A couple of million dollars gets Canniff
flowers, plaque and Chamber honor

Just goes to show you what a couple of million dollars will get you…and in Marleen Canniff’s case it was flowers, a plaque and honors as the Chamber of Commerce Firefighter of the Quarter, probably the first civilian to be so honored.

Canniff was lauded at the September Santa Paula Sunrise (Good Morning Santa Paula) sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce and featuring a Continental breakfast at the historic Depot.

Santa Paula Fire Chief Rick Araiza introduced Canniff noting “We’re giving an award to a very deserving person, a real friend of Santa Paula and the fire department…”

Araiza noted Canniff asked him about six years ago, “What can I do to help?” the Santa Paula Fire Department.

“She was a magazine editor so I asked her to look over some grant applications,” for funding needed by the cash-strapped department.

Within a very short time Canniff started writing the grants that in the years since have garnered more than $2 million for the SPFD.

“Marleen has been very successful in getting two federal SAFER grants for the department,” that fund five full-time firefighters for two year stints.

“Another big grant,” he added, “was for thermal imaging cameras” used by firefighters during fire incidents.

The expensive cameras are worth the cost: they allow firefighters to “see through smoke” to locate victims and find the seat of the fire. 

In addition, the cameras allow firefighters to find hidden hot spots of fire inside walls, detect overheating equipment and ready to spark electrical wires.