- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
Lake Area Rotary Club Association donates to fire chiefs’ communications tower project
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – As part of its continuing mission of fire relief and community safety, the Lake Area Rotary Club Association has made another substantial donation to the Lake County Fire Chief’s Association for a communications project.
On Tuesday Dirk Slooten and Russ Cremer, representing the association – also known as LARCA – presented a check for $14,350 to Lake County Fire Protection District Chief Willie Sapeta.
Sapeta said the funds are to be used for an additional repeater rebuild for the communications site on Siegler Mountain.
The project, he said, is part of the local fire agencies’ dispatch transition from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office Central Dispatch to Cal Fire, which is expected to take place March 1.
The donation for the Siegler site is the latest in a series of contributions LARCA has made to the chiefs association.
After the Valley fire, LARCA gave $17,600 for additional fire line EMT-paramedic supplies, which are 40-pound packs used to minister to firefighters injured on incidents. Sapeta said the packs include heart monitors, medications and fluids.
Then, after the Clayton fire, LARCA provided nearly $16,000 to purchase two Polar Breeze Firefighter/Responder Rehabilitation Units, Sapeta said.
One unit is in service in the Northshore Fire Support Unit and the other is in the Southlake County Fire Support Unit, Sapeta said.
The bright red little machines on wheels help quickly rehabilitate firefighters who may be suffering from heat-related injury.
They pump cool air through a hood or into the firefighters’ turnouts. When using the hood, the cool air is breathed in and quickly cools down the bloodstream and the rest of the body to prevent thermal stress illness, according to the company’s Web site.
Sapeta said the Polar Breeze units have been deployed several times since they were first placed in service.
LARCA’s latest donation for the Siegler Mountain project brings its total contributions to Lake County’s emergency responder agencies to approximately $62,359.73, according to Cremer and Slooten.
In addition to the fireline paramedic supplies and the Polar Breeze units, the contributions include $1,181 for a GIS mapping project; $5,500 for an additional repeater tone radio on Seigler Mountain; and $8,000 for a three-year subscription to the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System.
“They have been very good to us,” Sapeta said.
LARCA has so far raised nearly $1 million for fire relief in Lake County, and Cremer said they have gained the respect of donors for the fact that they have no overhead – all dollars donated go to important local causes.
Slooten added that they’ve received donations from Rotary Clubs across the United States and even some from other counties, including Japan.
Cremer said LARCA had planned to shut down its fire relief efforts in September, then the Sulphur fire hit the following month.
He said they’ve since decided to keep the effort active, and after the check presentation to Sapeta were on the way to pick up another donation.
LARCA is part of the Rotary 5130 Fire Relief Fund, which covers four counties – Lake, Mendocino, Napa and Sonoma, Cremer said.
Cremer said those four counties have together raised $1,650,000 and are now responding to the much larger needs emerging in the wake of the October wildland fires that devastated the North Bay.
Donations can be made through the LARCA Web site at https://www.larca5130.org/ or mailed to Rotary District 5130 Fire Relief Fund, P.O. Box 2921, Clearlake, CA 95422. For more information email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
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