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Cal Fire CZU Chief Welcomes Volunteers, By Jondi Gumz
COMMUNITY NEWS
Cal Fire CZU Chief Welcomes Volunteers
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By Jondi Gumz
Cal Fire CZU Chief Nate Armstrong, who is new in that post, welcomes volunteers.
“We always need more volunteers!” he told the Times via email. “To be totally honest, they’re getting to be harder and harder to keep just due to life’s demands but we always appreciate the help with recruiting however we can. Santa Cruz County Fire Battalion Chief Jed Wilson explains who can volunteer, where, and everything in between.
How many volunteers do you have now? How does that compare with pre-pandemic?
We have a roster of 75 volunteer firefighters within the county. These numbers have been consistent year to year, we are always looking for new volunteers and are striving for a goal of around 100 volunteers.
What is the motivation for your volunteers?
The motivation of the volunteer covers a wide spectrum. Many are there to give back to the community which they are a part of, live in, while others are using it as a building block for a career in the Fire Service.
Sometimes after visiting a training, some find that it’s not the opportunity for them, but there are many other opportunities offered within the communities to volunteer.
These included, but are not limited to Fire Wise Programs, Fire Safe Counsels and Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT).
How much training is required?
The medical portion is 40 hours of instruction, and the Fire Academy is currently around 330 hours of instruction.
Volunteers in training.
When does that training take place?
For the Fire Academy it takes place on weekends and on Wednesday evenings. Once completed with the Academy, volunteer trainings are held two weekday evenings and a Saturday every month.
Is there a form that people use to sign up?
Information on becoming a volunteer can be found on our website, www.santacruzcountyfire.com/, the process can be found within the volunteer opportunities section. We recommend that if someone is interested in becoming a volunteer that they visit their local county fire station and attend Volunteers work a water tender. a training to get a feel for the opportunity.
Is there a deadline to sign up?
Volunteers’ recruitment is a yearround process, with an Academy being held annually around January through April. This Academy is conducted jointly with a majority of the other fire agencies within Santa Cruz County. This provides the volunteers an opportunity for a wider range of instruction and working with agencies they will work with on future incidents. n
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Twelve of her historical and playful murals grace Santa Cruz, from “Santa Cruz 1911” on Locust to “Ohlone Ways” at the Natural History Museum, to “Tugged In,” on Broadway in Seacliff. Four playful utility boxes found at Rancho Del Mar Shopping Center, sunflowers at Rodeo Gulch/ Soquel and “Together” at State Park/Cabrillo College Drive bring smiles to pedestrians and drivers. Her commissioned portraits hang at Santa Cruz City Hall and in private homes.
All of Ms. Thiermann’s murals are deeply researched for accuracy. Although this image [for the Capitola Historical Museum] isn’t my typical mural size, the level of detail and historical research reflects my working process when I create natural history murals.
Detail from Ann Thiermann’s Capitola mural.
A native Californian, her landscape paintings reflect a love and investigation of specific flora and fauna and seasonal changes in our beautiful Monterey Bay environment. She gained insight on the local archeological record from Cabrillo College professor Dustin McKenzie and consulted with local experts Mark Hylkema, archaeologist for the California State Parks and Pat Coulston of the California Department of Fish and Game. She took numerous photographs and made several sketches of models of Native heritage on the beach portraying traditional fishing and foraging activities.
In the Capitola painting Ms. Thiermann also … wanted to show the color and beauty of the wonderful sea life that was so abundant along our shores. Today, at low tide, there is ample opportunity to discover shellfish and fish among the bedrock. We also have examples of humpback whales feeding on anchovies close to shore and driving schools of fish up onto the sands.
Her Capitola painting is set “… when the November rains opened the … lagoon to fresh water and Soquel [C]reek flowed out to the sea …[ushering] the return of steelhead to their spawning sites up stream.”
We hope you join us on April 2 for the unveiling of Ms. Thiermann’s painting or come view the painting and the rest of the Capitola Historical Museum’s 2022 exhibition.
The admission-free Capitola Historical Museum is open every Friday through Sunday from noon until 4 p.m. The “Perspectives” exhibition will run through December 2022. The Capitola Historical Museum is the little red building at 410 Capitola Ave., next to Capitola City Hall. Contact the museum at 831-464-0322. •••
Deborah Osterberg is Capitola Museum curator.
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