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HomeMy WebLinkAbout[04] Chiefs Report ST. JOSEPH Fire Board Agenda Item 4 FIRE DEPT. MEETING DATE: February 2nd, 2011 AGENDA ITEM: Fire Chief's Report • All three of our latest new members are doing well. Brian Arms has only his Class B License to get and has been released of his probation period for entering fires. Brent Johnson just completed his FF1 and is waiting for his State Certification Card to be able to enter firs. He has also just started his First Responder class through the St. Cloud Tech College. He also needs to get his Class B. Mike Schmotzer also just completed FF1. He had previously taken and passed a EMT but since joining he has decided not to renew this and is currently taken a First Responder Refresher class with the rest of the Department. He too needs to get his Class B License. • We are still waiting to get our BLS Guidelines back from our Medical Advisor, Mark Halstrom. We found out last week at our Refresher class that Mark is close to being done and one of the reasons it has taken so long was that he is the Medical Advisor for many local departments, so he put this together with everyone in mind. • After Unit # 4 came back from Engel in Sauk Center, for a leaky discharge, we have used it and noticed a great improvement in operation of the valves. We are still waiting for them to get us a break down on the quote they gave us about putting electric valves in place of the old valves. • The 2 -year window expired on Jan. 14 2011 for all member to have there Class B License. We have 2 members that have not gotten this completed. Amanda Cherne has tried numerous times but can not pass the written test. I contacted the DMV and on February 2nd see will have one of there instructors read the test to her and make sure she understands it before answering it. Hopefully she will get over this hurdle and move on. She has been given a letter stating that her retirement will be docked each month she does not have it. Greg Koutoupas also does not have his license and he was also given a letter. His letter stated that because he is still on his 2 -year probation, he will not be able to respond to any Emergency calls or drills until this is taken care of. It also states that his yearly percentage will still be active while he is out. This was to but a little more pressure on him to see if he really wants to be a part of the Department. He has since passed his written part and is scheduled to take his behind the wheel on February 14th. • Training update. We are in the process of our annual First Responder Refresher class. Our Officers met and talked about of yearly training and one that came up was "Hazmat" Each year we have to show the State that we did some type of Hazmat training. After looking at a few different ideas, we decided to take a 16 hour Hazmat Opps class through the St. Cloud Tech College. There are a few reasons why we decided to do this vs. a short 2 hour drill. One of the main reasons was because this is the "New Standard" that is being taught in FF1 to all new members, and the Officers felt that if this is what they are being taught we should be at the same level. Another reason was the possibility of this having affects when it comes to getting grants from the State or Federal government. The Tech College did get Federal Grant money for this class and is not charging us anything from coming out and teaching us. • The Truck Committee has met a few times and has gone out to other departments in the area to look at and get some ideas. We would like to look at one more before meeting with a builder to get a rough price on what a new pumper would cost and how much our current pumper may be worth.