Support BVFD’s new fire district proposal.

Briceland Volunteer Fire Department has relied on community support in the form of donations and fundraising events since its inception. For a variety of reasons, this funding is no longer adequate, so we have proposed the formation of a formal fire district that would levy an $85 parcel tax to give the Department a stable income base.

For more detailed info, see the page Fire Tax: Questions And Answers. The first step in the formation of the district is to get the proposal on the ballot. We need a minimum number of signatures to do this. This is an official election petition, so must be signed in the presence of someone authorized to collect the signatures. The petitions can be found at the Beginnings, Inc. office at the octagon in Briceland during normal business hours or occasionally at the fire station on Briceland Road when someone is there with the doors open.

Please sign the petition and then encourage all your neighbors to vote yes on the mail-in ballot later this year. Help us to be able to keep gas in the fire truck and provide us volunteers with proper protective equipment and training so we can serve our community. Thank you!

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Briceland Fire responds to two-vehicle collision in Briceland.

Chief Tim Olsen and Captain Allison Jones (also a paramedic-in-training) happened to be the first ones at scene at about 10:30pm and called in the incident to dispatch. Shortly thereafter, we had nine responders (including several EMTs) and our Type III engine, 5436 at scene.

BVFD EMT/firefighters treating a patient at scene.

Both drivers were taken away by ambulance, Brown’s Towing removed the vehicles, the two CHP officers did their reports and traffic control, we swept up the debris off the road and went home.

This is the kind of thing we do with (unfortunate) regularity, on our own time and for free. While we as individuals don’t get paid, we do need to purchase and maintain our equipment, keep up-to-date on our training, put fuel in the fire truck and so on. Please sign the petition (at the Beginnings office or at the fire station) to form a formal fire district to help us maintain this level of service to the community.

-Mikal Jakubal
EMT Briceland Volunteer Fire Dept.

One of two vehicles involved in the collision.

 

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Fun upcoming fundraisers for our sister volunteer organizations.

Support our local sister organizations upcoming fundraisers!

Southern Humboldt Technical Rescue is holding their annual fundraiser as well. They need to raise money to buy a new rescue vehicle.

Where: Beginnings Octagon, Briceland
When: Saturday, May 21 · 6:00pm – 9:00pm

Doors open at 6pm
Dinner at 7pm
Music from 8pm-midnight
BBQ dinner by Smokin’ Moses
Bar with Beer and Wine
Music by The Road Masters

Telegraph Ridge, the volunteer department just to the west and north of Briceland’s district is having their annual fundraising barbecue. You can RSVP or leave comments on the Facebook event page.

Where: Ettersburg School
When: Sunday, June 12 · 1:00pm – 6:00pm

This is a family event! Live music and fun for the whole family. There will be awesome barbecue food for purchase along with tempting deserts. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to come and support our local fire department.


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Crew meeting tonight, Beginnings octagon 6pm.

Be there!

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Reminder: First Responder recertification training 6pm tonight.

This last-minute reminder just came in over the fire department pager: First Responder recertification training at Garberville CalFire station at 6pm tonight!

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Briceland Road Whitmore Grove Is Open

Slightly belated update: The road is open past the slide to one-way, self-controlled traffic (stop sign) and will stay open unless further floods or other events take it out. According to a State Parks representative at the site, the road may be paved this summer if the budget allows and full restoration will require significant engineering and retaining wall construction. He estimated it to be a two-year project.

Please drive slowly and yield right of way at the stop sign.

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Briceland Road/Whitmore Grove update.

As of Sunday at 5:30, Briceland Road remains closed at Whitmore Grove State Park, one mile west of Redway. Old Briceland Road is being used as a one-way alternate route with pilot cars leaving approximately every 50 minutes.

State Parks says Briceland Road may be open as soon as tonight.

For continuous updates on the situation, visit the newly-formed SoHum Awareness page on Facebook. This is a publicly visible page, so you don’t need to be a Facebook member.

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Alert: Briceland Road CLOSED nighttime hours, 7pm-7am, at Whitmore Grove.

Due to recent storm damage, Briceland Road at Whitmore Grove, one mile west of Redway will be closed from 7pm to 7am daily until repairs can be made. Additionally, no commercial vehicles will be allowed to pass the damaged area.

Alternative route is Old Briceland Road. It is a one-lane, narrow, windy road with potholes, blind corners and cows in the road. It is essential that you drive slowly and carefully and respect the neighborhoods and ranchland you will be driving through. Please spread the word.

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(A slightly belated) Benefit Thanks

The Board of Directors of the Briceland Volunteer Fire Department would like to express our sincerest appreciation to all the wonderful people who made our September 11th Boogie such a successful and memorable event.

This was one of those gatherings that really underscores what a wonderful community this truly is. It was so much fun to mingle with friends and enjoy good food, good music and good company. It was wonderful to watch community members from toddlers to the older folks and everyone in between dedicate their abundant energy to making this one of the most positive local gatherings this community has enjoyed in a long while.

The sense of joy in community was very obvious and so was the generosity of all who attended, making this a very successful fundraiser for our local firefighters. So THANK YOU, one and all!

Of course an event like this doesn’t just “happen.” It takes a lot of hard work and dedication and we would like to thank all who helped in that regard. There are so many, so please forgive us if we don’t mention you by name. Thank you to:

All the volunteers
Aaron Shapiro
Rob Seifert\Jim Fulton
Blushing Barefoot Burlesque
Eric Martin
Jill McClure/Lisa Henninger
Lagunitas Beer
Kristina Suarez
JoMama/ T-Bone, Anita, Tony, Renee
John Angus
Amelia’s
Shop Smart in Redway
Chautauqua
Rescue Remedy ladies
Signature Coffee
Feet First Dancers

And, of course the wonderful musicians:
Twango Macallan
Spring Canyon Band
Ambush
Darryl Cherney
NPK!

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Briceland Fire Joins The 21st Century

By Mikal Jakubal
This just went live after midnight on 9/11/10. I’m still actively working on it. There are some bugs and a number of design elements that need adding or adjusting, but I wanted to get it up before the benefit barbecue this afternoon. It’s simple. It’s a start.

Thanks to Penelope Andrews of Earth Gallery for putting together the header image at a moment’s notice.

You can follow @BricelandFire on Twitter if you have an account and you can “like” us on Facebook. There will be more Twitter, Facebook, GoogleEarth and other social media interfaces soon, along with an interactive calendar for department members, more photos, a roster so you can see who we all are, some cool stuff like plans for the new station, the department’s history and archival photos.

We’ll soon have an email signup form and a Paypal button you can use to donate to us. In the meantime, come to the benefit Saturday, have blast and help us keep our all-volunteer department funded and properly geared-up.

Oh, and if there are any WordPress whizzes out there, I have a bunch of questions at the code level that are way above this Luddite’s head at the moment. Contact me through the contact info in the button above or by leaving a comment here.

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