Board Meeting Update - August 2021
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
Assistant Fire Marshal Tom Strong is August's Member Spotlight.
Tom (pictured left) began working with the County of San Bernardino in 1989 when he joined the Sheriff’s Department. In 1996, Tom began his fire service career.
Most recently, Tom was instrumental in developing a new fireworks interdiction program and a Damage Assessment program. The Damage Assessment program received the 2020 Achievement Award from the National Association of Counties (NACO) in Information Technology. The Fireworks Reporter program received the 2021 Achievement Award from the National Association of Counties (NACO) in Criminal Justice and Public Safety.
The Damage Assessment program is an all-risk damage collector. Prior to the use of this new program the methodology included a mixture of paper and electronic damage assessment surveys. The new program is an all-electronic survey and retrieves property information directly from the county assessors Property Information Management System. The new system has successfully been used on multiple incidents including wildland fires, civil unrest, earthquakes, storms and wind events.
The fireworks interdiction program allows residents to report illegal fireworks 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
With the help of the program, the Office of the Fire Marshal is now able to more effectively mobilize personnel to heavy use areas and provide law enforcement patrols to those areas.
Congratulations Tom and thank you for your service to our community.
Assistant Fire Marshall Tom Strong on scene at 2016 Blue Cut Fire.
Assistant Fire Marshall Tom Strong presents to the Twentynine Palms City Council on how technology is helping the San Bernardino County Fire Protection District.
In this month's President's Message, Grant Ward covers yesterday's meeting with Sheriff Dicus, an Alameda Decision update, SEBA's upcoming General Membership Meeting and this month's Member Spotlight.
SEARCHING FOR SMITHSON
Last month we previewed an upcoming film about fallen Deputy Sheriff William Smithson who was shot and killed October 20, 1907, as he attempted to arrest a man in Daggett. Up until now, no photos of Deputy Smithson have been found. In an attempt to honor our fallen deputy and his family, Media Production Manager Chris Lee went in search of a photo.
Thank you to everybody who reached out to us with information regarding a possible photo. As of today, we are still actively searching for a photo. If you have any information regarding a photo of Deputy Smithson, please contact Chris Lee at clee@seba.biz.
For those of you who would like to share the video, here is a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0mMDm6LiOE&t=17s
