It's Not a Fire, It's a Parade

North Bay fire departments and members of emergency response agencies will rev up and roll through Sonoma and Marin counties on Wednesday, May 23, for the 15th annual North Bay Firefighter Burn Relay, a benefit for the Alisa Ann Ruch Burn Foundation.

With an escort from the California Highway Patrol, a parade of trucks will roll into Petaluma just after noon, at about 12:05 p.m., for a 15 minute stop before heading south to Novato.

If your kids are available to join you, it should be an interesting noon-hour break, with both antique and modern emergency vehicles on display at the D and 2nd street station.

The annual fundraising parade will begin at Healdsburg Fire Department at 8 a.m. and make its way through down to the Southern Marin Fire Station 1 in Sausalito, arriving there at 5:35 p.m.

Along the relay route, off-duty firefighters will collect donations raised by fire and public safety agencies through annual community events such as golf tournaments, pancake breakfasts and spaghetti dinners and then formally present the funds to the Alisa Ann Ruch Burn Foundation.

Funds raised provide services to burn survivors and support burn prevention education programs. In honor of the 15th year of the relay, each participant will be recognized for the continued commitment to furthering the mission of the AARBF.

The Alisa Ann Ruch Burn Foundation (AARBF) is a California-based nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing burns and fires and providing services to those who have been affected by a burn injury. AARBF brings together health care providers, firefighters, emergency workers, burn care professionals, burn survivors and others to enhance the quality of life for burn survivors and to make burn injuries a thing of the past.

The foundation is named for Alisa Ann Ruch, an 8-year old girl who was fatally injured in a backyard barbecue accident in Southern California in 1971.

To learn more about the foundation, check www.aarbf.org.