The Fremont Fire Department and Fremont Police Department recently received donations from the Arbor Vitae Chapter 92 Order of the Eastern Star.
Arbor Vitae Chapter 92 Worthy Matron Mollie Brown, and Worthy Patron Todd Hochstein, presented the police department with $5,000 to bring law enforcement trainer and speaker Phil Chalmers to Fremont. They also donated $50,000 to the fire department to assist with the purchase of thermal
hand imagers and extrication and rescue tools.
“Arbor Vitae Chapter 92, Order of the Eastern Star is a philanthropic organization and it was our wish to help our community and leave a legacy,” Brown said.
Fremont Police Sergeant John Gieselman reached out to the Arbor Vitae Chapter 92 with a goal of collaborating to bring speaker Chalmers to Fremont and promote proactive emergency and disaster planning. Gieselman has attended past presentations by Chalmers
Giesselman said Chalmers is “very informative when it comes to educating police, school officials, probation officers, and others who are working in the criminal justice system.”
The fire department will be using the donation to replace thermal imagers that are more than 10 years old and add extrication and rescue tools to its ambulances.
“These replacements will come at a good time,” Fremont Fire Chief Todd Bernt said. “Thermal imagers are vital to civilian and firefighter safety. Thermal imagers allow us to see through smoke which helps firefighters safely navigate through the structure. ”
Currently, one of the city’s fire engines is outfitted with extrication and rescue tools. The Arbor Vitae donation will allow the fire department to add the tools to its frontline ambulances.
“Additional extrication and rescue tools will allow our first responders to start extrication immediately when needed,” Bernt said. “This will be a great help.”
