Protection District earns award, grants
MENDOCINO >> The Mendocino Fire Protection District, the local agency that has management authority over the Mendocino Volunteer Fire Department, was recently awarded a Certificate of Excellence from the District’s insurer, Golden State Risk Management Authority.
The award was accompanied by a rebate of 10 percent of the annual insurance premium for the District, amounting to $3,770. To qualify for the award, staff of the District and Department had to complete an extensive questionnaire and demonstrate active efforts to reduce the chance of injury to firefighters or damage to fire fighting equipment.
The district has been seeking grant money to augment the annual budget with some success.
In March, the district was awarded more than $120,000 from the California Office of Emergency Services for its emergency communications equipment.
Using this grant money, the department has been able to replace all of the aging radios and pagers with new and updated technology. All firefighters will be equipped with new Calfire standard handheld radios and new pagers and all trucks will have new command radios.
Much of the older equipment will be donated to other local volunteer fire departments. In June, the district was awarded $3,000 from the Special Districts Leadership Foundation to purchase replacement ipads for three fire trucks. These will allow firefighters to access upgraded GPS service, which is critical for wildfire and rescue response.