Fire. Education. Safety. Training. Life. EMT.

Jr. Fire Inspector

2011-10-18T19:54:00.000-07:00

Just completed the 3rd Open House for Eden Prairie Fire Department. This years open house included a number of partners including:
American Red Cross
Eden Prairie CERT
Centerpoint Energy
The Home Depot
Car Fires
Auto Extrication
and much much more.....

Including the Jr. Fire Inspector program which included a badge, pencil, flashlight, bag and the check list below. The goal of this program....to get kids empowered to make change at home. We see it every day with learning new concepts and bringing them home to share. This program teaches kids they can hold their parents accountable for making their home fire safe!

Training

2011-08-30T18:03:00.000-07:00

Just climbed station 4 hose tower 12 times in full gear...on air.
Sucked a 45 minute bottle down in 18 minutes after 720 stairs up and down.

Three Month Summary

2011-08-30T17:51:00.000-07:00

Over the last three months .........
2 house fires, an apartment fire (deck), a few medicals and bunch of false alarms.
Supported a number of block parties, bday parties national night out and....
A lot of training. Back to regular posts.

Safety First

2011-06-03T19:14:00.000-07:00

Safety First
100% preventable Fires.   Take away mother nature which none of us want to mess with and 99.99% of everything else (as it relates to fire services) is preventable.
Buy and maintain your smoke alarms. Although by the time these go off the prevention is past tense….but it will still get your butt out and keep you alive
Buy and maintain a fire extinguisher.   This is a difficult one because again…..once the fire has started the prevention is past tense….but you might be able to keep a small fire from getting large. BUT…you also have the weigh the risk of knowing when it is time to just get out and leave it to the professionals.
Buy and maintain CO alarms. Not fire related but definitely will save your butt from death!
Use LED candles
Quit smoking or at least properly dispose of the Butts.
NEVER leave your kitchen cooking unattended.   NEVER. Grills too!
Clean your dryer vents (and the big vent behind your dryer too)
Keep combustibles away from furnace and heater
Throw away old extension cords
Properly secure flammables in your garage.

Close Call

2011-05-20T19:12:00.000-07:00

Happened to be at station one when a page went out for a kitchen fire. This was a close call. Turned out to be a residential home that was also a day care. By the time we arrived the fire was out but the stove and microwave looked something like a Salvador Dali piece of art (think of melting clock). The good news was all the kids were outside and got treated to hanging with a bunch of fire fighters. Great scene as a number of fire fighters in full turnout gear were each helping a child put on their little shoes.

Ethical Leadership

2011-03-19T07:18:00.000-07:00

Ethical Leadership

Talk about a game changer. I have only been on the EPFD for 3 years but I have learned a lot…..about strategy & tactics for fire suppression, providing emergency medicals services, rescue, public education, etc…… the list goes on and on….I have learned that we are very fortunate to have such an incredible training program within Eden Prairie which includes the leadership, the curriculum, the equipment and safety as well as the opportunities. But I was very surprised when I attended last weeks session on Ethical Leadership which was conducted by Chad Weinstein, a….(click to read his profile and to get a sense of his experience and passion.) Chad has been working with the officers for the last few years but this was the first time they brought this level personal leadership training down to every fire fighter.

I expect this type of investment from my professional career where I manage people; customers, resources and there is a high expectation for performance but from a volunteer organization? Well, when you think about it the fire ground requires the same level of investment….managing a squad of people, interacting with the community, using public resources and think about the expectations that are put upon the fire service (life, safety and the preservation of property).

Anyway, ethical leadership training was one of the better ‘classroom’ training session’s. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll take practicing fire suppression or auto-extraction any day over sitting in a class room but this type of professional development training…..being offered by the fire service….for a volunteer organization…..is pretty cool.

CO Alarm Saves Lives

2011-02-02T21:14:00.001-08:00

For as many CO alarms we go to that are false (alarms) because the owner does not know they need to change battery’s, clean the unit or replace it every 7 years, we do come across a few that are legitimate. It is amazing how deadly CO can be. This evening was the third incident for me in last 6 months where a properly function CO alarm saved a life or two. Tonight’s call pointed to a faulty furnace pushing out nearly 10,000 PPM of deadly CO (we go on air at 35ppm). It is pretty simple, if the couple did not have an alarm or worse yet, had one with dead batteries they too would likely be dead by tomorrow morning.

Fire Statistics

2011-01-18T17:31:00.001-08:00

Interesting read from "Firesafety.gov for Citizens". The number of residential fires hit an all time low in 2009 (good) but when looking at the trending over the last 10 years I would have expected the results to be much better than they are. In fact, the difference between 2000 and 2009 is less than a .6% improvement. Injury & death as a percent of fires is even better with a 16% improvement.

Year Fires Inj & death as % of Fire
2000 379,500 4.93%
2001 396,500 4.72%
2002 401,000 4.17%
2003 402,000 4.29%
2004 410,500 4.24%
2005 396,000 4.26%
2006 412,500 3.77%
2007 414,000 4.07%
2008 403,000 4.05%
2009 377,000 4.14%
Source: National Fire Protection Association Fire Loss in the U.S. During 2009
Not sure what my point is but we know fire safety is much stronger today then it ever has been. But fires still happen. Every Day. 1032 per day to be exact. 43 per hour. Almost one residential house fire every minute.
Test your smoke alarms and be fire safe.

Prevention.....better than suppression!

2010-12-30T21:07:00.001-08:00

It took nearly a year but our new logo'd fire wear has incorporated Prevention along with Fire & Rescue.

Slowly, prevention is coming part of our daily culture.

Christmas Morning

2010-12-25T08:42:00.000-08:00

Christmas morning came with a call at 7am with “visible flames, unknown occupants”. A thoughtful neighbor saw flames within a home across her backyard so she dialed 911. Christmas morning, just as many of the kids are awaking new gifts, a dozen or so EPFD were paged. We dashed through the morning snow to hop our fire engines in tow….Engine 41, Tower 21, Engine 12 and Engine 31. Chief 2 arrived on scene to determine the call was due to a Yule log…burning brightly through a 42” Plasma TV. Yes, our thoughtful neighbor was witnessing the television channel of the holiday Yule Log.

I am not sure what is worse, the nosy neighbor looking through her windows or the family watching a fire on TV?

Another Mutual Aid

2010-12-14T10:08:00.000-08:00

The page went off shortly after 1am this morning for an engine to a house fire in Edina. I've been up ever since (currently 12:15pm sitting at Dunn's having a cup of coffee). E41 ended up being the 3rd engine to go into service after a second alarm call. We went directly to Edina station 1 to cover the city.
Kare 11 coverage can be seen here

Temps dropped well below zero for during this effort. Everyone said we were better off covering the city from the comforts of station 1 vs. being on scene....maybe, at least I know that whether we are on scene or at the station we are serving a purpose.

OSHA

2010-12-03T05:56:00.001-08:00

Last night was three hours of OSHA training. At least it was a bit interactive as the class took the form of a game of jeopardy
Categories included:
PPE
Back problems
Roadway safety
Lock out/tag out
Blood born pathogens

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Busy Sunday

2010-10-31T19:09:00.000-07:00

Today was a day that turned out to be relatively quiet even though I spent the majority of the day at the station. A mutual aid call came in around noon from SLP requesting a special unit from EP. Kare11 reported it as:

As we waited out the call at Station 1 ended up going to a church Halloween party with E12....just as we opened the engine for kids we received a page for a kitchen fire. Fortunately, it was small put out relatively quickly....but it did give me the chance to drive e12 code 3 across the city.

Warehouse Fire

2010-10-21T12:11:00.000-07:00
Last night we had a call for an industrial fire. A piece of machinery caught on fire.
This size up had visible flames, heavy smoke, building evacuated. We were second engine in and the fire was out. Turned out to be a very isolated piece of equipment but it generated a ton of smoke. We spent the next two hours working ventilation.

AMA Announces new CPR

2010-10-19T18:46:00.000-07:00
The AMA released new guidlines this week on first arriving 'help' for a cardiac victim.
Instead of A, B, Then C (Airway, Breathing and Compressions it is now CAB....Compressions, Airway, Breathing.

Basically, they want bystanders who normally would not feel comfortable giving mouth to mouth to assist with compressions. Easier. Safer. And as it turns out more beneficial for the victim. Read the release below.....

Oct. 18, 2010 -- New guidelines released today by the American Heart Association recommend that the three steps of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) be rearranged.

The new first step is doing chest compressions instead of first establishing the airway and then doing mouth to mouth. The new guidelines apply to adults, children, and infants but exclude newborns.

The old way was A-B-C -- for airway, breathing and compressions.

The new way is C-A-B -- for compressions, airway, and breathing.

Sunday House Fire.

2010-10-17T12:53:00.000-07:00
Just got back from a ‘fully involved’ house fire. I was not expecting one on a Sunday morning, but then again, I guess I am never expecting one these days. We were third vehicle in but were given the address. LT12 and I took to the basket as command decided this was a defensive attack. From the basket the entire C/D corner roof was gone clear view of the kitchen. The rest of the roof showed spots of flames and smoke. We supplied copious amounts of water/foam using the smooth-bore nozzle…..sometimes creating a new opening in the roof under the pressure.

Fire was knocked down relatively quickly. The scene was clear within 2 hours. Not bad for a fully involved call.

BWCA Fall Trip

2010-10-05T20:04:00.000-07:00

This post has nothing to do about fire, ems or training.....but it does fall under the 'everything else' category.

Just got back from a great trip up in the BWCA.
Entered at Mudro #23 and logged about 45 miles in three days.
This trip included a little hunting (duck and grouse); fishing and some great scenery.
This was also first trip of a home made canoe....which worked great. more great photos'

September is the new January.

2010-09-21T19:00:00.000-07:00
At least when it comes to new beginnings. Besides school getting a fresh start it seems the fire department get its start in September. We picked up 10 new rookies this month….which gave me a chance to review my first post under this blog. Actually, station 4 picked up one rookie so now we are up to…..14 or 15?

Last few weeks have been very slow. I can’t think of the last call I was on where I actually ‘worked’ a scene. However, from the training perspective it has been busy and the preparation for the Oct 9th Open House.

This week is the physical agility test (annually)…..4:58 seconds is the goal.

Bi-annual photo

2010-09-10T20:34:00.000-07:00

This past Thursday we had our quarterly business review. Beforehand we had 95 firefighters, all dressed in class-A get our department and station photo.

The business review meeting covered the retirement of CH4; a few promotions and a couple of 10 year service awards (plus a 25 service year award. Listening to the accomplishments of the department over 25 years, the bonds of family and friendship and the opportunity of servicing the community just validates the reason i joined the department two years ago. I wonderer what the deparment will look like in another 23 years?

Training Operations

2010-09-08T20:38:00.000-07:00
Wednesday evening I participated in a multi ciy training event at the burn tower in Edina. Participating cities included Edina, Hopkins, Bloomington, Edina, Minnetonka and St. Louis Park. The scenario was to test, practice and learn how to manage and function in a large scale multi-jurisdiction call.

Our scenario was a multi-family, multi-story fire (7 storey apartment fire). We were the 3rd apparatus in and took T21 to ladder and ventilate. The problem was, it took us three tries before we could actually get our vehicle positioned to reach the part of the roof requiring ventilation. Embarrassing, problematic but a good learning experience. Fortunately i was not operating but felt the pain and learned the lesson.

In the end we got the job done. Overall this was a great training experience.

Year Three.....

2010-08-29T16:59:00.000-07:00

Two years ago, September, is when I offiically joined EPFD as rookie. I remember hanging out at station 1 for the "quarterly business meeting" and group/station bi-annual photograph.

We have another set of rookies starting this month so the "probie" torch can finally be passed along.

WOrking out of station #4 has been great but the west side is definitly on the short end of the stick when it comes to call volume.

I picked up my "Apparatus Operator" badge/sticker this week which has it pro's and con's. I get to drive and operate (pro) and I get to drive and operate (con).....only a con when there is a working fire.

Garage fire

2010-08-05T23:36:00.001-07:00
Okay. Here it is 1:30am and I have been sitting in E41 for two hours. We were the 4th engine in and I was the operator so I am stuck back here, a block from the action. Oh well, you do what you can to help.

But the worst part is I tripped running into the station and dropped my iPhone......let's just say I am writing this with a shattered screen on my phone. This will surly cost me.

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FAO Annual

2010-08-05T17:44:00.000-07:00
I am sitting back seat after driving Tower 41 through the obstacle course.
1. Backing in to a loading dock
2. Serpentine course in forward, backward, left and right
3. Backing into an alley that narrows to the width of the tires

Then it is off to do the same stuff in the engine.

I am finally done with this training.... Just need the Chiefs Signature.

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A whole new perspective

2010-07-29T15:03:00.000-07:00
Last night I had the privilege of sharing our fire engine at Camp Edenwood which is a great facility hidden in the woods of Eden Prairie that provides week long camping for children with special needs. Last night we had over 20 kids, each with their own special situation. Seeing their genuine excitement in learning about the trucks and what we do as fire fighters.

One boy was totally blind and took his time to feel the truck, the hose, water to explore. Another was mute and pointed to every button, switch and pedal wanting to know more about the truck. and my favorite was Sam, she was passionate about wearing the jacket and gear. When I went to ask for it she wrapped her arms around my neck as to say....I am coming with you.

I was really cool to see how happy and how much fun they had........definitely a great part to the job.

House Blessing

2010-07-22T07:16:00.001-07:00
Last weekend T41 was asked to join a house party. It was actually a house blessing as this house was hit by lightening last year during an evening of wicked storms.

The amount of gratitude from the family and friends for our efforts was really nice. For me, I love being able to help but to be honest it is the challenge, the risk and rush..... But to see the benefits first hand puts on a whole new perspective.

Ironically, we were pages out during the blessing for a weather standby.
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