Come out and support the City of Decatur Fire Department as we celebrate our first 100 Facebook likes on our new page! We will be showing our appreciation for the community and our commitment to fitness by having a “100 Push-ups for 100 Likes” mini event twice tomorrow, July 28, 2016. Please show your support by attending and/or doing push-ups with us! The Fire Department will support you completing the 100 push-ups no matter how long it takes or how many sets it takes for you to get it done. Stop by station 1 (230 East Trinity place) tomorrow at one of the times below to show your support and celebrate fitness!
Please bring your family, and we will count mini-push-ups by your children as well! For more information, like us at facebook.com/decaturfireandrescue.
CSD students are headed back to school next Monday, August 1st. There will be more traffic to include vehicles, buses and big & little pedestrians and cyclists on main roads and neighborhood streets. Please plan on allowing more time for your commute and PLEASE slow down and pay extra attention as excited students head back to class. We will have additional officers on duty in and around the school zones to remind everyone school is back in session.
Reduced speeds for school zones are indicated by either flashing lights and/or signage with the times for the school zone posted. Flashing lights are not required or posted for every school zone.You must also obey the times indicated by signage posted for school zones.
Atlanta Public Schools will also start back Wednesday, August 3rd and DeKalb County Schools start back Monday, August 8th.
School starts on August 1st, so it’s a good time to make sure that the sidewalks adjacent to your home or property are clear and safe for little feet. Sidewalk that is overgrown with plants, or slippery leaves can create unsafe situations for pedestrians. Make sure to prune all plants to behind the edge of the sidewalk and make sure there is at least seven feet of clearance above so people don’t need to doge low branches.
If you have any questions, contact Decatur Public Works- 404-377-5571
Bike/ped access across E. Trinity Place has been restored!
As of today (7.21.16), bike/ped travelers from S. Candler Street (northbound) and the PATH trail (eastbound) can now safely cross E. Trinity Place. Likewise, bike/ped travelers coming from Barry Street-N. Candler Street – E. Howard Ave. can now safely cross E. Trinity near the Magnolia tree at E. Howard and E. Trinity Place.
Changes Will Continue
As many of you know, major storm drainage work is currently taking place on E. Trinity. As the project continues, the location of the bike/ped crossing on E. Trinity WILL shift. Changes will also come about due to the upcoming Candler Street Railroad Crossing Overhaul. Ultimately, the E. Trinity Place crossing will be in a different location. (Some may notice that the current location of the sidewalk ramp is close to a fire hydrant; this is temporary). For the same reasons, as the school year begins on August 1st, plans are underway to re-rout students away from this area.
Info
For more information, please contact the Design, Environment & Construction Division at 678.553.6570 or visit the City’s new website Decatur Makeover
How many times have you heard the old cliche, “It’s the little things.”?
While we certainly wish that life and death situations never happened to anyone, as firefighters we all secretly hope we are the one that’s there at that moment when the opportunity for “the big save” arises and there is no one else trained or willing to do it. We enter our careers imagining the feeling of purpose and value that we’ll get as we delicately extricate someone from a tragic motor vehicle collision, or successfully resuscitate a person from cardiac arrest. We train at rescuing people from their burning homes, once again hoping that the opportunity never arises, while thinking to ourselves “If it does, let it be me who carries the victim to safety.”
Gradually, we discover that we have it all backwards. Yes, we still want to be the one that is there in that life or death emergency. We want to know that we made the difference when it really mattered the most. But these moments are isolated instances. One day we all realize that we have a hundred opportunities every shift to make life a little better for someone when they need it.
For an eloquent example of this revelation, you can watch the following Ted Talk as volunteer firefighter Mark Bezos recounts his moment when he realizes “It’s the little things.”
At Decatur Fire and Rescue we can all relate to this speech because some things resonate profoundly in our minds as well…and they aren’t the big, dramatic emergencies that you see on tv and in the movies.
One call to a fire department required an assist to an elderly woman who had fallen beside her bed and couldn’t get up. After they helped her back into her bed, they stayed and talked with her a while to be sure she was ok. After a few moments, her eyes watered as she mentioned that tomorrow was her birthday and she had no one who would be visiting her, as well as an empty refrigerator. One of the great benefits of being a firefighter is knowing the resources in the community. The firefighters contacted a local not for profit organization who gladly put together a food package, a birthday cake and even a few gifts. The crew that day arrived at her door with the donations, singing “Happy Birthday.” Again, the elderly woman’s eyes watered, but this time it wasn’t from loneliness or hopelessness.
There was no fire, no twisted wreckage, no CPR performed, but the crew felt like they had just been fortunate enough to be where they were needed most.
It’s the little things.
And what’s really amazing is that you don’t even have to be a firefighter to save people. Everyone has countless opportunities every day to help someone when they need it. How many people do we interact with daily who just need a random act of kindness or a gesture of concern to remind them that they aren’t completely alone or forgotten? Probably more than we think.
One thing that is clear about Decatur is that there is a strong sense of community. The neighborhoods are close-knit and welcoming so that you get a sense that most people probably have a good support system and are doing ok. It’s important to remember that people can seem ok and still need that moment when someone makes them feel appreciated or valuable. When you see that big white Decatur Fire truck going down the road with all the dramatic lights and sirens, it’s possible it is on the way to make that save that they’ve trained for. But also remember that you are able to “save” people every day with those “acts of grace and courage” mentioned by Bezos. Even if it’s just by realizing that there’s always something you can do to make things a little better than you found them.
Join Planning Director Angela Threadgill, on Thursday, July 21 at 6:30 p.m. at Decatur Recreation Center, where she will discuss innovative housing options in Decatur. There have been many articles about “Missing Middle” housing – the gap between a single-family house and a multi-unit dwelling. This can also be the gap between an older resident continuing to live in Decatur or a young professional moving into Decatur. , will
Find out about whether you can build an ADU (Accessory Dwelling Unit – an additional small dwelling on a single-family lot) on your property. Learn about how a cottage court can provide a lower priced, smaller home option for someone who doesn’t want to purchase a large home. There will even be information on the popular Tiny Houses and on house-sharing (as the “Golden Girls” did on television).
This program is presented by the Lifelong Community Advisory Board. For more information about the Decatur for a Lifetime initiative or the board, contact leeann.harvey@decaturga.com or 678-553-6548.
We’ve launched a new website and communications program — dubbed “Extreme Makeover: Downtown Decatur Edition” — to keep residents informed and moving throughout an upcoming period of potentially disruptive construction projects.
Between streetscape overhauls, infrastructure repair, safety enhancements, and development projects, there’s a lot planned or in the works for the city’s downtown over the next 12 to 18 months. And much of it involves overlapping timelines, which amplifies the potential for inconvenience.
The new site is intended to give residents the tools they need to plan ahead and work their way around any disruptions.
From now until the list of planned projects is complete, DecaturMakeover.com will serve as the hub of a larger program to keep residents informed — offering timely, ongoing status updates, email and social media alerts, and overviews in the city’s Focus newsletter.
Over the past week, many of you have sent emails to the City Commission, the City Manager and Police Department staff providing your thoughts, prayers and support for our law enforcement officers; and, relaying your concerns about incidents of officer involved shootings happening throughout the United States; and, asking what the City of Decatur has done, and is doing, to support a diverse and engaged community, to minimize the opportunity for racial bias in City operations and to have a police department that is open and responsive to the needs of the entire community.
Our City is committed to providing a safe and welcoming environment for all people. Please know that we take this role very seriously and that the Decatur Police Department, as well as all of our employees, works hard to fulfill this commitment.
In 2014 the City of Decatur signed on to the Compassionate City movement and joined Welcoming America.
In 2015, with the input of over 800 community members, the City of Decatur completed the Better Together Community Action Plan that identified ways in which we could expand and improve on our community’s commitment to being open and welcoming to all people. Better Together is a citizen-led, government supported effort to build deeper connections, understanding and mutual respect throughout the Decatur community. A more comprehensive look at Better Together and how it furthers our goal of valuing diversity in all its forms can be found at www.decaturnext.com/category/better-together.
We have created a citizen-based Better Together Advisory Board and have received 32 statements of interest from the community which is the most we have ever received for any volunteer board or commission. Members will be appointed in the near future and we look forward to working with them to implement the rest of the plan.
The Decatur Police Department starts its efforts with being open and responsive with how it recruits for new employees. The Guiding Principle of the department is “Community Relations Officers who enforce the law.” Our printed material and advertisements are different because we want a different type of person to apply.
An example of a recruitment ad is shown to the right.
The Decatur Police Department has just completed a three-year strategic plan that solicited input from approximately 24 community focus groups. The core values of the department include Approachability, Integrity, Adaptability, Collaboration and Empathy. Eleven teams are working on implementation of the plan.
The Decatur Police Department command team has reviewed and analyzed the recommendations included in the “Task Force for 21st Century Policing Report” and has identified the items we currently comply with and are working towards achieving the others.
In November, 2014 all Decatur Police officers and the city’s management team completed a diversity program led by trainers from the Anti-Defamation League’s A World of Difference Institute (ADL.org). Beginning in 2015, Officers have participated in Critical Incident Team (CIT) training which focuses on providing officers with tools to interact with people in crisis situations brought on by mental illness or substance abuse. Currently 29 out of 42 officers (almost 70%) have been trained and the Department’s goal is to have all staff trained. As part of the current fiscal year 2016-2017 budget, funding for training all Police Department staff on fair and impartial policing has been approved. More information can be found at http://www.fairimpartialpolicing.com/.
I appreciated the comments of a local clergy who on Sunday suggested we find someone who is different from us and simply listen to them. Ask them to tell you more about what they believe- from their perspective. And that can help us begin to better understand and respect each other.
We in Decatur are becoming a more compassionate community through these actions and I would ask each of you to join me in creating an even Better Community, Together.
If you have been anywhere near 421 West Trinity place, you may have noticed a lot of activity recently.
Because of the nature of firefighting, training can be messy, destructive and sometimes dangerous- not exactly the type of thing that most people would invite into their house. Thankfully, the Decatur Housing Authority understands the need for realistic training and the difficulty of finding a venue. When buildings are scheduled for destruction, they are sometimes donated for this purpose.
Some of the skills that were honed at this location included forcible entry, breaching walls, vertical and horizontal ventilation, hoseline operations and structural fire control tactics. Utilizing an actual building provides firefighters with a scenario that is as close to an emergency scene as possible, which gives them insight and muscle memory that can help them to save lives when they face that 3 a.m. structure fire, or save their own lives if things go from bad to worse. Click here to see a brief video of firefighter Michael Soto extending a hoseline to the second floor of a fire attack scenario.
Firefighter Justin Sardine expressed his thoughts about why training is so important to the personnel of the City of Decatur Fire and Rescue with just a few words…”You don’t get a second try in most emergency situations. Quality has to be our most important product.”
Thursday, July 14, Astra Grading and Pipe is scheduled to begin traffic control and temporary vehicle lane changes on East Trinity Place. The east bound lane on the north side of East Trinity will be closed for construction between Fire Station No. 1 and North Candler Street.
Next week- Astra will start excavating the existing drainage structure on East Trinity at the alley between Fire Station No. 1 and Phillips Tower and will begin installing new storm drainage pipe in an easterly direction towards North Candler Street.
Two-way vehicle traffic, pedestrian and driveway access generally will be maintained during the work.
push-ups with us! The Fire Department will support you completing the 100 push-ups no matter how long it takes or how many sets it takes for you to get it done. Stop by station 1 (230 East Trinity place) tomorrow at one of the times below to show your support and celebrate fitness!
