Sharing the love at Station No. 1

The gifts of gratitude started 26 years ago, when Jan Polignoni first delivered baked treats to the crew of Spokane Valley University Fire Station.

The reason for the gifts? The crew came to the aid of her infant grandson who had stopped breathing.

The baby revived before the crew’s arrival, but paramedics examined him and reassured the family gathered at her home for Easter, said Polignoni, 78. Shortly after that 1988 emergency call, she delivered homemade sweets to the crew, a tradition she’s kept up regularly since.

She and husband Mike Polignoni, 85, have lived 55 years in their house a few blocks from the station.

“I’ve been baking forever, so I give the goodies away mostly to these guys,” said Jan Polignoni. “They’re all such nice guys, and I appreciate so much what they do and the struggles they have. I don’t know; it just makes me feel good.”

The years of kindness have kindled a friendship between the Polignonis and crew members, who have shown up unexpectedly to shovel their sidewalks during heavy snows and invited them to breakfast at the station.

On Nov. 10, the couple cooked a full Italian dinner for crew members in their newly remodeled base – also called Station No. 1 – at 10319 E. Sprague Ave. After prepping days ahead, they took over the station’s stove to heat ricotta-filled gnocchi, spaghetti sauce with Italian sausage, meatballs, and bread.

For dessert, Jan Polignoni baked shortbread cookies to go with store-bought gelato.

Although first responders from 1988 are no longer at the station, crew members at the dinner described the Polignonis’ generosity, and her welcomed treats. She knows their names and asks about their kids.

“She’s kind of like the station grandma,” said firefighter Nick Zambryski. “Really, we have a grandma and grandpa because her husband helps. Every station should have one.”

He said Polignoni often brings zucchini bread, cookies, and brownies. A few times, the firefighters have bought baking ingredients for her, while joking it’s to make sure the treats keep coming.

“We know it’s good stuff,” Zambryski said. “It’s pretty unique, this friendship. She handmade some receiving blankets when my daughter was born. She brings stuff for all the crews here.”

Crew member Joe Rees regularly works at the University site but was assigned Nov. 10 to a different station. He arrived in time for the meal, though, along with a few guest firefighters from the other station.

“I would say pretty much on schedule, once a week, we see her,” Rees said. “We see her a lot in the summer time, and she makes delicious desserts from her garden. They live close, and we make it a point to stop if we’re passing by to say hello, or just check on them.”

“They do a lot for us, so we try to reciprocate.”

The couple’s daughter, Alice Polignoni, whose son Michael received the paramedic care, credits her mom as the hub. “My mom calls them her boys; she has taken something to her boys usually once a week.”

The firefighters and paramedics returned that friendship in volumes last August, she added, after her brother, John, was killed in a traffic accident along Trent Avenue. Another emergency crew responded to the accident, but word spread, and Station 1 members started dropping by the couple’s house.

“The love was overwhelming,” Alice Polignoni said. “They brought flowers, made her cookies, and made sure my parents were doing OK. They showed up with flowers more than once, different crews. They all know her.”

The family has other fire crew memories. For their mother’s 75th birthday, her brother John secretly arranged a visit from Station 1 firefighters.

“The boys surprised my mom at her birthday party at an Argonne Village restaurant,” she said. “They brought the truck, and we all took photos.”

Alice’s son Michael, the infant whose sudden illness sparked this longrunning relationship, is now in the Navy; he visited the station this past summer. During University’s remodel, his grandmother continued taking food to the crew temporarily housed at the South Valley Station. With the upgrade done, the Polignonis worked on plans for the cooked-from-scratch meal.

After passing around the entrees, the couple sat with the fire crew around the station’s dinner table.

“You guys have got to eat it up,” Jan Polignoni instructed. “There’s more here.”

She said her tradition will carry on now at another station, the one that responded to her son’s accident.

“I’ve convinced one of my granddaughters to take food over there,” she said. “She’s adopted that station.”