Fire Protection Committee

Fire-Chief:	George Bush

Sunscape Estates RV Park Cooperative Resort                                February, 2010

Volunteer Fire Department

Charter 

The original developer of Sunscape RV Park was Dick Unger.  Mr. Unger knowing, that emergency fire response from Rural Pinal County Fire Service was both expensive and slow, pondered a solution.  He located a well-used 1948 fire truck and purchased it for the park.  He then called on members to form a Volunteer Fire Department. 

In October 1999, Sunscape experienced a major fire when the Activity Center, built in 1992, caught fire and was totally destroyed.  Our volunteers responded with that old truck and kept the fire from spreading.  The Rural Fire Service was called and their slow response and lack of accessible water to fight the fire contributed to the buildings loss.  Our volunteers were asked to put out the final hot spots.  We were billed $2200 for that call. 

In February 2002, our firefighters responded within 3 minutes to an early morning fire in a fifth wheel with the old fire truck that “popped and sputtered” to the site.  The fire was contained quickly, the rig was a total loss; but our members were unharmed. 

Members have valued our old truck and the many volunteers; and annually approve an operating budget for the Fire Department.  In 2003 members voted to fund the purchasing of our newer 1975 model fire truck.  Some of our volunteers were career firefighters and acquired good used equipment from their home stations. 

The Volunteer Fire Department along with Maintenance installed hydrants throughout the park, assuring all areas can be reached with our equipment. 

The Volunteer Fire Fighters undergo scheduled training on the first and third Wednesday of each month.  Training to include: Hooking hose lines to Park hydrants and pumping through booster lines and inch and a half main lines.  This is done wearing full fire attire.  We also practice using Scott Air Packs, in the event breathing apparatus is required.  Response times will vary because of time of day and the months an emergency occurs, but training is geared for 10 minutes of call to be pumping water on structures.  The Department works in conjunction with Park Medical Response Team. 

Our Mission:  

“TO PROTECT PARK RESIDENTS FROM INJURY OR DEATH AND TO MINIMIZE THE LOSS OF PROPERTY DUE TO FIRE.  TO PROVIDE ON-GOING READINESS TRAINING FOR OUR VOLUNTEER FORCE.  TO PROVIDE THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND THE PARK MANAGER MONTHLY PROGRESS REPORTS OF TRAINING RESULTS AND CONDITION OF FIRE DEPARTMENT EQUIPMENT”.  

The Fire Department continues to explore proactive methods of training and providing educational information and demonstrations to members and guests to enhance fire safety.

Approved by:

For the Board of Directors, President:  __________________________ Date: ________                                                                               Jean Aili

Interim Approval _________________________ Date: _______________

                                    Jean Aili         Original signed by Jean Aili, 3-9-10