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Grapevine volunteers provide aid to firefighters, By Georjean Sherriff
Behind the scenes at the Grapevine Fire Dept. lies a diverse group of volunteers known as the Grapevine Citizens’ Fire Academy Alumni (GCFAA), whose nearly 60 members are all graduates of the Grapevine Fire Department’s Citizen’s Fire Academy. The organization is a 501 (c) (3) charity providing rehab support to the Grapevine firefighters and assisting in the dissemination of public safety information by the Department. Formation of GCFAA was the dream of its President, Bill Bimmerman, who formed the organization and made it operational. Since its inception, many dedicated members have volunteered hundreds of hours to the GCFAA enabling it to grow into what is has become today. The GCFAA relies entirely upon public donations and fundraising efforts by its members at City festivals and other events.
The GCFAA's main project is R561, a rehab program operated from a refurbished Department ambulance donated by the City of Grapevine. When assistance is requested by the Fire Department, the City’s Central Dispatch pages one of six teams on-call 24-hours a day, every day. The responding team provides iced Gatorade and water, energy bars, snacks, coffee, hot chocolate, towels, cold packs, chairs and misting fans to all firefighters and public safety personnel at the incident. Recently, the group provided rehab services for an 18 hour period over two days to many City employees, firefighters, animal control and police officers, at the investigation and closure of a Grapevine residence allegedly housing over 90 cats.
R561 was called out the following day for a 3-alarm warehouse fire providing rehab to 53 firefighters from at least seven surrounding fire departments. Three days later, they responded to a 4-alarm apartment fire in Euless, providing aid to Grapevine firefighters and firefighters from Bedford, Euless, Colleyville, Ft. Worth, Hurst and D/FW Airport. It was R561’s first mutual aid call capping off the busiest week for rehab calls in the GCFAA’s history.
GCFAA President Bimmerman looks back at how far the organization has come in a relatively short period noting, “After completing the very first Citizens Fire Academy Class and being genuinely welcomed into the Grapevine Fire Department family, I knew the citizens of Grapevine needed to provide more support and appreciation for these men and women. Seeing how they report to their station at the beginning of their shift, not knowing what the day will deliver, willing to risk life to help others at a moment’s notice, inspired our motto, ‘Helping those, who help others.’ I believe we have lived up to it.”
Grapevine Fire Chief Steve Bass notes that in these recent high-temperature days, the support of drinks, towels, mister fans, chairs, and snacks literally made the difference in the health and safety of the firefighters, police officers, and city employees. The rehab unit saved a lot of men and women and “Thank you” does not approach being sufficient in expressing the gratitude that this department and now several others owe the members and workers that have given so much to so many.
The Grapevine Fire Department will begin its ninth Citizens Fire Academy classes starting in early 2007. Interested Grapevine residents may download an application for the Academy off of the Fire Department’s page at http://www.ci.grapevine.tx.us or by calling the department at (817) 410-8100 for more information. All interested Grapevine residents are encouraged to apply, but participation is limited. Additional information about the GCFAA can also be found on its webpage at www.GCFAA.org.
The Dallas Morning News recently did an article on the GCFAA.
Kim Johnson was returning home from San Antonio when she came across a very serious automobile and Tractor-Trailer accident on IH 35 N in West, Texas. The freeway accident had just happened when she had arrived at the scene and people we scrambling to try to provide help to the victims. The West Volunteer Fire Department and West Police Department had just arrived at the scene. Later DPS arrived to take measurements and photos, and VMS (contractor to TxDOT) arrived later with cones and an arrow board.
All south bound lanes IH 35 and one north bound lane were shut down for several hours. To say the least, traffic was at a standstill and was needing to be redirected onto the service roads and off the freeway immediately following this serious head-on accident.
Kim parked her car safely in the wide median, grabbed her highly visible safety vest, white hard hat, and red-orange flag. Then she headed to the accident scene. Upon reaching the accident scene, she assisted Officer Montgomery, West Police Department and the West Volunteer Fire Department with Incident Management Traffic Control for several hours. Their biggest challenge was getting all the "onlookers" to move on and not to stop to look at the crash site, damaged vehicles, victims and emergency vehicles. The second
challenge was that it was 100+ degrees that afternoon and all involved we greatly affected by the extreme heat. Fortunately, she had stored a 6 pack of bottled water in her vehicle and was able to share with the others at the scene who were in need of water.
This is where her Citizen's Fire Academy education and experience came into practice. Kim's thoughts; "In regards to my recent volunteer services with traffic control in an incident management area, I believe that my hands-on experience with the City of Grapevine - GCFAA Rehab Team better prepared me as
a volunteer. I know I felt that I brought confidence, passion and 20 years of safety experience to the scene.
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