COLCHESTER HAYWARD FIRE DEPARTMENT
MONTHLY OFFICERS MEETING
Monday, January 10, 2011
MEMBERS PRESENT: Chief Walt Cox, 1st AC Don Lee, 2nd AC Ken McKenna, Capt. Georg Papp, Capt. Paul Giudice, Capt. R. Knowles, Capt. John. Jones, HSO Dan Rowland, EMS Captain Babineau, SO Jess McMinn, Lt. Dave Barnes, Lt. Sandy Brown, Lt. S. Morris, Rosemary Coyle – BOS liaison
Chief Walt Cox called the meeting to order @ 1903hrs. –President/Governor- flags at half mast for respect of tragedy in Arizona with the shooting of Congresswoman, Federal Judge and our fellow US citizens.
Approval of minutes: The December Officers meeting minutes were read. Motion to approve; AC McKenna, 2nd by AC Lee.
Citizens Comments: Becky Knowles: w/ ET2 in service – can it be rotated here to train on? Chief Cox responded YES- program in place to do just that. We will start soon.
Budget Issues: ½ way through yr – need to work on personal protective gear, reflective vests, traffic safety cones. Vehicle repair line item down to $12, 000 New fiscal yr. 2011-2012 Budget Process- entry begins today. Monday March 7 BOF workshop 630pm. Officers meeting scheduled for that day will be delayed to 7:30 -8pm.start time.
Career Staff / Personnel: Capt. Guidice – performance reviews. Finalized version needs to be run by John Knapp. Captains request presence at appointment of Lt’s & Engineers.
DC and 2nd AC open to be voted on Thursday 1/13/2011. Policies re: social media being worked on, as well as camera usage. Standing order: cell phone use during emergency call is strictly prohibited except if it pertains to call. Pictures taken during emergency response/dept. training are property of CHFD. OIC/Instructors needs to know, give authority to take videos, and must follow guidelines. NO posting on web sites allowed without Chief Officer permission
Draft policy for driver training – presented by Lt. Brown – looks like good program for new members and current members to administer. Operation Safe Arrival Program– moved to accept by AC Lee, 2nd by AC McKenna – to give training committee authority to administer.
Training: AC McKenna – 2010 completed. 2011 – started w/ 1st installment of EMS protocols w/ excellent attendance. Additional ice rescue drill – to be run as joint drill w/ E. Hampton at Lake Pocotopaug. Intro to RIT coming up. Draft copy of membership status: 54 members that met all requirements for category 1, cat 2 – 15 members, cat 3 – 13 members (2/3 rqmts) , cat 4 – 7 members (failed to meet any rqmts for specific discipline). Some members still contact for a variety of reasons. New training facility at Schuster Pk. should provide live fire tng opportunities, etc. –
Capt. Jones -All fire police members at Cat 1 – 1/16 training to be attended – Ct State Fire Police certification.
Lt Brown – this is the yr for the training list to “set in stone” – will be following letter of law.
Chief Cox/AC Lee – VFIS cert. of liability for training :Locations- Norwich Ave – and 2 story cape in front of S&S Worldwide, demo of new apparatus, foam, etc.
To Rosemary Coyle – invited to Schuster Pk to tour facility, approx. $250-275,000 worth of work and products donated. Approx. $9000 town funds. Outstanding job by all who helped.
EMS: Now doing mileage for all ambulance transports. Looking for loaded mileage, but
EMScharts calculates mileage. Cards in each ambulance for mileage to be written down.
EMS refreshers went well. Daytime training scheduled for Wed. 1/19/10.
# calls run for 2010: 8:35 average response time for ambulance transport calls (dispatch to arrive on scene). 1059 transports for the year. Per NFIRS data 321 code.
OEMS posts state wide prior yrs we have been in the 9’s. NFIRS shows no missing calls. Averaging 1825 total calls for last three years.
Captain’s Reports: Safety Committee HSO Rowland: back on line w/ physicals w/ Sparrow Commons. Own physicians: pkt A – what Doctor should be looking for, our dept. form, and a respitory form. Concentra will follow through on anything your own physician won’t do.
Sparrow Commons – to be used for all new personnel. State Statute – 1 physical by FD Doctor to be covered by heart / hypertension law. Or Sparrow Commons (pkt B) – who don’t want to use own dr. or don’t have insurance – town will pick up including co-pay with receipt.
Alcohol/ Drug testing: to be performed at Backus Walk in.(163 Broadway)-co-ord. with HSO.
CDL testing can be performed at physical. Town to reimburse any co-pay for physical done by own dr. , or by Concentra. (dept physical exceed CDL requirements).
next safety meeting is : Feb. 8, 2011 (Tuesday) 18:30.
Accountability pkts being worked on. ET1 – post goes into ground, more being made.
Fire Police: Capt. J.Jones reports . Division is doing great.
Company 1- Capt. Papp – ladder 1 – elevated master stream – nozzle screen off again, popped screws. Chief mentioned flex pipe clamp causing bolt to rattle – now tightened. RIT training (27th training)– team met – productive. Next mtg – Wed 1/11 – to get more inclusive of membership to join team. Scene parking for POV – rules in place – membership need reminders to park on same side of street at incident. Morale – appears to be at a good level now.
EMS Capt. Babineau – meeting room door has been found pinned open.
Company 2 – Capt. Giudice-?? On Knox Box keys for ET2 New one is $400 avg – could be removed, used as a spare. Svc 2 – may need to go to Gowens Knight to fix pump – no plans made now. Marcus headsets being worked on. Vests for officers being looked into& 36” cones.
Rescue Captain; R. Knowles- green sheets not being filled out, call log not being filled out properly w/ date of call / time of call / officer. Will be reviewed by audit. Last week computer issues slowed down NFIRS being entered in. Some not done – officers not doing them.
Chief – 12-18”of snow coming Tue evening into Wed. morning. 1/12/11. Help will be needed.
Company 2 now has a snow thrower shovel.
Chief Officers:
2nd AC McKenna – we have ice shoes on several apparatus for safety. UCONN/Capstone people (graduate students – working on recruitment / retention) should be starting soon.
1st AC Lee - we are currently having tire chains fitted for apparatus. All front line apparatus will have chains. Training classes to put on. Max speed : 30 mph. Ambulances not currently slated for chains. Good for around town, bad on highways. Excellent past yr, everybody has worked together, training excellent, only concern. CHFD members responding to mutual aid towns – POV’s are not needed for mutual aid calls unless you are an approved officer. (cited Marlborough – member w/ POV , NO personal SCBA to be used-CHFD ONLY. Members representing us w/o authorization – didn’t check in, didn’t wait for back up, etc. Proper accountability tags/report to OIC. Plans on holding everyone to guidelines next yr. All CHFD Officers need to enforce including SO, Capt., Lt. and Chief Officers.
CHFD was approached by officers of Yantic FD– wants us to be back up for RIT company.
DC Standish – outside lights not working properly in back. By law change needs to be brought up-spoke to President Martin. William Standish will not be seeking re-election. Thanked everyone for past support. Members present acknowledged his long service to this department.
Chief Cox- More positive things need to be brought forward : letter re: 5k road race help.
Tax exemption : 44- full exemption $1000, 7- $500 limit. Approx. 50% of membership qualified.
1779 total calls: 86 fires, 3 overpressure:, 61 hazmat, 130 service, etc.
All CHFD members should be proud of their 2010 efforts!
Objectives/Accomplishments due for each fiscal yr – expand resources: (see list)
- expand mutual aid resources-TF 57, NLCFCA, SWFRDP, KX, DEMHS Region 4
- respond to emergency calls with 8 minutes as benchmark : 8:52
- reduce ISO rating – new apparatus, infrastructure, etc
- pursue grants – collaborative Task Force 57 grant for virtual driving , and KX Cad system, Cadet Program, Firemans Fund prevention/education grant.
- meet ambulance billing : $465,000 (hit $511,000) -
- maintain 100 members (currently 108)
- pursue town ordinances (Knox Boxes, nuisances calls, etc) in process of being accepted by BOS
Officers appointed must be done w/in 2 wks of members meeting. TBD
President Martin: CHVFCO January meeting attendance requested for this Thursday 1/13. Fund raiser for Dan Fitzgerald event scheduled for January 29, 2011
Officers meeting adjourned @ 2015hrs.
Motion made by 1st AC Lee, 2nd by AC McKenna.
Respectfully submitted,
Jean Walsh
(approved Chief W.Cox)
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