Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries are in widespread use in consumer electronics. Lithium batteries have become the industry standard for rechargeable...
SVFD News
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2023 Community Risk Reduction (CRR) Week
Each year, starting with the Martin Luther King holiday, fire departments around the nation support a weeklong campaign to educate communities about...
Call for Pro and Con Committee to Review Levy
Pro and Con Committees Spokane Valley Fire Department is placing before the voters on the February 14, 2023 ballot a proposition authorizing a maintenance and operations excess levy.
MEET NEW SVFD FIREFIGHTER, SAM GAUKSEHIM
SVFD has hired 14 new Firefighters to the SVFD Team. Recruit training began Tuesday, September 3 at the Fire Training Center and will run for 15 weeks.
Sam Gauksheim is one of our new recruits! We have caught him training on a variety of skills including:
- Loading hoses,
- Drill formations
- Gear and Firefighter apparel
- Ladder confidence challenge
- Radio communications
- Computer familiarization
- Fire behavior
- Ladders
- Hose loads & hose rolls
- Hose deployment
- Knots and hoisting
- Aerial operations
- Fitness Testing
- And of course, studying that large textbook of information (over 1500 pages)
Sam has a Masters of Public Health – Community and Behavioral Health and a BA in International Relations. He is fluent in Spanish having lived in South America climbing 18,000 foot mountains! He is a trained EMT and spent 7 months volunteering with the Darrington Fire Department.
All recruits will have to pass exams throughout the training on skills learned. After graduation, crews will be rotated through different station assignments and will be on probation for 1 year.
We wish Sam a very successful academy!
About SVFD
Spokane Valley Fire Department serves the City of Spokane Valley, City of Liberty Lake, City of Millwood and the surrounding unincorporated areas of Spokane County with a combined population of 125,000 across 75 square miles. SVFD firefighters and paramedics responded to more than 17,280 emergency calls in 2017. Established in 1940, SVFD is an Accredited Agency by the Commission on Fire Accreditation International, one of only a handful in Washington State.
For more information about Spokane Valley Fire Department, visit www.spokanevalleyfire.com.
Follow us @spokanevalleyfire on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube.
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Did you Know?
- You can sign up for a station tour. Great for small groups.
- You should replace the batteries in your smoke alarms twice a year.
- Creating a defensible space with regards to wildfires could just save your home or property.
- We have Friends & Family CPR classes every month.