A couple of our members placed flags at the grave sites of former members of the fire department for Memorial Day Below are the photos from the placement this year. We must never forget!

Great day for rappelling! Getting in the reps today.

We recently announced that Frank Elementary had won the Pennies for Prevention fundraiser for being the school that raised the most money for the renovation of the Fire safety trailer. The safety trailer has been in service for 29 years and was falling apart. With the generous support of numerous local organizations, businesses and individuals in our community we have been able to raise over $10,000 in cash and in kind donations to get the trailer back in tip top shape. The contest was close between Frank and Fort Meigs Elementary. Only 8 dollars separated the two schools. This was a great way to get the word out about our renovation efforts as well as the kids taking ownership of the project. We are excited and hopeful we can continue to bring the safety trailer to all of the schools for many more years to come. The trailer is about 90% done and should be able to finish it before Fire safety week this year. We are trying to work with the Eagle Scout who is leading the project to have it finished by the end of the summer so we can present it to the citizens with a ribbon cutting ceremony. The Perrysburg Fire Fighters were happy to donate the funds to make this party a success. Congratulations again to the Frank Elementary students for a job well done. And we want to wish all of the kids a safe and fun summer.

Huge shout out to Patrick Fleming who was honored last night as the Fire Fighter of the year for the City of Perrysburg! Patrick has well over 15 years of experience with the Fire Division. In addition to serving his community, he served his country in the Marines before becoming a Fire Fighter and Paramedic. Thanks for all all your hard work and commitment Patrick. Here is to many more to come. Well deserved.

With the Walleye Run in full swing we jumped on the opportunity to train with local fire departments in the area. We were able to put in Boat 38 and train with Maumee, Monclova, Waterville and Toledo. It was a great day to train and look forward to working with our local partners in the future.

Here is a great photo of the crews utilizing the new training tower at Fire Headquarter. Not only can we flow water in the three story tower but we can also do rope rescue training for all types of emergencies. Pat Fleming is pictured here showing off his expertise and training to A Shift.

One of our new members, Patrick Yoder, took his drone out to the construction site and captured an overhead video of our new Fire Headquarters. Make plans now to come out to the dedication on January 12th, 2019 and check it out. Needless to say we are all pretty excited to put this building into service to benefit the citizens that we serve.

People knew something was wrong after the flash and the dramatic pause during this years Fireworks display. What no one knew was that it was caught on video. Below is a short video of the show going off as usual until one of the six inch shells did not launch and exploded in the tube. The result was the flash that everyone saw. The explosion damaged a few of the tubes and actually blew a small hole in the bottom of the trailer the fireworks were on. Other than this incident, the show went on without a hitch. The crew was professional and could actually be heard talking about the damage. What you did not see in the video was the pause in the show due to the crew disconnecting the rest of the rack so the show could continue. The crew said this was not unusual but nonetheless was happy no one was hurt. Check it out below.....

Thanks to Edible Arrangements for the rad raffle prizes this year! Two $50 gift cards and the Toledo area Franchise owner golfed with us this year. Here is to many years to come!

We are super stoked about a new sponsor we are bringing on this year! we want to welcome and thank 365 Staffing to the Fire on the Fairways this year. They are ready to help you with all your staffing needs! The job market is tight and the competition is fierce. Let 365 Staffing do all the heavy lifting.

Eric Wagner and the Pipe Doctor Plumbing and Heating are in as sponsors again this year. Eric and his team have been proud sponsors of our golf outing for a long time now. He loved the outing so much he joined our part paid ranks a few year back. His passion for business and plumbing in particular has made him a leader in the industry. So much so that he is hiring again. Click here to find out more and be sure to tell your friends. He is always posting helpful hints over on Facebook so, bee sure to give him a follow here! Oh, and make sure you click HERE to get your tickets to get behind the wheel of a Tesla pictured below next to the mobile Doctor mobile.

The future is here. I had the opportunity to take out the Tesla Model S for a test drive for our upcoming fundraiser Fire on the Fairways golf outing. This year we had the opportunity to raffle off the Tesla thanks to our friends at Brandywine. Would you believe that the Tesla has roots right here in Northwest Ohio. Believe it or not there are parts made for Tesla at the Maumee stamping plant. And Brandywine has a program that rents out the Model S to its members. Which brings us to the opportunity to get someone behind the wheel of this amazing car. The car is 100% electric and takes no gas. The range on the particular model on a full charge is about 240 miles. There has a ton of buzz behind this car, the company in general not to mention the founder, Elon Musk. Elon also heads up Space X and shoots rockets into space for NASA. Most recently he sent a rocket to Mars with his private Telsa in the nose cone playing Space Oddity by David Bowie on a continuous loop. After getting behind the wheel of this car you can definitely imagine some of the engineering being used to send this car into space is being used in this car on earth. I was put through a short demo of how to drive it. I am sure I could have figured it out on my own the demo was nice and shortened my learning curve. You simply get in, apply the brake, shift into drive (the shifter is on the steering column) and press the gas. The climate control system and radio turns on as soon as you walk up close to the car. The key is simply a small version of the car that you leave in your pocket. The cars door handles are recessed into the door until you approach it with the key fob when they emerge from the door and the side mirrors move into place. The first thing you notice (and everyone comments on) is the larger than life screen on the dash to your right. It is bigger than the biggest ipad and is mounted vertically and is customized to your liking. In front of the steering wheel is another display that displays the battery life, navigation if used and a radar like screen that shows your car in relation to other cars around you and any other objects you might hit. Everything is controlled by the touch screen to your right like the trunk, sunroof, streaming music for days, answering the phone, navigation and the list goes on and on. I had always heard about how fast the Tesla is but I was not prepared for just how powerful this car was. Online it said it could go 0-60 in 4.2 seconds. I did not try it but it sure….who am I kidding of course I tried it. And you will too. I timed it and it was almost exactly 4.2! It felt like the Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point! The car is so smooth and accelerates with zero noise. It just gets up and goes. The hardest thing to get used to was the immediate braking when you let off the gas. You can definitely feel the drag of the brakes as soon as you release the gas pedal….err, electric pedal? When I got used to it I would rarely have to brake and that system is also used to regenerate the battery. You can charge the tesla at home using a 220V outlet. Which is nice but not sure how much that would cost you? Tesla has installed “Superchargers” all across America. They have a network of stations that you can charge at no cost to you. They are positioned in such a way that you can travel from coast to coast and always have one before your battery life runs out. The navigation system has all of the chargers and available as will nvigate you from one to the other on a long trip. It does create some inconvenience because it does take about 40 minutes to charge up as opposed to 4 minutes to fuel up. However with a little patience and planning you can travel with no fuel charge. If I remember correctly it was about $600 in fuel to go to Florida and back. With the trunk in the front and the back there is plenty of room for luggage as well. I fueled up at….err, charged up at Meijer in Maumee. It was super simple and the car was done after walking around the store and picking up a few things. If I owned Deets would have a more regular customer. The car was amazing. It was far above my pay range and had some anxiety driving around such a vehicle. But I definitely felt like I was driving the future. When Henry Ford created the Model T everyone said why would I buy one of those, I have a totally good horse right here. The Model S is that car Mustang drivers are looking at and saying why do I need that I have this perfectly good horse right here…..? I saw why.

We are glad to see Code 3 Property Management back as a sponsor again this year at Fire on the Fairways! Code 3 is ran by one of our fire fighters! Fire fighters are a jack of all trades and there is no exception here! No job is too big or small for Code 3! Need a shed or garage built? Maybe a fence or deck installed.....look no further. Find out more on their website or over at Facebook. Quality remodeling by someone you can trust!

Congrats to our very own Al Bagdonas for not only being the refree of the year....but for also being the very first one ever. Al has been committed to the sport for over 20 years and continues to support his community and the youth of our area. He has played, coached and now refs. We think it goes without saying but, the exercise he gets from reffing also keeps him in shape for fire fighting. Way to go Al. The honor is well deserved! We are all very proud of what you do on and off duty to serve your community. photo cred goes to his proud wife

We are excited to have Mail Pouch Saloon back as an Eagle Sponsor. Make sure to stop by and see what everyone is talking about. The team from Mail Pouch were also the winners of last years golf outing and are coming back this year to defend their title. Support this great local spot and give them a like on Facebook.

It is that time of the year again and we were excited to help out once again this year. We ran the kids through our fire safety trailer and talked about fire safety in the home. This is the first time the kids get to hear about fire safety in our school district. We will continue to reinforce as well as expand our message in both the 2nd and 4th grade during Fire Safety week in October. In addition we bring all of the kids from K-4th grade into a special spring Fire Safety Assembly. More on this on my last post HERE. I do not think we could have asked for better weather! Thanks to all of our members who helped make this day happen. Even the stuffing of 250 goody bags for the kids. Please take the time to work with the kids and the fun activities included. We also run the kids through the fire truck to "train" them to be fire fighters. Their training also included putting out a fire on the snoopy's dog house. Fun was had by all!

Swig is once again a hole in one sponsor for our Fire on the Fairways Golf outing. Swig was presented as the Honorary Fire Chief of Perrysburg last year for their continued support of the firefighters and our mission to raise money for our charities. The golf outing would not be what it is today without the continued support of Swig. Go out and enjoy their fantastic menu today in show of support to them. Thanks again Swig!

A huge congratulations goes out to our very own Mike Hickerson. Mike has been selected as this years Fire fighter of the year. This is a well deserved award to an all round professional! Congrats Mike! Here is a few words from our Chief on the nomination.... Mike Hickerson has always been one to encourage training in fire ground tactics and emergency medical procedures as well as keeping every paramedic up-to-date on their Advanced Cardiac Life Support and Pediatric Cardiac Life Support required training. If Mike sees a need for training he usually steps up and takes the lead in training others within the division. Pictured from left to right: Chief Rudy Ruiz, Fire Fighter of the Year Mike Hickerson, and Deputy Chief Tom Granata. Mike also provides objective and constructive feedback with others who teach, making them better instructors. I have seen him respond positively to newer team members, appreciating their knowledge, skills and abilities. Mike embraces their differences and works to grow his own knowledge—improving beyond an already competent level. Mike has been dedicated to following through on our strategic plan that specifically identifies training as one of our important initiatives as well as being committed to improving our current training schedule. Recently, after going through ice rescue training, he immediately started working on updating our Standing Operating Guideline to the current standards based on the information he learned. This was a much needed task. Overall Mike has taken a lot of self-directed initiative and is never one to sit still. This encourages a very forward thinking division that is not afraid to change. This mindset is extremely valuable in this ever-changing environment. Great leaders often encourage others to become great leaders. Mike Hickerson is a true example of that. Please join me in congratulating Firefighter/Paramedic Mike Hickerson as the 2018 Exchange Club Firefighter of the Year for the City of Perrysburg.

The ground breaking is over and all of the underground work is starting. In a few short months the new Fire Headquarters will be up and visible for everyone. This vision started many years ago and is proof that putting one foot in front of the other and staying the course anything is possible. This building will serve the citizens of Perrysburg for years to come. The renderings above and below are the result of hard work from numerous people. From City officials to Fire and Police administration as well as the brothers and sisters of local 3331. The torch has been carried for a long time and the time is now to see it the vision come to reality. Even the citizens of the City have had there input while participating in a strategic plan as well as all of the designers, engineers, and other departments of the city who have a stake in the construction. It definitely takes a community to make all of this happen. Here we are looking at the headquarters from the parking lot on the south side of the building looking north. This is where the community will come in to gather, train, learn, discover and even treated by our professional Fire Fighter Paramedics. We look forward to welcoming the community into our new headquarters. We will keep you posted as the progress continues. A lot of work is still needed and we look forward to sharing it with you. IF you have any questions please let us know.

School is almost out and Sparky is out teaching the kids about fire Safety again. Fire safety week is in October with the 2nd and 4th graders so we want to review some Fire safety tips with all of the K-4 grades before the summer. Some of the highlights is Stop Drop and Roll and never playing with matches or lighters. We want the kids to be fire safe all year and with summer upon us, BBQ's and Bon fires right around the corner we feel a reminder for the kids is paramount. Bee sure to ask your children about what they learned this week. Safety starts in the home and is a team effort. Create a plan and safe meeting place in case of a fire. Take the time to practice using the ladders you bought to help your child escape from their bedrooms and run a fire drill or two this summer with your kids. Bee safe and have a great Summer break!