CPF Local Steps Up to Preserve Important Fire Safety Resource
Firenuggets.com began in 2000 as one of the first magazines for firefighters on the worldwide web. Its founders and publishers wanted to share valuable nuggets of information with the primary goal of keeping firefighters safe. Fire Nuggets has remained a non-profit organization in spirit and action, providing accessible, high-quality and low-cost educational opportunities to everyone in the fire service.
However, running a website is costly and it quickly became clear that a funding source was needed to keep the website alive. So Fire Nuggets began hosting seminars and using the revenue to maintain the website. The seminars kept the site afloat, but as the economy went downhill in recent years, attendance waned and its fate was sealed in 2012 when almost all of the scheduled seminars had to be cancelled and the website was eventually closed.
Members of the Berkeley Fire Fighters Association Local 1227 quickly sprung into action when they learned of the website’s closure and developed a proposal to transition management of firenuggets.com to Local 1227.
“A lot of us grew up in the fire service reading articles on Fire Nuggets and attending the seminars, and we didn’t want such a valuable resource to go by the wayside,” said David Sprague, Secretary of the Berkeley Fire Fighters Association Local 1227. “Fire Nuggets was founded and run by guys from Bay Area locals, not for profit, and has always been active and consistent in creating training opportunities for all members of the fire service.”
At its peak, Fire Nuggets enjoyed about 800,000 views per month, reaching more than 100 countries, and it has continued to receive new members every day since closing in January 2013. The website statistics also reflect consistent viewing of all the existing content by firefighters throughout the United States and in 100 countries world-wide.
Local 1227 is committed to the “by firefighters, for firefighters” reputation at the heart of Fire Nuggets. Local 1227 intends to continue the great legacy of low to no-cost training, education and information sharing that has been beneficial to so many since its inception in 2000. Local 1227 believes that the sharing of information between members of the fire service has never been more vital and that Fire Nuggets plays an important role in that endeavor.
Needless to say, Local 1227 is ready to take firenuggets.com to the next level. According to Sprague, “we will be upgrading the technology, archiving current and future articles to make them more easily searchable, incorporating a fresh new multimedia format, integrating video into the website and we have a couple other new ideas up our sleeve.” With the newly improved website, Local 1227 hopes to expand the community that supports firenuggets.com and to engage as many members of the firefighting community as possible.
The website is scheduled to re-launch in January of 2014. You can follow firenuggets on Twitter (@firenuggetscom) and like them on Facebook (facebook.com/firenuggets). Should you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or if you would like to make a donation to support the organization you may contact David Sprague, Secretary of the Berkeley Fire Fighters Association Local 1227, at secretary@bffa1227.org.