In
June
the Fort Washington
Fire Company responded to:
70 Alarms
Averaging
16.5
responders per call
Totaling
1162
responder hours
For All of 2005 the Fort
Washington Fire Company Responded to:
644 Alarms
Averaging 25 responders per call
Totaling 7217 responder hours
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Profile Of The Month
By Andrew Rathfon
Each month we profile one of
the many Volunteers that make up the Fort Washington
Fire Company. This month we are highlighting
Dietz Woldecke
Meet
Dietz Woldecke
Dietmar “Dietz” Woldecke was born in Germany in 1932
as the oldest of three children. At the age of
thirteen he was forced to flee to Hammelburg, in
southern Germany, as a result of Russian bombings in
his hometown of Dresden toward the end of World War
II. There he was able to finish high school, and
when the war came to an end, join a German Civilian
Guard unit.
As a member of the Civilian Guard he worked closely
with American troops to restore a sense of normalcy
to a nation with an uncertain future. Eventually,
Dietz found himself a position with the American
Army itself, first working in a base kitchen and
later moving to the HQ where he acted as a
quartermaster. In the four years he spent on the
American base, Dietz developed numerous friendships
with American GI’s. Although Dietz valued all of
these friendships dearly, one in particular would
prove to change his life forever.
One of the many GI’s that Dietz befriended was a
Fort Washington native and firefighter named Woody
Woodward. As Woodward neared his final months of
service he asked his parents in Fort Washington if
they would sponsor Dietz in order for him to come to
the United States. As Dietz explains, times were
still very uncertain in Germany and Americans
continued to be somewhat prejudiced towards
Germans. These factors made it difficult for any
German to emigrate to the United States without a
family sponsor. Fortunately, the Woodward’s invited
Dietz with open arms, asking only two things of him
when he arrived.
Woody’s father, also a member of the Fort Washington
Fire Company, requested that Dietz join the company.
Secondly, and Dietz chuckled when he stated, “he
was to become a Republican”. Despite not having any
firefighting experience, Dietz joined the fire
company as soon as he arrived in September of 1956.
For the next five years Dietz responded to the siren
from the Woodward’s house on Summit Avenue. In 1960
he married his wife Dorothy and moved to
Springhouse.
Continued
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Help Wanted
In 2006 we want to add 6 additional Firefighters to
our rolls. If you are interested contact
Chief Newhall.
We will provide all the necessary training.
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This is one of a series of newsletters from the Fort
Washington Fire Company No.1 in an effort to keep
the citizens and taxpayers of Upper Dublin informed
about the many and varied activities carried on by
our organization. Anyone may opt out of receiving
these e-mailed newsletters by clicking on the
unsubscribe link at the bottom of this Newsletter.
In each newsletter we will endeavor to provide
information that is informative, useful and even
entertaining.
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Firefighters Help with Golf Classic
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By
Ed Schuler
Golfers line up for great steaks prepared by FWFC
volunteers at the Upper Dublin Celebrity Golf
Classic
Thursday June 1st,
was the day of the annual Upper Dublin Celebrity
Golf Classic benefiting several local charities.
Several area radio and TV personalities participated
in the event helping to make it an even greater
success. As in other years, fifteen volunteers from
the Fort Washington Fire Company did the food
preparation for this worthy event.
Each year we volunteer to participate in a number of
community events around the township including
school visits, community days, Fire Prevention Expo
and traffic control for Upper Dublin graduation and
various charity walks and runs.
This year’s golf
outing benefited organizations such as the Delaware
Valley Chapter of the MS society, Temple University,
Upper Dublin Scholarship fund, Community Cupboard of
Ambler, Wissahickon Hospice, Wissahickon valley
Watershed, Upper Dublin Senior Adult Center, the
Women’s Center of Montgomery County and the Upper
Dublin Education Foundations
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Citizen Volunteer
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By
Ed Schuler
Earlier this year in one of our newsletters, we
advertised for someone with skills in Access
database programming to help us do an analysis of
our Incident Reporting Data to determine something
known in firefighting as Standard of Cover.
We were contacted by Upper Dublin Resident Mitchell
Collier who had the skills we needed. Since then, he
has been working with our Accreditation and Standard
of Cover subcommittees to produce the analysis for
our study. We are sincerely grateful for the work
that Mitch has done for us.
We can always use volunteers from the community that
don’t necessarily wish to be firefighters or fire
police but would like to help out in some manner. If
you have skills that you would like offer please
contact our
President.
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Vacation Car Safety |
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By Howard Schmuckler
Unless you are
adequately trained in the repairs to be performed on
your vehicle, have a qualified technician inspect
and perform the work on your vehicle before going on
vacation. Have the wiring checked by a qualified
technician at least once a year. If there is a
buildup of grease or fluids in the engine area, have
it removed immediately.
The vehicle should
be checked for fuel leaks and breaks in fuel lines.
Immediately repair any leaks that are found.
If a fire does occur
while it is being driven, immediately stop the
vehicle in a safe manner and evacuate all passengers
to a safe distance. Remember that when the fire
intensifies, parts of the vehicle may “fly off” or
the vehicle may explode. Do not waste time to
gather any personal belongings, as the time it takes
to do so may result in personal injury or worse.
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Flooding Advice
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By
Ed Schuler
In light of the June flooding problems in some areas
of our community, here is some advice from PECO on
what to do if your basement becomes flooded before
re-energizing gas or electrical appliances.
Click here
to view the PECO Flyer
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