VFD and Wayne Wallace, chief of Vesta VFD, have volunteered and left last Sunday night for the Gulf Coast area. I haven't heard what has happened since then, but they were both excited and anxious about what was going to happen. Wayne leaves behind an 18-month child, and we're certainly going to miss Jon while he's gone.

Our fire chief is the fabulous Phyllis Jackson, and we'll have more to say about her and our department in the future. Right now we're in the process of setting up a new firehouse to replace our old one, Phyllis and others have landed two major grants, the latest one of which has gotten us a new supertanker that will reduce the insurance ratings of folks in our community from Level 9 to Level 8, saving them plenty of $.

The weather here is hot and dry, and has been increasingly so since the beginning of August. We're getting a little worried about the possibility of woodland fires, and would like a little rain please.

Keep on coming back for more news from Oglethorpe County and Wolfskin District.