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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 7! 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. 1 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 2 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. � 3 ' . . a . .. . : , . .. � . . 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. 4 r • . 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. 5