Penn Valley Fire Protection District: $58,000 in community support

Penn Valley Fire Protection District accepted community support in the amount of $58,000 at their regularly scheduled August board meeting. The donations came in the form of three checks.

Penn Valley Fire Department Auxiliary presented their semi-annual donation, typically used to make payments on fire engines and ambulances. Proceeds from the PVFDA Thrift Shop provide the District with approximately $100,000 each year.

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Juan and Connie Paniagua, owners of Dencob, LLC, made a gift of $6,500 to the PVFPD Paramedic Scholarship Fund. To date, PVFPD has been able to provide two scholarships to staff and there is now enough in the fund to provide another full scholarship.

Teresa Dietrich, Realtor at Nevada County Realty, donated $1,500 for upgrading the surveillance camera system in the PVFPD Station 43 parking lot and inside the Auxiliary Thrift Shop.

Also noteworthy, Spar Tree Forestry provided rapid trimming and removal of dangerous branches on the Penn Valley Rodeo Grounds that were overhanging the Penn Valley True Value Hardware property.

PVFPD relies on Penn Valley Fire Department Auxiliary and generous members of the community to help meet financial obligations. The past two years have been particularly challenging, with a number of unfunded mandates and unexpected expenses, including purchase of heart monitors utilized by paramedics during medical emergencies. This $140,000 expenditure became necessary when the heart monitor company discontinued support for the previous monitors, forcing immediate replacement and leaving the fire district with a balance due of $84,000. In addition, to allow reliable communication between emergency responders, mobile and base station radios require upgrade at a cost of $75,000. Community philanthropy has become increasingly important to address equipment needs.