Well, the 2006 Summer Carnival has come and gone. It was an extremely sucessful event that for the second time was held on two weekends. We will hopefully have the carnival in 2007 during the same two week period, but we may be forced to move locations.

Our Annual Open House is coming up on October 15th, 2006 from 11 AM to 4 PM. Please bring your kids of all ages for a fun and educational experience. This year, we will have displays and demonstrations featuring many types of fire rescue services, police specialty units, a live rescue squad vehicle extrication demo (think "Jaws of Life"), and fun activities for all ages to participate in. Of course, you will be able to see, touch, and learn about all of our high-tech fire, rescue, and emergency medical services equipment, including our new Rescue Squad 15!

For the first time this year, there will be good food available free for all attendees courtesy of Carbeque, and we have some new kids' activities in store as well. Radio station WMZQ will be with us for a live broadcast and will have free Turkey Hill ice cream available. Come by and have a good time learning about fire safety and how the Burtonsville Volunteer Fire Department serves our community. Call 301-384-8058 if you have any questions.

We are currently holding our annual door-to-door Portrait Fundraiser. BVFD representatives are in your neighborhood going door to door asking for donations in exchange for a free portrait. These representatives will have a letter explaining the program that also has the station phone numbers. Each donar will be sent a postcard with the date and time that they should come to the station to have their picture taken. If you can't make the scheduled time, you may be able to come to any of the photo shoots. The first photo shoot is scheduled for Sunday, 10/29 from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. The showing for pictures taken on 10/29 will be on 11/12 from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Seibelšs Restaurant is once again sponsoring its annual Dine for Charity. For four weeks, September 14 through October 12, Seibelšs dining customers will be given a Charity Ballot with their bill. Each customer on every visit will have the opportunity to select the Burtonsville Volunteer Fire Department to receive a donation of 5% of the amount of the their bill. Seibelšs will post weekly results in the restaurant and on our website at seibelsrestaurant.com. Seibelšs is located at 15540 Old Columbia Pike in downtown Burtonsville.

We are pleased to announce the promotion of Kirk Risinger to Captain. Congratulations!

In late 2001 and early 2002, the BVFD set out to do what we could do to support the Nation in a time of need. We held three intersection collections at Route 198 and Route 29. The community in which we serve responded. With your help we have collected over $52,000. 100 % of that money will go to the families of the fallen New York City firefighters. We would like to thank those that helped make our collection such a success. We would also like to apologize for causing a traffic backup during rush hour, but please remember that there are thousands of people from New York that were far more inconvenienced than we are. Again, thanks.

The BVFD set a call record of over 4100 calls in 1999, and we ran at a slightly slower pace in 2000 with a little over 4000 runs. The BVFD is pleased to announce an upgrade of service to the Burtonsville area. We received paramedic unit staffing on the first of the year. We have moved from 5 day career firefighters to 6 daytime career members. Also we have received a new pumper to replace our old reserve pumper. It is a Pierce 1250 gpm dual stage pumper with a Dash 2000 cab with seating for 8.

And as always if you should any comments, suggestions, or constructive criticism, please, we invite you to email us. And always thank you for visiting our web site.