In August
the Fort Washington
Fire Company responded to:
40 Alarms
Averaging 13.5
responders per call
Totaling
296
responder hours
For All of 2006 the Fort
Washington Fire Company Responded to:
601 Alarms
Averaging 18 responders per call
Totaling 4982 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
Eric Clauson
 Meet
Eric Clauson
Born in Philadelphia in 1979, Eric
Clauson spent the first three years of his life
growing up in the Roxborough section of
Philadelphia. In 1982 the Clauson family moved to
the Dresher section of Upper Dublin Township. Here
Eric, his older sister and younger brother, attended
school within the Upper Dublin School District.
After graduating from Upper Dublin Senior High
School in 1998, Eric attended Temple University.
While attending school, Eric was also employed as a
dispatcher for the Upper Moreland Police
Department. Clauson graduated from Temple
University with a Bachelor of Science in Criminal
Justice. In 2006, Eric married his high school
sweetheart Keely. They currently reside in
Roslyn near the Burn Brae
sub-station.
In 2004 Eric began working for The Hartford
Insurance Group located in King of Prussia. One
year later, Clauson took a position with an
investigative company in Horsham. Eric is currently
employed with this company as a Senior Research
Analyst.
Eric joined the Fort Washington Fire
Company No.1 in March of 1996 as a junior member.
Having grown up close to the Burn Brae station and
hearing the siren as a child, Eric was always
interested in joining the company when he came of
age. In 1997 Clauson was named the junior
firefighter of the year at the annual fire company
banquet. Towards the end of his senior year of high
school Eric received the $1,000 fire company college
scholarship award. This distinction is awarded to
the most deserving high school senior in the fire
company by a panel of independent judges.
From 2002, until he was promoted to
Lieutenant in 2005, Eric served as an Assistant
Engineer tasked with servicing and maintaining the
apparatus stationed at the Burn Brae sub-station.
After two years as a Lieutenant, Eric was elevated
to the rank of Captain in 2007, a position he
currently holds. In addition to his service as a
line officer, Eric has served on numerous committees
including the map book / preplan committee,
communication committee, apparatus committee,
uniform committee, and the orientation / education
committee.
Clauson recalls his first fire as a basement fire in
Dublin Meadows when he was a junior in 1996. Eric’s
most memorable call would be the floods of 1996 in
which the FWFC received their first call at
approximately 1800 hours and ran constantly until
daylight the following morning. Clauson’s favorite
apparatus was the old 88-26 “Red Dog” which was a
1972 Mack pumper truck.
_______________________________
Volunteer
Needed:
If you are
experienced in developing Microsoft SharePoint Sites
or know someone who would be willing to donate some
time helping us further develop and improve our
member's SharePoint site. please contact Ed Schuler
at 267-513-0800.
_______________________________
_______________________________
If you
know someone who would enjoy receiving our
newsletter, click on the "Forward email" link at the
bottom of this newsletter to send them a copy with a
personal note from you.
_______________________________
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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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What is the FWFC Fire Expo?
By
Howard Schmuckler
 The Fort Washington Fire
EXPO is held annually on the Monday of the week
prior to Fire Prevention Week, unless that day is a
holiday.
Initially started as a way
to educate the public about fire safety and fire
prevention, the EXPO has grown into a much
anticipated and very successful community event.
Included in the program now are many areas of injury
prevention for people of all ages. Our visitors come
from near and far, with an estimated attendance of
1,000.
2007 marks the 19th year for
the Fort Washington Expo, which began in the lobby
of the Upper Dublin High School. The program later
expanded to nearby hallways and then to the "west
gym". So much new information was added to the
program that the Expo outgrew the High School. In
2002, the Fort Washington Expo Center agreed to
allow the Expo to be held at their facility free of
charge. Unfortunately, the
Expo Center closed in June 2006. We extend a great
amount of appreciation to the staff of the Expo
Center in allowing us to hold the event in their
facility. For 2006, several locations were
considered in Upper Dublin Township, and it was
determined that the best was the Upper Dublin
Township Building and surrounding grounds.
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Don't
Take Chances With Your Family
By
Howard Schmuckler
We know that you are
interested in protecting your life, the lives of
your loved ones and your property. Why then would
you not take easy and inexpensive measures to do so?
Did you know that eighty percent of fire deaths
occur in homes and that most of those homes have no
fire alarms (detectors)? Fire is the second leading
cause of unintentional death in the home. Each year,
nearly 3,700 people die in residential fires. Your
chance of dying in a house fire is decreased by 50
percent if working smoke alarms are in your home.
About 90 percent of U.S. households have smoke
alarms installed, however, there are more homes with
smoke alarms that do not function than homes that
are without any fire alarm. That is, about 20
percent or 16 million smoke alarms were not working,
mostly because the battery was dead or missing.
Never remove the battery without replacing it with a
fresh new battery.
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On August 6th,
FWFC members were fortunate to conduct their
regular Monday night drill at a vacant house
scheduled for demolition in the Dresher section
of the Township. Firefighters braved the
humidity and conducted suppression, search &
rescue, ventilation and overhaul scenarios. It
was a good opportunity for newer members to hone
their skills and for veteran members to get back
to the basics of stretching lines and conducting
"roof work." The drill also gave several
residents a glimpse of their fire company at
work.
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By
Howard Schmuckler
 Local Fire
Companies got together for Rocket Fight Competition
on the evening of Monday, August 13. Fourteen (14)
teams from 7 fire companies participated in the
competition at the Fort Washington Fire Company's
Fire Training Grounds. This activity is referred to
as the "Rocket Fights".
At the starting
signal two teams train their hoses on the "Rocket"
target suspended
overhead. The rocket is a spool like target that
slides along a
taught cable suspended high in the air. Teams from
the local Fire companies line up on opposite sides
of the rocket and try to blast the rocket over the
heads of the opposing team. (not too unlike a tug of
war except they are pushing with a high pressure
water stream) While the rocket fights are good
summer fun, (everyone gets wet), it has a serious
side in promoting team work for hosing down a real
fire.
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