Recently in Public Safety Category

Upland Fire Division Chief Suzanne Cable was recognized by the City Council on Monday for her service to the city.

Cable is retiring after 32 years of fire service, of which the last 10 years were spent with the Upland Fire Department.

"Thank you to everybody," Cable said. "It's been an honor to serve the city of Upland and a big thank you to my husband for putting up with me and supporting me with this decision."

Prior to working for Upland, Cable was a wild land fire fighter for the California Department of Forestry.

Councilman Ken Willis thanks Cable for her service to the city, in particular her leadership during the Grand Prix fire in 2003.

"It swept across I think over 15 houses in San Antonio Heights were lost during that horrible occasion, but I remember people talking about your leadership during that fire and things that you did to protect our citizens. Thank you," Willis said.

The Upland Police Officers Association is hosting a golf tournament Feb. 3 at the Oak Quarry Golf Course at 7151 Sierra Avenue in Riverside.

Check in is at 6:45 a.m. with tee off at 8 a.m.

Proceeds from the tournament will go to the Upland Police Foundation's Widows and Orphans fund.

The Police Officers Association donates over $5,000 a year to local charities and other uses that need help throughout the community," said Marc Simpson, president of the Police Officers Association. "This is a good opportunity to get out and play gofl with some of your police officers and leaders."

For more information email UPOA@live.com or call the Upland Police Department at 909-946-7624.

Three Upland Fire Fighters stationed at Cable Airport on Wednesday had an unusual call for service.

Fire Fighters Paul Kramer, Ryan Gardy and Captain Bill Rozinka were called to an Upland home to free a dog from a wrought iron fence.

His owner took him out for a walk when he darted through the next door neighbor's garage and into his backyard where he got caught in the fence, Rozinka said in an email.

The fire fighters spread the fence apart and lifted the dog up and out to freedom.

He was uninjured.

The City Council approved the Upland Fire Department's expenditure plan for the 2011-12 State COPS Grant Fund to purchase new equipment.

The department was allocated $140,821 and will be using it to purchase a stationary license plate reader as well as training, "which will allow our officers to go through scenarios - shoot, don't shoot, use your taser, don't use your taser - type things in hopes to better train the officers and offset the city's liability in civil cases," said Upland Police Chief Jeff Mendenhall during the council meeting on Dec. 12.

The stationary reader will be placed in a commercial complex where robberies often occur, Mendenhall said.

The city's first Community Emergency Response Team was recognized during the Dec. 12 City Council meeting.

"The whole idea behind this is with 12 fire fighters on duty in 24 hours people can imagine how innodated we're going to be with the big one hits," said Upland Fire Captain Karl Hegle. "It's going to be rough and these are the folks that are going to be there. They are the ones that are going to come to the door and tell you you need to get out of this house because it's dangerous."

The free program gives volunteers basic training in fire fighting, search and rescue, triage, hazard mitigation as well as consequences of terrorism attacks.

The members have competed their 20 hours of training.

"They bring professional skills along with them, they bring basic medical skills along with them and what we teach is we teach to first protect yourself, then your family, then your home and then your neighbor's home and branch out that way," Hegle said.

There are 60 people are the waiting list to become CERT members, Hegle said.

As their first task, the crew was placed on stand by during the high winds earlier this month.

Some members were called out to a neighborhood where the wind knocked down power lines.

"We were able to mobilize at least three CERT members to show up and help us deny entry," Hegle said. "We had people who wanted to get close to the wires. We were able to actually block the people from coming in and that allowed us to do the job without tying up any more apparatuses. We knew this event could have gotten a lot worse."

Volunteers are still needed.

To sign up or for more information email Hegle at khegle@ci.upland.ca.us 

Upland Fire Fighters have been wearing specially made shirts throughout October in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

The firefighters sold the shirts during their open house on Oct. 15. They collected $1,000 from the sales, which was donated to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

Hundreds of residents attended the Upland Professional Firefighters' open house on Sat. Oct. 15 at Fire Station 164.

The open house promoted fire safety week and firefighters educated the community on issues pertaining to fire safety.

The day started out with a pancake breakfast prepared by the firefighters.

There were also tours of the station, at 1825 N. Campus Ave., and numerous fire safety demonstrations.

The event doubled as a fundraiser for the Susan G. Komen Foundation, Muscular Dystrophy Association, Burn Institute of the Inland Empire and the Upland Fire Department Explorer program.

Upland Mayor Ray Musser spent the day working with the firefighters, greeting local residents and participating in various activities.

Local companies provided donations to the event, including Dry Dock Storage, Farmer Boys and Burrtec Waste Industries. 

The Upland Professional Fire Fighters will have a lot to show to the community on Saturday.

They will be holding an open house from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at their newest fire station, 1825 N. Campus Ave., to promote fire prevention week as well as Breast Cancer Awareness month.

The day will kick off with a pancake breakfast served by the firefighters. Donations from the breakfast will benefit Upland Fire Explorer Post 955.

The firefighters will hold their first fundraiser for the Susan G. Komen Foundation in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness month.

The firefighters will be selling special edition fire department shirts. Cost is $15 for one shirt and $25 for two shirts.

Shirts will be available in a variety of sizes for men and women.

Open house attendees will also have the opportunity to dunk a firefighter for a $1 donation per ball.

Proceeds from the shirts and the dunking will go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

In recognition of fire safety week, firefighters on Monday handed out 9,000 bookmarks to Upland Unified School District students.

An additional 1,000 bookmarks will be available to the public during the open house.

The Fire Department held an art contest in partnership with the school district in order to find the design on their fire safety bookmark.

They received 250 submissions from students in grades 3-6.

Keila Alfaro, a fifth-grade student at Sycamore Elementary School, won the contest. Her artwork will also be on display in the community room at the fire station.

The firefighters' goal is to display the winning artwork every year so the community room is surrounded by the work of local students.

Firefighters will give a tour of the new station and show residents how to plan an exit drill for their homes.

Fire extinguishers and a fire house dinner will be raffled off to attendees.

They will also be giving demonstrations on how they help during an emergency as well as the use of brush fire equipment.

Lunch will be served at 11:30 a.m.

For a full schedule of open house events visit http://www.upff.org/?page_id=141

The Upland Professional Fire Fighters Local #3477 is the labor association representing the 36 members of the Upland Fire Department.

The Upland Professional Firefighters will hold an open house from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 15 at Fire Station 4, 1825 N. Campus Ave.

The event will promote Fire Safety Week, which will inform and educate the Upland community on issues pertaining to fire safety.

The day will include a pancake breakfast, a tour of the city's newest fire station as well as a barbecue lunch provided by the firefighters.

Scheduled activities for children include using a fire hose to knock a cone off a hay bale, bouncing ina fire truck bounce house and dunking a firefighter.

Incident Command Unit 164, Helicopter 165, HAZMAT 501, bike paramedic units, Edison, Community Emergency Response teams, Type 4 fire apparatus, vintage 1970 Crown Fire Engine, Medic Truck 164 and Medic Engine 162 will be on hand throughout the day to provide demonstrations.

A raffle will be held during the event with proceeds benefiting the Susan G. Komen Foundation, Muscular Dystrophy Association, Burn Institute of the Inland Empire and the Upland Fire Department Explorer Program.