By Omar Aguilar
Firefighters have long been recognized as honorable
community members with the unwavering duty to
serve those in need of help; many of us became
firefighters because of these reasons. We often live
where we work, and we serve our communities proudly. The community
members hold us to a high standard and we strive to maintain the great
relationship we have established. We have earned this status through
years of excellent service and through outreach programs such as the
Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) Fill the Boot drive (FTB).
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Community outreach programs with non-profit organizations allow us the
very special opportunity to connect with the communities we serve at a
basic level. This July event in Victorville gave us the chance to not only re-
connect with old friends, but also make new ones, including Terri Relf from
the Mall of Victor Valley and Big 5 Sporting Goods store. The old friends
included the Bohanon-Mullett family and Victorville city council member
Eric Negrete. No matter what the political climate is in the city, your San
Bernardino County firefighters will continue to connect with you through
events likes these.
years of working with the MDA I have seen
many children thrive during summer camp and
making lifelong friends. MDA also supports
these families with no-cost medical supplies.
With 15 firefighters participating over two days,
we raised over $14,000. We want the community
of Victorville to know we appreciate them and
we will continue to stand with them even if
some city officials choose to lead them astray.
The bonds made through public outreach
events such as the MDA FTB are unbreakable.
We look forward to providing ongoing excellent service to our Victorville
community by outreaching to its members through programs such as these.
Omar Aguilar is an engineer from Station 164 in Upland. He has been active
with the MDA for years, organizing fund drives in multiple locations across
County Fire’s jurisdictions.
Our partnership with the MDA provides us with the opportunity to serve
our communities by fundraising for families in need of support. This
support comes in many forms. Imagine being a young married couple
hoping to start a family, but month after month and year after year not
being able to. You try, you pray, and visit with doctors, only to be met with
more questions than when you began. One day you find out your prayers
have been answered and you have a miracle baby. Some time goes by and
you notice your baby is having trouble moving, eating or breathing. You
find out after extensive testing that your child has a form of Muscular
Dystrophy, and the all too familiar sequence of questions being again. How
did this happen? What can we do to help our child? Where can I go for help?
This story is lived by many families in the communities we serve. The
MDA has been there for the families in need—for the families with endless
questions about the disease. Care from the MDA comes from support
groups for parents trying to find a path through the chaos. Another
powerful method of support comes from the MDA Summer Camp. In my
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FIREWIRE • Summer 2018
San Bernardino Regional Emergency Training Center (SBRETC) training programs are designed to expose students
to “real” life training exercises. Training is based on previous incidences, frequent and common occurrences.
Training is conducted through the conveyance of theory (classroom), controlled scenario based manipulative
exercises (hands-on) and often under “live” fire conditions with real life responses and mitigation expectations.
Summer 2018 • FIREWIRE
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