{"id":18954,"date":"2022-11-16T01:38:32","date_gmt":"2022-11-16T01:38:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=18954"},"modified":"2022-11-22T18:58:12","modified_gmt":"2022-11-22T18:58:12","slug":"firefighters-ball-returns-after-three-year-covid-hiatus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2022\/11\/16\/firefighters-ball-returns-after-three-year-covid-hiatus\/","title":{"rendered":"Firefighters\u2019 Ball Returns After Three-Year Covid Hiatus"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Hayden Seder<\/em><\/p>\n

After a three-year hiatus due to COVID-19, the Ketchum Sun Valley Volunteer Association (KSVVA) Firefighters\u2019 Ball returns for in-person dancing, prizes, and good times. The organization, comprised of fire volunteers who serve Ketchum and Sun Valley, puts on this annual event not as a fundraiser but as a way of saying thank you to the community for its donations and support.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are really excited,\u201d says Lara McLean, a lieutenant\/paramedic with the Ketchum Fire Department for 20 years, of the event\u2019s return. \u201cIt\u2019s funny to watch people just get giddy about something that we used to take for granted. I\u2019m glad we don\u2019t take it for granted anymore.<\/span>\u201d<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s ball will be held at the Limelight Hotel in Ketchum on Nov. 19. Bust out your legwarmers and crimpers, because this year\u2019s theme is \u201cAll Things \u201980s!\u201d Doors open at 7 p.m. and music by Diamond Empire Band, a three- to 14-piece band specializing in high-energy music, starts at 8 p.m. and is sure to get you on the dance floor. Tickets are $30 and can be purchased online, at Atkinsons\u2019 Market in Ketchum, or at the door. Typically, tickets to the ball sell out, so be sure to get yours early.<\/p>\n

In the past, a feature of the Firefighters\u2019 Ball has been a silent auction, with prizes like ski passes, local hotel stays, and restaurant gift cards. This year, in lieu of an auction, there will be a contest for winning prizes. McLean couldn\u2019t say specifically what the contest will be, since it involves coming up with an answer that could be researched beforehand, but she hinted that it has to do with fire gear.<\/p>\n

While the Firefighters\u2019 Ball is a festive party, McLean is quick to remind us that the reason for it is fairly serious\u2014thanking the community for all of its support. Donations acquired throughout the year are typically made in response to letters sent out by KSVVA to homeowners and the Firefighters\u2019 Ball is a thank-you for those donations. Without them, the KSVVA wouldn\u2019t be able to afford essential equipment and to fund training opportunities for firefighters.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith those donations, we get equipment that goes on fire engines that helps us fight fires, equipment for backcountry rescue, for wildland firefighting\u2014all those things the cities\u2019 budgets can\u2019t cover but make us doing our jobs easier,\u201d says McLean. In terms of training, donations allow the KSVVA to bring teachers in from the outside or to send people to conferences who can then bring that knowledge back to train other firefighters in the community.<\/p>\n

Supporting our firefighters has likely been on the minds of Wood River Valley residents after a late fire season in September brought flames close to historic icons like Smiley Creek Lodge and Galena Lodge. The fire that burned down the Limelight Condos in Warm Springs was also a sober reminder of how important it is to support our local emergency personnel.<\/p>\n

Funds raised in past years have gone to some specific projects like upgrading KSVVA\u2019s backcountry rescue equipment, buying a CPR simulation mannequin, and training staff to become AIRE avalanche instructors. More general areas that donations go to are equipping firefighters with protective clothing and tools, purchasing new equipment, and supporting the Victim Relief Fund, a program that helps fire victims with immediate food, clothing, and housing needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s important to look back and say what we\u2019re actually saying thank you for, and what we\u2019re saying thank you for is bringing in the equipment we need to help the community better,\u201d says McLean. \u201cWhen people give, we do better.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Hayden Seder After a three-year hiatus due to COVID-19, the Ketchum Sun Valley Volunteer Association (KSVVA) Firefighters\u2019 Ball returns for in-person dancing, prizes, and good times. The organization, comprised of fire volunteers who serve Ketchum and Sun Valley, puts on this annual event not as a fundraiser but as a way of saying thank […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":18958,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,86,18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-18954","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"category-event","9":"category-ketchum","10":"category-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18954"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18960,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18954\/revisions\/18960"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}