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November 2013 - Vol.06, No.11
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| Message from the Chief | |
No matter what team you belong to, in order for you to be successful, you must continually train and prepare. That is true in any field, whether it be a sports team, business or public safety agency. This is especially true with our unique brand of fully integrated public safety services (Police, Fire, EMS). To that end, we continually provide basic
and advanced training to our personnel. Much of this is completed internally with our own certified instructors; however, we also recognize the importance of sending our people outside the organization to receive new ideas.
Over the last month, there have been several outside training opportunities, such as the Women Leaders in Law Enforcement training symposium, the Urban Shield Emergency Response Exercise, and the annual K-9 competition. These training opportunities have tested DPS personnel, allowed for networking with other safety professionals and enhanced our capabilities.
Training has also been provided to members of our community. The recent earthquake preparedness drill and the graduation of our 35th SNAP class are just two examples. Thanks to the efforts of our DPS Office of Emergency Service
s, our large group of volunteers and the many engaged community members who participated in these efforts, we are better prepared for an emergency. No matter what the case, we must continue to train in order to be our best when it is needed the most.
Have a great month!
Chief Grgurina
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Fast Facts:
Preparedness Tips: - Stay in the kitchen when you are frying, grilling, or broiling food. If you must leave the kitchen for even a short period of time, turn off the stove.
- If you are simmering, baking, boiling, or roasting food, check it regularly, remain in the home while food is cooking, and use a timer to remind you that the stove or oven is on.
- Avoid wearing loose clothing or dangling sleeves while cooking.
- Keep kids away from cooking areas by enforcing a "kid-free zone" of three feet around
- Keep anything that can catch on fire-pot holders, oven mitts, wooden utensils, paper or plastic bags, food packaging, and towels or curtains-away from your stove top and oven or any other appliance in the kitchen that generates heat.
- If you must use a turkey fryer, make sure it is outdoors and in an open area away from all walls, fences or other structures that could catch on fire and away from moisture that can cause serious burns from steam or splattering hot oil. Always follow the manufacturer's instructions.
- Smoke alarms save lives. Install a smoke alarm near your kitchen and use the test button to check it each month. Replace all batteries at least once a year.
- After your Thanksgiving guests leave, ask a family member to perform a home safety check to ensure that all candles and smoking materials are extinguished.
- Visit www.redcross.org/homefires for more information on how to be fire safe on Thanksgiving Day.
Sources: American Red Cross,* U.S. Fire Administration,** and the National Fire Protection Association.***
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Fire Academy 2013 Graduation
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On October 25, the City of Santa Clara Fire Department and the City of Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety graduated a total of 21 new Firefighters from the Fire Academy - 12 from the City of Santa Clara Fire Department, and nine from the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety. The 17-week training program was hosted by both Agencies and utilized both Fire Training Centers, located at Santa Clara Fire Department Station 2, and the Sunnyvale DPS Station 2 Training Center.
The Fire Academy shared resources from both Fire Departments in order to facilitate the 17-week program. Recruits got hands-on experience and entry-level instruction to all aspects of basic firefighting operations. Each day of the program included intense physical and mental challenges, which developed our new firefighters to a standard entry level recruit in the short time frame of four months. Graduation was held at Wilcox High School Mission City Center for the Performing Arts.
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Sunnyvale K9 Teams Score Well at Trials
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 On October 16 and 17, all four of the Public Safety canine teams participated in the annual Witmer-Tyson Canine Competition in La Honda. This year, 23 teams from various California departments participated in a two day event that tested the dogs' and handlers' ability to track, search, protect and overall obedience. As in past years, Sunnyvale's K-9 teams finished at the top.
This year, PSO Dan Pistor and K9 Koa took first place in obedience. PSO Mutz and K9 Zac took first place in search. PSO Robin Smith and K9 Colt took first in obedience, second in obstacles and second place overall. Our newest canine team of PSO Devon Klein and K9 Reno took third place in protection, third place overall and first place overall for a novice dog/handler team.
All our canine officers spend copious hours, each week training with their partners, to perform well on the streets and to be ready for any situation. Congratulations to all of them!
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When a 6.9 earthquake strikes Sunnyvale, will you know what to do?
 That was the question the Office of Emergency Services (OES) was trying to address on Saturday, October 26. OES, in conjunction with SNAP (Sunnyvale Neighbors Actively Prepared) and SARES (Sunnyvale Amateur Radio Emergency Services), organized a citywide drill that focused on public emergency communications. The exercise covered how to receive official alert notifications, how to communicate within your neighborhood, and how communication with city officials is accomplished in a disaster scenario using ham radio operators.
 As we prepared for the exercise we took the opportunity to add many resources to our website (OES.inSunnyvale.com) in order to give information about how to take care of yourselves, your families, your neighborhoods and the city during a major disaster. In addition, we encouraged citizens to stay connected through various means including following us on Twitter@SunnyvaleDPS, signing up for Nixle (our Community Information Service) by going to www.nixle.com and listening to 1680AM, our emergency radio band.
Citizens participated at various levels, from signing up into the Nixle service all the way up to organizing neighborhood events. In those events, citizens practiced how to complete building damage assessment reports and found out how those reports are sent as messages to city officials to aid in shaping up and increasing the situational awareness of the Emergency Operations Center (EOC). Volunteers were able to track those events in the EOC and even plot the events on a computer map for easy reference.
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Pancake Breakfast Results
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A total of $5,000 raised for Alisa Ann Ruch Burn Foundation! Guests enjoyed a delicious breakfast prepared by Public Safety Officers while learning about fire safety techniques like "Stop, Drop and Roll." Kids got the chance to dress up in real firefighter turnouts and put out a pretend fire with a real fire hose.   |
| |  For questions and comments about the Sunnyvale DPS newsletter Beyond the Badge, you can e-mail us at: pubsfty@ci.sunnyvale.ca.us
© 2010-2013 City of Sunnyvale, CA |
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