Derby Days: Thanks be to our firefighters

Derby Days!

Two days before Derby Days we had a fire in our house!  The smoke detectors went off about five minutes before we smelled that frightening oder.  Soon we saw a haze in our living room and rec room. Oh My God! 911.  Within minutes our firemen arrived, calmly assessed the house, found a scorched furnace filter, turned off the thermostat, scanned the furnace with a heat sensor, and told me to call a furnace specialist. Wow! Mission accomplished.  They went so far as to fan out all the smoke from our house.  I couldn't believe it.  Firm hand shakes, copious thanks and smiles all the way around!  I couldn't wait to thank them and swap stories at the Derby Days Pancake Breakfast.

While donating a few bucks at the breakfast, Steve Gengo told me the money goes to the "Redmond Firefighters Benevolent Fund."   Steve is the President of the fund.  It pays for clothing, hotels and food for residents displaced from fire or other tragedies. Wow!  I had no idea.  Redmond Fire gives to the community in so many ways.

David Carson, Fire Chief, Byron Shutz

In the long line for pancakes, eggs and sausage I saw Councilmembers David Carson, Byron Shutz, and Hank Myers flipping pancakes and setting tables.  Besides representing us, all three are terrific community volunteers.  David and Hank are Community Emergency Response Team volunteers. Hank also volunteers for Green Redmond restoring our forests on the weekends.  All three are members of the Kiwanis Club and were flipping hamburgers at their Derby Days fundraiser booth.  Hank said they raised enough to possibly fund for the whole year.

My wife, a neighbor-friend and I sat next to a friendly, young Korean couple as we enjoyed our breakfast.  They moved to Redmond just two weeks prior to start work for Microsoft and to our surprise the lady had already signed up as a Derby Day volunteer!  They are renting outside of Redmond.

EXTRA EXTRA

In 2009 beloved, and now retired Captain John Stockman invited my daughter for a "ride-along." If you're interested, here's a slideshow and some clips of their activities.

http://redmondcity.blogspot.com/2009/02/city-of-redmond-fire-department-ride.html

Bob Yoder