Erik Padilla: 10 Years of Service

This year marks Erik Padilla's 10th year of service to the Northern Sonoma County Fire Protection District. Padilla joined the District in 2015 as a volunteer firefighter after attending a blood drive at the Geyserville Fire Station. After a tour of the fire station, he decided that he wanted to help others during a disaster instead of "sitting on a couch", and the rest is history.

Padilla's favorite part of the job is the people he works with and the community he serves. His prior background in hospitality has served him well; he is always striving to provide the highest level of service to the community.

Saving lives has been the highlight of Padilla’s fire career. He has saved three lives using CPR, and pulled a live victim from a burning building, an experience he describes as “surreal”. Structure defense and evacuations during the first night of the Kincade and Dixie Fires were “pretty wild” experiences for him. Also noteworthy, though less dramatic, is his experience of teaching first aid and CPR to community members. The opportunity to pass along life-saving knowledge has been extremely rewarding for Padilla.

In his ten years of service, Padilla has seen a lot of change. Specifically, he noted the following:

• Staffing levels have increased significantly; when he started, the District was frequently staffed with only one paid firefighter. Volunteers and seasonal employees supplemented the paid staff as needed.
• Vegetation management, including the formation of the Fuels Crew.
• The District has doubled in geographic size (area covered).
• He has seen a significant shift in the community’s attitude toward emergency preparedness. Since the Tubbs Fire, the community has wholeheartedly embraced preparedness and is engaged at all levels.

Padilla now holds the rank of Engineer and is looking forward to the next ten years. He is proud to have been with the District during one of its biggest periods of growth and is excited to be part of the changes to come.

Water Tanks

The County of Sonoma provides water to approximately 340 residents of Fitch Mountain. This water system includes 43 fire hydrants and 100,000 gallon redwood water tanks. The redwood tanks provide water storage and supply pressure to the  hydrants.

The County of Sonoma has contracted with the District for the Fuels Crew to clear vegetation around the hydrants and water tanks and for firefighters to ensure the fire hydrants are operational. Both these actions help ensure that these critical fire response resources remain viable during a fire emergency.

Blood Drive Results

Many thanks to all the community members who contributed to our January blood drive, and a very special thank you to Sharon Pillsbury and her mother for providing baked goods to the donors! We had 40 scheduled donors, 45 registered donors, 41 procedures (which included 6 first timers) and 4 deferrals. We collected 28 Whole Blood, 11 2RBCs and 2 RBC/Plasma. A total of 53 lifesaving units were collected.  Stay tuned for more information about another blood drive on March 9th.

New CPR and First Aid Schedule Released

The 2025 CPR and First Aid class schedule and sign up sheet is now available on our website, on the CPR and First Aid Training webpage. There is no fee for these classes! These are classroom based courses that include skills practice intended for general knowledge. All attendees of the First Aid class will now receive a free first aid kit (shown here).