Crime & Safety

Pleasanton Military Families 'Show the Love' to Firefighters

Volunteers dropped off trays of treats throughout Livermore and Pleasanton as their way of showing their appreciation.

Volunteers from the Pleasanton Military Families organization spent a hot summer day in June delivering cookies and certificates to firehouses in Livermore and Pleasanton to "show the love" to firefighters. On June 2, nine women, with more than ten trays of treats, set out to eleven firehouses to drop their baked goods and say thank you for the service the firefighters provide to the community. Click here to see the slideshow.

Read about the volunteers' day in their own words:

Thank you to everyone who participated in helping PMF show the love to our Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Dept.  All the bakers delivered their treats to Susan and Fay Thomas' house  Friday and Saturday morning.  At 1130 a.m.  we friends and family of PMF created the 10 heaping full trays  of treats.  We had enough cookies left to fill up four more smaller trays too. (We decided to send the biggest extra tray to Hayward Fire Dept.  Mama Barb Daggett has a deployed marine son and two Hayward fire fighter sons.) 

Our plan was to visit all 10 stations to deliver the cookies with a certificate of appreciation.  Five stations in Pleasanton, five stations in Livermore. We mapped out the route.... a few different times! A group of 9 of us started delivering the trays about 1245. After a while we were down to 7  gals- it took much longer than we thought as it was awfully hot and some of the fire stations were empty.  That was disappointing. They were either out on calls or doing training. We pressed on.... after 7 stations and lunch at Carl's Jrs we were down to 4 delivery girls.  We asked the station we were at the call the next stations to see if they were there.  With no guarantee they would still be there, we carried on.  Some of the firemen answered the doors right away, expecting us.  Others opened the doors slowly- a little nervous about what the heck we were doing there! We managed to push our way into the TV room or kitchen to talk to the guys for a few minutes and do our presentation.

As we were approaching one station in Livermore, we saw them going out on a call and Sherry snapped their picture.  Nobody home at that station so we pressed on. 

We finished up the first round of visits at the Ruby Hills Fire Station.  Those guys called ahead to see if the  Stoneridge station guys were back.  They were, so we were off again. When we got there, they were busy cooking a dinner.  It was a "Dinner at the Firehouse" raffle prize  a group had won and the "guests" were due in 30 minutes.  We asked what happens if you get a call while you're serving dinner?  They all said, "We leave."  The guests know that is part of the deal.  Well, at least cookies for dessert  were covered!

Since Sherry and I were heading home to Livermore, we decided to give the Cordoba St Station off Concannon one more try.  They were home and they had the back door open. We arrived as they  were cooking dinner for themselves, bbq going... We started our presentation and dang if they didn't called out again!!  They turned off dinner, Sherry snapped a quick pix before they jumped on the truck and they were off!  

We did it. Mission accomplished and lots of happy people. It was a fun, hot, fulfilling day and we all had a good time.

THINGS WE LEARNED:


1. The difference between a fire truck and a fire engine.
2. Every station we went to, at least two of the four or five guys had been to at least one of our homecomings. There were lots of familiar faces.  
3. Stations 3 on Santa Rita is the oldest working station in Pleasanton AND it has the coolest kitchen and dining room table and chairs of all the stations.
4. Station 3 has a Wolf Range that is embellished with old fire engine parts.
5. Most fire stations have three big refrigerators.
6. Each team has its own refrigerator. 
7. Ice cream in any refrigerator is fair game for any team.
8. The Cordoba St. Station has a kitchen smaller than the one in my first apartment. I'm not sure it could fit one refrigerator, let alone three.
9. Fire Stations don't have an obvious front door. We knocked and peeked in windows everywhere!
10. If there is an empty bay at the station, it's likely no one is there to answer the door- wherever it is...
11. None of the stations have dalmations, but the Ruby Hill station does have a dog water bowl outside.
12. Dalmations were used to guard the barn and keep the horses calm.
13. LPFD doesn't have any horses.
14. Firemen like recliners.
15. Firemen keep the stations dark inside the living quarters. We thought it was to keep things cooler, but they said it's because they don't want to see each other!
16. East Ave station has a light bulb that has been burning for 112 years.
17. The light bulb has it's own Webcam and website!  www.centennialbulb.org
18. The light bulb has it's own children's books written about it available on Amazon.
19. The Ruby Hills station has the best view for scenery.
20. PMF ladies had the best view for looking at firemen.
21.  Fire fighters are a handsome group of guys!!
22. We are all lucky to live in this wonderful place.


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