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Colder Weather Coming
Hi everyone,
Just a quick note ahead of what appears to be colder weather coming in this week and we have a lot of new people looking at their first winter in Walker.
It is very important to get your chimney swept or to do it yourself. This becomes a fire hazard if left unattended too long and “too long” can be a little sooner than you might intuitively think.
If your cabin’s plumbing requires winterizing and you haven’t done that yet, we’d suggest getting that taken care of.
We’re seeing mixed weather reports about whether it might snow a little bit this week. We have no idea of course but when the snow starts and begins to accumulate, the roads become surprisingly treacherous. Please drive slower than you think you need to and be on the lookout for people coming up from town or even Phoenix to play in the snow. These sorts of visitors have been the cause of many winter accidents in our area.
Also related to snow, make use of the crushed lava cinders behind the station and at the intersection of Walker Rd and Snow Drift Mine Rd. The cinders are a huge difference maker for improved traction for both vehicles and pedestrians.
One last suggestion is to have crampons or some other type of cleat to put on your shoes. When snow has been driven on here and gets compacted it is very easy to slip and fall. That sort of ground level fall can be very serious.
Thank you and stay safe,
Roger Nusbaum
Fire Chief
Walker Fire Protection Association
Winter Checklist Follow Up
The other day we put out some things to think about for this winter in the event of a very snowy winter. We had some folks send in more suggestions which we wanted to share. If you have other suggestions feel free to comment on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/walkerfiredept/:
1. Get a week or two ahead on any prescriptions you take
2. Have extra food and drinking water on hand
3. If you have water tank, make sure to get it filled b4 any forecasted snow storms
4. Ditto propane
5. Extra gasoline if that’s the type of generator you have
6. A cheap sled for groceries in case you can’t park at your house
7. Get a new snow shovel or two
8. Get crampons for shoes, ground level falls are serious and cheap crampons are as low as $15 on Amazon
Roger Nusbaum
Fire Chief
Thinking About Winter in August
August might seem early to start thinking about winter but with so many new people in the area, we wanted to promote increased awareness of some of the challenges to being up here full time in the winter, especially when there’s a lot of snow on the ground.
Speaking of snow, here’s a fun one from The Old Farmer’s Almanac: “If ant hills are high in July, the coming winter will be hard.” At my house and on trails we hike, we’ve seen some pretty big ant hills. It’ll be interesting to see if that idiom turns out to be correct but if it is correct and we do get a heavy snow this winter, we want to remind people that the roads here become very difficult to drive on. Safety requires driving much slower than you’d intuitively think. We strongly recommend chains. This is especially important because we get a lot of people coming here to see or play in the snow which creates more traffic and more chances of encountering someone coming the opposite way who learns at the wrong time that they can’t stop their vehicle.
The county has historically provided crushed lava cinders left in piles in a few places around Walker including behind the firehouse and at the intersection of Walker Rd and Snow Drift Mine Rd. Using cinders will greatly improve traction on your driveway or dicey spots on the road near you. Just down the hill from Mary May on Sheldon Rd is a notoriously difficult spot for example.
Many of us live on roads that are not county maintained so we need to plow them ourselves or have someone plow for us. The fire department will of course attempt to respond to all calls but we can’t set the expectation that we’ll be able to drive through deep, unplowed snow. Most of the full-time resident firefighters have snowshoes and we’ll use them but walking ¼ of a mile or more, wearing snowshoes and carrying medical equipment won’t be quick.
Finally, the power tends to go out in large storms. A few years ago, it was out for a week. If you rely on medical equipment in your home, please don’t wait for the snow to accumulate and the power to then go out. Heed the warnings that we will share via our Facebook page and go stay at a hotel or with friends in town.
Thank you,
Roger Nusbaum
Fire Chief
Agenda for the 07/12/14 BOD Meeting
The upcoming Walker Board of Directors Meeting Agenda can be viewed at the following link:
Successful Walker Day
Hello my fellow Walkerites,
Cheers to another successful Walker Day. Walker Day is a great time for renewing friendships, making new friends and swapping mountain stories, (that usually end with “and we just barely made it out alive”). We title Walker Day as “A fund raiser”, but, it’s really a community celebration or pseudo block party. Every dollar we get in is just a bonus.
Special thanks to all the usual suspects that automatically show up to lend a big hand at virtually ALL these events. We also had a good number of new faces helping as well. I believe we served 250 lunches, pulled in $1300 from donated yard sale and silent auction items, over $1000 in merchandise sales and $167 form the 50/50 raffle. This year, we added a small art fair in the park that raised around $400.
I’d like to personally thank this years community sponsors like Gene Tomek for once again donating all the food, Conrad Walton for donating all the soft drinks under his company sponsorship, “survivor.com”, and the Walker Community Church for donating all the water, (they meet every Sunday off Sunday School Rd). Corporate sponsors were Trader Joe, Walmart, Fry’s, and Costco. They always give $25-$50 for miscellaneous supplies. And as always, thanks to the “Guys With Day Jobs” for providing the music!
We will soon set a date for next years Walker Day so you can mark it on your calendars. Hope to see you all again next year.
John Ohanesian
Walker Day Chairman
Bylaw Committee 2014-15
The WFPA is reorganizing the bylaws review committee. Victoria Morhous has agreed to Chair this effort and WFPA Board Member Steve MacIntosh will also be on the committee. They would like to have anyone interested in participating on the committee contact them no later than July 12,2014. Carla Keegan and Tim McFarland have already joined the committee. The first meeting will be July 17. at 9 AM at the Walker fire station conference room.
The charter for the committee from the WFPA Board is to identify confusing and/or conflicting language in the Bylaws (such as the address change made by Yavapai County)
The process will be:
The committee will make recommendation for corrections/changes to the Bylaws to the WFPA Board.
The Board will make any adjustments it thinks are necessary and the proposed changes will be published to the WFPA email list and made available on the WFPA Web site.
WFPA Members will make suggestions about the language in the proposed changes.
The Committee will review the suggested changes make any changes necessary and forward the new proposal to the BOD and the revised product will again be sent the Membership for review.
If the BOD approves the proposed changes the issue will be placed on the ballot for the annual meeting.
Again, anyone interested in participating in this process as a committee member should contact Victoria Morhous at (928) 443-7406 (vamorhous@gmail.com) or Steve MacIntosh at (623) 434-6924 (smacintosh@q.com)
Neighbors Helping Neighbors a Walker Tradition Continues
The Web Master received the following note of appreciation for a good deed done one for him by an unknown neighbor.
I would like to offer a public thank you to whoever found my keys and hung them on a tree with a ribbon on Sheldon Rd. You are also free to phone me at 928-443-8871 if you like.
Thanks much!
John Pickett
Walker Day
Hey Folks,
Walker Day community celebration and fund raiser is this Saturday. The yard sale and art show starts at 9am and Walker Day goes from 11am-2pm. If you still have yard sale items to donate you can bring them to the fire station Friday after 5pm or Saturday after 7am. Please bring along your favorite lawn chair for added comfort.
Hope to see ya’ll there.
John Ohanesian
Walker Day Chairman
928-445-8358
BINGO
BINGO AT THE WALKER FIREHOUSE
THIS SATURDAY JUNE 21ST
4:00 P.M. UNTIL 7:00 P.M.
BRING A FINGER FOOD DISH TO SHARE
LOTS OF MONEY TO BE WON
LOT’S OF FUN TO BE HAD
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC -BRING SOMEONE WITH YOU
SEE YOU SATURDAY
Walker Day
Hey Walker folks,
Thanks for the great support for Walker Day. I have 8 new volunteers and the Conrad family has sponsored the beverages under their business name, “SURVIVOR.COM”, (emergency preparation food and supplies).
Check it out!
I am still looking for more cool “stuff” for the yard sale, (no more big, dirty couches or old TV’s PLEASE).
Feel free to bring it down to the station Friday the 27th after 5pm or early Saturday am.
Hope to see ya’ll and your friends at Walker Day.
Thanks much!
John Ohanesian
Chairman, Walker Day
445-8358
john_ohanesian@yahoo.com