Bodega Volunteer Fire Department

Business Meeting

October 12, 2010

Meeting called to order at 7:36 pm. 

Secretary Jim Grant was absent from the head table, leaving Treasurer Nancy Perucchi, Fire Chief Ron Albini, Secretary Laird Sutton and Secretary Maggie the Dog facing chairs occupied by the other regulars: Columbina Albini, Linda Albini, Vickie Watts and Steve Perucchi. Suzie Marshall joined us for the evening while the younger Albinis occupied the stage in the far corner, performing a silent homework duet accompanied by the soliloquies of a teenage girl annoyed at her younger brother.

The minutes from the last meeting were read and approved, with some minor changes by the Fire Chief. The great good news is that the Big Event, my favorite fundraiser, raised over $10,000 for the fire department. The Seafood Art & Wine Festival also did well, despite poor attendance. The final figures aren’t in, but so far BVFD has received almost $6000. Membership stood at 92 (thanks to Bodega Pastures) and the bank balance was at a healthy $114,171.97.

A highlight from last month was a visit by Representative Lynn Woolsey to tour the new fire station. Apparently, Bodega has the only fire house with a water catchment system in the entire state. Maybe the entire country! Now all we need is a pool table…oh, wait. Bodega Bay Fire Department has offered to donate one. Done!

On fundraisers, fire and a fallen firefighter

The financial news this month was excellent, as well. Bodega has six or so fundraising events throughout the year to generate. The most recent, a polenta stew dinner held October 9, served a total of 503 plates and generated $8,710.68 in revenue, with less than $1000 in expenses. Guests were also able to donate money to injured BVFD firefighter Ben Hakala; his jar was filled to the tune of $3,669 by the end of the night. 

BVFD account balances are as follows. Main account: $63,542.27; USDA account: $24,427.64; Brick account: $3,434.32. Sales of quilt raffle tickets has brought in $2722, membership stands at 104 and a total of 121 engraved bricks to adorn the new building have been sold.

The Fire Chief’s report was short this month, because Ron forgot to write down all the calls and left his notebook at home. He said there were 12 calls, including “the big one—the vegetation fire.” At 89 acres, it was by far the largest fire around these parts for quite some time, burning for nearly 24 hours. It was also the fire that felled local legend Ben Hakala.

Ron reported that Ben is doing very well. His physical therapist even had him up and walking a little bit. Ron had spoken recently with Ben’s wife, Joanna, and she expected to bring Ben home from the hospital in a week or two. And not just home, but to the new house the two had purchased right before the accident. Ron said there were many volunteers to help her, Ben and their daughter Aurora move in to the new family home. Steve had also recently talked to ben for about ten minutes that afternoon, right after his final skin graft surgery, and he corroborated Ron’s report. “Everything is working very well,” he said.

Laird inquired as to Ben’s insurance situation. “Will he be responsible for the hospital bill?” he asked. Ron answered that Ben was covered by both CAL FIRE and Sonoma County workman’s compensation insurance, so his hospital bill will be picked up by one or both of them. People from all over are coming forward to help defray any other expenses the family will likely face. Including the money from the polenta dinner jar, BVFD has received over $20,000 from a wide variety of sources—fireman’s organizations and private donors, mostly—even some from out of state. Local businesses like Cookies and Cream and Northern Light Surf Shop have generated additional thousands. “Donations keep coming in,” said Ron. It looks like the community is really coming together to help its fallen hero!

Dinner, breakfast and a new fire station

Speaking of community, Ron took a moment to add his thanks to Nancy’s earlier praise of the polenta dinner volunteers. “The polenta dinner was a huge success,” he said. he noted that there were roughly 100 more people this year than last year.

Even as the new building nears completion, things are finally moving forward on repairs to McCaughey Hall, damaged by an errant vehicle many moons ago. The documentation for the grants is all current, the vehicle grant semi-annual report was approved by the granting agency and the application to the Fireman’s Fund for the 2011 round of funding is likely to result in money for a backup generator for the fire station. Vickie reported that the Seafood Art & Wine Festival folks had checked in with her after the fire, but she has not yet received final numbers on the revenue from the event. “I still need to meet with them,” she said.

Linda noted that plans for a pancake breakfast benefit for Ben have expanded. Linda Sauter has been fielding donation offers from everybody in town—there will now be a whole table filled with local baked goodies in addition to the scrambled eggs, sausage, pancakes and beverage, all for a measly $10. What a deal! The event is scheduled for Sunday, October 24 from 8 am to 1 pm. They are expecting over 300 people; Ron said he had heard from fire crews all over the county who were planning on boogying down to Bodega for breakfast that day.

The building committee reported that the new station, body virtually complete, is starting to get some innards. Utility conduit was laid last month while the concrete pad was for the propane tank was poured this month and the 500 gallon tank is installed. The septic tank is also in place, but trenches still need to be dug for the propane. The tank will supply McCaughey Hall, the Post Office (they pay their own bill) and the new station.

The building committee did a final walk around and, in conjunction with the architect (who sees no reason he won’t be able to sign off on the project), generated a punch list for the contractor. PG&E will be pulling the mandrel in a couple of weeks and then, after a transformer by the Casino has been upgraded, the electricity will flow. Ron also noted that the awning was going to cost half as much as expected because a welder donated his services.

Another (Ben)efit and that about wraps it up

BVFD is teaming up with Sonoma County Fire and CAL FIRE to host a benefit dinner for the Hakala family in November. The event, an all-you-can-eat pasta dinner with salad, garlic bread and complimentary beer and wine, will be held at the Sonoma County Veteran’s Memorial building in Santa Rosa on November 12 from 6 until whenever. Adults are $20, kids 18 and under only $10. Uniforms for firefighters are optional and volunteers are still being welcomed.

Vickie, always ready with new business, said that the Christmas Crafts Fair was almost done. The crafters are all signed up and she is just about ready to go. But no date and time were announced. Perhaps I missed it? Ron then reported that Eleanor, from the Sonoma County Office of Risk Management, will meet with the firefighters on the front line at the vegetation fire on October 13. 

The only other thing to talk about was ordering the engraved bricks. Ron and Steve explained the situation: the minimum order is 100; we need some to show people what they are getting; and bricks should start going up on the wall pretty soon. Ron agreed to contact the brick company and clarify order requirements and Steve suggested sending a letter to members about the order going in soon, telling them: “If you want to buy a brick, now’s the time!”

Meeting adjourned 8:10 pm

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