Since the “mishap”, my computer will only type the letter n as in nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn and it does it by itself. I guess it would be worse if it was actually typing out messages to me. Now I will need to figure out if it is cheaper to fix it or get a new one. In the meantime, I will only be online during the day- when I’m not in class. I will try to answer all emails within 24 hours.
This is week 3 of the semester, and today is the last day to withdraw from a class without having it appear on your transcript. If you need to adjust your schedule, do it TODAY- there are now penalties for too many Ws Fs & Ds (like the loss of priority registration!)
I want to thank those of you that called me during my office hours last week to introduce yourself. I do enjoy talking with you and learning more about you. I will be available this week Mon. 10-12; Wed 12-2 and Thurs 10-12. My number during that time is 714-564-6860.
I wanted to let you know that we have a new internship available with OCFA in their Fire Prevention Division for current SAC Fire Tech students. We will be accepting resumes and statements of interest until noon on Thursday Sept 13. Six (6)to Eight (8) candidates with be chosen by the Fire Tech Office, and sent on to OCFA to make the final selection to fill approximately 4 positions. Here is the official information:
The Planning & Development front counter position would provide a learning experience in dealing with a multitude of different types of customers who are submitting plans for fire code review. This position would involve waiting on those customers, answering their questions, answering busy phones and data entry. Additionally, they would assist our plan analysts, new construction inspectors and the assistant & deputy fire marshals. This position would provide some “real world” applications of Fire Code in a Plan Review & Inspection setting. Opportunities for riding with a “new construction” inspector or sitting with a plan review analyst will be provided on a when available basis. (THIS STATEMENT OUTLINES THE POSITION(S) FOR PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT SECTION)
The Planning and Development Services Section is working to improve customer service, section efficiency and impact on community risk. Staff is actively participating in Fire Prevention’s transformation to a risk-based focus in order to improve the ability to link resources with targeted community risks. The effort will have a positive impact on community safety once fully implemented over the next several years. Several key initiatives supported during the year include: Aligning Programs to Risk; Ready, Set, Go!; Smoke Alarm Program; and Cooking Fire Prevention Program. These projects and programs are either well into development and testing or in the case of the Smoke Alarm Program, already launched and implemented with ongoing staff support. (THIS STATEMENT OUTLINES THE POSITION THAT WOULD ASSIST WITH THE SMOKE ALARM PROGRAM 4-8 HRS/ WEEK)
Additional criteria applicable to both assignments:
• Good communication skills
• Flexible
• Wants to learn, experience new things
• Enthusiastic
• Understand that assignments may not always be exciting but we can promise them that their work will be valuable to OCFA and others.
Other evaluation criteria that we prefer:
• Any student referred to OCFA must provide a resume along with a statement outlining their interest and qualifications ( no more than 1 page)
• prefer students willing to provide us with a 2 semester commitment
• Second semester students are highly desired
• OK if bi-lingual, but not required ( let us know if they are via resume)
• Prefer fire prevention students (no problem if they have not had 1A/1B)
All resumes and interest statements should be emailed to me at firepreventiongeek@gmail.com with OCFA INTERNSHIP as the subject and documents (resume & statement of interest and qualifications attached as either .docx or .pdf (preferred). Emailed documents will be printed exactly as sent. (Make sure they are formatted properly! If I can’t open it, I can’t submit it!)
Selected students will also be required to complete an application and 30 min. orientation with SAC’s Service Learning Program. This is really a wonderful opportunity for anyone with an interest in Fire Prevention.
Other departments with internship opportunities in Fire Prevention include (this is by no means a complete list!)
• Garden Grove Fire Department http://www.ci.garden-grove.ca.us/?q=fire/getinvolved/intern
• The city of Orange Fire Department http://www.cityoforange.org/depts/fire/volunteer_opportunities/default.asp
• Anaheim http://www.anaheim.net/article.asp?id=754\
Almost all fire departments have CERT (Community Emergency Response Training) and/or Fire Corps. These are worth becoming a part of in your own community. Here are a few from around the county. You can do your own search by entering the name of the city followed by CERT.
• Garden Grove http://www.ci.garden-grove.ca.us/?q=fire/getinvolved
• Huntington Beach http://www.huntingtonbeachca.gov/government/departments/fire/cert/
• Costa Mesa http://www.costamesacert.org/
• San Clemente http://san-clemente.org/sc/standard.aspx?pageid=320
• Brea http://www.ci.brea.ca.us/article.cfm?id=2747
• OCFA Fire Corps http://agency.governmentjobs.com/ocfa/default.cfm?action=viewclassspec&ClassSpecID=861885
Some of you might be wondering about paying jobs…
• NASA is looking for an Assistant Fire Prevention Officer in Mountain View.
• Chapman University is hiring a Fire Safety Officer.
• A temp-hire Fire Alarm Inspector position is available in Cypress.
• The Garden Grove Fire Department is currently accepting interest cards for the position of firefighter and firefighter/paramedic.
For more jobs openings in the fire service, check out my twitter feed at www.twitter.com/fireprevgeek for the majority, some are also posted on my Facebook page www.facebook.com/firepreventiongeek.
That is it for today. I promise a second post this week to make up for last!
Remember: "Stop, Drop, and Roll" is not only an effective safety technique, but also a way out of a boring conversation"
Have a safe week!
-sf
