Day 16, March 28, 2009

This morning my brother Ron and I stopped at the Cloverdale Fire Station to try and get photos of their new squad. Just as we pulled up, firefighters were getting in the engine to leave the station. I got a photo of the engine, but not the squad.

We drove down to the next town south, Geyserville (population 2000), which I was very surprised to find out had three stations. They have a 200 square-mile response area and service an American Indian gambling casino in the hills. They only have three paid firefighters and a paid chief. The rest are all volunteers. Some of their funding comes from the casino. The volunteers were outside doing drills, so I couldn’t get any decent photos. They had an old Ford C/Van Pelt that they inherited about 10 years ago. They didn’t know where it came from. I told them I might be able to find out its lineage and got a firefighters e-mail.

We decided to drive down to Healdsburg, the next department south. Healdsburg is a well-to-do city with a rapidly growing population and a lot of new buildings. They have some very nice equipment, including two brand new Spartan/Smeal engines. Two of the engines were out on an outdoor fire south of the city. A volunteer showed me around, but could not pull any equipment out. They have their original hand pumper mounted in a indentation in the stations back wall. The volunteer did not know any of its history.

When one of the engines came back, the driver stopped for photos and then pulled their truck out for photos. When the new Smeal returned, I got photos of it too. I got a better explanation of the Sonoma County numbering system today. Here is how it is formulated:

First number is the district number

Second number is the department number

Third number is the type of rig as follows”

1- Chief

2- Chief

3- Rescue

4- Utility

5- Ladder Truck

6- Type III four-wheel drive pumper

7- Type II or III pumper

8- Type 1 pumper

9- Water Tender

We had a quiet afternoon at my brothers (with the dogs) and had a very nice dinner tonight from a noted local restaurant in Cloverdale. It was a very nice day here again today, sunny with a high of 79. Tomorrow I head south, with a stop down by San Jose someplace, then on to Los Angeles the following day.