1711FA_HTML_046-049
By Peter Ong
With a population of around 1,400 and a size of 2.2 square miles, the small coastal city of Long Beach, Washington, has a Main Street and “The World’s Longest Beach.”
“What keeps us busy is [that] we have two miles of drivable beach to our west and the most developed and tourism-friendly portion of south Pacific County,” says Chief Matt Bonney, Long Beach (WA) Fire Department (LBFD). “In the summer months, our population increases to near 5,000, not including the people who drive into town from the outlying areas or daytrippers and event/festival goers, which can reach well over 10,000 people.”
Long Beach’s fire station consists of two buildings. The main one is a 2½-story building with four front bay doors and two doors in the back for apparatus to drive through. A separate detached four-bay garage is off to the left side for housing additional apparatus. “The LBFD was formally established in 1934, 12 years after the incorporation of the Town of Long Beach (later City of Long Beach),” says Bonney. “At the time, it operated with a single engine and roughly 20 members. Today we have a complement of 10 pieces of apparatus in total and currently a roster of 32 volunteers. We have maintained all-volunteer status to the present day and manage to keep response times within National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards—even with an unstaffed station. We currently are in the trial period for our first formal shift work in which we staff at least one firefighter on call 24 hours per day, adding a 12-hour shift on weekends and for big events. This trial period began on Memorial Day weekend and continued through the ‘Rod Run to the End of the World,’ which took place the weekend after Labor Day. So far it has been quite successful.”
The beach itself has 1,000 to 1,500 feet of dune grass and a smattering of beach pines created by a jetty of new sand. The dune grass burns fastest during the hot summer months but is still a danger year-round. Most of the houses have yard shrubbery and are intermingled with grassy vacant pine tree fields, creating an “urban interface” situation. There’s increasing housing development going west toward the beach and the dune grass.
1 Despite the label Engine No 11, it’s called 88-51, or better known as the “Sludge Truck.” [Photos courtesy of the Long Beach (WA) Volunteer Fire Department.]
The “Sludge Truck”
The 1985 Engine 11 (redesignated as Brush 88-51 by the LBFD in the early 2000s) started life as the city’s Caterpillar AG Gator sewer truck, part of the “sewer plant package.” The city paid $105,000 for the truck in 1985. The idea for the Sludge Truck was that the sewer plant separated the water from the solid waste, and the solid waste had to be transported and removed to some distant location. Enter the Sludge Truck and its 1,600-gallon tank. “The truck ran probably five to 10 days a month hauling sludge about three miles outside city limits,” says David Glasson, city administrator. “As the summer population grew, a higher-capacity truck was needed for sludge hauling, so the city purchased a used Kenworth truck for that purpose.”
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Posted: Nov 9, 2017
1711FA_HTML_046-049
By Peter Ong
With a population of around 1,400 and a size of 2.2 square miles, the small coastal city of Long Beach, Washington, has a Main Street and “The World’s Longest Beach.”
“What keeps us busy is [that] we have two miles of drivable beach to our west and the most developed and tourism-friendly portion of south Pacific County,” says Chief Matt Bonney, Long Beach (WA) Fire Department (LBFD). “In the summer months, our population increases to near 5,000, not including the people who drive into town from the outlying areas or daytrippers and event/festival goers, which can reach well over 10,000 people.”
Long Beach’s fire station consists of two buildings. The main one is a 2½-story building with four front bay doors and two doors in the back for apparatus to drive through. A separate detached four-bay garage is off to the left side for housing additional apparatus. “The LBFD was formally established in 1934, 12 years after the incorporation of the Town of Long Beach (later City of Long Beach),” says Bonney. “At the time, it operated with a single engine and roughly 20 members. Today we have a complement of 10 pieces of apparatus in total and currently a roster of 32 volunteers. We have maintained all-volunteer status to the present day and manage to keep response times within National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards—even with an unstaffed station. We currently are in the trial period for our first formal shift work in which we staff at least one firefighter on call 24 hours per day, adding a 12-hour shift on weekends and for big events. This trial period began on Memorial Day weekend and continued through the ‘Rod Run to the End of the World,’ which took place the weekend after Labor Day. So far it has been quite successful.”
The beach itself has 1,000 to 1,500 feet of dune grass and a smattering of beach pines created by a jetty of new sand. The dune grass burns fastest during the hot summer months but is still a danger year-round. Most of the houses have yard shrubbery and are intermingled with grassy vacant pine tree fields, creating an “urban interface” situation. There’s increasing housing development going west toward the beach and the dune grass.
1 Despite the label Engine No 11, it’s called 88-51, or better known as the “Sludge Truck.” [Photos courtesy of the Long Beach (WA) Volunteer Fire Department.]
The “Sludge Truck”
The 1985 Engine 11 (redesignated as Brush 88-51 by the LBFD in the early 2000s) started life as the city’s Caterpillar AG Gator sewer truck, part of the “sewer plant package.” The city paid $105,000 for the truck in 1985. The idea for the Sludge Truck was that the sewer plant separated the water from the solid waste, and the solid waste had to be transported and removed to some distant location. Enter the Sludge Truck and its 1,600-gallon tank. “The truck ran probably five to 10 days a month hauling sludge about three miles outside city limits,” says David Glasson, city administrator. “As the summer population grew, a higher-capacity truck was needed for sludge hauling, so the city purchased a used Kenworth truck for that purpose.”
Read more
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- Article rating: No rating
Posted: Nov 9, 2017
1711FA_HTML_046-049
By Peter Ong
With a population of around 1,400 and a size of 2.2 square miles, the small coastal city of Long Beach, Washington, has a Main Street and “The World’s Longest Beach.”
“What keeps us busy is [that] we have two miles of drivable beach to our west and the most developed and tourism-friendly portion of south Pacific County,” says Chief Matt Bonney, Long Beach (WA) Fire Department (LBFD). “In the summer months, our population increases to near 5,000, not including the people who drive into town from the outlying areas or daytrippers and event/festival goers, which can reach well over 10,000 people.”
Long Beach’s fire station consists of two buildings. The main one is a 2½-story building with four front bay doors and two doors in the back for apparatus to drive through. A separate detached four-bay garage is off to the left side for housing additional apparatus. “The LBFD was formally established in 1934, 12 years after the incorporation of the Town of Long Beach (later City of Long Beach),” says Bonney. “At the time, it operated with a single engine and roughly 20 members. Today we have a complement of 10 pieces of apparatus in total and currently a roster of 32 volunteers. We have maintained all-volunteer status to the present day and manage to keep response times within National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards—even with an unstaffed station. We currently are in the trial period for our first formal shift work in which we staff at least one firefighter on call 24 hours per day, adding a 12-hour shift on weekends and for big events. This trial period began on Memorial Day weekend and continued through the ‘Rod Run to the End of the World,’ which took place the weekend after Labor Day. So far it has been quite successful.”
The beach itself has 1,000 to 1,500 feet of dune grass and a smattering of beach pines created by a jetty of new sand. The dune grass burns fastest during the hot summer months but is still a danger year-round. Most of the houses have yard shrubbery and are intermingled with grassy vacant pine tree fields, creating an “urban interface” situation. There’s increasing housing development going west toward the beach and the dune grass.
1 Despite the label Engine No 11, it’s called 88-51, or better known as the “Sludge Truck.” [Photos courtesy of the Long Beach (WA) Volunteer Fire Department.]
The “Sludge Truck”
The 1985 Engine 11 (redesignated as Brush 88-51 by the LBFD in the early 2000s) started life as the city’s Caterpillar AG Gator sewer truck, part of the “sewer plant package.” The city paid $105,000 for the truck in 1985. The idea for the Sludge Truck was that the sewer plant separated the water from the solid waste, and the solid waste had to be transported and removed to some distant location. Enter the Sludge Truck and its 1,600-gallon tank. “The truck ran probably five to 10 days a month hauling sludge about three miles outside city limits,” says David Glasson, city administrator. “As the summer population grew, a higher-capacity truck was needed for sludge hauling, so the city purchased a used Kenworth truck for that purpose.”
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Posted: Nov 8, 2017
Fast Company
DJI, the world’s largest drone manufacturer, announced a partnership yesterday with the Menlo Park Fire Protection District. The partnership is aimed at implementing drones as “reliable tools in emergency preparedness, response, and post-incident missions.”
DJI has recently been working with official emergency response groups to use drones after Hurricanes Irma and Maria, and the massive fires in Yosemite National Park and in Northern California.
The later fires “marked the first time the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection authorized drone flights as part of the emergency response in a large-scale disaster,” DJI wrote in a release. “Menlo Park FPD used DJI equipment for more than 120 drone flights to provide situational awareness for authorities, assist with search and recovery efforts, and survey destroyed neighborhoods.”
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