The Burien / Normandy Park Fire Department has done a holiday outreach program for over 25 years, and Tuesday morning (Dec. 22nd), they set out with Santa in their shiny fire trucks to make their annual delivery to 59 local families in need.
Local firefighters receive family names from the Washington Department of Social and Health Services office, then provide each one with a nice turkey dinner as well as stuffing, pies and other assorted food.
Each family also receives several toys and gifts for each child, as well as gift cards to Fred Meyer for each teenager 13-17.
One hundred percent of all donations are returned to the community and all donations are distributed locally.
“Contributions were down a bit this year,” said Doug Leudeman of Fire District #2. “And while we had enough gifts to give out, we could certainly use more cash donations to help offset some of the costs.”
Cash donations are still being accepted at the Burien/Normandy Park Fire Department Headquarters Station, located at 15100 8th Ave SW; phone: (206) 242-2040; website: www.burienfire.org.
Photographer Michael Brunk was there to capture this Photo Slideshow:
by Fire District No. 2 commissioners voted at their Dec. 2 meeting to purchase the Bonney-Watson funeral chapel property at 900 SW 146th St. for a new fire station for the Burien/Normandy Park Fire Department.
All three commissioners were “advocates for the new site,” Fire Chief Mike Marrs told The B-Town Blog.
Marrs said earlier that once a property for the new fire station was acquired, “design and permitting will start in earnest around the first of the year.”
This timetable should permit construction to begin in December 2010 or January 2011, with the fire department moving into its new station about 12 months later.
Cameron Smock, president of CEO of B-W Memorial Corp., which owns this and other Bonney-Watson chapels in King County, said “the fire department approached us unsolicited” to inquire about purchasing this site.
B-W CEO Cameron Smock and Fire Chief Mike Marrs
“Bonney-Watson has been serving Burien for a long time, the fire department needed a location for its new station, and this seemed like the right thing to do for the community,” Smock noted.
Another reason they decided to sell is that, with their chapel and cemetery in SeaTac and a chapel in Federal Way, “we will continue to serve Burien.”
Fire District No. 2 and Bonney-Watson are expected to issue a joint press release about the purchase Friday morning (Dec. 4).
Voters in Fire District No. 2 approved a $25 million bond issue in November 2008 for construction of new downtown and Normandy Park fire stations. This includes property acquisition and equipping the stations.
Burien needs a new fire station to replace the outdated existing facility at the corner of SW 151st Street and 8th Ave South.
The new fire station will be at the current Bonney-Watson site at 900 SW 146th Street.
A top priority for the fire department has been a downtown location where response times will be no more than seven minutes anywhere in the district. In addition, a location near major arterials that provide direct access to State Route 509 was desired.
The location of the Bonney-Watson property meets both requirements, and also provides “plenty of on-site parking for us, even when station public meeting rooms are in use,” Marrs said.
Some Burien City Council members were concerned about a possible net loss of public parking when the fire district earlier considered another property in the downtown area.
The Normandy Park fire station at 135 S. Normandy Road will be built at that location. The existing station will remain in operation during construction.
Here’s a link to a PDF of the press release.
| Dec ’09 |
| 18 |
The Burien/Normandy Park Fire Department is seeking help for their annual “Light Up The Holidays” outreach program for needy families in the area.
Donations of food or toys are being accepted at the locations listed below through Dec. 18th.
All will go directly to needy families in the area.
Christmas Outreach Drop-off locations include:
- Burien Fire Department – 15100 8th Ave SW & 135 S Normandy Rd.
- North Highline Fire Department – 1243 SW 112th & 1606 S 128th
- Highline Medical Center – 16251 Sylvester Rd SW ∙ 12844 Military Rd S ∙ 13030 Military Rd S
- Burien Toyota – 15025 1st Ave S & 139 SW 150th
- Burien Chevrolet – 14400 1st Ave S
- Albertsons – 15840 1st Ave S & 12725 1st Ave S
- YB Tubless/Economy Wiring – 633 SW 148th
- Frenzi – 218 SW 153rd
- Boulevard Park Place Seniors Center – 2805 S 125th
- Curves – 17824 1st Ave S
- Breaktime – 635 SW 152nd
- Page 2 Books – 15706 1st Ave S
- Collins Chiropractic – 619 SW 152nd St.
- Dooley’s – 611SW 152nd St.
Christmas Outreach Sponsors include:
- Sylvester Middle School
- North Highline FD
- Highline Exchange Club
- Plush Pippin Pies
- Burien Town Square
- DSHS
- Burien/Normandy Park FD
| Sep ’09 |
| 12 |
| 10:00 am |
The Burien/Normandy Park Fire Department’s annual “Kids Day” is coming Saturday, Sept. 12th from 10am to 3pm and will feature firefighting demonstrations, apparatus showcase, games, prizes, fire prevention education and more.
Here are the details:
WHAT: Burien/Normandy Park Fire Deptartment’s Kids Day
WHEN: Saturday, Sept. 12th from 10am to 3pm
WHERE: Fire Station #2, located at 15100 8th Ave SW
COST: It’s FREE!
INFO: “Join us again this year at Burien’s annual Fire Department Kids’ Day. Last year, 1,000 kids attended our event which included:
- Display of fire engines, ladder truck, aid units, police vehicles, helicopter, etc.
- Auto extrication, high-angle rescue, and other demonstrations.
- Safety instruction for children (fire prevention, burns, electrical, railroad, fire escape practice, police fingerprint I.D.)
- Prize drawings, balloons, candy and hot dogs.
- Inflatable air toy, face painting, Smokey Bear, Mariner Moose, games, etc.
This event focuses on injury prevention, interesting displays and demonstrations, and most of all – FUN for everyone!”
by Janet Grella
Burien/Normandy Park Fire Department’s Lt. Inspector John Zilke is at it again!
As in years past, John is coordinating the very large and important Christmas Outreach Program in the Burien and White Center areas. Our very own Burien Fire Department (King County Fire District 2, Burien & Normandy Park) has been helping needy families during the holidays for over 20 years.
This translates to thousands of families enjoying a happy holiday because of Burien’s generosity.
This year, with the help of the White Center DSHS, 73 local needy families have been identified to be recipients of Burien’s largess. Thirteen local businesses have volunteered to be drop-off locations and are accepting NEW toys, canned food, gift cards and cash. Thanks to both our local Fred Meyer and your cash donations, each family will also receive a turkey dinner.
All donations must be made by the morning of December 22. Upon final collection, John and our firefighters match the gifts with the families’ needs at Sunnydale School, where they will be loaded up and delivered by Santa Claus and others on December 23.
To help out our fire department, eleven departments within Highline Medical Center have each adopted one family. Sylvester Middle School students and teachers will be conducting in-school food drives as part of this community effort.
Some of the toys and food delivered to the Burien Fire Department the first day of the outreach program. For locations on where you can donate, please see the list below.
John knows that this is a particularly tough year to ask for donations, but adds. “Your donations bring light to the holidays for a needy family.”
Following are the local businesses where you can donate to the Christmas Outreach Program:
- Albertson’s—15340 1st Ave S. & 12725 1st Ave S.
- Boulevard Park Place Seniors Community—2805 S. 125th
- Burien Fire Department—15100 8th Ave. SW & 135 S. Normandy Rd.
- Burien Chevrolet—1440 1st Ave S.
- Burien Toyota—15025 1st Ave S. & 139 SW 150th St.
- Collins Chiropractic—619 SW 152nd
- Curves—17824 1st Ave S.
- Dooley’s General Store—625 SW 152nd
- Frenzi—218 SW 153rd
- North Highline Fire Department—1243 SW 112th & 1606 S. 128th
- Highline Medical Center—16252 Sylvester Rd SW
- Highline Medical Center—Riverton Campus 12844 Military Rd. S, & 23030 Military Rd
- North Highline Fire Department—1243 SW 112th & 1606 S. 128th
- Red Apple Market—96th & Des Moines Memorial Dr.
- YB Tubless/Economy Wiring—633 SW 148th
