MIDDLETOWN >> Earlier this month the Middletown Rancheria Tribal Council unanimously voted to pledge $10,000 to The South Lake County Fire Protection District towards the purchase and installation of Emergency Public Notification Fire Sirens.
The SLCFPD, with the support of the Lake County Fire Chiefs Association, and the Lake County Sheriff’s Office/County Office of Emergency Services, is raising funds to support the purchase and installation of Emergency Public Notification Sirens.
“The safety of our community has always been a priority,” said Middletown Rancheria Tribal Council Chairman Jose “Moke” Simon. “We are continually committed to assisting Lake County and SLCFPD to make improvements for the safety of our surrounding neighbors. We are glad to contribute to this much needed Fire Siren Project.”
Since the Valley Fire, SLCFPD stated that the public has made it clear they want this notification system that has not been used for over 25 years re-instated to allow another layer of emergency notification from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office/County Office of Emergency Services. In the late 1980s, due to the use of reliable radio pagers, the SLCFPD stopped using their current sirens to alert community members of fires and EMS (Emergency Medical Service) calls.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office/County Office of Emergency Services has communicated very efficiently in several venues relating to the Valley Fire that the re-instatement of the SLCFPD public notification sirens to alert people there is an emergency, and they need to seek additional information from radio, NIXLE, City Watch, Reverse 911, Social Media and look outside to name a few. The sirens will be controlled by a radio frequency signal in the 150.0000 MHz range that will activate the individual sirens as needed.
While no system will provide coverage to every citizen, the SLCFPD is focusing the placement on historical use and zoning information provided by Lake County GIS (Geospatial Information Systems). The seven sirens are planned to be in the areas of: Station 60 in Middletown, Station 62 in Cobb, Station 63 in Hidden Valley, Station 64 in Loch Lomond, Anderson Springs at the CalPine Warehouse, Hidden Valley at the Eagle
Rock water tanks and Hidden Valley at Powder Horn Road.
The project also includes an upgrade to Central Dispatch to activate the sirens and integrate into their systems.
All donations and contributions will be held in trust by the SLCFPD until the funds are raised from multiple entities, organizations, foundations, Valley Fire groups, Utility Companies, Home Owner Associations, private donors, political leaders and such, until the project is funded.
“This Donation from the Middletown Rancheria brings us significantly closer to our goal. The Tribe is one of the first to come forward with a donation of this size and their contribution is greatly appreciated.” said Battalion Chief Mike Wink.
The donation check was presented to the SLCFPD on Friday.
