THESE ARE BRIEF VERSIONS OF SOME OF OUR PAST NEWS STORIES:

LATEST FIREFIGHTERS – 2009 - Congratulations to our latest firefighters: Tina Acosta, Karen Hauca, and Beth Krueger.

2009 NEIGHBORHOOD FIRE RISK EVALUATION - The 2009 Fire Risk Evaluation project has several intended uses including: 1. A measuring tool to view the progress of the Oracle Firewise program since the last Neighborhood Fire Risk Evaluation was done in 2004. (a paper version of the 2004 map can be viewed at the fire department). 2. To identify the highest risk neighborhoods for future fire prevention grant funding. 3. To identify high risk neighborhoods for future Firewise Workshops and community fire prevention projects. 4. To identify neighborhoods that need fire hydrants.
Please note that this evaluation does not take the place of an individual on-site Firewise Communities Evaluation between the property owner(s) and fire department officials.
An on-site evaluation has been completed for all addressed properties located within OFD boundaries. Properties were viewed from the street/driveway, graded by an OFD crew, and were then placed into three categories of wildfire risk. To see the 2009 Oracle map with evaluations CLICK HERE.

RABID BOBCAT:
The bobcat we reported on 12/24/09 was found dead Fri. morning on Cedar Ridge. The party that was bit is now undergoing rabies shots as the bobcat tested positive for rabies. Health officials say that 261 animals in Arizona (a record number) tested positive for rabies in 2009, 85 more than in 2008.

THANKSGIVING DINNER (2009) –Thank you for making our dinner on Nov. 24th one of the best ever. We served about 250 people. Thanks to the approximately 70 volunteers who made it happen!

PAVING THE PARKING LOT – (Sept. 22, 2009) Long overdue work on our parking lot has been done by local concrete contractor Daniel Rodriguez. He was awarded the bid to provide a concrete parking area in front of the fire station. The project is completed and ready for the engines to drive on. Come visit us to see the area.

MOCK CAR CRASH at 10am on Oct. 8th. OFD participated in a mock car crash put on by the Pinal County Sheriffs Office (PCSO) and Mountain View School. This event took place at the school. The scenario involved an adult driver (Dennis Blauser school principal) and 3 teenage students. The audience was 4th-8th graders, so because of their ages, the script has been slightly modified to exclude the fatality, but featured 3 critically injured students. PCSO narrated the event on a PA system so that everybody was able to follow what was happening.
Some of the CERTs assisted the event by tarping and un-tarping the staged accident vehicle, applying fake blood and other injuries (with Halloween stuff) assisting the students with staging, taking pictures etc. The students were extricated by OFD with the Jaws of Life tools, one student was loaded into an EMS helicopter, and two students were loaded into an ambulance. The driver was required to perform a field sobriety test and was then arrested. This was a really good safety demonstration about riding with an impaired driver.
Stay tuned for some photos of the event.

KITTEN RESCUE – (Sept. 28, 2009) Firefighters Ortiz, Farrell, and VanCoillie (not pictured) used a cutting tool to safely extricate a very frightened little kitten.

COMMUNITY FIREWISE EVALUATIONS – OFD crews have began a project of assessing the populated portions of our fire district. We have selected a National Firewise Communities assessment model, which uses a scoring system to rate properties in categories of Moderate, High, and Extreme. Numbered scores will be given for items such as topography, fuel loading, type of construction, egress, address markings, hydrants, etc. The higher the numbered score, the higher the wildfire risk will be for that property. Each category of risk has been given a specific color. Those colors will be applied to a digital map which will be posted on our web site at www.oraclefire.org Individual scoring results will not be posted on the web site but will be available at the fire station. The objective of this project is to identify our ongoing fire prevention priorities along with being able to provide valuable information to working fire crews in the event we ever have a large wildfire. For the next 4 or 5 weeks, our crews will be knocking on doors in hopes of finding someone home. If no one answers, crews will gather all of the information that they can visibly see between the structure and the street. Most property assessments will take approximately 5 to 20 minutes. The evaluations, including posting the maps on our web site is expected to be complete by October 2009. For more information, or to schedule an in depth on-site Firewise evaluation, please call the fire station at 896-2980.

DODGE ROAD FIRE – (August 27, 2009) A faulty electrical transformer ignited four small grass fires along a 300-foot section of Dodge Road and Justice Drive. The fires were quickly extinguished with no other damage reported. Electrical power remained off in several sections of town while power company crews made necessary repairs.

AUGUST 3, 2009 – A small brush fire near the Sonoran B&B on West Oracle Ranch Road was reported by a passerby. The call was dispatched at 1654 hours and the fire was extinguished several minutes later. The fire was contained at just under one quarter of an acre and did not reach the structure. The cause was an electrical malfunction on a power pole.

AUGUST 5, 2009 – Engines 691 and 692 responded to a report of a structure fire. The small grass fire had just reached the shed when the engines arrived. It was quickly extinguished with only minor damage to the exterior paint. The apparent cause was a lightning strike.

GUTHRIE FIRE in the Catalinas – (July 22, 2009) The fire north of Redington Pass and ne of Tucson has grown to 4,852 acres and was 30 percent contained Tuesday. The fire continues to be managed to benefit the landscape, said Salek Shafiqullah, CNF fire information officer. The fire was started by lightning July 11.

CAVE RESCUE – (July 9, 2009) Oracle Fire Department Technical Rescue Team (TRT) rescued an 18 year old female who was trapped several hundred feet inside of Peppersauce Cave. The rescue took place at around 8 pm last night. The victim who was with her friends, was trapped for about an hour. Her friends unsuccessfully tried to free her from a muddy and rocky crevice after her leg became wedged into a small opening. After freeing the victim she was too tired to climb out of the cave on her own, so rescue crews had to use rigging to lift her up several steep areas. Once on flat ground, OFD firefighters took turns carrying her to safety. This was the first rescue operation performed by the recently formed OFD TRT.

RECENT HIGHWAY 77 FIRE – at 11:33am on June 12, Oracle Fire Dept. responded to a brush/ grass fire at MP103.5 (just east of E. American Ave.) on Hwy 77. The 1/2 acre fire was quickly extinguished by crews on Engines 692 and 693. Oracle CERT's were also deployed to bring cold water to the firefighters.

AED PLACEMENT IN ORACLE
We have one each AED unit now at the Oracle Community Center and the Oracle Masonic Lodge and there are plans to put one at the Oracle Public Library soon.
OFD is working on a public safety project to place AEDs inside of public places, such as the library, courthouse, post office, community center and all three schools. Odyssey Health Care has teamed up with us and is trying to get several Tucson Cardiology Clinics to sponsor a unit. We will also be working with Northwest Hospital, Pinal County, and several businesses in an effort to get them to sponsor AED units.
The fire department will offer free CPR/AED training to all those who work and/or volunteer at these places. OFD will also provide the periodic equipment maintenance.