Local 3059 Firefighters Show support through "RED SHIRT FRIDAYS".

Every Member Firefighter working a Friday pays $5 and wears the red shirt supporting our troops.  The money is donated directly to Operation Gratitude which assembles care packages for our men and women overseas. 

America’s Sons and Daughters In Good Hands in Afghanistan

January 21, 2009 --IAFF members with family and friends deployed to Afghanistan can maybe rest a little easier at night as C Company, 1st Battalion, 168th MEDEVAC is assuming the medical evacuation mission for the entire Afghan theater of operations. The 168th consists of 150 National Guardsmen from California, Nevada and Wyoming, as well as 15 UH-60 Blackhawk Helicopters. The IAFF is well represented across the board, from pilots to medics, including Laramie, WY, Local 946 member Captain Theron Ritzman, a pilot and 10-year veteran fire fighter. Ritzman’s previous tours include Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom. Stockton, CA Local 456 member WO1 Dan Jones (not pictured) last served as a flight medic in Afghanistan. Sacramento, CA Local 522 member SFC Al Smoot is a flight medic and 15-year fire veteran fighter and company officer/paramedic with previous tours as a flight medic in Afghanistan and Kosovo. Marin, CA Local 1775 member SSG David Cornell is a flight medic and fire fighter/paramedic, as well a civilian helicopter flight/critical care nurse. His last tour was as a Special Forces medic in Afghanistan. Also serving are Sacramento, CA Local 522 member SSG Rob Walters, a flight medic and fire fighter/paramedic, with seven years with Sacramento Fire Department. He also had a previous flight medic tour in Afghanistan. Grand Junction, CO Local 2808 member SSG Matt Harmon is a flight medic, fire fighter/paramedic with two years at the Grand Junction Fire Department. Sacramento, CA Local 522 member Sgt. Mike Ferguson is a seven year fire fighter/paramedic. Denver, CO Local 858 Sgt. Eric Cothren, a fire fighter/Hazmat technician with 10 years at the Denver Fire Department last served in Desert Storm. Also deployed are Sgt Alan Sharp a flight medic and fire fighter/paramedic in Central Lyon County, Nevada, and Spc Marc Dragony with Amador County, California, Federal District 16, a former Hotshot and Smoke Jumper with the U.S. Forest Service. This level of care, talent and experience has never been fielded before in a MEDEVAC unit in Afghanistan or Iraq. Their training is well above what is required of an Army flight medic. Once in country, they’ll be divided across the major provinces. Your IAFF brothers have been training hard for the last several months, changing their focus from dropping water buckets on fires in the United States to weapons, night vision goggle flying, hoisting patients up to the aircraft and aviation tactics. Back row from left: Flt Medic Spc Marc Dragony, Grand Junction, CO Local 2808 member and Flt Medic SSG Matt Harmon, Laramie, WY, Local 946 member and Pilot Captain Theron Ritzman, Marin, CA Local 1775 member and Flt Medic SSG David Cornell and Sacramento, CA Local 522 member Flt Medic SFC Al Smoot. Front row from left: Denver, CO Local 858 member and Flt Medic Sgt Eric Cothren, Sacramento, CA Local 522 member and Flt Medic Sgt Mike Ferguson, Sacramento, CA Local 522 and Flt Medic SSG Rob Walters and Flt Medic Sgt Alan Sharp.