240 chow down at Healdsburg Fire abalone feed

About 240 people enjoyed abalone, salmon, tri tip and other treats at Saturday's Healdsburg Reserve Firefighters Association Abalone Feed.

"It wasn't until the last minute that we got enough abalone to call it an abalone feed," said

Adams said the dinner and silent auction typically raise close to $10,000, all of which is used for training and equipment for reserve firefighters and donations to community programs such as a burn patient treatment program.

" helps us out with this every year," said Robert Salisbury, a reserve firefighter engineer. "It's a great event and it's great to see such a good turnout."

said the reserve firefighters used to dive for abalone and use the shellfish for their fundraisers. In recent years, however, state Fish and Game laws have restricted amounts that people or groups can retrieve by diving.

Instead, Fish and Game officials donate any abalone they confiscate from divers who take too much or who dive for abalone without a permit to firefighters and other groups for their fundraisers, Babb said.

"They can't just put it back in the ocean, so they freeze it," Babb said.

Usually, Healdsburg reserve firefighters receive about 80 of the confiscated abalone, but this year they only were able to get about 40, said Healdsburg Reserve Firefighters Association President Scott Byrn.

"We just portioned it bettter, and everybody is happy," he said. 

Halfway into the dinner, Healdsburg fire leaders announced that abalone was "all you can eat," and the crowd lined up for seconds.

Ken Graves of Vallejo, who loaded up his plate with abalone, said he and his wife Kathy and friends Eunice and Dick Meyer of Vallejo came to Healdsburg Saturday just for the abalone feed.

They said they do research to find events featuring abalone, and travel all over the Bay Area to attend.

"This is very good," Graves said, pointing to the plate of breaded shellfish. "They did a great job."