The Agency

THE GENERAL DISPATCH General Insurance Agency’s Monthly Newsletter

July 1, 2017

As everyone knows Hurricane Harvey has

decimated our friends in Texas. Its truly

devastating to see what is happening down

there especially since many of us lived

through similarities with Superstorm

Sandy in 2012. On the firefighterclose-

calls.com website there’s a request for

shirts to be sent down to Texas. I have

copied the article below with all the infor-

mation.

This is an immediate request for unused

fire/rescue/EMS department or company t-

shirts of any and all sizes to be distributed

to Texas Firefighters( and their families)

who have suffered property losses. The

shirts will provide them with something

new to wear after losing so much, and it

also allows them to wear the logo of those

departments, locals, associations and fire

companies that were able to help.

If your fire department, EMS or rescue

squad, association or local is able to help

by sending some of YOUR DEPART-

MENT T-Shirts, please send them to:

Fire Shirts

c/o Texas State Fire Marshals Of-

fice

333 Guadalupe Street

Austin TX 78701

The t-shirts will be provided specifically to

firefighters, EMT’s and medics who have

suffered losses over the last few days. This

is the same that was done for Firefighters

impacted by Katrina and it was very help-

ful and appreciated.

WWW.GIA911.COM

General Insurance Agency, Inc. is an Independent Agent & Broker, established

in 1948. We proudly provide insurance for over 375 Volunteer Fire Depart-

ments and Emergency Squads in PA, NJ & DE. Our experienced staff is

available day or night to meet all of your insurance needs.

News From Facebook

Bally Ambulance welcomes a beauti-

ful new addition to our EMS family!

Weighing in at a mere 9 lbs., wel-

come Connor William Groff. He is 21

inches of awesomeness and joined

his siblings at exactly 343 pm today.

Congratulations to Lucas & Katie!

Everyone is doing good and the kids

love their baby brother.

Also congrats from all of us at GIA!

September is National Preparedness Month.

Start planning events and activities now to

make sure you, your department, and your

community are ready for the next disaster.

This year’s theme is “Disasters Don’t Plan

Ahead. You Can” This concept emphasizes

that we should all take action to prepare.

Preparedness come in many forms. As an

emergency responder, you need to be per-

sonally ready to respond by making sure you

are physically and mentally at your best. Your

department needs to be ready for all emer-

gencies with proper training and pre-planning.

Your community needs to be ready by know-

ing what to do when disaster strikes.

Here are some resources to help kick start your

National Preparedness Month initiatives.

Nvfc.org/servestrong

Portal.nvfc.org

Www,firecorps.org

Www.ready.gov

Www.ready.gov/September

There are more links listed on the website

where this article was pulled from

Nvfc.org/September-is-national-preparedness-

month-start-planning-now/

We also have ways to help with National Pre-

paredness Month via our website

www.gia911.com or call Wes or Kevin for assis-

tance anytime.

In This Issue

T-shirts for Harvey

National Preparedness

Month

News from Facebook

Desk of Wes

Community Events

Message from Kevin

Letter from Dave Gibson

Community Events

Sept 9th—10th Lower Alsace Fire

Company is hosting EVOC clas-

ses. All are welcome to attend if

you would like more information

contact Rich @ 484-667-3838

Sept 10th—Mount Pleasant VFD

2nd Annual 5k Run/walk For

questions call 724-640-2753 or

724-547-8501

Sept 14-16 NJ State Firemen’s

Convention/Expo in Wildwood NJ

Sept 22nd—23rd Smoke in the

Park PA State Championship

BBQ Memorial Park Lemoyne,

PA Car show, Live Entertain-

ment, Peoples Choice Wing Con-

test, and much more. Contact

West Shore Bureau of Fire. They

are still looking for participants

and vendors. We also have more

information at the office.

www.bbq.wsbf.org

October 7th 2017 Camden-

Wyoming FC Auxiliary is holding

craft and vendor fair and are

looking for vendors. Call Janet @

302-387-1215 to sign up.

Bryn Mawr FC is selling a 2009

Rosenbauer 100 Ft Aerial Truck.

Contact Charley Dolan at 800-761

-1717 for more information.

Flourtown FC is selling a 1997

Pierce Lance 105’ Aerial Contact

George Wilmot at 215-778-9652

or email at

chief6@flourtownfire.org for

more information.

Members from Willow Grove came

to visit and took a boat ride to lunch

with Wes and Linda! We always

love when friends come to visit.

From the desk of Wes Fritz….

Hello to all our Firefighter and EMT and Emergency Services in PA, NJ and DE.

I’m happy to write to you today just knowing that our Emergency Services Volunteers have already made a HUGE impact in Texas and now Louisiana. This Hurricane Harvey is the storm of a lifetime or two….

Without those brave Brothers and Sisters of ours, the people of Texas may not have been rescued as quickly as they were. Having your home, business, auto and belongings de-stroyed is awful. We lived it here in Long Beach Island starting on 10-29-2012 however our water went down 3 days later. Harvey is sticking around a lot longer and the storm seems to be larger so their damage will surely be more devastating and widespread.

Believe me when I say I can speak first hand as my family and I as well as all our Volun-teer Firefighters and EMS people saw firsthand what a flood and storm like Super Storm Sandy can do. Its frightening as well.

These folks will have mud for weeks and months…on their feet, in their walkways and everywhere they go… They won’t have elec-tricity, or gas for weeks or months…Their kids won’t be in schools for a while or will be bussed to temporary ones, they will not have food stores, gas stations or normal every day services for a long time. Life for them has changed and not for the better either.

I’m writing this article to simply let you know we lived this personally.. I’m writing this because I want you to take some time to be thankful for what we all have and to think of these people in this situation.. I also want you to know that your many emails and phone calls and requests to help us here following the Storm meant something to me and I was grateful then and now.. I will NEVER forget your friendship and acts of kindness.

If you are able to help these people in some way, please do.. We here at General Insur-ance Agency will be sending boxes of clean-ing supplies as we did for Shepardtown FC in West Virginia after the storms hit there dev-astating their area. Being the good people you are, you all know every little act of kind-ness will be rewarded tenfold…and none of us do it for that reason.. do we? We all are simply wired to help people in their time of need…

My fire co. here in Beach Haven tonight will be setting up a drop off location for supplies from mops and brooms, mold preventative

Continued on next column…..

solvents and batteries and hand washing fluids to gum and T-Shirts.. I’m sure your many of your Churches and various area Fire Companies will be doing the same things as the days and weeks move forward. These folks need everything down in Texas and they will need it for months to come.

The information for helping those in Texas is on page 1. I’m hoping we all get involved in their plea for help.. These folks need it.

Last item.. and just as heartfelt.. We all hope you and your families enjoyed a SAFE Summer.. My best to you all.

Wes

What do I need to do if I have to file a claim?

Common question we hear from our friends. Any time you suffer a loss don’t be afraid to talk to us. We are availa-

ble any time you need us! If it is a fire call related claim (accident, damaged equipment) just get us a copy of the

fire report, a description of what happened and a few pictures. We will file the claim and a person from claims will

be in contact with you. Damage to your building? Send us a description of what happened. Take a few pictures

of any damage if possible and we will file the claim for you and once again a person from claims will contact you.

If you have any estimates for any claim send them along or whenever you get them and we will include it in your

claim. Is it liability related? Send us a detailed description of what happened so it gives our claims people a good

heads up before they contact you. If it’s an injury related claim make sure you notify your workers comp carrier

and fill out a Provident first notice of loss claim form. If you don’t have one we will gladly email you one. When it

comes to an injury claim to file no matter how small it may seem. You never know what will happen down the

road!

Remember with McNeil if you go 2 policy periods of being claim free you gain a claim free benefit. That means if

you have a claim going forward your deductible is waived up to $1000. If you have more than 1 claim in that poli-

cy period don’t worry your deductible is waived for up to 3 claims.

Have a safe and happy Labor Day weekend!

Until next month,

Kevin Kleinsmith

WWW.GIA911.COM

Have something you would like to add to the next newsletter? Email

Stacey@gia911.com to have it added for next month!