HomeMy WebLinkAbout3.a. Fire Department Semi-Annual Report , ;
CITY OF ROSEMOUNT
EXECUTIVE SUNIlKARY FOR ACTION
CITY COUNCIL MEETING DATE: SEPTEMBER 7, 1993
AGENDA ITEM: FIRE DEPAR.TMENT SEMI-AN'N�[JAL AGENDA SECTION:
REPORT DEPARTMENT HEADS REPORTS
PREPARED BY: SCOTT AKER, FIRE CHIEF AGENDA���� �{ � A
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ATTACFIlKENTS: SEMI-ANNUAL REPORT AP Y:
This item is the presentation of the semi-annual repozt to the city
council . This report is submitted in written form to provide the council
with information as to what has transpired� in the past six months . No
formal presentation of information is scheduled for the council meeting.
Any questions which the council would have after reading the report could
be answered or explained in more clarity at the council meeting. This item
is also under the consent agenda for acceptance at that time.
RECOI�IENDED ACTION: None, see consent agenda.
COUNCIL ACTION:
ROSEMOUNT
FIRE DEPARTMENT
SEMI - ANNUAL .
REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
SEPTEMBER 1993 �
Respectfully Submitted
by .
SCOTT AKER, FIRE CHIEF
CfTY OF ROSEMOUNT
MEMBERSHIP
Total Membership -------- 34
On Leave ------------------- 02
Light Duty ---------------- 00
Active Members --------- 32
During 1993, so far, we are happy to report that we have not seen much of a turnover
in the membership of the fire department. We are beginning to stay fairly stable and
that will be a good situation to be in. We still have quite a few members, however,
who are considered rookies with the department. A rookie is a person who has been
on the department for less than two years and is required to be restricted somewhat in
what they are allowed to do on the fire scene.
The fire department has been accepting applications as usual and trying to process
them into becoming active members. A 30 to 40 step hiring process has been
approved by the City Clerk and is being used by the Membership Committee as they
process new applicants. A job description was just recently completed also which has
secured approval by the City Clerk and City Administrator. It complies with the
current ADA requirements. We are now required to have somewhat of a standardized
testing process for all new potential firefighters. It is made up of an oral examination,
a written examination and an agility test.
We currently have ten applications on file for the fire department. These persons will
soon be encouraged to come down for an orientation meeting after which they will
proceed first through the agility test, then the written test and then the oral interview.
Budgeted for 1993 is enough monies to a11ow the processing of four persons onto the
fire department. For that reason those four persons scoring highest on all phases of
the test with a combined score, will be recommended for hiring contingent upon
passing Dr. Detlefsen's medical screening,
EOUIPMENT
�'Aerial/Elevating Platforms (35180) ---------- 1
Fumpers (35181, 35182, 35183) ------------- 3
Grass Rigs (35192, 35194) -------------------- 2
Tankers (35195) --------------------------------- 1
Hose Truck (35196) ---------------------------- 1
Rescue Vehicle (3590) ------------------------- 1
Chief/Misc. Vehicle (3598, 3599) -----=----- 2
Utility/Rescue {3591) -------------------------- 1
As the council is fairly well informed as to what equipment the fire department is
using and its current condition, I will only elaborate on a few of our vehicles.
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Aerial Truck (35180�: As the council is well aware, this 20 year old truck continues
to plague us monthly with breakdowns and necessary repairs. Each year it puts a
heavy burden on the operating portion of the fire department's budget. It is also out
of service and thus cannot afford the citizens the fire protection it should be able to do
during extended periods of time during the year. This vehicle has been in the CIP
under various funding pians sinee 1988. Several payment schedules were suggested
since that time, ranging from a $100,000 payment each year over several years to the
current $325,000 payment over the next two years. Hopefully this item will be able
to remain in the CIP for 1994 and 1995. By not being funded through the
referendum, the council is well aware that it does put a heavy burden on the CIP for
the next few years.
As the council has directed, I have initiated discussions with some of our surrounding
cities to provide aerial protection to the city of Rosemount should our vehicle be
beyond repair befare it has a chance to be replaced. I hope to have mare inforrnation
on this item coming back to the city council in the near future.
Pum�er (35182�: This vehicle is 29 years old at the present time. Its replacement has
also been postponed in the CIP due to budget constraints for at least the last 12 years.
As soon as the aerial truck is replaced in the CIP, payments for this pumper are
scheduled to begin: It was hoped that this vehicle could be moved up in the CIP had
the aerial truck been funded through the referendum, but it appears as that will not be
the case.
With all the postponements in the past in the CIP with respect to funding of large
vehicles for the fire department, it appears as though for the next several years there �,
will be requests from the fire department for funding somewhere in the neighborhood '
of $350,000 to $500,000 each year. Our newest major piece of equipment, which is
one of our pumpers, is a 1986. Proceeding that'is a 1978 pumper, a 1973 tanker, a
1972 aerial truck, and a 1965 pumper.
The status, reliability, and operation of all the other vehicles in the fire department
other than the pumper and the aerial truck that were mentioned are adequate at the
present time. My only reason in mentioning these vehicles again by year is the fact
that usually vehicles of this type are on a replacement program somewhere in the
neighborhood of i5 years. So even after we replace our aerial truck and the 1965
pumper, several other replacements will begin to surface. We are definitely entering
the catch-up period for the postponements we have had to make over the last 10 to 15
years.
TRAIN]�TG/EDUCATION
In addition to the usual three times per month that all firefighters train in order to
keep up-to-date on those necessary skilis, I usually like to highlight some of the other
additional outside training that our members volunteer for. This year was again our
year to send a person from our department, courtesy of Koch Refining, to the Texas
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A & M University near Houston for flammable liquid training. All three persons we
have had the opportunity to send from our department, so far have come back and
have felt that it is one of the most worthwhile opportunities for training that they have
ever been involved with.
Various vocational and technical colleges around the state offer classes on weekends
that a number of our members have participated in back in the spring. Most of those
classes are curtailed during the summer months and then resumed in the fa1L
This summer we have also been preparing for a disaster type drill to be held within
the city of Rosemount. This drill will not be of the size and magnitude that the one at
Koch Refining was a few years ago. This drill is scheduled to take place at CF
Industries on October 5, 1993. We have had several training sessions with their
personnel, have a few more meetings scheduled with Dakota County Emergency
Preparedness Coordinator, our fire department, our police department, and their
personnel as we plan for the upcoming drill.
We have over the past year also become more involved with cross training with
surrounding communities and especially Apple Valley. We have done several training
sessions with them responding to Rosemount for simulated mutual aid with their
pumpers and we have responded likewise for training sessions to Apple Valley for a
simulated response of our tanker. We have found a few areas where it will be
necessary to supply our vehicles and their vehicles with adapters to make them more
compatible. We look to this relationship improving over time.
As a side-Iight I would mention that just prior to a structure fire on Dahomey Avenue j
on August lOth of this year, we worked out some of the last few details for an �
automatic response by Apple Valley to the western portions of our city. As you
know, the whole premise of the referendum and impetus for locating a station further
to the west is the poor response time to that area of the city. This poor response time
was further complicated by construction this past summer, so in anticipation of a call
to that part of the city we arranged for some automatic xesponse by Apple Valley.
For that fire on August lOth, that automatic response was initiated and Apple Va11ey
arrived on the scene of that fire prior to Rosemount being able to get there. That
portion of the city can be serviced by Apple Va11ey's fire department station #3 much
more quickly than by our own station. Everything worked out for the best in that fire
and there were no major injuries. We will continue to request a response from Apple
Valley for that portion of the city until our own fire suppression capabilities can
provide that service. This response by Apple Valley is somewhat above and beyond
the mutual aid agreement, but they do not have any strong reservations in responding
at the present time. We are continuing to assure them that this should be short-term
problem for the city of Rosemount. �
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STATISTICS -
Included in the fire department's annual report will be a more complete reporting of
information in this category. For now it is worth mentioning that at the end of June,
which marked the first six months of our year, we were at 200 calls which if it
continues will put us somewhere close to the 400 mark which is about 45 calls more
than last year.
MISCELLANEOLTS
In my previous annual report it was indicated that we were working to get on board a
medical director for the fire department and the police department's emergency
services. We do have that person now. Dr. Charles Lick from Divine Redeemer
Hospital has"volunteered to serve in that capacity. Besides reviewing our policy and
procedures and giving overall direction, the main thing it allows us to do is to operate
with an automatic external defibrillator. That device has been purchased, is at the fire
department and we are c�rrently in the process of training. It should be in service and
responding with our rescue crew in the near future.
Our fire marshal, George Lundy, is still in the process of working with our new
Eagan dispatchers to provide maps which will section our city off into different
quadrants. When completed, besides giving the address, dispatchers will be able to let
us know which quadrant within the city the call has fallen into. Ta volunteers who
are not on the streets and responding to various addresses as often as police officers
are doing, that will be a great asset to us.
I probably do not have to elaborate much on the remorse the fire department felt with
the defeat of the fire station and aerial truck referendum this spring. Feelings ranged
from slight disappointment to total disgust. It will take some time to rebuild the
morale of the fire department. And, whereas there have been several negative
comments on the part of the firefighters, I have not seen the slightest hesitation on the
part of any firefighter and all firefighters have continued to put forth 110 percent of
their energies when called upon in an emergency situation. I can also guarantee that
that 110 percent will continue regardless of the comments that are being heard out in
the public.
Since the failure of the referendurn I have had a chance to review some of the
information going back as far as 1988. I, along with the other officers, are still
convinced that the plan that was presented for the citizen's consideration was the best
plan for the city. It was the best plan both in respanse by the fire department at the
present time, response in the future and economically in the long run. Any other
proposal will be a compromise in the services that could be provided. Perhaps we
will need to compromise our services rather than continue and not be able to provide
those services at all. But we feel that would be a big mistake.
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BUDGET
The budget as is proposed for.1994 has been presented to the city council numerous
times over the past few months. As was outlined in my statement of work, the budget
involves quite a few aspects from emergency response, to administrative details, and
also to the health testing of the firefighters, just to name a few items. The proposed
budget as has previously been mentioned does not provide for any new programs or
expansion of services, but we are also happy to report that there are no cutbacks and
we should not feel any decline in services due to the budget.
NEEDS
As was reported in the previous annual report, the major needs of the fire department
had to do with the amount of space available at the fire station, the location of the fire
station, and the purchase of an aerial truck and pumper. I will mention again that we
were very pleased to see that these items were attempted to be addressed and solved
via the referendum. Hopefully the vehicles can remain in the CIP over the next
several years and the questions as to a fire station and its location can again be
addressed in the near future.
GOALS
As I mentioned in previous reports, one of our goals is to continue to work more
closely with other departments within the city. We have always had.a close working
relationship with the police department but are finding that the public works and parks
department can be a real asset to our operation, also. When we have a major incident
it is not uncommon to find people from all of these departments showing up on the
scene to fill in and help out where we are short-handed.
All of the other usual goals still apply to the fire service; the goals of improving
physical fitness, enhancing response time, and the general improvement of safety on
the fire scene.
� CONCLUSION
As in the past I have attempted to make the report to the city council in September as
short and concise as possible. Information will be more elaborate in the annual report
given in written and oral form at the March meeting. Again, as I have indicated in
the past, should there be an instance where council feels that it would be necessary for
me to elaborate on anything, other than at the two special meetings during the year, or
when I am at a council meeting, please feel free to contact me and make your request.
I would welcome any input, suggestions, criticism or questions you may have.
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