Tony Vierra has received the VFW National Lifesaving Award for rescuing a man from a balcony and assisting other residents to safety at an apartment fire in the Lynnwood area last month.

Vierra is a maintenance employee at The Seasons Apartments in the 3700 block of 164^th Street SW where a fire caused more than $400,000 damage on May 2, 2013. He quickly retrieved a ladder and rescued a man from a balcony, alerted other residents to evacuate and assisted a woman escape down a smoke-filled stairwell.

Martin Spani, Commander of VFW Post 1040 in Lynnwood, nominated Vierra for the national award. Spani was joined by the post’s Senior Vice Commander Frank Martinez and Chaplain John Zambrano at a brief ceremony to present the award to Vierra at The Seasons Apartments last week. Firefighters from Snohomish County Fire District 1 and Lynnwood Fire Department also attended to recognize Vierra for his lifesaving accomplishment.

From May 16-31, 2013 Snohomish County Fire District 7 responded to 195 calls, 63 of which were in Mill Creek.

• Fires: 20
• Medical Aid: 143
• Motor Vehicle Collisions: 15
• Service Calls: 17
• Total = 195

In the spring edition of the City of Mill Creek’s newsletter (The City of Mill Creek Current • Spring 2013), I mentioned that I saw exciting opportunities for the community of Mill Creek – opportunities to reinvest in itself and in its future.

In early April, the Mill Creek City Council met with senior City staff in an all-day retreat to talk about some of the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead in the next 20 years. Much of the day’s conversation focused on the pros and cons of annexation as well as long-term economic and community development.

While no action was taken during the retreat, the City Council indicated its desire to initiate ongoing discussions relating to economic development. The Council asked City staff to continue to explore economic development opportunities and to engage Mill Creek businesses and property owners in that process.

Friends of the Mill Creek Library held their annual Spring book sale on Saturday, May 18th, 2013.

The sale raised $2,096.28. This was the third year in a row the sale has raised over $2,000.

Proceeds from this sale are used to support library programs for children, teens and adults.

Friends of the Library Treasurer, Carol Spate said, “The funds are used to provide programs the library would not be able to offer without our help. Seventy five percent of our $11,200 budget last year was used for children and teen programming. We partner with the city to sponsor the 4 children's summer concerts in library park. We provide the prizes for the summer reading children and teen programs, pizza and game night for the teens as well as crafts and storytelling and entertainment for children. We sponsor the books discussion groups for adults.”

On May 18-19, 2013 four teams comprised of ten students from the H.M. Jackson High School’s Engineering and Research club competed against students representing 54 schools from Washington, Idaho and Montana at a STEM fair called Imagine Tomorrow hosted by Washington State University in Pullman.

The team of Indira Rayala, Hannah Cho, and Celia Evans earned first place in the Biofuels Challenge for their research entitled “The Effect on Methane Production during the Anaerobic Digestion of Cow Manure Along with Bio-degradable Plastic.” This award earned each team member $1,000 and $5,000 for Jackson High School.

Four teams consisting of ten students: Miranda Aiken, Hannah Cho, Celia Evans, Artyom Kozorezov, Akshy Palanisamy, Shruti Parikh, Brooke Parsons, Indira Rayala, Anastasia Redina and Madison Warnke, competed in this STEM fair.

The school also brought home the award for Best Project by a Team from a Newly Participating School. That newbie award earned each of the ten students $100 and another $500 for Jackson High School.

Friends of the Mill Creek Library are co-sponsoring with Mill Creek Parks & Recreation and other local sponsors to present the 2013 children's entertainment at Library Park.

The summer performances will be a four week series on Wednesdays. These FREE concerts/performances feature music, fun and laughs for children of all ages.

Bring a lunch and a blanket and enjoy a variety of shows and entertainment.

Day & Time:  Wednesdays, 12:00 p.m. until 1:00 p.m.

Location:  Library Park 15429 Bothell Everett Hwy. Mill Creek, WA

No one was injured in a fire that caused more than $100,000 damage to a condominium in the Martha Lake area west of Mill Creek Saturday morning, May 18, 2013.

A passerby called 9-1-1 at 8 a.m. to report flames coming from the two-story, eight-unit building in the 16800 block of Larch Way. The caller then alerted residents in the building to evacuate. No one was inside the unit where the fire was burning.

Firefighters from Fire Districts 1 and 7 responded and had the fire under control in less than 15 minutes.

Snohomish County Fire District 1 has just been honored with the national Excellence in Fire Service-Based EMS Award presented by the Congressional Fire Services Institute and the MedicAlert Foundation.

This competitive award is given annually to honor departments championing innovative practices to enhance the quality of emergency medical services (EMS). This year’s award showcased three agencies – Fire District 1, Montgomery County Fire Rescue (Maryland) and Miami Dade Fire and Rescue (Florida) -- for “forging new ground in fire service-based EMS.”

The award was presented to Fire District 1 on May 9, 2013 at the 25^th Annual National Fire and Emergency Services Dinner in Washington, D.C. More than 2,000 fire-service leaders from throughout the country attended along with Vice President Joe Biden, the keynote speaker.