Escondido Sunrise Rotary; Meeting to Serve our Community in Person
and via Zoom; and “John Tenger, the Escondido Fire Chief”
April 27, 2023
As we all try to conduct our professional pursuits in new ways, it’s appropriate to remind ourselves of who we are as a Serving Organization… Our accomplishments, our fellowship and the reminder of our many successes is valuable as we seek new opportunities to serve…
We met again in person at the Chamber of Commerce… Great to enjoy the fellowship again and see all your smiling faces…
As a Club, we began with a salute to our Flag led by Kevin Svetich and an invocation was offered by past President Jack Anderson...….
Guests & Vistitors:
John Tenger, Esc Fire Chief (our speaker for today)
Milestones & Celebrations
Birthdays:
Kim Henson 4/27
Wedding Anniversaries:
Liz Phillips 5/1 5 years
Dates to Remember:
High 5’s & Announcements:
Past President Rich Aeling announced that Susan Maney (member of ESR) would love visitors as she has been ill for awhile
Also, the Rotary evening club invited us on 5/3 at 5;15pm to their meeting that is being held at Orange Glen High School to see the culinary department and see what the students are cooking up. If you are interested in going, let Rich know
And Rich had one more thing, a heartfelt thank you from The Escondido Arts Partnership for our very generous donation. They invited us over to see what they are up to. Way to go ESR!!!
Rotarians Having Fun and Serving…
All kinds of fun and service and fun…
Pictures are worth a thousand words…
Rich Aeling was in Nashville last week and brought back some sweet gifts to President Tina
President Tina celebrated her and Allen’s 31st wedding anniversary in Old Town. Her brother Wally was there as well
Past President Jim Ponder and his wife Carol took to the slopes, they wanted to make sure that the snow was still there
Program:
Guest Speaker, John Tenger, Esc. Fire Chief
We had the privilege to hear for our fire chief John Tenger who was introduced by past President Jack Anderson.
John gave us a snapshot of what is happening at the Escondido Fire Department. He began his career at the fire department in 1999 as a paramedic & firefighter.
Here’s the Escondido Fire Dept. at a glance:
There are 7 engines (3 reserves), 1 ladder truck (1 reserve), 5 Ambulances (4 reserve), 3 brush engines (plus 1 OES). There is 1 Command Unit/Battalion Chief and 36 personnel each day which includes:
1 Fire Chief
1 Deputy Chief
1 Division Chief
1 Administrative Manager
1 Deputy Fire Marshal
5 Inspectors/Investigators
4 Administration Staff
There are several programs in the Esc Fire Department:
Support Volunteers
Fire Explorers
CERT
Esc Fire Department Divisions:
Operations
Prevention
Support Services
Administration
Emergency/Disaster Preparedness
Mr. Tenger shared a few very interesting statistics:
The average cost of a fire engine is a million dollars and that is a base model and they work hard on taking care of the fire trucks they have.
The call volume per day is approximately 48 calls with EMS calls (911) being the majority of those calls. Most EMS calls are falls with lost keys coming in at a close 2nd. See the graph showing the 3.1% increase in the calls that come in and our fire department works very hard with lower resources than ever before. In 2022 they saw the most structure fires in 10 years. In 2017 during the normal flu season, they had 17k calls, when Covid hit in 2020 they were concerned that the calls would be too many to handle but the opposite happened because people were afraid to go to the hospital for fear of getting sick.
John talked about the department’s strengths and weaknesses. They truly strive to serve this community and provide legendary service. The challenge they face is the 30% increase in calls without having an increase in resources, their band with begins to stretch. They are working on solving that challenge with a SOCS study that will provide a blueprint to show where the gaps are. With this skeleton staffing pattern, they still strive to provide that legendary service that we have all loved so much over the years.
Mr. Tenger concluded with answering a few questions:
When was the ESC Fire Dept. formed – 1905
How many officers have lost their lives in the line of duty – none in the 10 years John has been on the job
Overdoses – they don’t have the data on that but are compiling it, there are a lot
Are most calls drug related – No
With the rainfall, is there an expectation of a difficult fire season – Yes, because of the green grass, plants, foliage that will dry up and become a fire hazard. They are encouraging everyone to do their part in keeping things trimmed back.
How long does a fleet last – 15 years
Thank you Fire Chief, Mr. Tenger for keeping us all informed of everything that is happening at the fire department and a huge thank you for all you do to keep Escondido as safe as possible, you all are true heroes to us.
April/May Speaker Schedule
Opportunity Drawing:There is $1,043 in the pot today with $25 for lunch, Kendra had the lucky raffle ticket but alas not a win, hopefully next week!! Tony got the lunch money!!
Thanks for Attending Today’s Meeting….
Support for our Escondido Community …
Our great community and the success of its businesses is all of our responsibilities… Support the businesses that are doing all they can to survive during this challenging time… Take out some chow… Be ready to support them when the economy begins working again…
The ‘Giving Arch’ on Grand Avenue and Centre City Parkway reminds us that Escondido is a caring, giving community…
To all; be safe and be well…. God Bless those men and women that carry the load at our medical facilities, and God Bless our first responders… May our governmental leaders be wise, thoughtful and smart as this pandemic is overtaken by our hard work and collective support…
Online Meetings:
Technical Support for Online Meetings:
Our meetings will begin as a hybrid setting with in-person and on-line opportunities…The meetings will be technically managed by Past President Richard Agnew… Thanks for that Richard… And, Richard is prepared to support all of our attempts at joining the on-line meetings… Look for his email with details and links to log on to the upcoming Zoom meetings…
Watch for emails defining the next meeting. The system works fine, dependent upon your technical support available through your PC or laptop…
SEE YOU SOON…… In Person or ONLINE… Next meeting; May 4th at 7:30 AM at the Chamber of Commerce
Check President Tina’s email for the reminder…
