Robyn Dodds figured her job as a nurse plus being the spouse of a firefighter gave her insight into what Santa Maria Fire Department members face.
On Saturday, she got a much better look as she participated in the inaugural “On Duty with SMFD” to introduce participants to a day in a life of a city firefighter.
“I think it’s amazing,” said Dodds, director on nursing for Marian Regional Medical Center’s Emergency Department and wife of city fire Capt. Kyle Dodds. “It’s interesting because I thought I had a pretty good concept of what my husband did, and I don’t.”
Despite having attended previous training events, she never had hands-on participation.
“It doesn’t seem like it’s hard, but it is hard,” Dodds added after operating the nozzle on a fire hose while leading a quartet entering the “burning” structure.
On Duty delivered a chance to walk in firefighters’ shoes for a day by searching a smoky building for victims, administering medical aid to a patient with an emergency, prying parts off a vehicle using power tools and wielding a fire hose to attack flames — albeit invisible.
Busy Department Serves Growing City
Santa Maria with 112,000 population in 23 square miles is served by a Fire Department staffed by personnel at six stations with 23 firefighters on the job at any time for the growing city.
In total, the agency has 87 personnel plus a full slate of vehicles, including the monstrous Truck 1 also dubbed “the bendy straw.” The personnel and equipment allow them to attack different types of emergencies in the city, county and beyond.
Since the 1970s, Santa Maria’s firefighting vehicles have sported the distinctive chartreuse green paint color, deemed the shade that provides the best visibility at night.
While 76 of the personnel handled emergency calls, the others play key roles for administration, logistics, investigation and prevention.
“We all work together to make sure that our mission is you, the community, the public. It’s not just the firefighters; it’s everyone under that roof,” said firefighter Andrew Klein, who spearheaded the On Duty program.
Last year, the agency responded to more than 13,100 calls for service, including 52 structure fires, 500 vehicle fires and more than 6,800 medical calls spanning a gamut of seriousness.
“Not everything we go on medically is bad. We do bring life into the world,” Klein said, adding that it’s pretty amazing to help deliver babies amid the not-so-good calls they also handle daily.
In addition to supporting Santa Maria’s neighbors such as responding to the Montecito debris flow, Santa Maria also sent crews to the Palisade and Eaton fires.
The department also has several firefighters with specialty training for the more complex calls such as rescues.
“These are very rigorous trainings that require focus and extreme attention because with our job especially in the rescue world the margin for error is non-existent,” Klein said. “We can’t do retakes in our job.”
The Fire Department members also play roles in disaster preparedness plus readying residents for emergencies through the Community Emergency Response Team so that civilians know how to turn off natural gas or perform other activities before firefighters get to the scene.
“They are a valuable resource in the community to help their neighbors out before we arrive,” Klein said.
Participants Tackle SMFD Tasks
On Duty kicked off with a Friday night session to brief participants on the department along with details on dealing with overdoses, medical ailments and traumatic injuries.
Participants also were fitted with turnout gear ahead of the next day’s hands-on activities behind Station 2 on Carmen Lane.
On Saturday morning, as one group carved pieces of a sedan, another experienced searching a building and later attacking the fake fire with a powerful stream of water from a hose.
“Everything we do comes down to teamwork,” engineer Eric Kam said as he prepared participants for handling the firehose to enter a “burning” building.
Robyn Dodds recognized the value of teamwork required for the firefighting activities.
“As much as they keep stressing teamwork, they cannot do their job if they’re not communicating well and working as a team,” she added.
On Duty scenarios for medical emergencies included the chaotic conditions faced by firefighters in the field as they try to help patients while dealing with worried family members, cluttered homes and more.
“What they’re doing here is they’re giving you near real-life experiences … so it was really effective to give you a perspective of what these guys are doing,” said Marvin Rodriguez, a Santa Maria Public Airport District board member.
Rob Himoto, president of the Santa Maria Valley Railroad, and colleague Belinda Popovich also participated.
“I think it’s an excellent program. It really gives a little taste of what they go through,” Himoto said, adding that it provided a chance to gain a great appreciation of what firefighters face.
Chief Brad Dandridge took a mostly spectator role for On Duty as firefighters of varying ranks oversaw the various scenarios.
“Everyone that I’ve spoken to, it has opened their eyes slightly to what we actually do at the Fire Department, and that was the intent of this to share appreciation of the community and to show them what we do for them,” Dandridge said.