STAY CONNECTED
In an effort to keep you up to date on the latest local, statewide, and federal fire issues, OC Firefighters send out monthly news clippings. This newsletter will help inform you about very important fire-related matters.
|
|
Follow Us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
|
|
Message from President Todd Baldridge
My name is Todd Baldridge and I am proud to introduce myself as the newly-elected President of Orange County Professional Firefighters Association Local 3631, representing more than 1,000 dedicated firefighters and paramedics with the Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA).
I started my fire service career in 1992 with the City of San Marino and then transferred to the City of Westminster until the department was absorbed by the Orange County Fire Authority in 1995. I have proudly served as a Firefighter/Paramedic with the OCFA for 25 years and my current assignment is at Fire Station 43 in the City of Tustin.
Prior to being elected President, I was the Political Action Committee (PAC) Chairman for Local 3631, building and strengthening our relationships with elected officials throughout the entire Orange County region.
In addition to my work in the OCFA and Local 3631, I have been dedicated to advancing public safety in our communities and educating the next generation of firefighters and paramedics, including sitting on a national advisory committee with Tactical Emergency Casualty Care (TECC) and serving as a paramedic for a local and federal SWAT team for almost 20 years. I have also taught at the Basic Fire Academy in Santa Ana College, the EMT Program at Citrus College and the Daniel Freeman Paramedic School throughout the years.
As President of Local 3631, I am honored and excited to be a part of a dedicated team of elected leaders on our Executive Board. We look forward to working with all of our stakeholders to continue providing outstanding fire protection and emergency medical services to the nearly two million residents that we serve in Orange County.
Please feel free to reach out to myself or our Executive Board at any time.
President
Todd Baldridge
|
|
2021/2022 Executive Board: |
|
Vice Presidents
Steve Kriha
Rich Tantuvanich
Secretary
Scott Martin
Treasurer
Sam Semingson
|
|
Directors
Brian Abney
Andrew Bergen
Buddy Lee Brown
Lee Cabrera
Justin Dillon
|
|
OCFA Firefighters Knock down Fire in Garden Grove
Firefighters successfully battled a fire in Garden Grove Friday that threatened several attached buildings and left one person with burn injuries. The blaze ignited at 4:52 p.m. inside a building n the 10,000 block of Russell Avenue, according to the Orange County Fire Authority.
|
|
|
Orange County home destroyed after Christmas tree catches fire
A smoke alarm awakened a La Palma man early Monday morning, just in time for him to save himself and his dog from flames that engulfed his Christmas tree and then spread through his house. The fire was reported at 2 a.m. in a house in the 7700 block of Laurelwood Lane, according to the Orange County Fire Authority.
|
|
|
Fire Forces Family From Westminster Home 1 Week Before Christmas
Smoke and flames rendered a Westminster home unlivable overnight, Orange County Fire Authority reports. A family of seven, including three children, survived the blaze though no smoke detector was working inside the home, OCFA says. Firefighters responded at just before 2 a.m. to the 6200 block of Kiowa Road. There, they discovered that seven people escaped the burning house, according to the Orange County Fire Authority.
|
|
|
Man Dies After Hole Dug For Swimming Pool In Orange Collapses On Him
A man has died after the hole he was digging for a pool in Orange collapsed around him, according to authorities. The collapse was reported just before 11 a.m. Saturday in the 6200 block of East Cliffway Drive, according to Orange Fire Capt. Ryan O’Conner. The 45-year-old man had been part of a crew of five digging the hole, when part of a wall collapsed around him and he was buried up to his shoulders.
|
|
|
Rescuers save 2 people trapped in flood control channel in Santa Ana
A man and woman were recovered after a swift water rescue by the Orange County Fire Authority on Monday evening, Dec. 28, in Santa Ana. The Fire Authority received the call at 4:53 p.m. about two people caught in a flood control channel near South Raitt Street and Edinger Avenue, according to Capt. Thanh Nguyen. The pair were discovered under a bridge in the closed channel hanging onto the side of the channel, Nguyen said.
|
|
|
COVID-19 vaccine provides ‘peace of mind’ for Orange County Fire Authority firefighters
Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Ray McQueen said he and his colleagues have been seeing an increase in calls related to COVID-19, so he was happy to be among the first 100 firefighters at the agency to volunteer Saturday, Dec. 26, to receive the first of two doses of the vaccine.
|
|
|
Most Influential: OCFA’s Brian Fennessy and his firefighters battled wildfires and pandemic
Already filled with extreme peril and unpredictability, firefighters’ jobs got even riskier and more complicated in 2020 with the unexpected emergence of another natural threat: the pandemic. During California’s worst wildfire year in recorded history in which more than 4 million acres have burned across the state, and a pandemic that demanded changes in first responders’ handling of everything from raging wildfires to routine service calls, Orange County Fire Authority Chief Brian Fennessy led a team of some 1,110 firefighters while collaborating with fire and law enforcement agencies statewide in devising strategies to work through uncharted territory.
|
|
|
Firefighter Cancer Awareness Month
Submitted By Jeff Hughes, OC Firefighters Local 3631 Wellness Agent
|
|
Cancer is a leading cause of fire service morbidity and mortality, and a recent National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) study demonstrated an excess mortality rate for cancer in firefighters compared with the general population. Firefighters have a 9% higher likelihood of being diagnosed with a cancer and 14% higher likelihood of dying from a cancer than the general population. Firefighters are exposed to multiple carcinogens in our workplace through skin contamination, inhalation, and ingestion.
|
|
|
We already recognize October as cancer awareness month, right? October is actually Breast Cancer Awareness month. Often recognized as a cancer awareness month with some departments offering pink t-shirts, custom pink uniform patches and some departments even wrapping a fire unit in Pink for the month. Women firefighters in the San Francisco Fire Department have a 6X higher risk of getting diagnosed with breast cancer, but this type of cancer is not in the top 20 types of cancer that usually affects firefighters. Stachtober- is about fighting pediatric cancer and is often used as a fundraiser to help a FF member in need. Stachetober was started by firefighter and is not focused on male cancer specific or FF cancer specific. Movember- is a community of folks that raises money, making a difference in mental health & suicide prevention, prostate cancer and testicular cancer- not FF specific (from the website movember.us.com).
In November 2018, Orange County Professional Firefighters, IAFF Local 3631 presented a resolution (authored by L3631, co-authored by San Diego Fire, Broward County Fire, Palm Beach County Fire, and Boston Fire Dept.) at the IAFF National Convention in Seattle, Washington for a Firefighter Cancer Awareness Month. A month that is dedicated to raise awareness on firefighter research, education, prevention activities (best practices), and survivorship tactics for firefighters.
The month-long campaign will include Safety Stand Downs, training briefs meant to highlight the effects of occupational cancer and focus on topics of prevention and mitigation. The topics of these briefs include: the scope of the cancer problem, best practices on prevention, leadership tactics to help prevention and skills to help survivors of occupational cancer.
The topics will be reinforced with online resources such as daily training information and infographics that promote the program and underline the importance of the issue on social media and podcasts addressing the important issues of prevention and documentation of exposures to carcinogens.
"The health and well-being of firefighters is our top priority. There needs to be further education, more assistance, and resources for firefighters when it comes to navigating the overwhelming gravity of a cancer diagnoses,” says FCSN CEO Bryan Frieders. "In addition to our badge-to-badge support, the FCSN is committed to providing resources, education and training to reduce the risk of occupational cancer for all fire and EMS professionals. This partnership will undoubtedly save lives and increase awareness."
“Our members are being diagnosed with cancers as a result of on-the-job exposures. We have had the sad duty of adding far too many of their names to the walls of our Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial,” said IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger. “That is why we have partnered with the FCSN to create the Fire Fighter Cancer Awareness month – to give our hard-working members the most up-to-date guidance and data that will allow them the opportunity to enjoy a long, safe career and a healthy retirement.”
To receive emails of the latest content and resources for the IAFF-FCSN Firefighter Cancer Awareness Month click HERE to register.
|
|
OC Firefighters - IAFF Local 3631 | 1342 Bell Avenue, Suite 3A | Tustin | CA | 92870
THIS MESSAGE WAS CREATED BY JIMMY BLACKMAN & ASSOCIATES.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
