Sun Valley Fire Department
City Newsletter Information

Addressing
We cannot help you if we cannot find you!!!!!! This is the case for most Households in the City. Your House Numbers are not visible from the street. Remember, we are looking for you in times of stress, and often at night in the dark. Many Homes have nice little engraved stones in the driveway that look nice in the summer. In the winter they are buried and not visible at all. Please put all number monuments at least 4 feet off final grade. Please put numbers on the house where they can be seen from the street. Make sure the numbers are on a contrasting background so we can see them in the dark. This is a State Law. For all of us handling Emergencies, for all of you, please let us do our jobs in the timeliest manner, so the out come for these emergencies can be the best there is. Please call us and I will come out any time to advise you on how to best display your address. E-911 will not help out much if we cannot find you.

Firewise Landscaping-Communities at Risk
In the Fall of 2001, the City Of Sun Valley was recognized at being at a great risk for devastation by wildfire, by the Bureau Of Land Management. This allowed us to begin, and complete a fuel mitigation process around many of your homes. The next step involves educating you all in the proper types of roofing materials to put on your houses and limiting wood shake use. The type and placement of your landscaping can do a lot to predict the Survivability  of your property. Traditionally we have all enjoyed the look of living in the mountains. This involves extensive tree placement for both shading and screening of adjoining properties. The Fire Department is faced with the challenge of placing limited resources on select properties to attain fire protection. We have found that properties that follow the Fire Wise landscape design criteria are far easier to defend than those properties where the mature landscaping has put large amounts of fuel contiguous to the hillsides and open space areas. All Landscapers in the region are aware of the guidelines in the Fire Wise program and can be consulted if requested.

Chimney Cleaning
Don't forget now is a good time to get that chimney checked and cleaned if necessary. The wrong time to have a chimney fire is when the chimney is loaded with flammable by products from the fires we all enjoy in the fall and winter months. The local chimney sweeps can access your situation and mitigate any problems prior to them getting out of hand.

Fire Department
As many of you know, the Sun Valley Fire Department has 2 Full Time administrative employees and 25 paid on call firefighters/emergency medical technicians. We are truly a Community Fire Department staffed by members of the Community to serve a Community we all care about deeply. New Members are always being interviewed for positions. Stop by or call Chief Jeff Carnes for more information. 622-8234.