Chief Bill Hewitt - Bellingham Fire Dept. "An Overview"
December 19, 2022
Opening Welcome:
President Paul opened today’s Zoom meeting with sleigh bells precisely at 12:30. We Zoomed today due to icy roads throughout the city. 35 RCOB members and guests attended, including past members Chuck Snyder from Arizona, Gary Goldfogel, who was in town visiting family, and Bob Brunkow. There was a silent rendition of America the Beautiful. It was quite beautiful!
Rob Olson provided the invocation, based on Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address, pleading for the healing of social and political divisiveness, and suggesting each person make a daily effort to help “mend the divide".
As part of the Opening activities, Cathy Buckley auctioned off four boxes of home-made almond roca. Bob Morse, Loch Trimingham, Brad Burdick and Mark Knittel were the successful bidders.
Club and Committee Announcements:
Special Announcement:
The membership voted to try a luncheon menu of Soup, Salad, Bread, Cookie and Beverage for $17.00 per meal effective January 9th.
Major Projects Committee reports a 93% pledge rate from RCOB members. Excellent!
New Membership Proposals:
The following proposed members have been approved by the Classification Committee and the RCOB Board of Directors. They will be eligible for membership on 1/1/2023, unless a prior written objection is received by Sandee Lindhout, 2200 Vining St., Bellingham, Wa. 98229
Mike Tausen, proposed by Paul Grey and Doug Cole to fill the classification "Accounting & Tax"
Christopher Lopez, proposed by Paul Grey and Doug Cole to fill the classification "Accounting & Tax"
These 2 gentlemen purchased Susie Thomson's CPA firm last year and have shown "Service Above Self" already, preparing the Rotary Club of Bellingham's 2021 year-end taxes Pro Bono. They have also become the accounting firm for the RCOB Foundation. Their firm's name is North Star Tax & Accounting, 1334 King St., #2, Bellingham 98229
RCOB Apparel:
We look forward to rolling out RCOB apparel live in January, but here is a sneak peek of what will be offered as well as the order form! (Click Here)
Vinson Latimore and Shauna Naf have put together a wonderful selection of Rotary Club of Bellingham apparel, including polo shirts, dress shirts, vests and hats. A portion of the sales will go to the RCOB Foundation. The Order Form and instructions are on the last page of the catalogue. Fill out the order form, turn it into Vinson Latimore at a meeting or email a scanned copy to embroidery@choicesscrubs.com. A fashion show will be held at our January 9th meeting, and they would like 2 male and 2 female volunteers. Notify Vinson or Shauna if interested; Former President Tim Farris would be a natural for this, so let's give him a large groundswell of support!!
Football Pool Date
12-29-2022 Alamo Bowl - University of Washington vs University of Texas (Click Here)
WE MOVED TO THE SYRE STUDENT CENTER - SYRE THEATER AT WHATCOM COMMUNITY COLLEGE. HERE ARE THE DIRECTIONS.
The buildings address is 235 W Kellogg Rd. But this is not where you park. There is no parking off of Kellogg Road. You must enter parking off either Eliza Ave or Cordata Parkway. You are looking for the YELLOW lot (look on light poles for Y2 or Y3).
Enter from Eliza Ave: the driveway between Kellogg Rd and Westerly Rd has a driveway into the campus, follow that about 200 yards until it slopes down, park in the area between the three buildings.
Enter from Cordata Parkway: Just north of the WTA station and Cruisin Coffee before the round about is Orca Lane, take Orca Lane around the first two buildings until you find a large parking lot between three buildings.
You will still receive an email from Sandee each week prior to the Monday 12:30 meeting if you are unable to attend in person (you can start logging in at 12:00 for short socializing) with the link for that privacy-protected meeting. If you have n done so, please download the Zoom app on your computer (you need a camera and microphone on it), iPad or phone. There is no cost to you. If you cannot do either, you can also call in. On the invitation, there are US phone numbers you can call and enter the meeting ID number also indicated on the invitation.
Lunch will be $22 for a buffet meal. We must notify them by Monday at NOON the week prior to the Monday meeting as to the number of members attending. We are sending out meeting "Invites" weekly and members are asked to sign-up ASAP. You can also sign-up by going to the event section of our website at bellinghamrotary.org. If you sign up for a meal at the meeting, you will need to pay the $22 even if you don't wind up attending the meeting after the numbers are turned in. If you plan to attend but not eat, PLEASE indicate that on your sign-up so we don't overorder meals and still make sure there is enough seating.
The Club will collect payments prior to the meeting or at the door.
We urge members of the RCOB to set up a Venmo account for ease in payment of Meeting lunches, Happy Bucks, Minister of Fun, Dues or donations to the club. Our account is @RCOB- Bellingham. If you do not have a Venmo account you can set up an account with your computer then download the app. on your phone (just Google "Venmo" and you will find all the information you need) You then attach it to a debit or credit card (a fee on your end) or attach to your checking account at no cost. Payment will be sent di ctly to the RCOB checking account. When you use it for the first time it may ask you the last 4 digits of the RCOB phone number which is 0282. Give Sandee a call if you need help. 360-734-5532
Other payment options are to bring a check in the correct amount to the meeting made out to RCOB or cash in the exact amount to speed up the payment process. There is also the PayPal option as usual and we are set to take payments at the meeting. We have a QR Code that you scan and simply click to pay thru paypal also.
Website and Phone App instructions:
Here is a tutorial on how to login for the first time. (Click here) Go to belling mrotary.org first. In order to login you need t know your user name and password in your Clubrunner account. The user name is Your first name.Lastname.264 unless you have changed it. Example: Sandra.Lindhout.264 the password is initially set by Clubrunner at 264 unless you have changed it. Sandee can see your Username from her computer but not the password. She can also change your password for you from her computer at your request if you run into problems.
Once you have originally created your User Name and Password you can download the ClubRunner Mobile app on your phone:
Please contact Sandee at 360-734-5532 or rcob@comcast.net if you run into any trouble.
Guests:
Zoom attendee visitors: Chuck Snyder, Gary Goldfogel and Bob Brunkow
Presentations:
Minister of Fun John Moffat quizzed us on Thanksgiving-themed trivia. (He had originally been scheduled to present in November.). The first president to proclaim Thanksgiving as a holiday: Lincoln. The year of the first Macy’s parade: 1924. The year the 4th Thursday of November was proclaimed to be Thanksgiving: 1942. The percentage of Americans eating turkey on Thanksgiving: 88%.
Happy/Sad Bucks Jack Mulhern was sad to report his resignation from our Club after 57 years as an RCOB member. He is a third
generation Rotarian and said that, at age 85, it was time to move on to other pursuits. President Paul invited him to become a Friend of Rotary and to keep in touch with the club. Thank you, Jack, for all your contributions to Rotary!
Program:
Bellingham Fire Chief Bill Hewett gave an update about the Bellingham Fire Department (BFD). Bill is a 4th generation Whatcom County resident and has been with the fire department for 32 years, rising through the ranks and serving as Chief for the past 3 years.
He began by stating the mission of the BFD: "We help people every day." Besides extinguishing fires and providing emergency medical services (EMS), BFD provides many non-emergency type social services, such as addiction and mental health responses, as well as responding to motor vehicle crashes and cleaning up hazardous material spills. They even fix broken water pipes!
In the safety department, they deal with permitting, fire code enforcement, fire investigation and paramedicine. In the emergency management category, the BFD does disaster planning, preparation, and recovery. The BFD has 204 employees, which includes 178 fire fighters, 16 dispatchers and 10 non-uniformed staff. There are 8 fire stations, 7 engine companies, 1 staffed ladder truck, 3 medic units and a training facility on Britton Loop. A battalion chief, such as our own recently retired Andy Day, has a 24-hour duty day and has oversight for all fire and EMS calls.
In 2021 the BFD responded to 23,403 incidents, a 26% increase over 2018. 81% of these calls were for EMS. Station 3 on Billy Frank Road is the busiest station due to its proximity to downtown, WWU and Samish Way. 37 new staff have been hired in 2022. 21 employees retired in 2022. There are plans to add one additional medic unit and one additional fire station in the Cordata area as well as implementation of a mobile integrated health program.
Closing:
President Paul thanked all Club members who assisted with the meeting and reminded everyone that our next meeting will be on January 9, 2023. He wished everyone Happy Holidays and jingle belled the meeting to adjournment at 1:35PM.
