Friday, April 3, 2015

Weekly Update for Friday, April 3, 2015

OPEN SHIFTS: Thu May 14, Sat Jun 13, Fri August 14, all 0700-1900.

Recruiting: Who are our best recruiters? Who knows what it's like to be a call Firefighter? Who has first hand experience on what we do? Each of you! Spread the word! If you know of anyone who would be a good fit, get them an application.  We are hiring call force positions and making a list for per diem and full-time. April 8th we're holding an informational night. Capt Lang is coordinating that event.  Applications are due no later than April 14th. Testing will be done on Saturday, April 18th.

Fit Testing, PAT, Physicals, Core Training: For the most part, the vast majority of the department has completed these tasks. Thank you for getting this done quickly!  If you haven't completed any of these items, or have questions about them, please contact your company officer.

Ice  & Open Water:  Spring is here, we have a combination of open water and ice on the ponds in town. Fishing season has started. Our streams and brooks are running fast currents. If we're going to have a water emergency, this is the time of year for it. Get familiar with our water rescue equipment. On Sunday, April 12th we're going to hold some water rescue training at the station at 0800.

Brush & Grass Fire Season: I know I just mentioned ice and cold water, but another part of spring is grass fires. We'll start getting this equipment ready and on board the Squad. Get familiar with forestry equipment. Get your forestry PPE checked out. It would probably be a good idea to wash your yellow forestry shirt, if you haven't done that in awhile.

SLICERS:  No, I'm not talking about a horror movie. S.L.I.C.E. (R.S.) is a new approach to fire attack. As we talked about at Chief's Call last Tuesday, this tactical approach is backed by science. NIST, UL and FDNY have done several experiments on "ventilation limited" fires and quick knock downs. This new tactic is sometimes referred to as "resetting the fire" or "transitional fire attack". There are several videos on YouTube discussing SLICERS. This video shows some of the research that has gone into this concept.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4drMzFO-Guk  SLICE(RS) and transitional fire attack is a tactic I want to employ in our department. Before we make this standard operations, we need to do more training and practice.

FEMA Info Gram: In the latest Info Gram from US Fire Administration, a couple interesting topics are discussed.

-Ammunition at fires. What will happen to ammo under fire? Basically, the risk is low. The article in the Info Gram is very much worth reading. This 25-minute video is interesting http://www.saami.org/videos/sporting_ammunition_and_the_firefighter.cfm

-Driving under the influence:  Nation-wide there is shift from driving under the influence of alcohol, to driving under the influence of drugs. Studies show that alcohol use is down, increases in use of prescription, over-the-counter drugs and marijuana are increasing. Drivers under the influence of marijuana are 20% more likely to be in an accident. These studies are available at http://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/USDHSFACIR/2015/04/03/file_attachments/378649/April%2B2%252C%2B2015%2BInfoGram.pdf   and  http://www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/communications/pdf/CrashRiskStudy-FactSheet_020615.pdf

-Urban Wildland Interface:  The UWI is a critical area for us. We have a lot of homes tucked away in the woods.  This link is to some good info on tactics and situational awareness  http://www.fireengineering.com/articles/2015/03/fsf-wildland-urban-interface-fires.html

More on these topics is discussed in the recent issue of FEMAs Info Gram. http://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/USDHSFACIR/2015/04/03/file_attachments/378649/April%2B2%252C%2B2015%2BInfoGram.pdf


Engine 83; It's starting to look like a fire engine! Photos are on the website.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/wmzauxjs3og0ofj/AACBo_soQcNKYArIEG1Qbpgpa/Progress%2004.03.15.pdf?dl=0

Events Next Week; Saturday, SMAFAA 1300; Tuesday, GMFRA 1900, Wednesday, Info Night 1900, PAT Make up 0900 and 1830.

Upcoming Events: 4/12 - Ice Water Rescue 0800. 4/14 - EMS Shock 1830. 4/21 & 28 Forestry firefighting. (Ranger Desautels will be the instructor).  Being scheduled for a date in May RIT training in Arundel. Sign up on the bulletin board.  A BLS Firefighter course is being planned for May.

Duty Officer: Captain Lang.


Happy Easter!
Chief

--
Roger S. Hooper, Fire Chief
Goodwins Mills Fire-Rescue
481 Goodwins Mills Road
Lyman, ME 04002
Office: 207-499-7878
Station: 207-499-2362
Fax: 207-499-2893
www.gmfd.org
rhooper@gmfd.org