KVFD Volunteers have broken our own record for standby hours for the fifth time within the last year! Our volunteer standby (riding) hours for January 2010 was 9,489 hours !! This is believed to be the highest number of standby hours for any volunteer fire company in Montgomery County.  Go Team KVFD!
 

Montgomery County has seen more than 45 inches of snow fall in back-to-back blizzards causing extremely treacherous conditions.

During the worst of the blizzard, the County tapped Chief Stanton to serve as Volunteer Division Operations Chief. In this capacity, Chief Stanton monitored and coordinated, as single point of contact between the VFDs and DFRS, each VFD's actual staffing availability per each station's piece of emergency apparatus, and updated this regularly, enabling maximum strategic emergency deployment and response. Another example of KVFD's leadership role in the County fire and rescue service!

KVFD volunteers hunkered down, worked around the clock, manning a full complement of apparatus, and, true to form, delivered the best of the best, in many cases having to park apparatus blocks from the site of the dispatch destination and to march through the waist deep snow to lend aid.

February 12, 2010

FROM: Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett

TO: Fire and Rescue Volunteer Personnel

"This past week has challenged everyone and every resource in this County. I wanted to acknowledge the contributions of the fire and rescue volunteer personnel that have logged thousands of hours with operational staffing and administrative support functions during these two unprecedented snow events. Your commitment, work and efforts are truly noteworthy and on behalf of the County Government, I thank you for the outstanding service and personal commitment in providing public safety to the citizens of Montgomery County."

(As reported by Lt. Dowdy) Our hat is off to KVFD members that stepped up and provided staffing for the station during our Blizzard of 2010. Every single one of these Members provided staffing well in excess of their required 12 hour shift. Some, most staying here until Monday Morning shift change. At the time of writing Sunday night, Company 5 units (Engine 705B, Tower 705, Ambulance 705B, Medic 705, Brush 705, and Utility 705) have logged 73 calls since Friday at 1700 hrs, staffed almost to full capacity with volunteers. We ran anything to everything for the weekend, and still looking forward to our last 12 hours. With almost 40 inches of snow on the ground at the end of the event, your Members pushed though. I would also like to say, Friday night and Saturday Night…..no one really slept. At best two hours for each member. What proved to be a long, but needed shift for everyone, the members did what was required, day in and day out. Thank you for a job well done as you did provide not only a needed service to the community, but you did it with a smile. For every single one of you, this is what Kensington is about. We have all had our problems over the weekend, and some trying times and some long walks to calls, but you did it without question or regret. I know its cliché, but I’m proud of you, and thank you a lot. You made my job this weekend flawless. Even though we had station issues, you handled it well. So again thank you.

** Amazing timelapse of the Snowmageddon at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMhUZAq5IxQ&

Enjoy this glimpse at the men and women that make up the Kensington Volunteer Fire Department in Montgomery County (MD). For more information, or for recruiting opportunities, use the website Contact Form.

"Kensington's Everyday Heroes" - A film by Tracey Wright

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ2MW1IzKEU

Links to the video shot by MCFRS Videographer Ed Tenney during the recent visit by US Senator Barbara Mikulski, Congressman Chris Van Hollen, County Executive Ike Leggett, other officlals and Fire Rescue Officers. Senator Mikulski praised KVFD for its commitment to serve and our ability to respond to the community.

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJkM96Xu9IY&feature=email

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQl2VnS8jMg&feature=email

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dcq1bZrm28&feature=email

Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmcJKsTuEa8&feature=email

A few months ago, KVFD added paramedic service to Station 5 so we can respond to the most urgent life threatening emergencies. We started with one night a week volunteer-staffed advanced life support service. We are now on a growth curve heading towards every night plus weekend all-volunteer staffed paramedic service to our Community. Your community support makes this happen! Thank you.

KVFD has been awarded a major piece of structural remains from the NYC World Trade Center, Ground Zero, by the "9-11 Families Association". The metal is a burned, sheared and contorted structural beam from the point of impact of Tower One. We are planning the proposed Memorial to fallen firefighters, EMTs, police and those who responded to 9-11, including our own KVFD response to the Pentagon on 9-11. KVFD and the Town of Kensington will tap into the professional architectural design and trades capacity of our community to contribute their services to help accomplish this Memorial as a fitting tribute to our fallen brethren. It will be the first 9/11 Firefighters Memorial in Maryland. Stay tuned.
 

KVFD and Montgomery County have reached an agreement on operational status of our brand new aerial tower "AT705".

This new unit replaces our old open tiller "Truck 5" which was decommissioned after decades of years of service.

Aerial Tower 705 has a 100 foot hydraulically operated boom with a basket capable of lifting two fire fighters with fully charged hose lines 100 feet high in seconds. This will enable us to effectuate high rise rescues and place water into high rise fires far more quickly than we could with the previous equipment at Station 5. This means significant increase in life-saving capacity and in fire extinguishment when seconds count. This is a very significant increase in protection to the citizens of the Kensington area as well as the County. AT705 now assumes the role as the proud flagship of our fleet.

The Tower was funded by a Federal grant along with community contributions to KVFD. The new Tower is KVFD apparatus and will be operated by our volunteer firefighters without County cross staffing.
 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – At 10:30 a.m., on Thursday, November 12, 2009, U.S. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski will be joined by federal, state, local officials and first responders at Montgomery County’s Kensington Volunteer Fire Department (KVFD) to show her continued dedication to fighting for our country’s firefighters and first responders.
 
Recent Assistance to Firefighter Grant Program (AFG) awards to KVFD include a $600,000 fire grant to purchase a new aerial ladder truck and more than $635,000 in multiple Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grants for the Kensington VFD. The SAFER grants provide funding to employ a full-time volunteer recruiter and offer volunteers scholarships for college tuition in exchange for their service.
 
The new aerial ladder truck, which will be on-site for the event, is critical to first responders, helping them perform fire rescues and supply water to fires in the ever-growing number of high-rise buildings in the KVFD’s first response area. The truck also will increase safety in the Kensington community and in neighboring communities where the Department answers mutual aid calls.
 
For October 2009, KVFD again broke its previous record, scoring a new KVFD and Montgomery County volunteer record of 7,464 Standby Hours! This means a big round of applause for service to the Community. (Last month’s Record was 7,122 Standby Hours.)
 
Senator Mikulski is on the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee that funds the AFGP. She helped create the AFG program in 2000 and has fought over the years to increase funding in the federal checkbook for this program. Statewide, it has provided almost $77 million to volunteer fire departments. This includes more than $8 million in AFGP awards to Montgomery County fire departments, including $1.8 million for KVFD.
 
WHO: 
U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.)
U.S. Representative Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.)
Ike Leggett, Montgomery County Executive
Richard Bowers, Montgomery County Fire Chief
Peter Fosselman, Mayor, Town of Kensington
Roger Powell, President, MD State Firemen’s Assn
Marcine Goodloe, Montgomery Co. Volunteer Fire & Rescue Assn.
Eric Bernard, Montgomery Co. Volunteer Fire & Rescue Assn.
Steven R. Semler, President, KVFD
James P. Stanton, Fire Chief, KVFD
 
WHEN: 10:30 a.m., Thursday, November 12, 2009
 
WHERE:  Kensington Volunteer Fire Dept; 10620 Connecticut Ave.; Kensington, MD 20895