Colusa FD personnel go 'above and beyond' for the holidays

Dec. 27—The Colusa Fire Department and the volunteers of the Colusa Firefighter's Association were extremely busy this holiday season, handling not only daily emergencies, but also facilitating the annual weeklong "Santa on Wheels" event and a semi-annual pancake breakfast at the firehouse.

"Our 'Santa on Wheels' event was a hit and the pancake breakfast was the perfect finishing touch," said Colusa Fire Department Captain Dave Avera.

For over a decade, the Colusa Fire Department has been teaming up with Santa to host a weeklong excursion around town to hand out candy canes to the community during the holiday season. This year's event was held Dec. 12-16. The department goes all out for the event each year, decorating an engine with hundreds of lights, reindeer, wreaths, holiday music and other festive decorations and the engine is joined by a procession of four wheelers and other emergency vehicles as they escort Santa around town.

Santa's annual trip through the streets of Colusa gives children the opportunity to meet the big man himself as well as the several department personnel and volunteers that make the event happen each year.

Avera said this year the department decided that the pancake breakfast would be a great way to finish out the month of December and moved the event, which usually takes place in November, to Dec. 18.

"We rearranged the timing of the pancake breakfast event to follow our 'Santa on Wheels' event this year because we noticed that there were families who were not able to be home when we paraded down their street last year," said Avera.

The department left all of the lights on the engine and sleigh for the pancake breakfast, said Avera, and had it onsite at the station when attendees showed up to eat.

"We also had Santa available to allow the kids to have one last opportunity to see him, get a candy cane, and take a photo if they wished," said Avera.

Per tradition, the pancake breakfast was an all-you-can-eat meal offered without a set ticket price. Instead, the station only accepted donations in any amount as the cost of admission and all of the donations go right back into services offered by the Colusa Firefighter's Association.

"The donations that we received will continue to support the volunteer staff with needs such as equipment and training costs," said Avera. "Donations support our Smoke Alarm Program for senior citizens within the community. Also, a portion of the proceeds will go to our new(est) program 'The Cinderella Project' and our ongoing scholarship program for seniors looking to pursue a career in fire and EMS."

The breakfast tradition is more than four decades old but was lost for a few years due to time constraints and scheduling conflicts. Fire personnel brought the tradition back in March 2020, just days before everything shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Avera said there was great community attendance at the breakfast this year and about 250 pancakes and 15 pounds of sausage were served.

"As always, this breakfast was a great way to give back to the community and also shows us how much the community is involved in keeping events such as these going," said Avera. "We would like to thank all who participated and enjoyed seeing our community members there."

Avera said these community events are important to the Colusa Fire Department because they provide personnel with an opportunity to interact and support their community outside of their normal working shift cycle.

"It gives us a chance to give back to our community in a positive, upbeat way and allows us an avenue to go above and beyond what is required as a fire department," said Avera.

According to Avera, both the "Santa on Wheels" event and the semi-annual breakfast are made possible each year through generous donations from the community.

"We would like to give a special thanks to Superior Tire, Caffeinated, Rocco's, Jameson's on 5th, Greenceuticals, Davies Oil, Sav-Mor foods, Colusa Industrial Properties, Robert Cardenez Family, Daniel Vaca, Billy Mark, and the Yerxa family for your generous donations to Santa on Wheels this year," read a statement issued by the department. "Please keep in mind to support these businesses as they have supported our efforts in keeping our programs up and running. ... Last but not least, a very special thanks to newly elected City Council members Julie Garofalo and Ryan Cordinez for donating your time every night during this event. Your willingness to serve the community has been made known."

According to Avera, the department also received donations this year from Greenceuticals for the main supplies of the pancake breakfast. Additionally, Reading Oil filled all of the propane tanks for the griddles and Sav-Mor Foods provided all of the milk, orange juice and coffee for the feast.

Avera said the department has several other events planned in the coming months, including a a rib cook-off in March, a pancake breakfast fundraiser in conjunction with Friends Around the Block event that also takes place in March and a boot drive sometime in the spring in conjunction with the Class of 2023 parent group to raise money for Colusa High School's sober grad night.

For more information, visit colusafirefightersassociation.com.