Santa Rosa woman thanks all firefighters, holds a special place in her heart for volunteers

A quick quiz amid this current firestorm nightmare:

Imagine that a fire engine roars up to a home that’s begun to burn and two firefighters sprint out to attack the flames. There’s no perceptible difference in the valor and eagerness that power each of them, or in their respective gear.

But something fundamental distinguishes one firefighter from the other. Can you guess what it most likely is?

Jacqui Jorgeson can.

Jorgeson knows that almost certainly the prime difference is that Firefighter A is a paid and well-supported and provisioned employee of a local, state or federal agency. And Firefighter B: a volunteer who relies on self-funding and perhaps $5-a-plate pancake breakfasts at the firehouse.

“Seventy percent of all firefighters in the U.S. are volunteers,” says Jorgeson, who has worked in event planning and journalism, and is the mother of a toddler and the wife of renowned Santa Rosa rock climber Kevin Jorgeson.

Volunteer firefighters are a critical part of the safety net in Sonoma County, where more than 200 unpaid firefighters train and work in fire companies comprised partially or entirely of personnel who serve their communities for free — and often scrimp for equipment and supplies.

Jorgeson has felt deeply beholden and grateful to all firefighters since 9/11, when she witnessed the horror in New York City and the heroic sacrifices by first responders. It started her on a journey that led her to research the financial, operational and other mounting challenges that confront those who voluntarily serve as firefighters.

Jorgeson has founded a Sonoma County nonprofit, the Volunteer Fire Foundation, and she’s raising dollars to help equip and sustain unpaid firefighters whose DNA makes it difficult for them to acknowledge need, much less ask for help.

Her young foundation has partnered with Williams-Sonoma, Sports Basement, Guayaki Yerba Mate and others, including the Rebuild NorthBay Foundation, founded by Darius Anderson, managing member of Sonoma Media Investments, which owns The Press Democrat. It has ambitious goals to boost volunteer firefighters throughout Sonoma County and perhaps beyond.

At present, the 41-year-old Jorgeson and her helpers are kicking off their mission by assembling mobile cooking-and-comfort kits for delivery to all of the 60 Sonoma County fire companies that rely to some degree on volunteers. Going into the kits are cooler bags, Jetboil portable stoves with coffee makers, dehydrated meals, Krave beef jerky, cans of Yerba Mate and other essentials and treats.

On Monday at the Gold Ridge Fire Protection District’s main station between Sebastopol and Cotati, Jorgenson and Gold Ridge chief Shepley Schroth-Cary, an advisor to the foundation, packed more than 100 of the front-line kits with a crew of civilians and firefighters. The foundation also will deliver to unpaid firefighters 250 headlamps donated by Black Diamond.

For the future, Jorgeson envisions the foundation attracting the financial support that will enable it to contribute in profound ways to the safety, long-term health, efficiency, comfort and well-being of volunteer firefighters.

She tells of coming to understand that they not only serve their towns but increasingly they answer calls to provide mutual aid to other areas under siege by wildfires. In addition, she said, volunteering becomes a springboard for many interested in becoming full-time, paid firefighters.

Jorgeson was planning a grand, Volunteer Fire Foundation debut fundraising event when the pandemic struck, so for the time being she’s having to seek financial support online through the foundation’s website, www.volunteerfire.org

As Jorgeson grows the foundation and brings on new partners, she’s thinking big. She’s begun to shoot video and has recruited two videographers to assist in the production of a documentary on volunteer firefighters.

Days ago she had her video camera on as she ventured to the fire line in east Santa Rosa with advisor Schroth-Cary, an authority on volunteer firefighters. The Gold Ridge company he leads relies on part on volunteers, and it has a county contract to manage the all-volunteer fire companies in Lakeville, Wilmar, Two Rock, Bloomfield, Valley Ford, Camp Meeker, Bodega and Fort Ross.

Volunteer firefighters from throughout Sonoma County have suited up and allowed more engines to respond to the Glass fire and other wildfires, Schroth-Cary said. It’s true, the Gold Ridge chief said, that volunteers typically don’t like drawing attention to their own needs.

“We’re not very good at asking for help,” he said.

Schroth-Cary is greatly impressed by the way Jorgeson has studied the challenges faced by volunteer firefighters, and how she is rallying resources on their behalf.

“It didn’t take long, in talking to Jacqui, to see how smart, how organized and how passionate she is,” he said. He has become an adviser to her.

Schroth-Cary said that amid Sonoma County’s chain of fire-borne disasters, many people have sought out ways to express their gratitude to firefighters, all firefighters. He perceives that Jorgeson’s Volunteer Fire Foundation presents one avenue for citizens to say thanks.

“I think there’s something therapeutic in them being able to help us,” the chief said.

As Jorgeson prepares to donate food-preparation and comfort packs to Sonoma County’s volunteer firefighters, she also contemplates future events and fundraisers to greatly expand her foundation’s impact on behalf of such firefighters.

And there’s this: she has written a children’s book to help little ones make sense of these fires that keep happening. Once the book is published, she’ll sell it for the benefit of volunteers.

“Little Buck the Fire Truck” stars a sweet, old engine dear to firefighters with the Camp Meeker Volunteer Fire Department. Jorgeson loves that though the truck blew its transmission in last year’s Kincade fire, its crew fought on.

You can contact Chris Smith at 707-521-5211 and chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com.