To: dswanson@greenbaypress.

com
Subject: For Dr. Doug Swanson: Exclusive for Green Bay Press-Gazette

Dr. Swanson:
Every year, the number of home fires and ambulance calls are noticeably increasing during the
month of October. The colder weather and lightning of furnaces at home is one reason for this.
Since the furnaces are not being used for six months, it is not maintained and not ready for use.
This may not fire properly or may light and start a fire. The bird nests or debris clogs may vent
pipes and caused dangerous monoxide problem as well. The individual lighting a furnace may
also have limited knowledge about natural gas which may lead to explosion. Based from the
recent years, the homes of the elderly mostly encountered fires.
In response to this, our department arranged a presentation for the Green Bay residents for better
awareness about basic furnace safety. Our main objective is to make the locals understand more
the risks of furnace use. To help us with this, we invited Gabriel Martinez as our main speaker
for the presentation. He is an Assistant Chief of the Corpus Christi Fire Department in Texas. He
is a national expert on furnace safety with 15 years of experience with Consumer Reports
magazine as a product safety tester. He has also given more than 500 workshops and seminars on
home safety issues. As a fire fighter and paramedic for 25 years, he is also recognized nationally
as an expert on all types of heating systems such as oil-fired, natural gas and propone furnaces.
It would be a 90-minute presentation encompassing safety discussion, video tutorial and handson demonstrations focusing on how to light furnace safely. It will be on October 1, 2016 from
7:00 p.m to 9:30 p.m. The event will be held at the Best Western Green Bay Inn Conference
Center located at 780 Armed Forces Drive in Green Bay. Refreshments such as coffee, soft
drinks and cookies will be served during the presentation. The event is open for all Green Bay
residents and surrounding areas, especially the elderly. Interested locals just need to call and
register for free by calling this number 1-(206) 426-5542.
The Green Bay Fire Department may also inspect the Green Bay residents furnace once they are
registered. The GBFD personnel will also be on hand with the event. On normal days, we are
offering free home safety inspections for those residing within the city. We take requests by
phone and ensure to respond to all safety inspection requests within 24 hours.
I think our event would be ideal for Green Bay Press-Gazette newspaper. This is a very
important issue that must be given primary attention. Since your major coverage is the
northeastern Wisconsin, including Green Bay, the basic furnace safety presentation would be
helpful for the local residents. Your recent articles about earthquake drills and tornadoes
preparedness were very informative, giving the people proper awareness for their safety.

I am hoping that you will be interested with our event. I will assure you that we will be
cooperative and accommodating with the writers, photographers or reporters you will assign to
cover the presentation. Please let me know if you have any concerns. You can call me in my
direct phone line, (714)278-1111.
I will call on Monday, Sept. 26, to see if I might provide any help on possible article about our
event. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Daniel Kidd
Daniel Kidd
Community Services Coordinator
Green Bay Fire Department
dkidd5@gmail.com
(714)278-1111