Chief RL Colina from Monroe County Fire and Rescue joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s been going on in the county.
There was a significant lightning storm last night in the Keys.
Chief Colina said, “Those always, always concern us because lightning eventually, we’re lucky as linear as we are in the Keys, we do get that occasional lightning strike to a structure, and a lot of times they don’t expose themselves quickly. They’ll actually sit there and smolder for a little bit until, until they’re identified that something’s on fire. So if you ever feel like your house has been hit, just give us a call, have someone take a look at it, and if there’s anything in question, just dial 911, we’ll be more than happy to go over there. We run a thermal camera around the area, and we can identify if your house has been impacted.”
Fire prevention week is coming up October 5 through the 13th.
Chief Colina said, “Fire prevention week for us is it’s such a significant part of the year for us. We’ll run from the fifth through the 13th, and seven of the schools, the daycares, we make sure that we do this outreach to all the community, but we impact those schools with the younger generation that’s in there to make sure that they understand about prevention is the first key to safety, preventing something from happening. Then from that point, we also have through our Facebook page, Monroe County Fire Rescue’s Facebook page, we have our annual Fire Prevention Week contest, and that is always such a good turnout. They can download what they need to submit, and it’s a coloring thing that they will color and highlight and then we have a little committee that selects the best one, and we normally turn that into a pizza party for the winner. Sparky is always there. This is his active time of the year. I’ll tell you what. We’ve got Sparky in full force right now going through the county, and he’ll be at all of our schools and daycares. Sparky is at the forefront making sure that he spreads the prevention theories.”
There is an outreach event at Big Pine Community Park on October 10 from 6pm to 8pm.
Chief Colina said, “It’s just a great location for us. We get a lot of people that come in attendance. Every year the National Fire Association, they pick a different theme for Fire Prevention Week. And this year, our theme is charge into fire safety, which is actually concerning itself with lithium ion batteries that are in your home. We all have them nowadays, between drills and E-bikes. And what we’ve noticed is they work great. They’ve got a great capacity for storing power. They charge these different devices at such a great capacity, but when these things get wet at times or they get overcharged, they do become quite a hazard. We’ve had several fires that have occurred, unfortunately from lithium ion batteries being overcharged or faulty batteries that they were trying to charge in their device. So just be really aware of those, any of the charging stations that you have, try to isolate those charging stations away from other devices, and just keep attention to the fact that, once that charge is complete, remove that lithium ion battery from its charging base and set it in a safe and secure area.”
Trunk or treat is coming up on October 11.
Chief Colina said, “That is the first one we have at Sugarloaf, the trunk or treat at Sugarloaf is great and such an amazing participation from the community as well. Everybody goes all out on the decorations, and the kids have a great time. It’s a nice, safe place where the kids can dress up for Halloween. They can go from stop to stop, receive a bunch of candy and a lot of goodies and just different things. Of course, once again, Monroe County Fire Rescue, we incorporate our fire safety into all of these events. So it’s kind of like you’re getting a two for one there. You’re getting two for one with the Halloween treats, and then also a little bit of fire prevention. Then Halloween, we will be in the pines, Eden Pines neighborhood, trunk or treat and Big Pine that’s normally a huge gathering. We’ll be participating in that with our trunk or treat there.”
There are also college fairs.
Chief Colina said, “We’ll be hosting at three of the college fairs at Key West High, Marathon High and Coral Shores. I will tell you, I wish we had more of that interaction when I was growing up. I will tell you, just for the fact that there’s a lot of people out there, a lot of our younger generation, that may have never been exposed to the fire service or emergency services. This gives us a great opportunity to do a little one on one, provide them with information about a career path that might be something that they’re interested and to give them the material they can take home, read it over with their parents, a lot of opportunities in emergency services moving into the future, a great career path for a young person that just may feel a calling to get out there and serve the community. So those three locations, the Key West High, Marathon and Coral Shores, we get very excited about participating in those career fairs and the college fairs each year.”
Michael Stapleford of Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM pointed out, “We honor those and thank those who serve us as first responders with Monroe County Fire Rescue, and we are severely indebted to them each and every day.”
Tunnel to Towers will be in Big Pine on November 8.
Chief Colina said, “The eighth of November, we have Tunnels to Towers returning in their annual little mini marathon that we run here at the Big Pine Community Park. And once again, that’s just an incredible engagement. The tunnels to Tower, Monroe County Fire Rescue as an entity, we have benefited from that with the loss of one of our firefighters the past couple years, and it’s just a wonderful organization. I donate personally to this foundation. Many others donate to it, and they have such an incredible reach and such an incredible use of their funds for firefighters and first responders that have unfortunately passed away in the line of duty. So it’s a great organization that was started from September 11, and we are so proud and honored to have them come down here each year. Monroe County Fire Rescue, Trauma Star, the sheriff’s office, we’ve got such great partnerships within the county. We’re proud to serve this community. We’re proud to serve the residents and the visitors that come here and enjoy what we live in as paradise. So just remember, we’re here 24/7. We never sleep. We’re always ready for the emergencies. So drive safe, wear your seat belts and pay attention to what’s in front of you. Please be safe.”
For more information, click here: https://www.monroecounty-fl.gov/firerescue