Many people may not know that I have been affected by the risk of fire at least four times in my life. My mother’s home was destroyed by fire in 2016 which prompted her, my brother, and my nephew to move in with us for months. Even more unfortunate, my mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and was lost just a few months thereafter, and never got back into her house again.
In addition, three times while living on base in New York City’s Governors Island, the apartment across the hall from us on the top floor (the 11th) had a pyromaniac little girl who caused emergency evacuations and running down the stairs (usually at night), only to return back to find holes in our walls from firemen’s axes and the stench of burned drywall. It’s no wonder I’m very on edge about the risk of fire, even with my own daughter during her teenage years between candles and hot combs, with which we had some close calls. There were even a few times where fire extinguishers were needed in my own kitchen when two different friends in different incidents caused fires that could have gone out of control.
I’ve been living in Glen Cove for over a year at this point, but after more than 11 years without this area having adequate fire protection despite literally being in a cove with few arteries of traffic in and out, we had the grand re-opening of Fire Station #26 officially take place on Saturday, November 6, 2021! This was personal to me, particularly given the armageddon-like fire seasons we’ve had of late with surreal orange skies that were well-documented in the region.
Make sure to check out the website of the Glen Cove Community Association, which I’m on the Board of, at this site!
GCCA lobbied hard to make sure we got this re-opened with many others and me speaking at a City Council meeting. Citizens of Vallejo also sent hundreds of emails to the Mayor and City Council, some with a boilerplate hyperlink I developed creating an email with all pertinent addresses and relevant content to let the Council know how welcome this Fire Station would be to re-open in our area. It serves not just Glen Cove, but South Vallejo and other adjoining areas for a faster response time to our underserved but high-risk fire area. This fire station’s presence even alleviates the demand from Benicia’s fire department.
